Companies Circling The Drain: What about Chapter Elevenses?

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > Companies Circling The Drain: What about Chapter Elevenses?

«‹›628 »

DACK FAYDEN: Feb 25, 2013; Bear Witness

ElwoodCuse posted:

The Ringling Bros. Circus literally did go out of business, though. It's owned by the people who do Disney On Ice and Monster Jam and they shut it down because it was losing money.

Thankfully the Circus Museum is still open because that place is legit as gently caress. Highlights include "your ticket also lets you into the attached 'real' art museum for free", "enormous miniature-scale circus handmade by one man over forty years", and "John Ringling's refurbished private train car".

I probably sound like I'm being sarcastic but I'm not it's actually a super sweet museum and if you're ever in Sarasota you should go there.

# ? Dec 5, 2017 17:53

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 4, 2024 20:08

A Pinball Wizard: Mar 23, 2005; I know every trick, no freak's gonna beat my hands; College Slice

anonumos posted:

What's wrong with David Wong? I remember really enjoying "John Dies at the End" when it was posted in serial somewhere, then being ecstatic when the movie came out. I'll admit I don't really dig into the authors' and musicians' backgrounds on my own, so did he gently caress a famous idiot or something?

His articles are all the worst armchair pseudo-psychology bullshit. Like "I read the headline of a BuzzFeed article about a new study and decided to write an article about it" level.

Also JDATE doesn't hold up ten years later, sorry.

# ? Dec 5, 2017 18:20

Control Volume: Dec 31, 2008

value-brand cereal posted:

There is a well received niche for it, it's just that it's very apparent to the more serious tea drinkers that stores like Teavana and even David's Teas are the gimmicky overpriced stores for things like overpriced cast iron pots and 25 dollar glass cups and, oh yeah, stems with bits of fruit and artificial flavors. You want to spend 100+ usd on various dried leaves and such? You go to actual tea vendors who get it from the source and sell it as is, with information on where it's grown, when it's harvested, etc.

Yeah I have a bunch of tea stuff and I havent even set foot in a Teavana because there are local places that are cheaper, better, and more knowledgeable. Even their infuser is beaten out in price by adagio teas.

e: Also loose leaf tea is unpopular enough in the US that it almost requires researching, and the first thing research will tell you is that teavana is poo poo and to buy local or from a bunch of vetted tea sites.

Control Volume has a new favorite as of 18:25 on Dec 5, 2017

# ? Dec 5, 2017 18:22

Rockman Reserve: Oct 2, 2007; "Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

A Pinball Wizard posted:

His articles are all the worst armchair pseudo-psychology bullshit. Like "I read the headline of a BuzzFeed article about a new study and decided to write an article about it" level.

Also JDATE doesn't hold up ten years later, sorry.

There's two sequels to JDATE now, I haven't read the third one but the second one waffled between pretty good/interesting comedy/horror and weird almost-preachy nonsense. David Wong's success has made him weirdly aloof which is at odds with Cracked's entire brand of comedy.

Or, former brand, I guess.

# ? Dec 5, 2017 18:53

Fried Watermelon: Dec 29, 2008

# ? Dec 5, 2017 19:15

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

That�s a bummer about the Cracked staff being wiped out, it looks like they had no idea it was coming. I used to pitch articles to them a few years ago and the editors were decent sane folk, considering they had to communicate semi-professional formatting and sourcing requirements to a free-to-join message board community.

From my limited communication with David Wong he is an alright guy. I don't understand the appeal of John Dies at the End or why a white guy uses an Asian pseudonym, but his editorial feedback was good.

I dunno what's been going on at the site the last few years, I haven't kept up as trying to read half a paragraph without scrolling past a full page ad gets tiresome.

# ? Dec 5, 2017 20:20

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Aside from John Cheese, I'm gonna go ahead and say nothing of value was lost there, Wong and Cheese were the only good writers on the site (and honestly Wong kind of got a little annoying for aforementioned pseudo-psych reasons, but JDATE rules).

# ? Dec 5, 2017 21:20

Houle: Oct 21, 2010

I'm not too surprised. They went from "neat things you may not have known and cool ways that they link" to "this is why you are *phobic".

It's probably because of the competition and that people just steal content and spam them to each other's facebook wall

# ? Dec 5, 2017 21:27

Sir Lemming: Jan 27, 2009; It's a piece of JUNK!

Teavana is in that unhappy medium zone where there's a decent-sized, but not huge, niche for their product, but most of the people in that niche are the type to do a lot of research before they buy something, so they usually won't impulse buy it from a chain store in a mall. Coffee has a lot of those same attributes, but it's way more popular, so it evens out. (Possibly due to caffeine addiction.)

# ? Dec 5, 2017 22:04

pr0zac: Jan 18, 2004; ~*lukecagefan69*~; Pillbug

This thread has made me both embarrassed about the Costco green tea I drink as well as intrigued about what I'm apparently missing out on.

# ? Dec 5, 2017 22:31

Choco1980: Feb 22, 2013; I fell in love with a Video Nasty

It's kinda shocking that they seem to have fired like more than 75% of the "successful" portion of their video team (they have plenty of bad videos just as often), but Cracked is very recently I've noticed, gone waaaay downhill very fast. Like the past month half their articles on any given day are trying to sell you products, and they don't hide this even in the headlines. And a lot of the other articles have felt super low effort all of a sudden, where just like, the little reader based picto facts that have replaced their photoshop contests are the only things halfway interesting, and even then half the topics are completely individual opinion based. It's real sad, I've been a cracked reader for years and very recently there was some sort of big change and now they're going straight down the toilet bowl with zero hesitation.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 00:32

Control Volume: Dec 31, 2008

pr0zac posted:

This thread has made me both embarrassed about the Costco green tea I drink as well as intrigued about what I'm apparently missing out on.

If you have no clue about loose leaf tea it also probably means you put your green tea in boiling water and you should let the water cool off a bit before putting your green tea in. Those water coolers that also dispense hot water are almost the perfect temperature too

# ? Dec 6, 2017 00:47

ladron: Sep 15, 2007; eso es lo que es

Choco1980 posted:

It's kinda shocking that they seem to have fired like more than 75% of the "successful" portion of their video team (they have plenty of bad videos just as often), but Cracked is very recently I've noticed, gone waaaay downhill very fast. Like the past month half their articles on any given day are trying to sell you products, and they don't hide this even in the headlines. And a lot of the other articles have felt super low effort all of a sudden, where just like, the little reader based picto facts that have replaced their photoshop contests are the only things halfway interesting, and even then half the topics are completely individual opinion based. It's real sad, I've been a cracked reader for years and very recently there was some sort of big change and now they're going straight down the toilet bowl with zero hesitation.

same. wait until you notice the random amazon links in articles. kinda sad about this.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 01:02

Rockman Reserve: Oct 2, 2007; "Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

Choco1980 posted:

It's kinda shocking that they seem to have fired like more than 75% of the "successful" portion of their video team (they have plenty of bad videos just as often), but Cracked is very recently I've noticed, gone waaaay downhill very fast. Like the past month half their articles on any given day are trying to sell you products, and they don't hide this even in the headlines. And a lot of the other articles have felt super low effort all of a sudden, where just like, the little reader based picto facts that have replaced their photoshop contests are the only things halfway interesting, and even then half the topics are completely individual opinion based. It's real sad, I've been a cracked reader for years and very recently there was some sort of big change and now they're going straight down the toilet bowl with zero hesitation.

This isn't new to this month, back in February or so there was some lovely Daniel Dockery shillpiece that was inexplicably at the top of the article list for nearly a month that was super obviously paid for by some movie. It eventually did get a lil' "ADVERTISING" tag and start sliding down the front page, but it was really ludicrous for a while. Cracked really swung back and forth in quality a few times over the past decade or so, looking back.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 01:12

BIG FLUFFY DOG: Feb 16, 2011; On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

A Pinball Wizard posted:

Also JDATE doesn't hold up ten years later, sorry.

Even with the rise of Tindr I can't think of a better Jewish dating site.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 01:46

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

pr0zac posted:

This thread has made me both embarrassed about the Costco green tea I drink as well as intrigued about what I'm apparently missing out on.

Join us in the thread for that, my man. You'll be spending stupid amounts of money on leaves and other plant detritus in no time!

# ? Dec 6, 2017 02:32

Grumbletron 4000: Nov 30, 2002; Where you want it, bitch.; College Slice

Choco1980 posted:

It's kinda shocking that they seem to have fired like more than 75% of the "successful" portion of their video team (they have plenty of bad videos just as often), but Cracked is very recently I've noticed, gone waaaay downhill very fast. Like the past month half their articles on any given day are trying to sell you products, and they don't hide this even in the headlines. And a lot of the other articles have felt super low effort all of a sudden, where just like, the little reader based picto facts that have replaced their photoshop contests are the only things halfway interesting, and even then half the topics are completely individual opinion based. It's real sad, I've been a cracked reader for years and very recently there was some sort of big change and now they're going straight down the toilet bowl with zero hesitation.

That's pretty much what I was gonna post. Cracked lists were great for something quick to read while taking a poo poo or waiting at the Dr. The quality of the articles has been pretty lovely the last few months.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 05:07

ladron: Sep 15, 2007; eso es lo que es

Grumbletron 4000 posted:

That's pretty much what I was gonna post. Cracked lists were great for something quick to read while taking a poo poo or waiting at the Dr. The quality of the articles has been pretty lovely the last few months.

this right here. everyone busted on it like "hurr hurr you read cracked top ten ways you suck hahaha" but it was good internet popcorn to kill time and updated every day and entertaining.

just noticed I kept using the past tense....

# ? Dec 6, 2017 05:36

JB50: Feb 13, 2008

Grumbletron 4000 posted:

That's pretty much what I was gonna post. Cracked lists were great for something quick to read while taking a poo poo or waiting at the Dr. The quality of the articles has been pretty lovely the last few months.

It was alright until about 2 years ago when every list was "10 reasons you as a white male should feel bad" or "5 reasons women will save the world"

# ? Dec 6, 2017 06:16

Last Chance: Dec 31, 2004

There are only so many lists that can exist... right ...right???

# ? Dec 6, 2017 06:50

Haifisch: Nov 13, 2010; Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!; Taco Defender

Last Chance posted:

There are only so many lists that can exist... right ...right???

Wikipedia would like to have a word with you.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 06:59

Sic Semper Goon: Mar 1, 2015; Eu tu?; Switchblade Switcharoo

JB50 posted:

It was alright until about 2 years ago when every list was "10 reasons you as a white male should feel bad" or "5 reasons women will save the world"

Maybe they hired D&D posters to write articles then.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 08:35

rndmnmbr: Jul 3, 2012

Actually, you can kinda put together what's going on at Cracked. A little over a year and a half ago, the old owners of the site sold it out of the blue to E.W. Scripps Co (like maybe it wasn't making any money). A little over a year after that, the site founder, Jack O'Brien quits to go make comedy for HowStuffWorks (almost like a year after buying the site, the new owner says "You're not making enough money to be worth the $40 millon we paid for you" and after chewing on it for two more months no one can figure out how to turn a massive profit on the site and O'Brien pulled an escape cord before the axe fell). Then six months of blatant advertising as the new chief editor David Wong runs the site (mad scrambling to make some money so they don't all get the axe). Then, six months to the dot later, half the staff gets fired. And I'm sure it was the expensive half. (The axe falls.)

So yeah, it looks a lot like a company was sold what they thought was a cash cow, except it turned out to be a money sink instead and now they're threatening to turn that cash cow into steaks if it doesn't make itself worth the buying price in a hurry.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 08:38

Rough Lobster: May 27, 2009; Don't be such a squid, bro

I don't like David Wong AT ALL, but I really like Jason Pargin. Hope he's still got a job.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 10:25

Neon Noodle: Nov 11, 2016; there's nothing wrong here in montana

Last Chance posted:

There are only so many lists that can exist... right ...right???

ℵ Reasons Why Math is Weird AF

# ? Dec 6, 2017 14:26

Zesty: Jan 17, 2012; The Great Twist

I heard David Wong on podcasts and he seemed pretty good to me. :shrug:

# ? Dec 6, 2017 14:33

Krispy Wafer: Jul 26, 2002; I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat; Grimey Drawer

rndmnmbr posted:

Actually, you can kinda put together what's going on at Cracked. A little over a year and a half ago, the old owners of the site sold it out of the blue to E.W. Scripps Co (like maybe it wasn't making any money). A little over a year after that, the site founder, Jack O'Brien quits to go make comedy for HowStuffWorks (almost like a year after buying the site, the new owner says "You're not making enough money to be worth the $40 millon we paid for you" and after chewing on it for two more months no one can figure out how to turn a massive profit on the site and O'Brien pulled an escape cord before the axe fell). Then six months of blatant advertising as the new chief editor David Wong runs the site (mad scrambling to make some money so they don't all get the axe). Then, six months to the dot later, half the staff gets fired. And I'm sure it was the expensive half. (The axe falls.)

So yeah, it looks a lot like a company was sold what they thought was a cash cow, except it turned out to be a money sink instead and now they're threatening to turn that cash cow into steaks if it doesn't make itself worth the buying price in a hurry.

Maybe it's one of those things where a big company thinks they need a content generator and thought Cracked was it. Perhaps they envisioned Cracked producing humorous articles across their other media properties.

I find it mildly humorous that all these big corporations want to make content and no one has figured out there just isn't a lot of money in media content. Broadcast and maybe top tier cable channels do it because they have enough viewers, but Yahoo was never going to make money creating it's own shows and neither will Spotify, Facebook, or Snapchat.

It's starting to become a hierarchy where network shows get the awesome full craft service, pay cable has cold cuts, basic cable receives bagged lunches, and web content gets a Subway coupon.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 17:37

pokemon: Dec 1, 2017; by Smythe

i will advertise in my posts for any company that can pay

# ? Dec 6, 2017 21:11

New Butt Order: Jun 20, 2017

Krispy Wafer posted:

Maybe it's one of those things where a big company thinks they need a content generator and thought Cracked was it. Perhaps they envisioned Cracked producing humorous articles across their other media properties.

I find it mildly humorous that all these big corporations want to make content and no one has figured out there just isn't a lot of money in media content. Broadcast and maybe top tier cable channels do it because they have enough viewers, but Yahoo was never going to make money creating it's own shows and neither will Spotify, Facebook, or Snapchat.

It's starting to become a hierarchy where network shows get the awesome full craft service, pay cable has cold cuts, basic cable receives bagged lunches, and web content gets a Subway coupon.

The internet is really good at producing things that are incredibly popular but also don't really have any capacity for making money, which I think throws off a lot of companies. IIRC Youtube is only just now barely managing to break even and "make a popular web product, and get it bought by Facebook before your investor money runs out" is an entire industry unto itself.

# ? Dec 6, 2017 22:40

Haifisch: Nov 13, 2010; Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!; Taco Defender

New Butt Order posted:

The internet is really good at producing things that are incredibly popular but also don't really have any capacity for making money, which I think throws off a lot of companies.

See also: Basically every social media site.

Turns out it's hard to monetize people posting things at each other without drowing them in so many ads and "buy Premium to get poo poo most people don't need/basic features we're holding hostage" nags that they leave for the next up-and-coming site. Unless you're Facebook and can just sell everyone's data linked to a real-world identity.

But that never stops the Reddits and Twitters of the world from looking at their finances and going "we have so many users, where's the money? :confused:

Haifisch has a new favorite as of 09:29 on Dec 7, 2017

# ? Dec 7, 2017 09:25

ryonguy: Jun 27, 2013

It's almost like the internet is designed to be an information hub for the public and not a money generation device.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 16:58

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

Haifisch posted:

Unless you're Facebook and can just sell everyone's data linked to a real-world identity.

It�s interesting to look at Facebook�s 10-Qs and see how much money they make from selling data.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 17:01

Yawgmoth: Sep 10, 2003; This post is cursed!

ryonguy posted:

It's almost like the internet is designed to be an information hub for the public and not a money generation device.

If it doesn't make money then it is a bad thing and should be destroyed! :capitalism:

# ? Dec 7, 2017 17:24

Iron Crowned: May 6, 2003; by Hand Knit

Yawgmoth posted:

If it doesn't make money then it is a bad thing and should be destroyed!

At this point, I would be very content with the destruction of the internet.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 17:28

tactlessbastard: Feb 4, 2001; Godspeed, post; Fun Shoe

Iron Crowned posted:

At this point, I would be very content with the destruction of the internet.

Prepare to be satisfied, then

# ? Dec 7, 2017 17:35

Burt Sexual: Jan 26, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Switchblade Switcharoo

I just tried ordering the MacBook from BestBuy.com and in store pick up (avoiding porch pirating) and their website wouldn't let me check out in either Chrome or IE. laffo best buy

# ? Dec 7, 2017 17:38

Haifisch: Nov 13, 2010; Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!; Taco Defender

Burt Sexual posted:

I just tried ordering the MacBook from BestBuy.com and in store pick up (avoiding porch pirating) and their website wouldn't let me check out in either Chrome or IE. laffo best buy

I'm having flashbacks to mid-00s sites forcing you to use Firefox if you wanted to see them.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 18:46

Iron Crowned: May 6, 2003; by Hand Knit

Haifisch posted:

I'm having flashbacks to mid-00s sites forcing you to use Firefox if you wanted to see them.

I'm having flashbacks to 1996 when sites suggested you use Netscape Navigator if you wanted to see them properly.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 18:51

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

Iron Crowned posted:

I'm having flashbacks to 1996 when sites suggested you use Netscape Navigator if you wanted to see them properly.

We worked hard for that lock-in!

# ? Dec 7, 2017 18:57

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 4, 2024 20:08

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; THE HATE CRIME DEFENDER HAS LOGGED ON

God, I'm having flashbacks to having only a set number of hours of internet time from our net provider and then having to use the glitchy ad filled NEt Zero to look at porn for an additional 10 hours of free internet a month.

Ah, being a kid in the 90s.

We also had a second dedicated phone line for internet, so that we could use the phone at the same time too.

# ? Dec 7, 2017 19:29

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > Companies Circling The Drain: What about Chapter Elevenses?

«‹›628 »