Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby Marcuse » Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:03 pm

I mean, when they say "content" they mean articles. I get that they would set that as a rule, because gating off the actual articles would probably murder their casual userbase and it's not something even they would think might work. Comments are, for better or worse, not the primary content of the site.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby thedogknows » Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:36 pm

Taluun wrote:
thedogknows wrote:A couple months ago I tried to pitch an article about crazy stories from the history of math, and the feedback they gave me was simply that people probably wouldn't click on an article about math.


I want an article about math!


Thanks for the enthusiasm! Maybe I'll post it here if I ever have enough free time to clean it up.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby 52xMax » Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:59 am

Marcuse wrote:
where every major news organization has a paywall now
monetise the commenting community which the site management has consistently denigrated and attacked.


Except that almost every paywall method those media outlets have tried has failed, and desperate move as it is it has never been and will never be sustainable. It's a vestige from the old days of newspapers, when journalism was in decline and anyone published sensationalist headlines which were often complete fabrications, so the few publications with a real commitment to news would opt for having a strong base as not to rely on street sales and in turn they'd try to actually do the job they were always supposed to do. That doesn't sound like any online rag I know, certainly not Cracked, who have taken the opposite approach and become increasingly more click-baity with their article titles, their pandering to "social justice", "diversity", etc, but even worse than that trying to become buzzfeed but worse with bullshit practices like making you click through 50 pages for a photoplasty contest, and even for regular articles.

Also, what you guys have been saying. Cracked has really gone out of their way to single out and mistreat the comment section community, and now they are expecting that same community, which is to say, the few who for some reason have not entirely given up yet for some reason, to be the ones to bail them out?

Either Wong et al are really disconnected from reality, or they already know this is a failing strategy and are going for it anyway because they can't even have some dignity in their final hours.

thedogknows wrote:
I want an article about math!
Thanks for the enthusiasm! Maybe I'll post it here if I ever have enough free time to clean it up.

Once we get the articles flowing again, it'd be really awesome to have more collaborators and recurring authors article writing people. The pay is non-existent, but in its stead you'll get tons of positive feedback such as this:

Crimson847 wrote:...going down harder and faster than Bert's mom at a naval base.

which is almost even better.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby A Combustible Lemon » Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:28 pm

Cracked is trying to look like one of the good, non-exploitative websites who only ever used ads to pay writers and server costs and nothing else.

Which is just straight up bonkers. Wong has actively claimed for a decade now that watching any ads they shove down our throats is our moral imperative, as if ad monetization isn't literally a gamble in a volume game WHERE THE PEOPLE WHO ADBLOCK AND IGNORE ARE ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR . This is combined with their full page ads, their annoying banner ads, multiple ads that play sound, that time six years ago the tacky as fuck Resident Evil ad covered the entire back of the page.

Basically, they're not victims of other sites being bad and therefore ad revenue going down. They're the reason other sites' ad revenues are going down.

And of course, before the FTC clarified directly and in no uncertain terms that un-disclaimed advertorials were indeed illegal, who did we find writing a spatula ad as a comedy article? But sure cracked, keep pretending you have the moral high ground over adblockers while making the rest of the free internet make less money.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby LegionofShrooms » Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:57 am

Well, it's been a long time since I've been on this site and I've only been on Cracked on occasion these last several months, but I suppose I'll throw in my two cents.

At this point I'm not even angry. I'm just kind of... I don't know, tired of it all I guess. Cracked has become that old friend that you used to really get on with and even now and then still enjoy their company, but they just keep doing things that disappoint you over and over again.

As Marcuse and a few others have pointed out, this wouldn't seem like such an issue if it didn't seem pointedly aimed at the commenting community; a community that Wong has long made clear he has an established hatred for, despite-or perhaps because of-the many times that they have been one of the best parts of a given article on Cracked. Clearly the treatment of the comment section on Cracked is an issue. This very site's existence can attest to that.

Add to that the overall decline in article quality and the (not entirely unrelated) increasingly frequent use of them for many of the remaining authors to ram their political and social views down our throats and it's just hard to find much left in my heart for a site that used to be an integral part of my day. A few years ago I might have paid for this site, but not today.

I'm sorry Mr Wong. You've made your bed. I'm afraid now you must lie in it. I feel bad for what talented authors you have left, and can only hope they thrive elsewhere in the event this site does in fact go under.
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Last edited by LegionofShrooms on Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby BinaryStep » Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:58 am

Welp. Cracked is just trying its best to die, isn't it.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby sunglasses » Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:32 pm

Wonkette, a site I dearly love for their snark, has a bazillion ads and even state "don't want your browser to crash as much, subscribe." But the only penalty for not subscribing is a shit ton of ads. You can still comment, vote on comments, etc.

So, idk. I'm sad to see this occur but I'm just...idk.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby DamianaRaven » Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:26 pm

*blurts out a spew of pedantry*
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Last edited by DamianaRaven on Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby LegionofShrooms » Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:39 pm

DamianaRaven wrote:
LegionofShrooms wrote:I'm afraid now you must lay in it.


Lie. "Lay" is a transitive verb, meaning it needs an object. (Sorry, that's just a thing I have to do sometimes.)


No need for an apology. We all have our pet peeves.

I've edited accordingly.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby DamianaRaven » Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:50 pm

As have I! ;)
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby Nikkict » Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:25 pm

What I wonder is, since they hate the comment section and the commenters so much, why don't they just do away with it? They sure bitch about it enough!
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby DamianaRaven » Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:43 pm

Because they know they'd lose about 25% of their readership right off the bat... and even more in terms of repeat traffic. They need the comments to supplement their site and instead of appreciating those who provide them with FREE FUCKING CONTENT to entertain their readers, they jealously resent the attention and accolades enjoyed by top commentators.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby DoglovingJim » Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:07 am

And so, I made one of my final comments on Cracked in that article 4 creepy things that secretly control your personality. For all intents and purposes it was more like a final angry rant, felt I needed to write something though to make our break-up official.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby JamishT » Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:51 am

DoglovingJim wrote:And so, I made one of my final comments on Cracked in that article 4 creepy things that secretly control your personality. For all intents and purposes it was more like a final angry rant, felt I needed to write something though to make our break-up official.


I had to dig to find it, but dang, DogMan, you went in on them!

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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:55 am

I guess you could say......... the dog bit back

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