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Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

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Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#91
post #20

In the end, the Internet made us stupid.

Indeed, amid debates about whether or not he was visionary, you have to admit, looking at the past few years, he was spot on in this regard.

At the very least, the Internet has enabled stupidity on a massive scale, and enabled the rapid spreading of ideas not backed by facts across borders.

As evidenced when people turn out to protests in my country with signs referencing political talking points from a nation 12500km away.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#92
post #84
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lowtax wasn't an advocate for unfettered free speech lol. He encouraged and enabled arbitrary and capricious punishment for pretty much anything the forum moderators didn't personally like.

Yep, in fact the SA Forums entire business model was "arbitrary and capriciously" banning people so they would re-register and pay the 10bux. They had rules, but they were fungible enough so that intelligent and hilarious people wanted to see what they could get away with. Racism was strictly against the rules, but some people could post the N-word "because they are funny" (and friends with the admins). Around 2007 o…

Yes, capricious indeed. I paid for forum access, never posted anything, and got banned. Last visit to the site.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having rules on a private website is against the concept of free speech? How much of your own money are you willing to spend on hosting and serving an unlimited amount of user-uploaded hentai tentacle porn on your privately-owned domain? If the answer is anything less than “infinite money”, you’re anti-free-speech.

> If the answer is anything less than “infinite money”, you’re anti-free-speech. Pointing this out is not the most popular thing on HN, but that doesn't make it less true. I made a similar case a week or two ago in response to someone who did a Show HN on their new "free speech" platform. I essentially challenged the creator to advocate for his new platform by supporting the speech rights of child abusers to promote…

I don't think providing a place where other people can say what they want is equivalent to being compelled to promote someone elses' speech.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kyanka himself has had numerous domestic violence police reports filed against him. Was he convicted? It’s very easy to file a domestic violence police report, and that does not remotely mean that the accused was guilty.

One of his exes posted on SA [1]: > In the divorce ruling the judge found that Rich had willfully spent down the martial fund, confirmed his treatment of me was Domestic Violence and put together a plan to pay for the attorney fees etc. [1] https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&th...

Divorce courts do not adjudicate domestic violence charges, and what you’re posting is a biased statement by the complaining party.

Meanwhile, he’s dead and can hardly defend himself.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#95
post #7
post #2

Advocates for unfettered "free speech" always seem to gloss over the fact that a lot of that shit is not healthy. I'm not trying to argue that such speech should be censored, but it's certainly nothing to be celebrated.

Lowtax wasn't an advocate for unfettered free speech lol. He encouraged and enabled arbitrary and capricious punishment for pretty much anything the forum moderators didn't personally like.

[deleted]

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#97
Perhaps someone can enlighten me: So what was the impact on the internet then?

Beyond a few meme templates or abbreviations or whatever, what has the actual lasting impact been?

People say this about 4chan as well, but beyond passing meme fads I have yet to see anything convincing?

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#98

Perhaps someone can enlighten me: So what was the impact on the internet then? Beyond a few meme templates or abbreviations or whatever, what has the actual lasting impact been? People say this about 4chan as well, but beyond passing meme fads I have yet to see anything convincing?

I mean.. something awful was a community and fixture for many. That in itself is special.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#99

Perhaps someone can enlighten me: So what was the impact on the internet then? Beyond a few meme templates or abbreviations or whatever, what has the actual lasting impact been? People say this about 4chan as well, but beyond passing meme fads I have yet to see anything convincing?

Well, one thing is the impact Goons have had on Eve Online. But it sounds like you don't want to be convinced, so...

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#100

Perhaps someone can enlighten me: So what was the impact on the internet then? Beyond a few meme templates or abbreviations or whatever, what has the actual lasting impact been? People say this about 4chan as well, but beyond passing meme fads I have yet to see anything convincing?

Pockets of internet communities shaped internet culture which shapes how society exchanges information online. That's the impact of any large scale forum.

Your question is like asking what the lasting impact of painting is beyond paint on paper.

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