6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Our thoughts about the famous Cracked.com.

Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby archaeologydalek » Wed May 27, 2015 3:46 pm

REDACTED
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Last edited by archaeologydalek on Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby Crimson847 » Wed May 27, 2015 3:46 pm

As soon as I saw the title of this thread I was like "oh, did McKinney write a new article?", because I'm kind of petty.

Anyway, this is sounding like something I'd rather not read without an archive link.
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"If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them; but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby AdricDePsycho » Wed May 27, 2015 3:52 pm

Does anyone get the feeling that Cracked sold out a year or two ago? Because...this is that straw that broke the camel's back for me. I could handle some of their worst articles, but this is too much. I could take their clickbait, because it made for witty comments. But with this article, not even Darkstolm's Scooby-Doo joke could fix it for me. This article made me disappointed at how the mighty have fallen. They want clicks more than they want quality.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby iMURDAu » Wed May 27, 2015 4:06 pm

Adric why do you keep going there?
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“This is going to become a bad meme,” Todd observed.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby AdricDePsycho » Wed May 27, 2015 4:07 pm

I've been thinking about that, Murdau. I mean, they sold out, but they still get the occasional good article by Zachary Frey. I read anything ArchaelogyDalek writes, too, plus a few non-columnist authors that post on an infrequent basis. I know you don't go there anymore, so I might need to follow your example and stop going onto the site, but if it's an author that I do like, I'm gonna read it. Just because they sold out doesn't mean they're 100% terrible, but I am massively disappointed that they decided to publish something like this.

I'll probably just use that archive thing I've heard a couple people talking about. No clicks, still get to read it if I like it. I'm not gonna cut the website off completely, but I will find a way to read what I feel like reading from them without giving them any clicks.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby LegionofShrooms » Wed May 27, 2015 4:49 pm

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.
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Last edited by LegionofShrooms on Wed May 27, 2015 6:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby AdricDePsycho » Wed May 27, 2015 4:58 pm

Shrooms, you hit the nail on the head there.

But now I'm questioning what is real. Is Swaim really a cyborg? Does DOB really like Spider-Man? Is Soren really that hot?

Am I a figment of Alec Baldwin's imagination?
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby aBagofYoughurt » Wed May 27, 2015 5:08 pm

I'm just disappointed that the title made me think this would be an interesting insider's perspective article about an internet troll, but instead it was just the article equivalent of "lulz umad bruh?"
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby AdricDePsycho » Wed May 27, 2015 5:11 pm

aBagofYoughurt wrote:I'm just disappointed that the title made me think this would be an interesting insider's perspective article about an internet troll, but instead it was just the article equivalent of "lulz umad bruh?"

You aren't alone. Most of the people on the article's comments felt the same way.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby Tesseracts » Wed May 27, 2015 5:14 pm

I don't know what you and your friends were like in high school and college, but mine were constantly cutting up and busting balls. We fucked with each other unmercifully. So in addition to being a huge dick by nature (guilty) and growing up in a place where everyone is kind of a dick (New England), I also had to hold my own against some of the biggest jackoffs of their generation. Truth told, being a dick is one of the few things I'm good at. And if you know anything about economics, you know that society benefits most from people doing what they do best. You keep making my lattes, and I'll keep being a jerk on the Internet and wearing outfits that cost more than your car.

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Remember, it's your fault Clickhole didn't win.

Yes, I mean it's your fault, specifically. You, the one reading this. You're terrible.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby Tuli » Wed May 27, 2015 5:21 pm

I don't think it's a great idea for a website to openly advertise the contempt they have for their readership, but what do I know. I always thought of Cracked as a step above Buzzfeed and ilk, guess I've been proven wrong now.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby Tesseracts » Wed May 27, 2015 5:41 pm

The worst thing about this is, being a dick is actually hilarious. But only if it's, you know, actually funny.

I know I keep constantly shilling Clickhole as if they pay me to do it (they don't, but they should), but there's a reason I do. They are the absolute masters at being dicks.

Or to use a more familiar example, here.

Actually, I can even use examples from Cracked. See, you can be critical and funny, at the same time. Humor is supposed to bring joy, it's not supposed to make me want to stab myself in the skull until I die.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby thatindianguy » Wed May 27, 2015 5:59 pm

Someone on PWOT (yeah i went there 'shudder') said that they'd prefer it if Cracked just put up a link to a blank page that said 'Please click here so we could have money'.

I'm inclined to agree.
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Wed May 27, 2015 6:02 pm

So, should I whore the site out again, or.....?
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Re: 6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online

Postby thatindianguy » Wed May 27, 2015 6:04 pm

Yes Eric, bring out your pimping hat.
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