What if I told you “You are a linkbaiter! All you do is write posts or comments simply to linkbait!” Will you be offended? Will you be surprised? Will you be happy? How would you react? What would you think? With more and more people talking about linkbaits, the very concept of linkbait is slowly being misunderstood by an increasing number of people. On my other site, I talked before about the possibility of linkbait and real criticism coming so close together, that the difference can appear to be nonexistent, even if there is a huge space and difference between the two. Today I would like to talk about how both writing to linkbait and writing without any intention of linkbaiting can result in people negatively assuming that you are linkbaiting in both cases.

I would like to use 2 imaginary, hypothetical examples to show how the concept of linkbaits is given a bad image.

Writing only or mainly to linkbait, and not to produce any content

This is one of the least obvious things that gives linkbait a bad name. Many blogs write content only to create linkbait, or draw attention by producing content or links that exists only to attract certain people in because their name or topic or website is mentioned somewhere on purpose.

Let us take an imaginary, hypothetical example: assume that I wrote an article on my personal site, “6 weird things about me“, only to attract the people Ronald linked or referred to in that article. Now imagine in this hypothetical example that Simonne as a response also wrote a post “Six weird things of mine“, also to only create a linkbait scheme to attract people she linked to. Now imagine one of the readers of the site that me or Simonne linked to read that article, and e-mailed the site owner in question about the supposed fact that me or Simonne had written a quality content article and that those articles should be read by more people. Even if the articles are of inferior quality in this hypothetical example, the mere mention of my or Simonnes’ site by a third party results in more views, and someone who actually does realize that such articles have no value and were written only to attract people who were link to, will have a more than strong prejudice against any application of the concept of linkbait, resulting in even the most impressive and quality-rich posts with the least form of linkbaits to be hated. For that person who realizes and any other person who is told about that realization, there may be no middle ground, and thus for them all linkbaits may be bad.

In this hypothetical example, the mere validity of my site by another reader not related to me can further blind the fact that someone may be linkbaiting. Because of such blindness, anytime someone even links to anyone, we may start assuming that are linkbaiting. It is as if some people write simply to link to others, so that they can get more links: linking to someone can usually result in an automatic a public trackback link created on the page you link to, and thus others can see your site too.

Falsely accusing a critic of linkbaiting to divert attention from the true criticism

This is one of the most powerful ways to abuse the concept of linkbaits. Assume that you write something on your site that is not correct in some manner, and that I point it out on my site in an article I write. You, as a result, do not like me and thus instead of responding to my writing on different levels, you start telling others that I wrote my article simply as a linkbait.

Let us take an imaginary, hypothetical example: assume that the post Chris G wrote, saying that someone [without mentioning his/her real name or the post in question] was using linkbait only to attract his attention and that the person in question was a troll, was actually written as a response to my posts and Chris Gs’ and my comments regarding appreciation and fake appreciation.

Now imagine that a reader of mine hypothetically found out that post by Chris, and that the reader e-mailed me to tell me how Chris G, instead of appreciating me as his reader, is hiding behind his monitor and blog and insulting one of his original loyal readers [me] and calling me a “troll” simply because I talked about views I believe in, and is labeling my entire effort as a linkbait simply because it goes against his business model. Imagine the reader who knows the whole story thinking that Chris G is simply scared of facing the truth and is running back and hiding on his blog, where he can feel better by criticizing me and not tell his readers who I am nor tell them the whole story; for that reader, Chris G will appear as a manipulator who does not appreciate his readers in reality. However, readers on Chris G will not know anything about the whole story in this example, since they do not know who Chris G is referring to, and many readers judge the story based on what Chris G says, resulting in the concept of linkbait being given a bad name unjustly, and also resulting in me being called a troll and insulted unfairly simply because I say things that Chris G does not agree to.

In this hypothetical example, the mere mention of linkbait being a bad thing simply because someone is criticizing you can be a tool to make someone look bad, while giving linkbaiting a bad name. Sometimes, many bloggers will call any critic, who is criticizing logically and rationally, a linkbaiter simply to divert peoples’ attention from the issue at hand to the possibility of that person to be a linkbaiter. It is as if anytime you say something they do not like, they can call you a linkbaiter and people will start wondering too.

Linkbait is not a bad thing; abusing it is

Like many things that damage their surrounding environment when abused, the idea of linkbaits can be pretty powerful in causing damage to something when abused or when misused. Realizing what one thing is can help in realizing when one abuses it and when one is not abusing it. Realizing the concept can further enable us to realize when one is manipulating us into believing that someone is linkbaiting, when in reality that may not be the case. So whether you write only to linkbait or you write without wondering or focusing even a little bit on linkbait, your actions can result in your posts being labeled as linkbaits, resulting in a circle where the concept of linkbait gets a bad name.

So, do you linkbait?

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