creepypasta at it's core is a random ass story that is spread around the internet that is the core of creepypasta and another meaning creepypasta comes from copypasta something you copy and paste and creepypasta is just a creepy copypasta spread around the internet and smile dog completely takes advantage of that unlike some creepypastas that came before smile dog it was not hosted on creepypasta sites like the creepypasta wiki that says the author's name unlike where smile dog was just random and mysterious now the story itself is from the perspective of mr L(and no not the one you're thinking about) who is trying to make an article covering the mystery that is smile.jpg and to prove if it's a hoax or true and he goes to someone named mary E who claims to have experiences with smile.jpg mr L planned an interview with mary but the day the interview arrived she locked herself in her bedroom and no one could convince her then two years after the interview mr L gets an email from mary that says
To: jml@****.com
From: marye@****.net
Subj: Last summer's interview

Dear Mr. L.,

I am incredibly sorry about my behavior last summer when you came to interview me. I hope you understand that it was no fault of yours, but rather, my own problems that led me to act out as I did. I realized that I could have handled the situation more decorously; however, I hope you will forgive me. At the time, I was afraid.

You see, for fifteen years I have been haunted by smile.jpg. Smile dog comes to me in my sleep every night. I know that sounds silly, but it is true. There is an ineffable quality about my dreams, my nightmares, that makes them completely unlike any real dreams I have ever had. I do not move and do not speak. I simply look ahead, and the only thing ahead of me is the scene from that horrible picture. I see the beckoning hand, and I see Smile dog. It talks to me.

It is not a dog, of course, though I am not quite sure what it really is. It tells me it will leave me alone if only I do as it asks. All I must do, it says, is "spread the word". That is how it phrases its demands. And I know exactly what it means: it wants me to show it to someone else.

And I could. The week after my incident I received in the mail a manila envelope with no return address. Inside was only a 3 ½ -inch floppy diskette. Without having to check, I knew precisely what was on it.

I thought for a long time about my options. I could show it to a stranger, a coworker… I could even show it to Terence, as much as the idea disgusted me. And what would happen then? Well, if Smile dog kept its word, I could sleep. But if it lied, what would I do? And who was to say something worse would not come for me if I did as the creature asked?

So I did nothing for fifteen years, though I kept the diskette hidden amongst my things. Every night for fifteen years, Smile dog has come to me in my sleep and demanded that I spread the word. For fifteen years, I have stood strong, though there have been hard times. Many of my fellow victims on the BBS board where I first encountered smile.jpg stopped posting; I heard some of them committed suicide. Others remained completely silent, simply disappearing off the face of the web. They are the ones I worry about the most.

I sincerely hope you will forgive me, Mr. L., but last summer when you contacted me and my husband about an interview, I was near my breaking point. I decided I was going to give you the floppy diskette. I did not care if Smile dog was lying or not; I wanted it to end. You were a stranger, someone I had no connection with, and I thought I would not feel sorrow when you took the diskette as part of your research and sealed your fate.

Before you arrived, I realized what I was doing: plotting to ruin your life. I could not stand the thought, and in fact, I still cannot. I am ashamed, Mr. L., and I hope that this warning will dissuade you from further investigation of smile.jpg. You may in time encounter someone who is, if not weaker than I, then wholly more depraved, someone who will not hesitate to follow Smile dog's orders.

Stop while you are still whole.

Sincerely,
Mary E.

yes i did just copy paste that but anyway later that month terrence(mary's husband) contacts mr L saying mary had took her own life who while searching her stuff found the diskette and burned it some time later mr L received yet another email that says
To: jml@****.com
From: elzahir82@****.com
Subj: smile

Hello

I found your e-mail adress thru a mailing list your profile said you are interested in smiledog. I have saw it it is not as bad as every one says I have sent it to you here. Just spreading the word.

:)

and in the email was an attached image it was smile.jpg and the best part of the story is the ending because unlike most creepypastas it ends with a character dying or the threat being defeated but not smile dog this is the ending to the story
The final line chilled me to the bone.

According to my email client, there was one file attachment called, naturally, smile.jpg. I considered downloading it for some time. It was mostly likely a fake, I imagined, and even if it weren't, I was never wholly convinced of smile.jpg's peculiar powers. Mary E.'s account had shaken me, yes, but she was probably mentally unbalanced anyway. After all, how could a simple image do what smile.jpg was said to accomplish? What sort of creature was it that could break one's mind with only the power of the eye?

And if such things were patently absurd, then why did the legend exist at all?

If I downloaded the image, if I looked at it, and if Mary turned out to be correct, if Smile dog came to me in my dreams demanding I spread the word, what would I do? Would I live my life as Mary had, fighting against the urge to give in until I died? Or would I simply spread the word, eager to be put to rest? And if I chose the latter route, how could I do it? Whom would I burden in turn?

If I went through with my earlier intention to write a short article about smile.jpg, I decided, I could attach it as evidence. And anyone who read the article, anyone who took interest, would be affected. And even assuming the smile.jpg attached to the email was genuine, would I be capricious enough to save myself in that manner?

Could I spread the word?

Yes. Yes I could.