More on the Facebook aspect, in this case, from The Chive.
http://thechive.com/2017/10/25/how-face ... 10-photos/I'll echo JamishT's thoughts - I don't think Facebook is the entire problem, but it's certainly not helping. I'll also expand the general sentiment; this isn't a problem that is specific to comedy sites. News outfits have been getting stomped for quite some time, and not just because people don't buy physical newspapers anymore. Original content - what we think of as real news; the investigative stuff or a person watching bombs drop in the Middle East while actually being in the Middle East - costs a shit-ton of money to produce. Hell, think about musicians and porn stars. Monetizing original content on the Internet is incredibly difficult.
I don't have answers, and the whole thing saddens me. I like shiny, new, stuff to read. Whether it makes me laugh, or informs me, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Instead, I'm fed a steady diet of bloviation, opinion, and "according to reports" reports about reporting on reports.
Then again, I am that Internet hipster who doesn't have a Facebook account, runs Ad Block and Ghostery, and dials-up the same web pages over and over again. Unfortunately, while one could say I'm loyal to certain sites, I am absolutely worthless as a source of revenue. I spend money on Netflix, Crave TV (it's a Canadian thing), and Amazon Prime, yet I won't open my wallet wide enough to spend a dime on cable.
Hell, while I'm owning-up to my level of Internet-citizen indecency, I regularly use Incognito windows to read news content which I should be paying for.
So, what do I want? I want original content. Comedy, news, you name it. I want informed content. I want to be told things I don't know, and I want to know them before everyone else - whether it's about politicians, world events, or the latest joke about politicians ham-fisting their way through world events - because I'm special and unique, BUT, I don't want to pay for it.
Ugh... I disgust me, with my freeloading ways and whatnot, yet I have to live with me, so, here I be.
The Internet has a problem. The problem isn't entirely Facebook, or Google, or Microsoft (they still matter, a lot). The problem is us. The Internet flings ones and zeros about with no recognition of the significance, because it was designed that way (Net Neutrality Alert!). Sharing, re-sharing, algorithmic anticipation of preferred silos, and above all, ad revenue, are symptoms. The ultimate problem is that I am not willing to pay the creator of something for a something which I can get free elsewhere.
It hurts to say it, but like some of the best medicine, the hurt means it's true. I probably killed a few canaries with one metaphorical chunk of coal, but the gist stands.
So, folks - let's stop pretending Cracked committed suicide. If you are reading this thread, there's a rather high probability that you read shit on Cracked. We all knew the people behind it needed to earn a paycheque. Who, I ask you, did you think was going to provide said paycheque? Random masses of Interneters who click on adds for shits and giggles? Boatloads of rabid commenters who were willing to pay to click on a thumb? An audience to which we are somehow exceptional?
I am purposely being aggravating, but there is a nugget in this. Toward the end, Cracked basically said, "Audience, we need to pay the people who create our content," and it was slammed. I ask myself, were there a button to choose to pay $5 to watch the latest episode of After Hours or watch it for free, which would I have clicked? Were it a live, in-person show, I believe most people here on TCS would gladly pay for a ticket to watch the cast banter about pop culture, but online, we didn't, and we won't.
Cracked is going through changes because the financials didn't add-up. They are not the only site getting hammered (and not in the happy, alcohol-induced way). We can agree or disagree with the editorial direction, but the reality of accounting stands - they weren't making money. They tried to tweak things, because doing the same thing while losing money is a great way to keep losing money. They dropped a large investment on a hail-mary video content play (which I thought created very high-quality content). All the while, they were also putting a bunch of money into the real-life stuff. Money after money.
Alienating an audience who isn't providing revenue is a whole lot of "meh", folks. Face it. Own it. Many of us were that audience.
Safe harbour statement - I am not, nor have I ever been, affiliated with Cracked or any entity related to Cracked. I'm just some jackass on TCS. I know nothing, and am not Jon Snow.
A quantum state of signature may or may not be here... you just ruined it.