I hate clickbait headlines but I disagree. Let a site succeed or fail based on their choices. If they want to use clickbait headlines they won’t get my clicks.
Rewriting headlines feels like a fundamental break in the contract of a search engine.
I mean HN modifies headlines all the time. Sometimes hours after the fact. News sites themselves A/B test headlines constantly. I don't really think there is any "contract" to speak of.
This has been going on for at least three years, although perhaps they left more popular sites like The Verge alone. My wife's business rebranded three years ago and they kept the old brand as part of the title, presumably because there were lots of links pointing to it with the old title.
