# Has Cracked ever been humourous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835 "2017-02-14T18:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/61 "2017-02-15T17:31:35Z")
Does anyone have a good alternative? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/62 "2017-02-15T17:45:04Z")
It’s infotainment. I currently go there every week or two (or 3 …). Quickly go thru and read a bunch of listicles when I’m killing time. I avoid podcasts everywhere. Any article about gaming is a definite must miss. (And way too many photo contest type things have gaming references.) The articles from people who actually went thru weird stuff are generally quite good. Sometimes there’s some nice humor in there. Sometimes there isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/63 "2017-02-15T17:53:29Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Each of the major writers used to have his/her own humorous header with their name, a funny title, and funny cartoon (I can’t remember a specific one now [“Drinking with Gladstone” may have been close to one], and I did a Google image search and they all appear to be just _gone_). So they were trying to build up the personalities but for some reason dropped that. I’d forgotten all about that but, by Jove, you’re right. They used to each have a very distinctive banner with their name prominently displayed. Christina H’s was “Let Me Tell You About My Cats” with a cartoon image of her thrusting a cat at you, for example. So it’s even less weird that long-time readers would have associated the writers with their specific work. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/64 "2017-02-15T20:49:00Z")
It’s gone downhill, and Title Guy is awful, but there’s still good authors. Chris Bucholz is still the god of random insanity, especially his “So you’re…” guides. Zachary Frey and Adam Wears are two new-ish guys who write Old-Style Cracked™ type articles. They’re active in the comments section, too. Luis Prada is often good- he’s written some stupid preachy SJW stuff, but I find him funny more often than not. I think Kathy Benjamin’s done some good stuff, too. And of course, Seanbaby still occasionally descends from the heavens to grace us with his presence. So yeah, it’s not as good as it was, but it’s not dead yet. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/65 "2017-02-15T22:36:48Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Does anyone have a good alternative? I’ve thought about this. I haven’t come across another site like Cracked that I visit regularly, but recently I came to the realization that YouTube has become my replacement for the type of humor and listicles and whatnot that I used to enjoy there. I think a lot of that “action” has switched over to video. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/66 "2017-02-15T22:47:57Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I have participated in a number of Photoplasties, and even won a few prizes. They’re fun (to me anyway), and the time I spend on entries, I don’t consider to be wasted–my Photoshop skills have vastly improved since I began. That’s worth it–again, to me, anyway. And it’s a nice community in the Photoplasty/Macro part of the forums; people help each other out with what they’re trying to portray. I’ve received a lot of good advice there. … That was my experience, too: I learned a heck of a lot about Photoshop and benefited from Photoplasty/Macro sub-forum. (I feel sort of guilty, now, that I haven’t been there in so long). I won a couple of times (back when it was $50, this is. Then I got a couple of ‘Position of Honor’ placings—last place, which is the first entry viewers see. (Seriously, last place used to be called the Place of Honor by regulars.) I started counting the wins and realized no one was winning more than twice in a 12-month period. I realize that sounds pretty egotistical and in fact I was NOT all that masterful; I had a few good entries, is all. But I started to think about the number of hours in any given week I was devoting, not only to creating the pics, but to thinking up ideas—and decided it wasn’t smart to continue. My hat is off to all who persist (of course those many folks who are more skillful than I can probably do the work in a lot less time than I took.) > [@Smapti](#): > > And yet, IMO, the _quality_ of them has dropped off. It’s less actual Photoshop work these days, and more “here’s an unedited photo with a paragraph of text on top of it”, which more often than not is something that an old Cracked article already reported, or which an old Cracked article declared to be false. Very true–the old standards for Photoplasty just aren’t there, anymore. But maybe I wasn’t the only one looking at the number of hours it would take to submit several complexly-constructed entries each week. (I just did a search of my screenname there and of course those old contests, from roughly 2010 to 2012, are still up, along with my Hungadunga entries. Lots of work from lots of talented people, on those pages.) ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/67 "2017-02-15T23:46:51Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Care to explain? Heh. It was a “Gaudere’s Law” kind of thing – the juxtaposition of “this is accurate” with the reversed initials (“FJ” instead of “JF”) struck me as funny. Sorry, my post probably came across a lot snarkier than I intended. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/68 "2017-02-15T23:50:34Z")
Cracked had a short video series about monsters (a vampire, a werewolf, a witch, and a ghost) seeking representation from a talent agency. They were the funniest videos I’d seen on the site, and I wanted to post their links. But I can’t find them anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/69 "2017-02-16T01:16:44Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > Heh. It was a “Gaudere’s Law” kind of thing – the juxtaposition of “this is accurate” with the reversed initials (“FJ” instead of “JF”) struck me as funny. Sorry, my post probably came across a lot snarkier than I intended. Naw, I just couldn’t figger it out! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/70 "2017-02-16T03:57:15Z")
I forwarded a link to this thread to a very regular Cracked contributor, who, in distillation, said, “meh” and “I’m not going to join this debate because I’ll deliberately derail it and troll people”. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/71 "2017-02-16T05:14:09Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > I forwarded a link to this thread to a very regular Cracked contributor, who, in distillation, said, “meh” and “I’m not going to join this debate because I’ll deliberately derail it and troll people”. Cracked promptly posts an article “Five ways you’re trolling people, don’t realize it and are a horrible person for it.” All this said, I like Swaim, both Katies, DOB, Soren…sometimes Cody Johnston. I liked the girl whose name escapes me who left to join SNL for one season. I like Jack sometimes, the blonde guy with glasses who is nerdy, the guy who does the video game videos with Swaim. If any of these people are asses IRL…don’t care all that much. But I definitely get that a change has happened ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/72 "2017-02-16T07:09:55Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > All this said, I like Swaim, both Katies, DOB, Soren…sometimes Cody Johnston. I liked the girl whose name escapes me who left to join SNL for one season. Noel Wells. I looked that up out of curiosity, mind you. Not terribly surprised that a Cracked writer is “meh”. Cracked knows what gets clicks and they pay the writers that get them clicks so if less-than-funny articles about social justice or Five Depressing Things You Only Learn By Being a Dental Hygienist pay the bills then why would he care what some SDMB people think? ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/73 "2017-02-16T15:41:34Z")
I started reading Cracked in 2007 and it was gut-burstingly fun. It’s got too preachy, not funny enough, and repetitive. They still get a couple of good articles a week and “After Hours” and PCOD are great, but it’s been a couple fo years since I got the really good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/74 "2017-02-16T18:28:50Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I liked the girl whose name escapes me who left to join SNL for one season. Is that Christina H.? I loved her articles and she hasn’t been on that site in ages, I always wondered what happened to her… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/75 "2017-02-16T20:32:26Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Have not seen them lately, but it always seemed like a second-rate MAD knock-off. > > Wasn’t there a _third_ mag in that vein as well? Back in the print days it seemed that MAD magazine was marketed for middle school aged readers but read by elementary school readers who wanted to be cool. Cracked was marketed towards high school and read by middle school. National Lampoon was marketed for college but read by high school. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/76 "2017-02-16T21:11:37Z")
I went there today and didn’t see a humorous article, though I did read some of them. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/77 "2017-02-17T22:01:48Z")
When _Mad_ started to flourish, publisher Bill Gaines stuck pins in a voodoo doll representing each of the competing humor magazines that imitated _Mad._ As each one disappeared he removed its pin. According to writer Frank Jacobs in _The MAD World of William M. Gaines,_ it was probably the only religious rite that Gaines, an avowed atheist, ever observed. When Gaines died, _Cracked_’s pin was the only one left. Cracked had some risqué humor in its early years–sexy pictures of women like Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield (who, in one article, as “Jayne Womansfield,” drove interviewer Mike Wallace to distraction); and pictures such as a woman in a car in a parade tossing her underwear to the crowd; and an article about colleges…a triptik of pictures of cheerleaders went a little too far: in the middle shot the girls’ panties have fallen down around their knees, and in the third picture they have fallen off altogether (the girls are wearing those usual short pleated skirts); the girls have shocked expressions as they see the panties fall off and land on the ground! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/78 "2017-02-18T03:23:16Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Wow, that is a huge black mark against them in my book. Any site which can’t take a bit of ribbing is a site run by insecure assholes. That’s a bit unfair. There is a huge problem with trolling and assholes (look at the comments on any utube video!), and it’s can be very difficult to identify “a bit of ribbing” when it’s surrounded by thoughtless destructive sadistic jerks. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/79 "2017-02-18T20:56:55Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …for those that aren’t in the know: three years ago was the birth of goobergate. (Name changed to protect my sanity.) If you don’t know what goobergate is: well, read the cracked article on it. > > [5 Things I Learned as the Internet's Most Hated Person | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-i-learned-as-internets-most-hated-person/) > [7 Reasons "Gamergate" Proves Humanity is Doomed | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-ways-gamergate-debate-has-made-world-worse/) > > The goobers devastated many online communities. But many websites fought back: and decided they needed to take definitive stand on certain issues. Cracked was one of those sites. You can interpret that as Cracked becoming an “SJW attack blog” if you like: but I don’t interpret it in that way at all. Ah the gamergate boogeyman. The ultimate SJW excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835/80 "2017-02-19T08:03:34Z")
And now Cracked is just running advertising in lieu of articles with that VPN thing masquerading as “Three Products Designed To Hide Your Internet Use”. You’d think maybe it’s three silly and barely effective gadgets but, nope, just ads for three VPN services without even a “sponsored content” warning. It wasn’t even funny, either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-cracked-ever-been-humourous/779835.md?page=5)