User blog comment:ArmadillooftheAges/Useless thoughts and opinions from an old user here/@comment-33904527-20190226215840/@comment-38454773-20190303125946

Once again, NedWolfkin, you've nailed it.

Commercialism truly has become a problem on this here Fandom/Wiki IMO. I understand people have a desire to promote their work and I suppose make some money off of it, but again, that's not the reason I used to come here and read stories and at times, it sort of bothers me.

For example, if I click on a username of someone who is frequently active around here, there's a good chance that I'll see that they're advertising their books on their profile and it sort of annoys me. It gives me the impression that they're active partially in the hopes of them getting noticed and some guillable user clicks on their profile to just have a bunch of their merch being shoved down their throats.

And the fact that you mentioned someone making a blog in a cheap attempt to advertise their book not only strongly indicates their work is most likely nothing special, but also that they suck as a person seeing as they tried to lie and cheat in order to give their "masterpiece" attention. Pitiful. When did this place become a platform for advertisement? It's just, like, no.

"Just because a person can write a Creepypasta (or a fanfiction or any other piece of free internet literature) doesn't mean they can write a good novel."

You're pretty much my spirit animal at this point, Ned.

What I'm about to say may definitely trigger some folks (so I won't mention any specifics), but the truth is, I've read portions of some of the works the users who got their own unique categories got and all I can say is...well, what's the big whoop? They literally were generic and bland and, quite frankly, they bored me. Very run-of-the-mill stuff, really. In the end, this site and the staff can do as they please, but this whole categories based on users thing was stupid and pointless right from the get-go. If someone does indeed produce quality work, the work should speak for itself rather than have silly and tedious promotion.

And you're right. Creepypasta has evolved into a commercial brand, significantly distancing it from its underground art/writing movement roots. A Pasta hasn't gone viral for the very same reasons we've been repeating for days: they don't have the same ingredients the originals did. When you think about it, that's very telling about the direction these Pastas have gone.

You also pointed out something else that is so true that it hurts: Youtube narration has pretty much become the gold standard.

I recall the classic Pasta entities like Jeff, Slender Man, etc. had mountains of fanart, videos, distribution, and spin-off works and the original creators didn't make a big stink about it. They just produced their work and let the fans advertise and create their own variations or interpretations of it and many of the original authors and creators are still unknown to this day (which also gave pastas a nice kick). Nowadays, I see people begging for narrations all the time and plastering their names all over it if it becomes "big" or certain authors monetizing their creations. Let's be real: it's not Creepypasta anymore which is yet another valid point I feel that you have.

This Fandom/Wiki is no longer "Creepypasta" Wiki. Now it's "Horror literature hosting site with a few old but still popular scary stories that are known as Creepypasta" Wiki...or Fandom.

I don't want to sound like my purpose here is to just glorify the past, but Creepypasta is no longer made up of what I originally loved about it. I admit I'm not into Creepypasta in general anymore, but it's sad to see something you once held dear and made up a portion of your youth decay into this.

Still, I wish the new generations of staff and writers good luck and hope they're happy with what they churn out.