Millennials nostalgic over ‘early internet’ website that Gen Z ‘really missed out on’

Before TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and even YouTube - the people of the internet would stay entertained with a whole bunch of various websites.

Yep, instead of mindlessly doomscrolling for hours on end on social media, people would actually hit at their bulky computers and surf the web to see what tickled their fancy.

But it's clear those days are well and truly a thing of the past given how nostalgic Millennials are over an 'early internet' website that they say Gen Z 'really missed out on'.

Remember when computers looked like this? (Dorann Weber / Getty Images)

One Reddit user asked: "What 'early internet' website did Gen Z really miss out on?"

Amidst the sea of over 15k replies piping up about Miniclip, Limewire, Newgrounds, Addicting Games and Neopets was none other than the response of Cracked.com.

So, what on earth was Cracked?

Well, the clearly super addictive website - which was based on Cracked magazine - was first founded back in 2005 by Jack O'Brien, a former ABC News producer.

The site's 'front page' used to feature columns by regular contributors and back in the day, it also published videos, weekly image manipulation contests called Photoplasty and Pictofacts, and a daily 'Craptions' contest.

In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, the contest saw users add funny captions to bizarre photographs - I mean, does it get any more Millennial than that?

Eventually the Craptions contest was moved from the front page to the forums.

Alongside Craptions, Cracked also became known for its popular listicles with famous titles including 'The 6 Most Insane People To Ever Run For President' and '7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're All Doing Wrong'.

Cracked was first founded back in 2005 by Jack O'Brien (Cracked.com)

Why did people love Cracked so much?

Cracked also hosted Pointless Waste of Time, a forum which contained a writer's workshop as well as a section for readers to submit content for the Photoplasty and Pictofacts contests.

People could also use a template to generate small, one-shot articles called 'Quick Fixes' along with general and specific discussion threads on a variety of topics.

Getting nostalgic over the 'great' website, one person replied: "Cracked.com - so much great content back in the day."

"I used to basically live on cracked.com listicles and somethingawful articles/photoshop battles," admitted a second, while a third chimed in: "The amount of tabs I’d have open from Cracked was actually ridiculous."

A fourth recalled: "I used to wait till midnight everyday because their new articles would drop then, and I had read every other thing on the website."

"Cracked and Listverse were my go to sites back in the early Internet days." piped up a fifth. A sixth echoed: "Used to be a daily visit."

Another quipped: "I use to spend hours on that site."

And a final Redditer lamented: "Cracked was my favourite. RIP"

Cracked's current homepage (Cracked.com)

OK, so what happened to it?

A quick search on Reddit sees many former lovers of Cracked reckoning that O'Brien's departure back in 2017 caused its downfall.

Two years after it was founded, in 2007, Cracked was doing pretty well for itself after clocking up around 200,000 unique visitors to the site every month, with three to four million page views.

Just three years later in 2010 and Cracked had cemented itself into the mainstream after drawing in an impressive one billion page views with many readers staying loyal to the site due to the writers and comedic, quality content.

What went wrong?

Now, Cracked was purchased by the E.W. Scripps Company for $39 million back in 2016 - which prompted O'Brien to step down from his role.

Users reported an immediate drop in the quality of the content which later followed - with a move away from integrity towards clickbait and sensationalised content, Medium reports.

"When Jack O'Brien left Cracked, corporate greed soon took over and vastly outweighed the creative conscience of the company's bottom line," the outlet said.

"It's always a shame to see such an esteemed publication that was built on journalistic integrity fall so far from grace, but they're still may be hope yet."