History YMMV / Cracked

** The final entry in the "[[http://www.cracked.com/article_20413_5-heartwarming-stories-to-restore-your-faith-in-celebrities_p2.html 5 Heartwarming Stories to Restore Your Faith in Celebrities]]" article from 2013 is basically just gushing about what an all-round nice and decent guy Johnny Depp is. In 2016, during divorce proceedings from his wife Amber Heard, Heard alleged that Depp was frequently physically abusive towards her and posted pictures on the Internet that purported to be the injuries she'd sustained in a beating he'd delivered to her. .

* SnarkBait: Many of the more recent political articles have fallen into this, ''especially'' the ones that try to point out how your favorite works are racist or sexist or homophobic.

* HarsherInHindsight: Take a look at the main page image. Back in 1975, that could easily be PlayedForLaughs (and was indeed a dig at the then-current big-budget disaster movie ''Film/{{Earthquake}}''). After 9/11? Try looking at the plane hitting what looks like the WTC, complete with the all-too familiar ring of smoke and fire around the tower's midsection, without cringing.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Cracked got in hot water with its fans over [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-society-sexist-against-men-and-how-we-can-fix-it/ 5 Ways Society Is Sexist Against Men (and How We Can Fix It)]], which outright ''made fun'' of male abuse victims and male soldiers and employees who die in their professions, and has in general been accused of taking a StrawFeminist stance on gender politics.[[labelnote:*]]It was ''supposed'' to be making a point about how the goals of [=MRAs=] actually line up with the goals of modern feminism, but the sarcasm and disdain for the misogynistic types who also use the title obfuscates it.[[/labelnote]] Three months later they published [[http://www.cracked.com/article_21884_5-awful-realities-being-man-who-was-raped-by-woman.html 5 Bizarre Realities of Being a Man Who Was Raped by a Woman]], which treats DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale as a serious issue without a hint of sarcasm. No matter who you are, being raped is awful, and playing MiseryPoker doesn't help anyone. Many readers were pleased.

** On February 8th 2020 Cracked published a pictofacts article about [[https://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-1557-celebrity-relatives-who-should-be-famous/ Celebrity Relatives Who Should Be Famous]]. One of the entries was about [[Creator/BradPitt Brad Pitt's]] brother Doug, who works with a non-profit to bring clean water to people in East Africa, and was named Goodwill Ambassador for Tanzania "..which is objectively a much more important accomplishment than winning an [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] for acting. Not that his brother would know what that's like, either." The next day Creator/BradPitt won the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Academy Award]] for playing Cliff Booth in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood''.

* EarWorm: [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18405_sex-as-understood-by-adolescent-boys.html "Sex as Understood by Adolescent Boys"]]
-->''We're gonna have some fun tonight, 'cause you can touch my boobies!''\\
''Don't be shy, yeah, it's alright! 'Cause you can touch my boobies!''

** 2019 saw them remove the comment section entirely from most inherently controversial articles. This new "no backtalk" policy did not go over well with a readership that thrives on backtalk.

** On the flip side to the above point, the site hosted a Photoshop Contest on March 2008 where the theme was ''Things that Should Never Be Adapted To Film'', one [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonicphotoentry.jpg entry]] created by S. Peter Davis got 3rd place showing a live-action Sonic with Mike Myers which dips into the UncannyValley. Eleven years later and ''Film/{{SonicTheHedgehog2019}}'' came about featuring an off-looking CGI Sonic in a live-action setting.

** Swaim's [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-words-you-cant-say-on-the-internet-without-starting-a-flame-war/ 7 Words You Can't Say On The Internet]] video, which includes him doubting that a lot of Scientologist figureheads are lurking in 4Chan threads. And then Anonymous declared war on Scientology...

** On December 22, 2008, Cracked wrote an article about [[http://www.cracked.com/article_16870_the-20-most-ridiculous-batman-comics-ever-released.html the 20 Most Ridiculous Batman Comics Ever Released]], a few of which included Bat-Mite and the Rainbow Batman, the latter of which the site claims is "what happens when ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' is written by Liberace." Later, however, all of these are included in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (though Rainbow Batman was not included until the 2010 AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'').

** The Photoplasty contest, an old tradition of the site, as of late 2012 or so. The main reason for the divide is an increasingly large number of the contests being 'true fact' style contests that amount to posting some fact over a picture. Themes tend to run either into the pop culture spectrum (little known facts about movies or music) or shocking facts like statistics on corporations or social justice issues. Some people at first were divisive in that they prefered the contests made in its original style, that is, doing an humorous photoshop of a picture; but due to the information from the 'true fact' contests being genuinely informative, that reaction died down rather quickly. A significantly more divisive issue later arose when the fact-based ones started to feature facts that had already been mentioned previously in Cracked articles. A common comment in these contests is posting a list of the Cracked articles in which the facts were previously mentioned. The flames rekindled in February 2016, when Cracked staff announced that the older "traditional" photoplasties were losing views, and fast, prompting the staff to start thinking about retiring "traditionals" entirely and just run "true fact" ones.

** A lot of hate is directed at "Title Guy" or "the Title Editor", due to the horribly mismatching titles he/she uses for Photoplasties, and a gradual tendency towards click-baiting. In the plasties especially this has a tendency to render all of the entries complete nonsense since they rely on knowing the original prompt.

** [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20406_5-reasons-superhero-movies-are-bubble-that-will-soon-burst.html "5 Reasons Superhero Movies Are a Bubble That Will Soon Burst"]], written way back in Spring 2013, used the then-upcoming films ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' to support the argument that the superhero movie genre was on the verge of crashing and burning, mocking the sheer stupidity of "Captain America [fighting] a cyborg", "Kitty Pryde sending her brain back in time", and making an action movie with [[ComicBook/RocketRaccoon a talking raccoon]] ("Are you seeing the raccoon?"). Surprise! Those movies not only ''didn't'' tank at the box-office, they turned out to be three of the most successful and acclaimed movies of 2014.

* DanBrowned: [[DanBrowned/{{Cracked}} Enough for its own page.]]

** Some writers have a tendency to talk about {{contested sequel}}s or other adaptations as if they are, or at least deserve to be, universally reviled. ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' have recieved a lot of this.

* InternetBackdraft:
** The comments section ''exploded'' after John Cheese posted [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180924190615/http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-popular-jokes-that-only-make-people-want-to-punch-you/ 5 Popular Jokes That Only Make People Want to Punch You]]. It's kind of a long story to explain, but the short of it is that a chunk of the comments section, who make a lot of tongue-in-cheek puns and meme jokes and already had a bit of friction with John Cheese, considered it a pretentious, arrogant attack on their community, but most were willing to shrug it off. However, it was then made much worse when John posted [[https://twitter.com/johncheese/status/274369052011548672 this tweet]] (and others like it) towards the entire comments section in response to some trolling and death threats he received on Facebook and Twitter, which sent the rest of the comments section into a full-blown rage. It then spread over to the forums, causing longtime members to be banned for posting anything that could be considered even remotely pro-comments section (which David Wong insisted was just filled with nothing but punk teenagers with a high sense of entitlement, and then called the readers cockroaches) or anti-Cheese, regardless of legitimacy or level-headedness. [[http://johncheeseincident.blogspot.ca/ This blog]] goes into deeper detail.
** [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_653_25-posters-that-would-have-tricked-us-into-seeing-bad-movies/ 25 Posters That Would Have Tricked Us Into Seeing Bad Movies]] included ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'', ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'' and ''Film/BrokebackMountain'' on the list. Commentators were not happy to say the least.
---> "Drinking game: While reading the comments, take a shot whenever you see a comment complaining about the Iron Giant entry."
** Adam Tod Brown's articles have a tendency to attract this:
*** After Adam Tod Brown posted the article "6 Holiday Traditions No One Actually Enjoys", there was a moderate backlash in regards to a contentious joke he'd made in the article itself.[[note]]he suggested that women with lottery ticket addictions weren't actually female[[/note]] There was also some annoyance with the fact that saying that no one actually enjoys the things put on the list is not entirely accurate, to the point where it can be argued that people who don't like some of the entries are in the solid minority.
*** Adam Tod Brown's [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-current-tv-shows-that-get-more-praise-than-they-deserve/ 5 Current TV Shows That Get More Praise Than They Deserve]], an article on TV shows that he thinks are overrated as hell. Many of the Cracked readers were already pissed off at his mention of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' and ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', and then up in arms when he put ''Series/DoctorWho'' on his list, ''then'' spent the whole section complaining about production values rather than writing, character, etc. (The screenshots used for the ''Doctor Who'' entry were in fact from the 1981-84 ''Fifth'' Doctor era.)
*** Adam Tod Brown managed to surpass that among a lot of Australian readers with [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-famous-people-we-didnt-hate-enough-in-2014/ 5 Famous People We Didnt Hate Enough In 2014]], in which he proposed calling Australia "racist island" from now on.
** Same issue for Mark Hill when he wrote [[http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-reasons-classic-american-summer-doesnt-exist-anymore/ 5 Reasons The Classic American Summer Is Totally Dead]], an article which made the X-generation look like slackers who steal entry-level jobs from teenagers, when the reality is that people from the X-generation are trying to get out of those jobs, but can't.
** The jokes about autism in [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-horrifying-childs-beauty-pageant-contestants/ The 6 Most Horrifying Child's Beauty Pageant Contestants]] generated plenty of angry comments.
** Christina H's early articles generated a great deal of backdraft, with many complaints about her writing style and subject matter (especially feeling like they were under-researched and repeatedly played on the fact that she's an Asian woman for cheap laughs). She [[GrowingTheBeard became much more accepted later on]], especially after a period of lengthy absence due to maternity leave.
** [[http://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-163-21-photos-that-shatter-your-image-famous-things/ 21 Photos That Shatter Your Image of Famous Things]] turned out to be a Photoplasty where ''every single entry'' was by [=AuntieMeme=]. Many were angry because the photoplasty implied that [=AuntieMeme=] was the best image manipulator ever and didn't bother to give other people a chance, as well as recycling images from previous Cracked articles, but more were angry about David Wong's response to the feedback about it, especially since the complaint was written in a noticeably respectful, well-written manner. Since then, there have been [=AuntieMeme=] plasties every week, getting even more backlash with each one. Even people that don't mind the fact the plasties are by one person, but fed up with the fact they say "By Cracked Readers" and think they deserve to know what the plasty is before they click it. Making matters worse are Photoplatsies that have entries from Cracked readers and [=AuntieMeme=] at the same time, despite the fact that she gets entire Photoplatsies to herself once a week and is paid for it.
** The article "[[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ignorant-jokes-from-last-comedians-youd-expect/ 5 Ignorant Jokes From the Last Comedians You'd Expect]]" managed to actually unite the commenters in a way that not even [=AuntieMeme=] could hope for. The nicest thing anyone said about it was that it was pure clickbait and that Cracked probably didn't believe some of the claims it made. The rest... well, were pretty unimpressed with the article and the author, to say the least.
** The video titled "Why the Justice League Movie Will Beat 'Captain America 3'" is such blatant clickbait that it immediately received a great deal of scorn. The (intentionally) controversial opinion espoused by the title has ''nothing'' to do with the video, which was simply about how a crossover between properties (DC, Marvel, and Sony's Marvel properties) would be mutually beneficial. Neither of the movies in the title were so much as mentioned. This led to significant backlash in the comments and mockery on other sites.
** [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-classic-geek-debates-that-were-settled-long-time-ago/ 5 Classic Geek Debates That Were Settled A Long Time Ago]] was lambasted because it's more "Five Classic Geek Debates that [=Luke McKinney=] Has an Opinion On." Readers expecting examples settled by WordOfGod or fans who have done extensive research into the matter were disappointed when the examples were basically just the same arguments given by one side on the message boards, just in the format of a Cracked Article.
** An article ('4 Religions You've Got All Wrong (Because Of Hollywood)') in April 2015 received a ton of backlash because one of the topics focused on was the ChurchOfHappyology. The article spoke very positively of the religion, glossing over a lot of the issues and crime the church has been involved with, which is especially baffling because Cracked has repeatedly run articles dealing with people who have left the church talking about the cult abuse they experienced. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Some believed the article was made to appease Church of Happyology representatives who threatened to sue Cracked due to a negative article written about the religion a few days earlier.]] The article was removed from Cracked the same day it was published.
** [[http://www.cracked.com/article_22204_5-facts-life-you-learn-as-prostitute-in-vietnam.html No Fat Tourists: 5 Rules Of Life As A Prostitute In Vietnam]], an article about being a prostitute in Vietnam, was criticized by many people for romanticizing several aspects of illegal prostitution in the area, such as saying that families are "perfectly fine" with prostitution (while in reality it often varies between being disowned by one's family or grudging acceptance because the alternative is poverty) The most criticized aspect of the article was the mention of the prostitute the writer interviewed in the article was only 15 when she started in sex work. The writer of the article had no discomfort mentioning it and still portrayed her work as positive, despite the fact that she often had sex with tourists from other countries (many where she would be under the age of consent) who, according to their own standards, would be having sex with a child.
** [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-theres-no-escape-from-hollywood-racism/ 6 Reasons There's No Escape From Hollywood Racism]], from Luke [=McKinney=], is essentially a two-page review of a movie ''trailer'' claiming to expose Hollywood racism, but the wild assumptions and total lack of logic in it have angered the readers pretty thoroughly. The biggest sticking point is that [=McKinney=] insists that the (white) protagonists look up a helicopter and respond with horror because the man leaning out of the vehicle is Asian. This ''totally'' misses the fact that said Asian man ''is pointing an automatic rifle directly at them''. The fact that [=McKinney=] sees a white family reacting in terror because a gun is pointed at them and assumes that they're racists who are only scared because the gun is held by a person of color is...well, it says a lot about [=McKinney=], is one way to put it.
** The abrupt firing of many of the site's most popular writers in late 2017, which has led many readers to boycott the site altogether.
** The article [[http://www.cracked.com/article_26140_5-famous-characters-basically-everybody-gets-wrong.html 5 Famous Characters Everybody Gets Wrong]]: the fourth entry is about [[Film/BlackPanther2018 Erik Killmonger]], whom the article describes as heroic because he wanted to "end oppression of blacks" and "dismantle structural racism" of the west. Naturally, this ''massive'' CriticalResearchFailure didn't go unanswered, and most comments pointed out how Killmonger was basically a bloodthristy, violent and powerhungry psycopath whose plan to "end racism" was to start World War III, and on top of that was repeteadly shown not to care about Wakanda or its culture (as shown by his burning of the heart-shaped herbs, or his callous murders of Zuri and Dora Milaje).
** In an article about terrible sidequests, of all things, Daniel Dockery spoiled the ending to recently released Red Dead Redemption 2 ''in the very first sentence of the very first list item''. It added nothing to the entry, and was not related to the sidequest in any way. Readers called him out immediately.

** [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20406_5-reasons-superhero-movies-are-bubble-that-will-soon-burst.html "5 Reasons Superhero Movies Are a Bubble That Will Soon Burst"]], written way back in Spring 2013, used the then-upcoming films ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' to support the argument that the superhero movie genre was on the verge of crashing and burning, mocking the sheer stupidity of "Captain America [fighting] a cyborg", "Kitty Pryde sending her brain back in time", and making an action movie with a talking raccoon ("Are you seeing the raccoon?"). Surprise! Those movies not only ''didn't'' tank at the box-office, they turned out to be three of the most successful and acclaimed movies of 2014.

** In "[[https://www.cracked.com/article_19092_6-bad-ideas-in-video-game-mash-ups-well-probably-see-next.html 6 Bad Ideas In Video Game Mashups We'll Probably See Next]]", they state that "any attempts to bring [Franchise/{{Pokemon}}] into real life range from creepy to horrifying examples of animal abuse." Fast-forward to ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'', a live-action Pokemon film with photo-realistic CGI Pokemon that does the exact opposite- making some of them (such as Bulbasaur and ''especially'' Pikachu) ''look even cuter'' when brought into real life!

* FridgeBrilliance: "5 Movie And TV 'Plot Holes' That Aren't Actually Plot Holes"

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: In their September 2018 article "https://www.cracked.com/blog/4-ways-corporations-are-turning-us-into-jerks/ 4 Ways Corporations Are Turning Us Into Jerks]]", Cracked criticized Disney's decision to fire Creator/JamesGunn from ''Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3'' due to [[{{GIFT}} pressure from internet mobs]], arguing that [[BlackComedy his jokes made before he was hired by Disney/Marvel]] were falsely equated with Roseanne Barr's racist tweets made during the short-lived ''Roseanne'' revival on ABC. In March 2019, Disney announced that they would be rehiring Gunn for ''Vol. 3''.

* UglyCute: The Jerboa as seen in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_21454_6-animals-that-look-like-drunken-combinations-other-ones.html this article]]. It's a species of a tiny fuzzy things with bunny-like ears and big eyes. But they also look like they have only two (hairless, thin, long) limbs,[[note]](which they don't, it just looks that way because the two in front are very short)[[/note]] backward-bending knees, and a rat-like tail. This causes them both cute and unusually creepy at the same time.