[KGIII]

I think it may bother me because I see it as insulting our/my intelligence.

'We looked at X and you won't believe what we found!'

Why yes, yes I will believe what you found, provided you give clear evidence, explain your methodology, and provide credible citations where needed.

I was worried it was only me who felt like this, as I'd not seen anyone else mention it. It really does bias my reading of the article afterwards. I should probably figure out a way to work past that bias, but I guess I should be grateful that I recognize it in myself.

Again, nothing major - it just irks me a bit. I'm not going to rage-quit or anything.

[ballenf]

Slight nuance, but I'd say it's assuming the existence of a collective intelligence and homogeneity in the population. Its a slight backhand insult to prod readership for anyone who doesn't already know the subject. It pushes that button of the fear of being left out of a trend.

It's clickbait in another form. Playing psychological games with readers.

It's disrespecting its readers for making an assumption that readers are too shallow to show interest in substance. So, agree, insulting readers' intelligence.

[marcosdumay]

I always have an automatic reaction of postfixing lines like those by "of course, you wouldn't, that's because you are stupid". And then, I get instantly biased against the author just because of a stupid title.

It's not a rational thought, but the saddest part is that the real world fits that bias way too well.

[pdimitar]

You're definitely not the only one. But in my eyes it's major. As you pointed out -- it's insulting to the reader's intelligence.

That would be fine btw... the real problem is when a valuable material is hidden behind clickbaity titles. Now _THAT_ is what irks me personally -- and is sadly happening lately.