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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

#291

Post by swivelmaster »

bigbillheck wrote: post #284
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--…

I think the success of Something Awful is, by and large, despite Lowtax, and not because of him.

I disagree with this. As someone who started visiting the main site when I was a teenager, Lowtax's comedic writing was what drew me in. AFAIK he retired from writing for the site a long time ago, but in his prime he was cranking out hilarious essays, absurdist listicles, and entire parody web sites pretty frequently.

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

#292

Post by sillysaurusx »

romwell wrote: post #158
Jensson wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't quite have the same vibe, does it? It does. There are also a lot of jokes about burning babies etc. Just because you don't understand that sort of humour doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

>It does. Oh, does it? Would you find me a joke with either of the specific premises I listed? Or anything in that format that doesn't have to do with rape? >Just because you don't understand that sort of humour Again, assumptions. Would you please present your Certificate of Telepathy, or otherwise stop making statements about what I know , understand , think , etc? >doesn't mean that it doesn't exist Who's denying…

> Try spinning a joke about burning Jewish babies as innocent form of humor that society doesn't look down on. I'll wait.

How do you stop a million Jewish babies from bleeding to death? Holocauterization.

(It's really hard to think of a joke about burning Jewish babies. This one took about 30 minutes, and it isn't even baby-specific.)

As a half-Jew, this seems like innocent wordplay. But if it's problematic or harmful, I'd like to understand why.

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

#293

Post by [deleted] »

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--…

[deleted]

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

#294

Post by javajosh »

monkey_monkey wrote: post #110
javajosh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But yours is not an odd take, I'm afraid. You present strawman (seeing it makes it credible), an ad hominem (not projecting, but thanks for the baseless speculation), and another strawman (I did not and do not confuse meaning with definition). All in quick succession, all in seeming defense of the principle: we can and should considered guilty until proven innocent. There's no argument to be made since you didn't mak…

If this is your own personal situation, I'd strongly advise you to get a decent lawyer and contest the allegations if they're so clearly wrong.

What qualifies you to give advise, I wonder? What makes you think I haven't spoken to an attorney, or more than one?

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

#295

Post by zwaps »

ryaniscool wrote: post #235
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--…

Never heard of this guy or SA until this post but I think it's depressing that we feel guilty celebrating this guy's accomplishments without being like "oh but it has to be mentioned he treated people in his life terribly and might have been an objectively awful person". Maybe there is a subconscious belief that only "good" people deserve success and praise? I just find this so naive because if you've lived long enou…

Much of today's internet culture is directly on indirectly influenced by SA to some degree. Beyond this, however, SA remains a unique community, perhaps even more so today. It is quite large compared to specialist boards, but it is insular, exclusive and high trust: It is not monetized and overrun by fakes compared the reddits, chans or imgurs of today.

So sure, Lowtax has had significant positive influence on many people.

This is why people on SA are so outspoken and disappointed. Lowtax is an "eminent figure" of the internet. He has had a personal impact on many people throughout their formative years, inasmuch as he impacted internet culture as such.

Lowtax had a place of high status and influence that betrayed how deeply flawed he was as a person. People literally grew up with him as a central player in internet culture. When he (and SA) went and mocked some "crazy person" or fought against a perceived evil, then this was part of valiant, stupid, maybe wrong but nonetheless memorable childhoods and teenage years for many people.

When Richard posted that he was seriously ill, the outpouring of support was far and wide. When we then learned that not only was all this fake, but Richard was privately a person hardly deserving of the immense respect he had, people got unreasonably angry.

Today, I think people are mourning. On the one hand, the real person who died, on the other hand, many people are mourning the loss of a childhood hero - a hero who metaphorically (and now literally) died, because he was never a hero to begin with.

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

#296

Post by fouc »

namelessoracle wrote: post #288

There seems to be some kind of weird cult thing that goes on in nerd spaces that always involves a person with major personal problems that manages to assemble a cult of personality around themself and that cult becomes the primary means by which they support themselves. Eventually the members rebel in a coup like fashion after one of the chief henchmen who has built their own coalition see their opportunity, and eit…

Ironic, Paul Graham alluded to schools being like prison, in which they devolve into a popularity contest. But I'm not sure if he considered this angle.

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

#297

Post by Apocryphon »

zwaps wrote: post #295
ryaniscool wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never heard of this guy or SA until this post but I think it's depressing that we feel guilty celebrating this guy's accomplishments without being like "oh but it has to be mentioned he treated people in his life terribly and might have been an objectively awful person". Maybe there is a subconscious belief that only "good" people deserve success and praise? I just find this so naive because if you've lived long enou…

Much of today's internet culture is directly on indirectly influenced by SA to some degree. Beyond this, however, SA remains a unique community, perhaps even more so today. It is quite large compared to specialist boards, but it is insular, exclusive and high trust: It is not monetized and overrun by fakes compared the reddits, chans or imgurs of today. So sure, Lowtax has had significant positive influence on many p…

This is an excellent and even-handed eulogy of Lowtax and his legacy.

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

#298

Post by lamontcg »

ryaniscool wrote: post #235
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--…

Never heard of this guy or SA until this post but I think it's depressing that we feel guilty celebrating this guy's accomplishments without being like "oh but it has to be mentioned he treated people in his life terribly and might have been an objectively awful person". Maybe there is a subconscious belief that only "good" people deserve success and praise? I just find this so naive because if you've lived long enou…

I don't think SA is something to be celebrated. The abuse and the manner he chose his exit seems relevant. Its a bit disturbing that so many people wax lyrical about SA even after giving it a decade of space, even while they acknowledge the way that the misanthropy led to punching down and bullying behavior.

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

#299

Post by zwaps »

tombert wrote: post #38

This isn't a joke; I had actually scheduled a lunch with Lowtax for this Saturday. Despite a (let's call it) checkered past, I was extremely excited to meet him, since he's been a huge influence to my sense of humor and Something Awful was really important to me as a teenager. ------- I had found him on LinkedIn a few weeks ago, and simply sent a message explaining that I'm a fan, would love a chance to buy him lunch…

It is important for you to know that his suicide was most likely a direct reaction to an unfavorable court ruling that he was not at all expecting to turn out this way.

Without going into detail, rest assured that this has nothing to do with you, and there is nothing you could have done to change this.

It would be incredibly sad if you feel partly responsible for this, even if it is understandable. In this case, however, your interactions with him may have helped him somewhat. His actions on this day, however, were nothing you could have influenced either way.

Please do yourself a big favor and don't take any of this on yourself.

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

#300

Post by WorldMaker »

bigbillheck wrote: post #284
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--…

I think the success of Something Awful is, by and large, despite Lowtax, and not because of him.

A lot of the humor that made Something Awful extremely popular in early internet history was either direct from Lowtax or indirectly curated by Lowtax. The front page for many of those early years was almost nothing but Lowtax posts with few other direct contributors to the front page. Even in curating "the best of what the forums did", his voice was often in (meta-)commentary between and among the curated items.

Eventually you weren't 18 anymore and that "edge lord" persona that Lowtax brought to everything wore thin, or other "edge lords" started to get more attention, and also then eventually we all found out that Lowtax wasn't an act and actually lived his life that way too. But I know for me the era of Something Awful I most paid attention to SA, most of that was for Lowtax's sense of humor and the young naive kid both I and the internet itself was at the time.

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