I wouldn't worry about harassment or anything. I don't think they're popular enough for that, even back in their heyday. Besides, one time they did an article on...crappy video game remakes, something along those lines, and tried to pass Sonic 06 off as a remake of Sonic 1, just to make the same stale jokes everyone's been making for years. They deserve pity more than anger.
This, basically. If there's nothing you can/plan to do about it I have to wonder why it warranted a topic rather than a mention in the General News Topic or something. Also not to be that guy, but shouldn't this be moved to House of Good Cheer now that this has taken a more general Cracked.com turn?
Cracked often does some interesting stuff, but this just seems to be an excuse to say some dickish things for cheap laughs and easy hits. Especially due to the way most of these stories end - it essentially being proved that MJ wrote music for Sonic 3, the Minecraft bloke making a tonne of money for charity, etc. Arguably it would have been a better article if they just called it '6 Reasons Why You Should Never Give Up On Your Dreams', and came at it at that angle. I'd advise against any form of backlash from anyone, since it likely won't do anything except further the memetic idea that all 'Sonic fans' are angry autistic furries that have an irrational love for a series of shitty games. Perhaps a courteous email from Ben himself would be enough. Yeah they're hardly going to print a retraction or anything, but it's a far more civilised response than a bunch of people ranting in the comments section.
The writer decided to do basic-level research and not realize that while certain ones are kinda hilarious and sad (the guy who's been trying to get his screenplay for Wayne's World III is a bummer), mocking someone who's done something for charity _and_ mocking someone here who has gone to great lengths to prove this as true is sadder more for the Cracked writer than the person they're trying to get cheap shots on. I get it, some things about Sonic is pretty damn cringe. But this isn't one of them.
I remember when I read the article when it was new. I don't tend to close Cracked articles out of disgust, then try and make myself read it again to figure out what's going on, but it became apparent that the article was just utter garbage. Cracked tends to have rather decent quality control. I really don't know how they dropped the ball here.
Cracked, in the past couple years has become BuzzFeed 1.5, yet another Internet Trailer Park where the retarded dregs of humanity go to have listicles form opinions for them. Go fuckin' complain, seriously. Michael Jackson has been empirically proven to have scored Sonic 3, we put that bitch to rest. Stir up some shit, god knows I hate it when people are wrong on the internet.
Lately I've been thinking that Cracked should just do away with most of their article writers who aren't Maddox or Seanbaby and get some people who have an actual sense of humor instead of massive chips on their shoulder. :v: edit: Capitalization
Even if you weren't responsible for all the efforts and research, the push you gave that put it all into motion has been a great thing for the scene. That's certainly worth mention.
If it makes you feel any better, the world stopped taking Cracked.com seriously a long time ago. 99% of Reddit threads that ask "What website did you give up visiting, and why?" will have Cracked mentioned at least once. The site is nowhere near the quality it once was, and what used to be insightful but entertaining articles have now been replaced with borderline clickbait blogs. Saying that though, the information itself is oddly written. It builds up to almost implying that there is actually a connection and that it the speculation was in fact correct, but then just ends by contradicting itself by reinstating that it's just a stupid tinfoil hat theory. Is it worth prodding whoever wrote this with some of the actual testimonials from the game staff? I'd almost agree that it would be nice to see the Sonic Twitter mention something, but I'm guessing any official mention of MJ by SEGA is still a difficult area to touch. Either way, it sounds like the article was written by someone who's just been told some vague information by someone else and didn't really look into it. You don't have to worry though as no-one reads half the shit on Cracked.com anymore.
Cracked.com. Your average, sensationalist journalistic website with scam ads such as 'Doctors are upset at her for revealing the secret for ageing.', or 'Make $10,000 dollars a month using this simple trick', or 'The number one trick for white teeth'. Yes, and all of them are the same. More focused on attracting view count rather than accuracy and research, and can't even use valid ad companies that serve sensible ads like Google AdSense because these websites are run by greedy people with no thought of how it affects the credibility (if they had any) of the website. As credible as The Onion (Satire Journalism)
