thatindianguy wrote:archaeologydalek wrote:Sorry, that was me. I accidentally bought a private jet on the company credit card.
And then D.O.B loved it so much no one had the heart to return it huh?
Hey I thought you were just a freelancer? How the hell did they let you use the card anyway?
Well they had to send
somebody. I mean, cocaine and hookers don't buy themselves.
(I jest, I jest)
In all seriousness, I haven't read this article. I don't intend to click on this article. Everything I've read in this thread combined with the title name and nature of the content makes it seem like it's pandering to the lowest common denominator by bringing in people solely to get a rise out of them, and I don't plan on being anyone's patsy and encouraging this type of content by making it profitable for them.
With all that said, I would like to put forth the disclaimer that my following statements are prone to fallacy as I'm working off of partial information, and if I say anything that is untrue or misinformed regarding this work, then please let me know and I will do my best to recant or edit any statements or ideas founded upon fallacies.Now that that's out of the way...
If my understanding of this article is correct, it's about that guy that wrote an article on being a hipster, and that Cracked is openly coming out and admitting that they paid him to troll us for the purpose of flame bait in order to generate discussion and garner new views, right?
If that above assumption is correct, then honestly... Well, this really doesn't evoke any outrage or vitriol from me. It doesn't make me want to rail against the site or the admins or other higher ups. It doesn't incentivize me to click on it to call them out, rage about why I'm upset that they would do this kind of thing. Maybe it's apathy after some of the other things that have occurred to members here on this site, maybe I've just become numb to it, but this doesn't really make me all that angry. It just makes me, well, kinda sad. It makes me want to distance myself, consider packing up and moving to new shores. I don't resent the site, I just feel like if this is the kind of view they're taking regarding their own fanbase, then maybe this is becoming a toxic relationship. I equate it a lot to the job I just ended. I don't despise either place for what it's become, even if it depresses me a little. I appreciate what they've given me (a way to put food on the table from one, a lot of great content from the other). I might still come back now and then to visit certain things I do still enjoy from both (friends I've made at work, columnists I still enjoy). But this environment is clearly starting to become a bit too hostile and unhealthy for my personal good and it's looking like it might be time for me to pull out.
The worst part is, if they've actively admitting to paying for flame bait, it retroactively makes someone question a
lot of the previous content on the site. A lot of the issues they've taken controversial or unpopular stands on start to look a whole lot less like they're drawing a line in the sand and a whole lot more like they're just taking the more inflammatory view for the sake of short term spikes in readership.
And you know what? That's unfair. That's unfair to the readers, treating them like they're just there to be used rather than putting effort into genuinely good content, and it's unfair to the writers, making people question what is and isn't flame bait, and having people that put forth controversial ideas that they genuinely believe in within their articles lumped in as trolls.
I'm not saying Cracked really owes us anything. We're just random people on the interwebz reading stuff for free with add revenue being used as a means to pay for their content on the pages we view. I get it. Most of us have never actually contributed to them, there are other groups to appeal to out there, they don't have to and should not be expected to cater to us. But this... This is just bad business in my opinion. Blatantly flaunting that the purpose behind some of your articles was to pay for inflammatory drivel to draw in anger and outrage as a means of generating clicks? That seems like a rather effective way to kill a good reputation, and reputations are not a thing easily recovered.
Like I said. I can't even really find it in me to be angry anymore, just kinda sad.