(This calls to mind another "CRACKED collapse" which occurred in 2000 with issue 342 (the last Globe issue.) Circulation plummeted by a third, and rumors of over 50,000 editions never leaving the warehouse abounded at the time.)
My take as CRACKED MAgazine publisher? I wanted to draw a cartoon showing a naked Sylvester wearing a barrel, but in fact, Sylvester had nothing to do with it. Anyone familiar with CRACKED magazine knows that site isn't even remotely similar to CRACKED as we know it. The classic CRACKED name was usurped and used to brand editorial content which could easily have appeared under another name of, let's say "Edsel."
Lacking any connection, there is not much I can say about this...or is there a connection? Read on.
On occasion, I'd visit that site (until my name was apparently removed from the mailing list), and while the headlines impressed me, the writing was too ponderous -- almost confusing. One story was laced with profanity, calling to mind another hard copy publication, "Onion," whose profanity-laced hard copy editions failed to move beyond four regional markets...and prior to its New York sale, tapped me as its front man in an attempt to sell it to American Media. (That's another story, however, back to the main subject...)
By no means did the current CRACKED incarnation measure up to its billing as "number one humor site", (or whatever they called it.) Also, I totally disagreed with the statement, issued during its April 2016 sale, that CRACKED dot com capitalized on "millions of CRACKED fans" accumulated since 1958. During our 2003-2004 comic con appearances around the country, vintage issues attracted little interest...if any. We did sell hundreds of current issues.
20 month swoon? As a national media pro and main player for the high circulation tabloid Weekly World News, I (and we staffers) were trained to sense success and failure as these occurred; we tracked sales and aimed our editions accordingly. Some subjects (especially "Predictions") always sold well (as "chestnuts". Another chestnut? "Onion & Garlic Cures...")
Scripps couldn't see this? I find that hard to believe. But then, I found that $39 million sale price equally hard to swallow. For a public company, this is inherently irresponsible. Or, like me earlier, they may have blindsided. I found it very odd that that sale occurred a mere six days after I applied for the "Abandoned" Cracked Magazine trademark.
I have attempted to communicate my concerns (and some bizarre anomalous occurrences at the time) to Scripps via a posting on my website way back then, to no avail. At that time, prominent trademark attorneys agreed with me as per the strange coincidences.
And now, I was recently advised by my server that a number of "malware" items have appeared on my website, hence my posting of my "statement" here.
I am investigating this, and may have to call in the FBI ... again.
For me, this major collapse presents more questions than answers...something I have become very familiar with during my CRACKED tenure. And as many folks are aware, I continue to regard CRACKED as "stolen property."
E. W. Scripps now appears to be more inept than I did, and I don't buy it.
Talk to me, Scripps.
#Crackedgate continues. "
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