Richard Kyanka
{{Short description|American internet personality (1976–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Richard Kyanka
| image = Dick Kyanka.png
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Richard Charles Kyanka
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1976|5|11}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|9|1976|5|11}}
| death_place = Lee's Summit, Missouri
| nationality = American
| other_names = Lowtax
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = Creator of Something Awful
}}
Richard Charles Kyanka ({{Birth date|1976|5|11}} – November 9, 2021), known by his username Lowtax (a reference to Byron (Low Tax) Looper),{{Cite web |title=Fark.com forums post |url=https://www.fark.com/comments/446456/3053032#c3053032 |date=2003-02-20 |accessdate=2024-01-05}}{{Self-published source|date=January 2024|ABOUTSELF=y}} was an American internet personality who created the website Something Awful.{{Cite web |last=Stanton |first=Rich |date=November 11, 2021 |title=Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, founder of Something Awful and onetime king of the internet goons, dead at 45 |website=PC Gamer |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-lowtax-kyanka-founder-of-something-awful-and-onetime-king-of-the-internet-goons-dead-at-45/ |via=www.pcgamer.com}}
Other endeavors
In 2001, Kyanka was entered into the Entertainment Weekly (EW) Entertainer of the Year online poll, and went on to receive "thousands of votes", but was disqualified because EW judged they were the result of an email campaign.Entertainment Weekly, [http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,186514_7%7C6847%7C%7C0_0_,00.html "Fan Flare"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128053644/http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,186514_7%7C6847%7C%7C0_0_,00.html |date=2006-11-28 }}
{{anchor|vs. Uwe Boll}}In 2006, Kyanka accepted Uwe Boll's challenge to a boxing match, which Boll had issued to all his online critics. The match took place on September 23 in Vancouver; Boll knocked Kyanka out in less than two minutes.{{Cite magazine |title=Raging Boll |magazine=Wired |url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/ragingboll.html |accessdate=2007-03-05|last1=Baker |first1=Chris }}
On October 9, 2020, following a backlash from the community in response to allegations that Kyanka was a domestic abuser, Kyanka sold Something Awful to a fifteen-year member and moderator known under the pseudonym of Jeffrey of YOSPOS.{{Cite web |last=Gault |first=Matthew |date=2020-10-13 |title=Something Awful, a Cornerstone of Internet Culture, Is Under New Ownership |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/3azxy8/something-awful-under-new-ownership |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Vice |language=en}} Kyanka was subsequently banned from the site.{{Cite web |title=Something Awful founder Richard Kyanka dies at 45 |url=https://www.engadget.com/something-awful-founder-lowtax-dead-170501155.html |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Engadget |date=11 November 2021 |language=en-US}}
Death
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Richard_Kyanka.ogg|date=2007-02-12}}
- [http://www.somethingawful.com/ Something Awful]
- {{IMDb name|id=1857215|name=Richard Kyanka}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyanka, Richard}}