I paid for Dearrow if that answers your question.

I think it’s like SEO. Moreso the platform’s fault vs the creator trying to get by

Do you use youtube mainly? yes, but only the simplified/ lite version

Do you care about clickbait? yes. in a way that i care about probable misrepresentation of content

Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator? it made me avoid some creators

Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform? it made me aware of how youtube and its content creators make use of it. it also made me aware of other video platforms out there.

Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems? no. it is just part of a combo of ads, generic/saturated content and privacy concerns

Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones? i think it is a sign of saturation. like how shops have hawkers to get people in and browse. the bad thing of course, is misrepresentation and maybe a waste of people’s time

Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil? it is bad, and it is driven by money. but if the majority of people don’t fall for it then there might be a chance for clickbaits to use a better method to get attention.

After I started using dearrow to remove custom thumbnails, I’ve had alot better time browsing YouTube.

• I am watchin Youtube daily
• And yes, I care about Clickbait because it helps me determine which videos not to watch, due to their clickbaity title/thumbnail
• I don’t think so. At least noone comes to mind
• No. Still using it daily, although not through the official page.
• No. Ads and enshittification are much more important issues to me. But then the creators I watch usually don’t appear clickbaity to me
• It helps me determine which videos are a waste of time
• I sympathize with creators using click bait as a tool to drive engagement. And usually I don’t mind since I (anecdotaly) find that really clickbaity titles are an indicator for bad videos. BUT scientific videos using clickbait is a real headache, since it can warp the viewer’s perception of the topic, especially if they don’t watch the video.

I have many thoughts. Number 3 will surprise you!

If the clickbait is done well or the topic of the video is genuinely compelling, then I probably don’t mind - but when it’s really generic, it’s a total turn-off for me. Some things instantly disqualify a video, like obviously AI-generated thumbnails or when they include hot girls just for clicks. I’ve seen how the view counts on those “cabin life” channels spike the moment they add a girl in yoga pants to the thumbnail, so I can’t really blame them - but because it’s so transparently manipulative, I just want no part of it.

Another thing that really irritates me is when I see that same generic “shocked face” in every thumbnail, and when I check their channel, it’s literally the same three photos recycled across dozens of videos.

I have huge respect for YouTubers who don’t play those games at all. Some good examples are Foresty Forest, Andrew Camarata, Matthias Wandel, and post10.

Yes, I use Youtube almost daily.
I try to avoid clickbait, on those that are too obvious I hit the not interested button.
I’m not sure if I stopped watching some people but one thing I started to do is open clickbaity videos in a new tab so if the video was bad I can go to the previous tab and hit the “do not recommend this channel” option.
No.
No.
No.
I don’t see it as an evil per se, mostly as a lazy resource. I see it like an easy joke, it can be funny but if not delivered properly it will fall flat.

Do you use youtube mainly?

For watching short video, yes. Not as social media.

Do you care about clickbait?

I fucking hate it.

Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?

Yes. I’ve seen useful, thoughtful channels turn into life-wasting mouth noise in order to chase clicks.

Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?

Not yet.

Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?

I think that monetisation ahead of any other concern is the major problem, and clickbait is just one symptom of it.

Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?

No.

Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?

No.

Between the clickbait, YouTube “enhancements”, exploding AI slop videos and the atrocious search facility, the platform is rapidly becoming completely unusable for finding relevant information when you’re looking for answers.

As an entertainment platform it’s forcing creators to make long form content and making viewers sit through more and more low quality content.

It’s evolving, but I’m pretty sure it’s heading towards extinction, rather than greatness.

Youtube video titles that have been really bugging me lately (as they have become increasingly common) are the weirdly negative ones. Like, “THIS is why you suck at >insert your hobby here<”. It’s annoying because the video could raise a good point, but fuck, dont frame it by negging me. If I’m searching for videos on that topic, I want help, not put-downs.

I use Youtube a lot. If I see a video from a creator I don’t know, or from one I don’t care that much about, and the thumbnail sets off my clickbait alarms, I just open the three dots menu and click “Don’t recommend channel.” I don’t think it’s a big problem, but it does annoy me and this significantly reduces the amount that I have to put up with it.

Sometimes if a thumbnail is borderline I’ll open it in a new tab so I can entertain it for a few minutes and see if they pay off. If they don’t, they get "don’t recommend"ed.

I’ve also done this for creators who put the “like and subscribe” ask before I’ve actually seen the content they’re asking me to subscribe to, if I’m in a particularly petty mood.

I think it’s a spectrum. I mostly hang out in fairly nerdy and middle-aged corners of YouTube, so I don’t see the worst of shitty clickbait. If a video from an unknown creator is suggested to me a clickbaity or ragebaity headline will probably make me avoid them.

But I don’t mind an attention grabbing title “These AWFUL ingredients were ESSENTIAL for medieval peasants” or “This IMPOSSIBLE theory lead to the discovery of oxygen”. It’s kinda lame, but it still says what the topic of video is. Worse, imho, are things like “Why do smart people keep believing this” which uses the mystery / anticipation to suck you in. From a creator I like, it won’t put me off (tbh, I probably won’t even think about it as clickbait because I know their work is usually good) but it’s not cool, and would put me off an unknown creator.

Basically, I don’t care that much about headlines (or the stupid YouTube faces), but I hate shitty, shallow content. And a lot of the time, a clickbaity headline indicates a shallow video, so it has a negative effect on my interest.

I use youtube on a fire tv stick often enough. I do care about clickbait. Clickbait does cause me to not watch particular channels. clickbait did not make me stop I mostly just don’t watch it but its impossible to completely avoid. no clickbait is not the only problem, there is the often mocked video that does not get to the point until way deep in. I have not seen good clickbait. I do not see clickbait as necessary but stuff like that rears up in all sorts of media (movies were all the good scenes are in the trailer)

I watch a ton of youtube. Mostly longform content 20 minutes or longer.

Clickbait has such a wide definition that I feel like setting clear definition would be important for your work.

We live in an attention economy where there is way more content for us to consume then we ever could so the point of descion is crucial and thumbnail and title do a lot of heavy lifting. I only dislike it and think it is a problem when it lies, or the video itself is lacking in substance.

In I a lot of gaming videos the thumbnail and or title is something along the lines of “How hard is it to beat X?” And they don’t answer the question directly, but more they play through it and you answer for yourself by watching them. Some point count this as clickbait, but I’m personally ok with it.