Something Awful#Writers
{{Short description|American comedy website, founded 1999}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox dot-com company
| name = Something Awful
| logo = Something Awful grenade logo
| company_type = Limited liability company
| foundation = {{start date and age|November 16, 1999}}
| location = Formerly Pleasant Hill, Missouri, U.S.
| key_people = Richard Kyanka
Zack Parsons
David Thorpe
Jeffrey of YOSPOS
| industry = Internet
| products =
| revenue =
| num_employees =
| homepage = {{url|https://somethingawful.com}}
| founder = Richard Charles Kyanka
}}
Something Awful (SA) is an American comedy website hosting content including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so did its contributors and content. The website has helped to perpetuate various Internet phenomena,{{cite web|title=Tourist of Death|url=http://www.touristofdeath.com/|access-date=November 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222043108/http://touristofdeath.com/|archive-date=December 22, 2010|url-status=dead}}{{unreliable source?|date=January 2013}}{{cite web|title=All your base...|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4143466,00.html|website=Guardian Unlimited|date=February 28, 2001|access-date=November 24, 2006 | location=London | first=Rich | last=Johnston}}{{cite web|title=All Your Base Are Belong To Frogstar|url=http://frogstar.com/aybabtu/aa-history.asp|access-date=November 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020025959/http://frogstar.com/aybabtu/aa-history.asp|archive-date=October 20, 2006|url-status=dead}} and it has been cited as a significant influence on Internet culture.{{cite video | people = David Thorpe, Kevin Pereira | title = Somethingawful.com, Pink Five, Chris Gore | medium = television | publisher = G4 television |date=July 5, 2005}} In 2018, Gizmodo named it in their list of the "100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It".{{cite web |title=100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It |url=https://gizmodo.com/100-websites-that-shaped-the-internet-as-we-know-it-1829634771 |website=Gizmodo |access-date=May 3, 2021 |language=en-us |date=October 19, 2018}}
The website has been involved in a number of events. These include a conflict with the Spam Prevention Early Warning System, a Hurricane Katrina relief fund being caught in PayPal's red tape,{{cite web|last=Mook|first=Nate|date=September 9, 2005|title=PayPal Blocks Hurricane Relief Funds|url=https://betanews.com/2005/09/04/paypal-blocks-hurricane-relief-funds/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410201002/https://betanews.com/2005/09/04/paypal-blocks-hurricane-relief-funds/|archive-date=April 10, 2021|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=BetaNews}} an exhibition boxing match between Kyanka and movie director Uwe Boll, and the creation of the Slender Man.
History
Something Awful was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka.{{cite web
| last = Lynch
| first = Steven G.
| title = Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka
| url = http://www.hypothermia.us/interviews/interview_lowtax.html
| access-date = May 10, 2007}}
Kyanka started Something Awful several months before leaving his previous job, after using his "Cranky Steve" persona to write a comedic website update deriding the attitude and work performance of a fellow Planet Quake administrator. He moved the "Cranky Steve" personality he had created to the Something Awful site in 1999.{{cite web
| last = Kyanka
| first = Richard
| title = Here's Mud In Your Eye, Batman
| url = https://www.somethingawful.com/d/daily-dirt/heres-mud-your.php
| date=May 10, 2005
| access-date = May 10, 2007}}
In the years immediately following Something Awful{{'s}} launch, several sponsors, including GameFan and eFront, failed to compensate Kyanka as promised for advertising on the site.{{cite web |url=http://lowendmac.com/musings/express.html |title=Something Awful & Express.com |author=Dan Knight |date=October 11, 2000 |work=Low End Mac}}{{cite web |url=http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/efront/ |title=eFront: What Went Wrong? |author=Tim Johnson |date=March 13, 2001 |work=The Duke of URL |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020202083639/http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/efront/ |archive-date=February 2, 2002 }}
In 2001, the site began charging an activation fee (currently US$10.00) for forum access.{{cite web | url=http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2006/01/23/TheMix/Something.Awfully.Funny-1492616.shtml | title=Something awfully funny | access-date=February 13, 2007 | author=Jeremy Turnage | date=January 23, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225114232/http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2006/01/23/TheMix/Something.Awfully.Funny-1492616.shtml | archive-date=February 25, 2007 | url-status=dead }}{{unreliable source?|date=January 2013}} Only members can post messages or threads; to encourage new registrations, the forums are only intermittently viewable by unregistered users. The site and forums draw continuous income from fees for new accounts, forum upgrades such as custom avatars and access to the forum archives and search features, and merchandise sales.
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.[https://www.vice.com/en/article/something-awful-under-new-ownership/ Something Awful, a Cornerstone of Internet Culture, Is Under New Ownership], by Matthew Gault; at Vice; published October 13, 2020; retrieved October 15, 2020 Following its sale, Kyanka was banned from Something Awful on March 23, 2021.{{Citation|title=The Button| date=March 23, 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3cajQVzoGE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/q3cajQVzoGE| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=March 24, 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{Secondary source needed|date=April 2021}} On November 9, 2021, Kyanka died by suicide.{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/richard-lowtax-kyanka-founder-of-something-awful-is-dead-at-45/ |title=Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, Founder of Something Awful, Is Dead at 45 |first=Matthew |last=Gault |date=November 11, 2021 |website=Vice |access-date=November 11, 2021}}
=Spam Prevention Early Warning System=
On July 20, 2003, the spam filtering organization Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS) added an entire class-B subnet with the Cogent ISP to their spammer list, since Cogent was hosting a known spammer that SPEWS found difficult to block.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010|reason=SPEWS was simply a list, not an ISP, therefore they couldn't block anyone else's traffic}} Something Awful was added to the list in the process, disrupting its ability to communicate with its customers who were using SPEWS. Upon appeal, SPEWS initially refused to delist SA. The Something Awful administrators responded by telling their users to post their support in the Usenet newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.blocklisting. However, that group and news.admin.net-abuse.email were flooded with off-topic posts and trolls from Something Awful users, incensing SPEWS advocates. The SA administrators claimed that SPEWS was attempting to hack the Something Awful server. Forum users responded by threatening to perform a distributed denial-of-service attack on SPEWS, although this type of behavior was strongly discouraged by Kyanka and assistant editor Zack Parsons.{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/08/something_awful_going/|title=Something Awful going on with SPEWS|author=John Leyden|date=August 8, 2003|work=The Register|publisher=Situation Publishing Ltd.}}
=GreenMeat Body Armor charity drive=
Something Awful forum user GreenMeat deployed to Iraq in 2004, despite his unit not having hard body armor. SA forum users, along with help from Fark users, raised over $20,000 to buy body armor, plate carriers, and assorted care packages for a group of 31 soldiers.{{cite web | url=https://www.somethingawful.com/news/update-from-frontlines/ | title=Update from the Frontlines }}
=Hurricane Katrina charity=
As Something Awful{{'s}} servers were located in New Orleans, the site temporarily went offline in August 2005 during the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. After the site was brought to a semi-functional state, Kyanka set up a link to a PayPal account where people could donate money to the survivors of the hurricane via the Red Cross. Kyanka put in $3,000 of his own money,{{cite magazine
| last = Farivar
| first = Cyrus
| title = PayPal Freezes Out Katrina Aid
| url = https://www.wired.com/2005/09/paypal-freezes-out-katrina-aid/
| date = September 8, 2005
| access-date = May 27, 2018
| magazine = Wired}}
and promised to give some free merchandise to anyone who donated more than $10.{{citation needed|reason=previous citation dead.|date=March 2015}}
PayPal froze the donation account, then stated that they would unfreeze the account once it was provided with proof of shipping from aggrieved buyers. Due to the nature of the collection, there were no actual "buyers", and it was impossible to provide proof of shipping for donation.{{cite news
| last = Demerjian
| first = Charlie
| title = All your donations are belong us
| url = https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1005868/paypal-freezes-something-awfuls-relief-fund
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091213123447/http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1005868/paypal-freezes-something-awfuls-relief-fund
| url-status = unfit
| archive-date = December 13, 2009
| date = September 4, 2005
| access-date = May 27, 2018}} Eventually, Kyanka contacted a customer service representative over the phone, and asked to have PayPal donate all of the money to the American Red Cross. However, he was told that PayPal would only give the money to United Way of America due to their business affiliation; Kyanka initially agreed, but after receiving several emails from readers detailing alleged corruption and inefficiency within United Way, he changed his mind and told PayPal to refund all of the money to the individual donors. PayPal refunded the money, but did not refund exchange and handling fees for international donors.
=Shooting deaths=
In 2005, William Freund sought advice in the Something Awful gun subforum about purchasing Hevi-Shot brand ammunition{{Cite web|url=http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1704519|title=Something Awful forum post}} {{subscription required}} several days before embarking on a "shooting rampage", during which he killed two people before taking his own life. Freund had stated in the thread, which was closed before the killing spree, along with his ability to post comments being revoked, that he intended to use the ammunition to defend his Halloween pumpkins from vandals.{{cite news|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/06/local/me-cyberlife6/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408230512/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/06/local/me-cyberlife6/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2014|title=The Cyber World Shut Out O.C. Loner Too|newspaper=LA Times|date=November 6, 2005|author=Kimi Yoshino}}
=Uwe Boll fight=
{{further|Uwe Boll#Boxing matches}}
In June 2006, Kyanka accepted an open challenge from German movie director Uwe Boll, who had offered to fight critics of his movies in a series of ten-round boxing matches. Something Awful had posted a humorous review that was critical of one of his films.
{{cite news
| first = Ludwig
| last = Kietzmann
| title = Uwe Boll does something awful to another critic
| url = http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/25/uwe-boll-does-something-awful-to-another-critic/
| publisher = joystiq
|date=September 25, 2006
| access-date = March 12, 2007}}
{{cite magazine
| url = https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/ragingboll.html
| magazine = Wired
| author = Chris Baker
|date=December 1, 2006
| access-date = March 12, 2007
| title = Raging Boll
}}
The event took place in Vancouver, Canada, on September 23, 2006; after being knocked down several times and eventually forfeiting the fight in the first round, Kyanka claimed that he had been told by Boll, a trained amateur boxer, that the fight would be just for show. To that effect, Kyanka purportedly acted like a silent film comedy character during the fight rather than seriously attempting to fight Uwe Boll.{{cite magazine
| last = Tillson
| first = Tamsen
| title = Boll K.O.'s crix in the ring
| url = https://variety.com/2006/film/markets-festivals/boll-k-o-s-crix-in-the-ring-1117950633/
| magazine = Variety
| date = September 24, 2006
| access-date = May 10, 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070609201552/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117950633.html?categoryid=1011&cs=1
| archive-date = June 9, 2007
| url-status = live
}}
=Death of Sean Smith=
Sean Smith, a US Foreign Service Information Management Officer, as well as a Something Awful forum moderator and leading member of the Goonswarm Federation alliance (which originated in part from the Something Awful forums) in the video game Eve Online, was killed in the 2012 Benghazi attack on September 11, 2012. Eve Online players paid respect to Smith by renaming in-game space stations after him.
{{cite magazine
| first = Robert
| last = Beckhusen
| title = Diplomat Killed In Libya Told Fellow Gamers: Hope I 'Don't Die Tonight'
| url = https://www.wired.com/2012/09/vilerat/
| magazine = Wired
|date=September 12, 2012
| access-date = March 28, 2018}}
Site content
The frontpage article series Golan the Insatiable is the basis of an animated series of the same name that premiered on Animation Domination on Fox on July 27, 2013.{{cite web |first=Craig |last=Byrne |url=http://www.ksitetv.com/glee/fox-announces-season-finale-dates-summer-premieres/20207 |title=FOX Announces Season Finale Dates & Summer Premieres |work=FOX |publisher=KSiteTV |date=February 28, 2013 |access-date=March 1, 2013}}
In 2014, the American Folklife Center announced that Something Awful was one of the sites it would be archiving as part of its efforts to compile a history of digital culture.[http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/06/getting-serious-about-collecting-and-preserving-digital-culture/ Getting serious about collecting and preserving digital culture], by Nicole Saylor, at Folklife Today (at the Library of Congress); published June 5, 2014; retrieved December 15, 2014
=Forums=
The site is home to a collection of Internet forums running a highly customized version of vBulletin, charging a one-time registration fee of US$9.95 for posting privileges and full access to the forums, with additional user account and forum features available for purchase at prices ranging from US$4.95 to US$29.95.{{cite web | url=https://secure.somethingawful.com | title=Something Awful Secure Purchase System | access-date=April 18, 2009}}
The forums have spread several Internet memes, such as "all your base are belong to us". Additionally, image macros originated on the site in 2001, originally as a vBulletin feature introduced by Kyanka.{{cite web|url=http://forums.somethingawful.com/dictionary.php?act=3&topicid=83 |title=SAClopedia entry for "image macro" |access-date=2008-07-28 |work=Something Awful SAClopedia}}{{registration required|date=November 2012}} The forum's users refer to themselves as "Goons". A weekly activity is "Photoshop Phriday", where users will modify existing images to create parodies through the use of image-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.{{cite web | url = https://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/ | title = Photoshop Phriday | publisher = Something Awful | access-date = February 2, 2008}} The website also highlights some of what its administrators believe to be exceptional forum threads in the Comedy Goldmine feature.{{cite web | url = https://www.somethingawful.com/d/comedy-goldmine/ | title = Comedy Goldmine | publisher = Something Awful | access-date = February 2, 2008}} A forum member, moot, also launched 4chan after hentai was banned,{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/living/article/257955|title=Funny how 'stupid' site is addictive|newspaper=The Toronto Star|author=Jerry Langton|date=September 22, 2007|access-date=July 16, 2008}}{{cite news|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-lowtax-kyanka-founder-of-something-awful-and-onetime-king-of-the-internet-goons-dead-at-45/|title=Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, founder of Something Awful and onetime king of the internet goons, dead at 45|date=November 11, 2021|author=Rich Stanton|work=PCGamer}} and the Let's Play phenomenon originated in posts on the Something Awful forums.
Many originators of "Weird Twitter", including dril, originally posted in Something Awful{{'s}} Fuck You and Die forum.[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jwherrman/weird-twitter-the-oral-history Weird Twitter: The Oral History]
The Slender Man urban legend was created in a 2009 thread in the Something Awful forum.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/images-from-slender-man-stabbing-suspects-notebook-surface-20150219|title=Images From Slender Man Stabbing Suspect's Notebook Surface|last=Blistein|first=Jon|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=February 19, 2015|access-date=March 8, 2015}}
The 2015 video game Dropsy originated as a 2008 CYOA thread on the Something Awful forums.{{cite web | url = http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/17/4526662/dropsy-the-surreal-adventure-game-the-internet-made | title = Dropsy: The surreal adventure game the Internet made | date = July 17, 2013 | last = Gera | first = Emily | website = Polygon | publisher = Vox Media | access-date = July 4, 2015}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{official website|https://www.somethingawful.com/}}
- [https://www.vice.com/en/article/fuck-you-and-die-an-oral-history-of-something-awful/ Fuck You And Die: An Oral History of Something Awful], a 2017 oral history conducted by Vice
Category:American comedy websites