Great points, Lyndon.

As I said earlier, I am guessing I am just starting to grasp the emotional aspect of linkbait. Maybe, indeed, link bait is great content with an emotional component to motivate sharing/linking? Some great content may be formatted not to be linked ever, for one reason or another.

(And oh yes, emotional content works.)

What it seems I am arguing about, though, is that great content can be excellent motivator. But to elicit emotional reaction, the content has to be absolutely mind-blowing.

While it is clear that you can touch upon controvrsial issues, really important matters and what not for people to react emotionally, I suspect this has to be done in moderation. Some people may just using this approach to get links, value delivered being something secondary.

Emotional reaction is in human nature

That's great point about the human nature. Something I've been thinking for a while (mostly, about people navigating websites seeking scent of information). Now it is time to apply it to spreading the content, I guess.

Yup, knowing how things work is great (Sylar anyone?).

By the way, I am now investigating creating and promoting link-worthy content and it is kind of addictive. The more I learn and try, the more I want to do it. I kind of see why some people are good with it, too.

Thanks for a great, insightful discussion.

P.S. For those unfamiliar with Lyndon, he is one of the few people I know that were SEO experts, when I was just starting in the fall of '04.