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Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

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Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#201

Post by pupdogg »

javajosh wrote: post #65
extortionist wrote: post #12

He leaves behind a complicated legacy. It's important to note that credible allegations of domestic abuse lead him to sell SA in the past year, and this can't be set aside. At the same time, SA's influence on the modern internet can't be understated. The 'image macro' of early SA (maybe created by Lowtax himself, from what Fragmaster says in his video in the link) is the direct ancestor of today's common meme image--…

>credible allegations I truly wish that allegations of any and every sort were considered not credible by the general public. Domestic abuse is a real problem, but false allegation of domestic abuse is a real problem, too. Indeed, if a person wants to harm another without lifting a finger, the simplest thing to do is claim "He hurt me" or "I'm afraid of him" and you'll get every cop, judge, attorney, a legion of your…

> Domestic abuse is a real problem, but false allegation of domestic abuse is a real problem, too.

200% correct! There are a lot of conniving folks out there who use the system to falsely claim victim hood of domestic abuse. This typically leads to more undesired outcomes than originally anticipated.

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#202

Post by nerevarthelame »

dwater wrote: post #197
boomboomsubban wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unfamiliar with BitTorrent Barnyard, despite knowing of both SA and BitTorrent for nearly twenty years, and a search just gives me torrents for a 2006 movie. Someone mind telling me what it was? Guessing a tracker?

When the forums went paid and semi private, a few boards were created for sharing music, porn, and torrents. AFAIK you could never see they existed without a paid account. The last time I logged in with a paid account was more than 15 years ago though so I can't say how it evolved.

The mods/admins shut them down after year or two, before there were any real legal consequences. As a result of that, there were a number of private spin-off sites dedicated solely to piracy, some of which continue today.

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#203

Post by coldpie »

Svperstar wrote: post #165

I'm old so I remember when SomethingAwful was like 4chan and reddit combined for its time. I never actually registered an account on the forums, I was busy on other sites. My biggest issue with the SA forums is how they abused their users("Goons"). Basically. Imagine having to pay $10 to register a 4chan or reddit account and being banned for silly and ridiculous rule infractions but then being allowed back on if you…

I've been a forums member since 2006. The SA forums are my home on the Internet. It's definitely had its ups-and-downs, as you describe. But the forums have taken me through all of my major hobbies and interests, from video games and Internet culture, to cars, to music, to guitar. I've even made real-life friendships there. I think over the past few years, and especially since the ownership transition last year, the forums have been in a bit of a golden age. Even if you've been turned off by historical decisions, I'd really strongly suggest joining and tuning in to some of the subforums that are related to your interests. It's a really great set of communities, and overall is actually a really welcoming and progressive community, especially compared to the lowest-common-denominator free-for-all that current ad-based social media promotes.

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#205

Post by eigengrau5150 »

IanCal wrote: post #74
javajosh wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>credible allegations I truly wish that allegations of any and every sort were considered not credible by the general public. Domestic abuse is a real problem, but false allegation of domestic abuse is a real problem, too. Indeed, if a person wants to harm another without lifting a finger, the simplest thing to do is claim "He hurt me" or "I'm afraid of him" and you'll get every cop, judge, attorney, a legion of your…

This is an odd take. > I truly wish that allegations of any and every sort were considered not credible by the general public. If someone steals my phone at the bar and everyone at the table sees them do it, then tells you exactly what happened with the same story - would you say "no, this is _not credible_. It is not something I am able to believe could happen and it is not plausible". Surely not. It would be a cred…

> This is an odd take.

No, it's presumption of innocence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#206

Post by sho_hn »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #181
prvc wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>confirmed his treatment of me was Domestic Violence Wording suggests that adopting an expansive definition of the term (which has undergone substantial concept-creep) was necessary in order for it to have applied to her allegations.

"Concept creep" is interesting — is there an old and new concept of domestic violence?

This is probably a heavy-handed way to enter the conversation, but I was rather surprised when I found out how many countries until only recently updated laws on DV and rape to apply to married couples in the same way as unmarried couples. Society seems to have felt decidedly different levels of outrage about doing bad things to unmarried persons (usually women) vs. married ones, and persons in marriage could get away with doing some awful things to their partners.

See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marital_rape_laws_by_country

This is the extreme view, there's of course many other forms of DV and laws across the spectrum are no less fascinating. Note also that there's a difference between legal frameworks and enforcement - I understand, for example, that Japan recently updated the laws to criminalize spousal rape, but it doesn't mean a court will rule on it.

So this is one way in which the definition of DV has broadened. To me it doesn't meet the implied negative connotations of "creep", however.

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#207

Post by superkuh »

praxxis wrote: post #200
ghuntley wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VGH

I mean while we're talking about the legacy of Tribes and SA and "old internet" culture we need to shout out a certain dancing gherkin wearing a pink inventory as a hat. (hi Nexty, it's ParadoX)

Hey guys. Don't just reminisce about Starsiege: Tribes, pick it up again (if you ever stopped playing). The community master servers and a couple dozen servers are still up. It's active with pick-up games on Fri+weekends. Join us!

http://playt1.com/

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#208

Post by romwell »

Jensson wrote: post #166
romwell wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TL;DR: read this first: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/sexual-assault-r... -------------------------------------- You are asking the wrong question. The judges don't give reasons for their sentences like that (i.e., the judge is under no obligation to say "I was going to give this person X years, but I'm giving them X-Y because the victim was wearing a mini skirt"). The question you should be asking is:…

> The judges don't give reasons for their sentences like that The post I responded to says they did, note the "citing this sort of reasoning", citing means they said it straight out and you should be able to find a court document where they explicitly used that reasoning: > > There are still judges in the US giving lighter sentences or no jail time at all and citing this sort of reasoning. It is a very different thin…

Sure. I can't prove to you that US judges today still openly admit that clothing was a factor in sentencing.

A cursory Google search turned up an example in Canada[1] and Ireland[2]; followed by California passing a law banning use of clothing as evidence of consent last month[3]. Such laws and guidelines are still non-existent in states like Indiana[4].

I have no idea how to find court documents (I'm not a lawyer!), but given the above, I'd find it highly unlikely that the US is faring that much better than Canada and Ireland.

In particular, given that the vast majority of sexual assault and rape cases don't go to trial at all, I don't know at which stage clothing is used as evidence of consent. And as long as it's presented in court, it's a factor in the jury deciding whether to declare the defendant guilty.

But if you want to die on that hill, sure, let's assume that that particular sentence is false.

I.e. that it only used to be the case in the US, it's still the case around the world, and states like California are passing this kind of legislation in 2021 just for shits and giggles.

That doesn't affect any other point made in this conversation, but I hope you enjoy confronting this "lie" =)

[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-attire-does-n...

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46207304

[3] https://www.kvcrnews.org/california-news/2021-10-12/in-cases...

[4] https://www.thestatehousefile.com/politics/lawmakers-urged-t...

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#209

Post by toyg »

javajosh wrote: post #176
claudiawerner wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You present strawman (seeing it makes it credible) Seeing something happen does make an allegation more credible; this is the whole point of, say, witness testimony. Why we are more likely to believe things which are attested to by others. Credibility is also an element of character and relation to the victim. If I told my parents I was mugged in an underpass on my way home, which explains why I don't have my cell p…

>You can't seriously accuse GP of setting up a straw-man, then relay an idealized (for your point) situation which is, to my knowledge, not backed up by any statistical power. I can because mine was not a strawman, it was a variant of proof-by-contradiction: assume ~P, produce a contradiction, QED: P. I suspect you know this is a logically valid argument because you segue quickly to "statistical power". It makes sens…

I have 2nd-hand experience of the UK system and it kinda works the same - with the additional note that consequences for the mother withholding access to the kids despite court orders seem to be basically non-existant.

Some of the MRA movements are odious and/or ridiculous at times, but the problem is real.

Re: Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, creator of Somethingawful, has died

#210

Post by tremon »

romwell wrote: post #94
AmericanChopper wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with metoo is that the solution it envisioned for the problem, was to attempt to undermine the justice portion of the justice system as much as it could, and to create as many avenues for extrajudicial punishment as it possibly could. The entirely inevitable outcome of this is that these new systems were put to use by people to enact personal agendas, in any venue where interpersonal politics was relevant…

#metoo was literally about bringing the attention to the scale of the problem and raising awareness, and normalize talking about abuse, so that it wouldn't continue in silence. The court of public opinion has existed before and after #metoo. Let's not pretend that #metoo invented it. If twenty people were to go public and say that Justin Bieber beat each of them with a crowbar, Justin Bieber would have some 'splainin…

Yes, and that's why we have libel laws: to stop these kinds of things from being "judged" in the court of public opinion. Raising awareness and providing support are all fine and very necessary, but the extrajudicial punishments is where the movement lost my support. Still, extrajudicial punishment is what we're left with if the judicial system fails to do justice.
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