#but the show didn't trick queer viewers at the time into falsely believing they'd get rep

[brunnismemorybank]

Yeah, some people need to look up what "bait" means. It's a tasty-smelling morsel that lures you into a trap. Without a trick, bait is simply the morsel, or in the case of media, fanservice.

If a show's writers convinced its viewers that it was going to reveal a character as queer in order to up its viewership, but they know that it won't, then that's queerbait. But nobody watching the show in 1998-9 would have believed that the network was going to allow a canonically bi/lesbian lead on a teen fantasy drama. There was no one to trick. It was shocking enough when the next season had a supporting character develop a lesbian identity.

Besides, as OP notes, Buffy spends most of the season struggling with the fact that she and Angel will never have a normal romantic relationship. She has sex dreams about Angel, fantasizes about a prom date with Angel, nearly destroys her relationship with Giles by hiding Angel, and compares Angel breaking up with her to dying (and she would know). Even if the show aired today, it would come across as an unrequited crush on Faith's part, not as a potential canon pairing.

Submission message for Foot clan lieutenant and brute rise: arguably the foot clan lieutenant and brute

Submission message for Faith and Buffy: faith and buffy pleeeease

All propaganda was send in to me and is being kept in my inbox as a resource. All propaganda is shared by me, but not my own opinion.

Faith/Buffy is not queerbaiting. It has its own issues, but there was no teasing of them hooking up, Buffy was clearly infatuated with Angel at the time, and dealing with her own shit, and she's never shown any indication of being queer, and just... aaaghhh!

Sorry, I just personally feel like this doesn't count, and people are being mad about something that wasn't there.

Buffy and faith weren't queer baiting. Heavily queer coded (and canonically so! In the comic) but it's not like they dragged us out and then made fun of us for seeing it.