Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Our thoughts about the famous Cracked.com.

Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby IamNotCreepy » Sat Oct 21, 2017 3:47 am

Marcuse wrote:Checking the amazon page the first link sends me to, there's nothing on there to say Cracked is getting a kickback, but then I don't know why else Cracked would be linking to many Amazon pages on one of their articles unless they were getting paid for it?


When you click the links, the urls clearly show the page being tracked as having come from Cracked. I saw one comment that brought this up, but it didn't have any upvotes. Just goes to show have far they have fallen. The comment section there is garbage now.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby DamianaRaven » Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:55 am

IamNotCreepy wrote:The comment section there is garbage now.


Yeah, putting price tags on something the rest of the internet is giving away for free does tend to land one's product in the garbage can. Frankly, I think it would have been FAR more dignified and professional of them to just say "fuck the comments."
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby 52xMax » Tue Oct 24, 2017 5:14 am

The worst part about those affiliate links (other than the possible illegality, that is) is that they really don't get much money from them, if any at all. Firstly, because most people know better than to click on them. Secondly, you have to clear any cookies if you have seen any Amazon items in like 24 hours, and you have to complete the purchase from that specific link, which means people have to log into their Amazon accounts, which is usually not what most cracked readers do given that a lot of people read articles at work, or from their phones.

In other words, in order for cracked to get money (a very minimal commission) from any purchases, there has to be intent on the part of its users, which requires goodwill they're not going to get if they try to pull these sorts of stunts on top of all the other shit they're doing.

I'll keep giving those kickbacks to better causes using the smile program anyway.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby blehblah » Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:23 pm

Interesting how the article had amzn links all over.

http://www.appstorechronicle.com/use-am ... -shortener

If you want the fully-gassed version, here you go: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/he ... /202049370

The article wasn't sponsored. By including those links, instead of links to something like IMdB, Cracked will earn something for each click.

It is obvious that Cracked is in a cost-to-earnings crunch. I'm not as 'in-the-know' as various authors who have posted here, and I have nothing to do with Cracked.

From my outside view, I understand that Cracked had a change of ownership a little bit ago, and the chief editor (and founder) moved-on. As part of the transition, or a continuation of existing strategy, there was a push toward more video content. Some relatively high production-value stuff appeared. That costs money... and may explain some changes.

The pay-to-vote idea seems to have been delivered around the beginning of the fourth, or end of the third, quarter for most businesses. That's when great ideas come-home to the financial roost. When the money-making ideas which looked great in Q1 and Q2 are slumping, when judged against revenue expectations (not comedic, or whatever...) it's time to get creative.

If you want a look at who owns Cracked, here ya go: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ssp?ltr=1

And... https://www.thestreet.com/story/1437887 ... yptr=yahoo

Shares of E. W. Scripps are lower year-to-date more than 25%.


Scripps seems like an odd fit... but who would be the ideal owner of Cracked? Who could make money from the site?

I don't have knowledge of the business model of Cracked, let alone the inner-workings. From where I am, it may have been a bit more elegant to fit something like "before you thumb, here is an add", rather than a pay-to-play system for comments, but I'm not sitting in the hot seat at Cracked.

For my part, I scan Cracked every so often, and I used to enjoy the opinions in the comments. Once in a rare while, I would also comment. I figured it added to the spirit of being part of the site. Now, the self-sorting of the comments is no more. Buy yourself four accounts and up-vote your rant to the top. It's not an idea which will work in the short-term, but, who knows? In a strange way, they are betting on the commitment of the folks who habitually comment. Maybe it will stir the comment pot and create a very different community. I have no idea (but I have a guess) of the outcome.

Sincerely, I hope the site survives somewhat intact. It is difficult to generate revenue as a stand-alone based on original content; difficult to the point that it's very-near impossible to balance the cost of content against revenue. Good, and original, content takes effort... a lot of stinking effort.

Good luck, Cracked.com.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby BinaryStep » Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:18 pm

So uh... is it just me, or does the subscription thing just not exist anymore?

Still can't vote on comments tho.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby Pedgerow » Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:20 pm

I'm probably looking in all the places you've just looked, but that seems to be correct. I know people lost faith in the subscription model after Cracked took people's money and fired their favourite writers anyway, and refunds were offered, but I didn't think they'd just give up on it.

In this thread, David Wong says:
If you are a subscriber and have a question/problem about your subscription, or want a refund [you should email]:

mysubscription@cracked.com


So I guess you could always email them and say you're really, really desperate to subscribe, and really, really want to give Cracked money to vote on comments, and see what they say. But if you're lying, then that's probably really mean. One of their technical support guys did once respond to an email I sent about a month ago, though, so I imagine a handful of people do still work there.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby NathanLoiselle » Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:17 am

I bet they're all laughing because 'mysubscription@cracked.com' doesn't exist.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby Pedgerow » Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:31 pm

BinaryStep wrote:So uh... is it just me, or does the subscription thing just not exist anymore?

Still can't vote on comments tho.


We can vote on comments again! Someone must have seen your post. Or, alternatively, it's yet another bug in the comments system. But I'd prefer to think that you have personally rescued us all from the comment-vote ransom.
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Re: Cracked now requires a subscription to vote on comments

Postby JamishT » Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:22 am

Pedgerow wrote:
BinaryStep wrote:So uh... is it just me, or does the subscription thing just not exist anymore?

Still can't vote on comments tho.


We can vote on comments again! Someone must have seen your post. Or, alternatively, it's yet another bug in the comments system. But I'd prefer to think that you have personally rescued us all from the comment-vote ransom.


Ericho will never get top comment again!
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