User blog comment:MrDupin/Rant about Reddit Creepypasta Threads/@comment-25148755-20161209132657

I don't have an explanation per se, but it's the same reason about 90% of creepypasta narrators out there do "true" stories. The stories themselves are generally pretty generic, but if you look at the hit count a lot of those stories will get exponentially more views than scary stories that are presented as fiction.

I've personally got the majority of my Wicker stories on No Sleep and have a few normal readers who love it, but have never managed anything more then about 40 upvotes. And it takes a not inconsiderable effort to change some of those stories to first person so they could at least theoretically be 'true'.

My only thought is the simpler, more run of the mill stories make them more believable, and the notion that the story is "true" is what actually makes them scary to people...the more detail you add, in some ways it can take away from the believability of the event. All said though, I agree that it makes me very thankful for the community and quality standards we have here.