The original post above is making the argument that leaving out the caveats and exceptions and/or exaggerating the point in order to provoke a discussion is dishonest and unhelpful. They use the term “clickbait” to describe that strategy. I think in general usage the word “clickbait” is used in a broader way, to include this strategy but also to include other things.
Of those titles 2 and 3 are clearly not exaggerating anything, so are not doing the thing the OP is complaining about. Number 1 arguably is, the post is a lawyer telling us that his clients often lie to him. You could argue that the title implies that all of them are liars, where in fact it is only many of them, not all.
But, the whole “check the titles” method is slightly flawed anyway. There is a big difference between someone Tweeting something, being challenged on it and saying something like “Oh, I didn’t mean it literally, I was gesturing in a direction. Yes there are important exceptions but I left them out because life is too short.” and someone being challenged on the title of their blog post, and responding “Did you even read the post underneath the title? I addressed that point, didn’t I?”.
The original post above is making the argument that leaving out the caveats and exceptions and/or exaggerating the point in order to provoke a discussion is dishonest and unhelpful. They use the term “clickbait” to describe that strategy. I think in general usage the word “clickbait” is used in a broader way, to include this strategy but also to include other things.
Of those titles 2 and 3 are clearly not exaggerating anything, so are not doing the thing the OP is complaining about. Number 1 arguably is, the post is a lawyer telling us that his clients often lie to him. You could argue that the title implies that all of them are liars, where in fact it is only many of them, not all.
But, the whole “check the titles” method is slightly flawed anyway. There is a big difference between someone Tweeting something, being challenged on it and saying something like “Oh, I didn’t mean it literally, I was gesturing in a direction. Yes there are important exceptions but I left them out because life is too short.” and someone being challenged on the title of their blog post, and responding “Did you even read the post underneath the title? I addressed that point, didn’t I?”.