The funny thing about websites like BuzzFeed and ViralNova is that the linkbait headlines they use are hard to parody since the truth is already much stranger than the fiction.

EDIT Holy crap: http://www.clickhole.com/video/video-seems-silly-it-makes-go...

EDIT I just realized in lowerclase "clickhole" looks like "dickhole". Maybe this was an obvious joke all along and I'm slow.

In short, I don't think FB has been particularly effective, though I admire(d) the goal.

After the rise of these viral linkbait sites, Petflow started emulating the model to keep up. I'm sure this has helped them continue to grow and keep up with these rising competitors like Buzzfeed and Viral Nova, but I personally feel like it's hurting their brand.

So Alex and Joe (founders of Petflow), if you're listening, stop the bullshit and go back what you were doing. These viral linkbait sites are a fad and will eventually go away or get banned. I don't want you guys to go down the same road.

The truly sad, but ingenious thing about this? Most of the clickers won't know the difference.

I love how there's a persistent click counter in the footer, which seems to be implemented with localStorage and also seems to be tied to some badge system.

I imagine they go all the way back to 1988 but it's hard to dig them up....

It also resets after you get the top badge. I cheated and just kept running "jQuery("body").trigger("click");" in the browser console, and it triggered clicks. See: http://bluetide.pro/69vO/52JI0bMg

http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/its-time-publicly-execute-...

   $(window).unload(function(){
     localStorage.setItem("cqstate_v7", JSON.stringify({'achievements': {}, 'counters': {'clicks':998}}));
   });