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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 b

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--impact font text over a silly image, easily accessible to anyone who wants to post it. Many of today's well-known internet comedians and writers grew up with the site. And it's hard to estimate how big the impact (positive or negative) of things like ADTRW leading to 4chan have been, not to mention things like the rise of Let's Play videos, or the creation and eventual shutdown of BitTorrent Barnyard (and its ensuing spinoffs). The site itself still remains one of the last vestiges of the old internet--one of the few sites that both survived and managed not sell out and go headlong into monetization--and as a result, is one of the last sites on the modern internet that (maybe ironically) is not entirely awful.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
xenihn 5y ago
I remember hearing that image macros originated on TribalWar (a forum for Starsiege: Tribes), but they were definitely popularized by SA
- busterarm 5y ago
  Shazbot!
  - mjfl 5y ago
    I am the greatest.
    - ghuntley 5y ago
      VGH
      - praxxis 5y ago
        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)
        superkuh 5y ago
        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/ http://playt1.com/
        aweiland 5y ago
        holy crap, I had no idea this existed
        georgeecollins 5y ago
        What a great game!!
  - aww_dang 5y ago
    I heard they originated in Canadia
- marginalia_nu 5y ago
  These proto-memes were probably independently "invented" on a lot of different forums. There was a much bigger emphasis on making content yourself back before content aggregators, which meant there was a lot of innovation going on in a lot of places. They'd sort of trickle through the internet through some sort of weird back-channel osmosis and merge and intermingle to create new formats. I think almost anyone who spent a decent amount of time in forums aimed toward adolescents around 2000 will have had some small impact on the emerging meme format.
busterarm 5y ago
Do you have stairs in your house? Pak. Chooie. Unf.
- Mordisquitos 5y ago
  I am protected.
creamyhorror 5y ago
It's true, his forums had a huge indirect influence on modern US online culture, giving rise to so many projects and careers. Ironically, he failed to capitalise on his influential position unlike so many of his peers who sold off their online properties and disappeared from the public eye. If he'd taken a different approach, he'd probably now be sitting on media properties (or a fortune) worth tens of millions, and minting millions more in cryptocurrency/NFTs. And also possibly have a very different family life. An example of someone with huge opportunities but not the inclination/mindset or skillset to grasp them. (Also, I never understood the absurdist humour of Doom/Mood House back in the day. Weird stuff.)
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  A Tony Hsieh ending, perhaps
- jessaustin 5y ago
  If he'd taken a different approach... For some reason, imagining this individual with lots of money calls to mind the life of John McAfee.
- bigbillheck 5y ago
  > Ironically, he failed to capitalise on his influential position It wasn't for lack of trying (mangosteen).
javajosh 5y ago
>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 friends, and family, maybe some of his too, on your side. Because to even doubt a woman's allegation is to condone violence against women, making you no better than an abuser yourself. This isn't against women. How many of us, given such an arbitrary and powerful weapon, would have the character not to use it, especially against someone we hate for personal reasons? "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and yet here we are, giving scorned women the literal power of life and death over the object of their rage. That the accused does not have recourse, neither in a court of law nor in public opinion, goes without question. The solution is not to lament the lack of self-restraint, but to take this unfair power away. Accusation is not guilt, and we need to stop assuming that every accusation is credible.
- intended 5y ago
  Sadly, this take is ever poisoned, since it’s always used in chauvinistic circles. In those circles it’s used as a way to diminish and remove oxygen for the issue of domestic violence. I won’t go into it’s merits, or demerits, further. Just an FYI as to why this argument deservedly gets suspicion.
- rubyn00bie 5y ago
  > Domestic abuse is a real problem, but false allegation of domestic abuse is a real problem, too. That’s some MRA bullshit and I want to call it out. You have in one sentence made a false equivalence, because your claim is entirely untrue. It’s not a problem anywhere near the magnitude of real abuse cases. So much I couldn’t find results except one shit article from 2009, everything else was nothing but bullshit blogs. Go peddle your bullshit elsewhere.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    Accusing your spouse for domestic abuse to prevent them from seeing their kids is like toxic divorce 101. It doesn't cost anything, carries no risk and in a divorce court you don't have to prove much, rather your spouse would have to prove that he didn't abuse you. This is different from criminal court where getting a guilty verdict is very hard. If he was found guilty in a criminal court it would be very different.
jokethrowaway 5y ago
There's no such thing as "credible allegation". There's either proof or not. Now, I don't know any of the people involved in this, but this post tells a different story: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3984488&pagenumber=130&perpage=40#post519161172 https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&th... Like in the recent case of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp (listen to their recorded call where she admits her lies), it's easy to make the victim sounds like the perpetrator, especially if it's a guy.
antihero 5y ago
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3984488&pagenumber=120&perpage=40#post519160186 https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&th... "I have been sitting for hours debating whether or not to disclose this, and I feel like it's something I do need to get off of my chest. Frankly, I'm tried of being quiet. I've mostly had to stay quiet for years about things happening behind the scenes. I've held things inside so long and so hard my chest physically hurt the same way it is now. I considered not sharing this out of respect for Rich's parents and sister, but after thinking on the incredibly vitriolic wall of text Rich's Mother sent to me this morning, saying upon many other things, that his blood is on my hands, I need to share it to regain some sense of control over what's taken place in the past 48 hours. Yesterday I recieved a divorce ruling that would help me and my daughter stay in our home in Canada and allow me to provide a good life for her as well as pay back numerous debts that had accrued during the past two years when I was receiving $350 a month in child support. 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. He would still retain custody settled on previously in mediation. He was due to get our daughter for Christmas. An hour later I was contacted by my attorney who informed me that Rich had shot himself earlier in the morning. So. There it is. His other ex and I got to tell our children that their father died without saying goodbye to them, or that he loved them, or to my knowledge, left a note for them. If you've made it this far thank you for giving me space to let this go so I know longer have to hold onto it. "
- kryogen1c 5y ago
  "May the good he created stretch on, and the evil be buried with him."
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    That's an apt ewwwlogy.
- zebede 5y ago
  So he took the coward's way out, knowing that his abuse was about to catch up with him. Pathetic really.
boomboomsubban 5y ago
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?
- dwater 5y ago
  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.
  - nerevarthelame 5y ago
    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.
    - Threeve303 5y ago
      I think a lot more happened there than just piracy. Just based on what I heard, I certainly never had an account on any of the sites... . Perhaps over time, more will be known publically. SA lead to 4chan and 8chan, many conspiracies started on these sites as memes. Look at 8kun for example. Behind the scenes of sites like SA existed a large collection of questionable groups. Just imagine the bandwidth needed and the kinds of political connections required to keep it off of the radar. Also consider how the whole Warez scene operates in general. Experienced programmers writing cracks, leaked movies and tv shows, drugs, etc. Kind of like the silk road before the darkweb. Hopefully more will be known over time because there are some crazy stories. Not that I would know anything about any of it
      - albedoa 5y ago
        > I think a lot more happened there than just piracy. The comment you are replying to is referring to the sites dedicated solely to piracy. You have a pretty fantastical idea of what happens there.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ryaniscool 5y ago
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 enough and gotten to know yourself and other people you realize how complicated and flawed each and every one of us are.
- lamontcg 5y ago
  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.
- brodouevencode 5y ago
  Interesting points. It's too common now to lump a person's strengths and weaknesses into one big package. Right or wrong, that is the common way of judging people it seems. I enjoyed SA at first, until it became quite clear the moderation was heavily skewed to Lowtax and his friends, Photoshop Fridays were largely rigged, accounts would be locked for no apparent reason and good luck getting a response from that cancer guy that never checked email. And fine - that's his site, his rules, and opted (since phpBB was free and had "access" to university servers) to set up something just for me and my friends. Apparently I wasn't the only one because the user base slowly declined with some hardcore hangers-on sticking around to form the shell of a community it is now. Lowtax was always an asshole, but he did build something that greatly influenced internet culture (again, for better or worse is left up to the reader).
- ryandrake 5y ago
  > 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 enough and gotten to know yourself and other people you realize how complicated and flawed each and every one of us are. We see this a lot in posts here and elsewhere: Some historical figure or someone with a lifetime of achievements and impact gets mentioned. Then, inevitably, a poster comes out of the woodwork to remind everyone: "Buuuuuut he was sexist" or "Buuuuuut he sometimes beat his kids" or "Buuuuuut he once cheated on his wife" as if that one fact nullifies everything else the person did. I'm glad OP acknowledged that the person in question was "complicated". We all are complicated. People should not be reduced to a single dimension or a single bad thing they did. I hope when I finally pass away, my epitaph talks about the major things I did, rather than that one worst thing I ever did, that someone found by analyzing 40 years of comment history.
RNCTX 5y ago
> 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. How many people do you know who quit their job and/or sold their business because a stripper said they slapped her too hard? Personally: none. Don't believe the shit you hear from neurotic e-girls. His skirmish with Uwe Boll was prophetic. Internet nerds who've led mostly sheltered lives don't mix with real life grifters and addicts. Mixture of the two different species can only end in domestic disturbance calls, DWIs, defaulted child support, and eventually one or the other of the parties' last gofundme.
bigbillheck 5y ago
I think the success of Something Awful is, by and large, despite Lowtax, and not because of him.
- swivelmaster 5y ago
  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.
- WorldMaker 5y ago
  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.
- kuraudo 5y ago
  Hard disagree; early Something Awful was hilarious and it was mostly becuase Lowtax was more involved with front page posts.; I'm still chuckling just remembering some of those posts.
missinfo 5y ago
From his Patreon last year: As you know my patreon has declined from like $9k to under $1k because of the fucking idiots who embrace the ideology of, "If You Read It On the Internet, It Must Be True!" Ironically, this was the original slogan for the site, before I changed it to "The Internet Makes You Stupid." Both apply equally in this case. Nobody seems aware that anybody can allege anything. Nobody seems to give a shit that I built and maintained this community for 22 years; one single allegation destroyed all that good will. One single allegetion destroyed my entire career, site, job, and creation. And don't even try to say "BUT LOWTAX WHUT ABOUT THESE OTHER THINGS IN YUR PAST HURRRRRR" because I've never been convicted or found guilty of doing shit. Ever. Period. A bunch of kiwifarms people easily whipped those gullible idiots into a frenzy of self righteous outrage, and nobody from SA even gave it a second thought. I've always been honest and open with everybody my entire life, which is also why I get easily manipulated. I cannot speak in further length about certain things, so I'm trying to be as vague as possible. Look at the background of both parties involved, look at their history, look at what they've literally and legally done. Not been ACCUSED of doing, but actually DONE. We have a court of law to determine if allegations are valid. Rushing to judgement by simply acting on an allegation, something that has, by nature, not been proven at all, is pure idiot toilet fuck shit. This event really shows who my true allies and friends are, and who are the people that don't give a shit about the things I've actually DONE and CREATED in the past 22 years are. I'm going to capitalize the word done here one more time. DONE. An ALLEGATION. For fuck's sake, at least wait for me to be found legally guilty of SOMETHING. Innocent until proven guilty, except on the internet where it's guilty and then still guilty and always guilty because people make up their minds once and can never change them ever no matter what. Outrage is the currency of the internet, and by god nobody will ever be wrong! Anyway I'm making a plea for logic, if there is any logic remaining on the internet. Thank you to the six remaining patreon members left, and a huge fuck off to the SA outrage culture reactionists that were apparently just waiting for any excuse or reason, no matter how idiotic, to turn on me. Congrats, you're betting on the wrong horse. And yes, I'm aware that by writing this I'm just going to lose more donors but whatever, I'm not and never have done anything just for cash. I just wanted to point out how the site I used to run is now populated by the hand wringing, outrage culture warriors we used to once make fun of. https://www.patreon.com/posts/still-amazed-at-39693289 https://www.patreon.com/posts/still-amazed-at-39693289

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

xenihn 5y ago

I remember hearing that image macros originated on TribalWar (a forum for Starsiege: Tribes), but they were definitely popularized by SA

busterarm 5y ago
Shazbot!
- mjfl 5y ago
  I am the greatest.
  - ghuntley 5y ago
    VGH
    - praxxis 5y ago
      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)
      - superkuh 5y ago
        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/ http://playt1.com/
        aweiland 5y ago
        holy crap, I had no idea this existed
        georgeecollins 5y ago
        What a great game!!
- aww_dang 5y ago
  I heard they originated in Canadia
marginalia_nu 5y ago
These proto-memes were probably independently "invented" on a lot of different forums. There was a much bigger emphasis on making content yourself back before content aggregators, which meant there was a lot of innovation going on in a lot of places. They'd sort of trickle through the internet through some sort of weird back-channel osmosis and merge and intermingle to create new formats. I think almost anyone who spent a decent amount of time in forums aimed toward adolescents around 2000 will have had some small impact on the emerging meme format.

busterarm 5y ago

Do you have stairs in your house? Pak. Chooie. Unf.

Mordisquitos 5y ago
I am protected.

creamyhorror 5y ago

It's true, his forums had a huge indirect influence on modern US online culture, giving rise to so many projects and careers. Ironically, he failed to capitalise on his influential position unlike so many of his peers who sold off their online properties and disappeared from the public eye. If he'd taken a different approach, he'd probably now be sitting on media properties (or a fortune) worth tens of millions, and minting millions more in cryptocurrency/NFTs. And also possibly have a very different family life. An example of someone with huge opportunities but not the inclination/mindset or skillset to grasp them. (Also, I never understood the absurdist humour of Doom/Mood House back in the day. Weird stuff.)

Apocryphon 5y ago
A Tony Hsieh ending, perhaps
jessaustin 5y ago
If he'd taken a different approach... For some reason, imagining this individual with lots of money calls to mind the life of John McAfee.
bigbillheck 5y ago
> Ironically, he failed to capitalise on his influential position It wasn't for lack of trying (mangosteen).

javajosh 5y ago

>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 friends, and family, maybe some of his too, on your side. Because to even doubt a woman's allegation is to condone violence against women, making you no better than an abuser yourself. This isn't against women. How many of us, given such an arbitrary and powerful weapon, would have the character not to use it, especially against someone we hate for personal reasons? "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and yet here we are, giving scorned women the literal power of life and death over the object of their rage. That the accused does not have recourse, neither in a court of law nor in public opinion, goes without question. The solution is not to lament the lack of self-restraint, but to take this unfair power away. Accusation is not guilt, and we need to stop assuming that every accusation is credible.

intended 5y ago
Sadly, this take is ever poisoned, since it’s always used in chauvinistic circles. In those circles it’s used as a way to diminish and remove oxygen for the issue of domestic violence. I won’t go into it’s merits, or demerits, further. Just an FYI as to why this argument deservedly gets suspicion.
rubyn00bie 5y ago
> Domestic abuse is a real problem, but false allegation of domestic abuse is a real problem, too. That’s some MRA bullshit and I want to call it out. You have in one sentence made a false equivalence, because your claim is entirely untrue. It’s not a problem anywhere near the magnitude of real abuse cases. So much I couldn’t find results except one shit article from 2009, everything else was nothing but bullshit blogs. Go peddle your bullshit elsewhere.
- Jensson 5y ago
  Accusing your spouse for domestic abuse to prevent them from seeing their kids is like toxic divorce 101. It doesn't cost anything, carries no risk and in a divorce court you don't have to prove much, rather your spouse would have to prove that he didn't abuse you. This is different from criminal court where getting a guilty verdict is very hard. If he was found guilty in a criminal court it would be very different.

jokethrowaway 5y ago

There's no such thing as "credible allegation". There's either proof or not. Now, I don't know any of the people involved in this, but this post tells a different story: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3984488&pagenumber=130&perpage=40#post519161172 https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&th... Like in the recent case of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp (listen to their recorded call where she admits her lies), it's easy to make the victim sounds like the perpetrator, especially if it's a guy.

antihero 5y ago

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3984488&pagenumber=120&perpage=40#post519160186 https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&th... "I have been sitting for hours debating whether or not to disclose this, and I feel like it's something I do need to get off of my chest. Frankly, I'm tried of being quiet. I've mostly had to stay quiet for years about things happening behind the scenes. I've held things inside so long and so hard my chest physically hurt the same way it is now. I considered not sharing this out of respect for Rich's parents and sister, but after thinking on the incredibly vitriolic wall of text Rich's Mother sent to me this morning, saying upon many other things, that his blood is on my hands, I need to share it to regain some sense of control over what's taken place in the past 48 hours. Yesterday I recieved a divorce ruling that would help me and my daughter stay in our home in Canada and allow me to provide a good life for her as well as pay back numerous debts that had accrued during the past two years when I was receiving $350 a month in child support. 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. He would still retain custody settled on previously in mediation. He was due to get our daughter for Christmas. An hour later I was contacted by my attorney who informed me that Rich had shot himself earlier in the morning. So. There it is. His other ex and I got to tell our children that their father died without saying goodbye to them, or that he loved them, or to my knowledge, left a note for them. If you've made it this far thank you for giving me space to let this go so I know longer have to hold onto it. "

kryogen1c 5y ago
"May the good he created stretch on, and the evil be buried with him."
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  That's an apt ewwwlogy.
zebede 5y ago
So he took the coward's way out, knowing that his abuse was about to catch up with him. Pathetic really.

boomboomsubban 5y ago

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?

dwater 5y ago
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.
- nerevarthelame 5y ago
  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.
  - Threeve303 5y ago
    I think a lot more happened there than just piracy. Just based on what I heard, I certainly never had an account on any of the sites... . Perhaps over time, more will be known publically. SA lead to 4chan and 8chan, many conspiracies started on these sites as memes. Look at 8kun for example. Behind the scenes of sites like SA existed a large collection of questionable groups. Just imagine the bandwidth needed and the kinds of political connections required to keep it off of the radar. Also consider how the whole Warez scene operates in general. Experienced programmers writing cracks, leaked movies and tv shows, drugs, etc. Kind of like the silk road before the darkweb. Hopefully more will be known over time because there are some crazy stories. Not that I would know anything about any of it
    - albedoa 5y ago
      > I think a lot more happened there than just piracy. The comment you are replying to is referring to the sites dedicated solely to piracy. You have a pretty fantastical idea of what happens there.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ryaniscool 5y ago

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 enough and gotten to know yourself and other people you realize how complicated and flawed each and every one of us are.

lamontcg 5y ago
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.
brodouevencode 5y ago
Interesting points. It's too common now to lump a person's strengths and weaknesses into one big package. Right or wrong, that is the common way of judging people it seems. I enjoyed SA at first, until it became quite clear the moderation was heavily skewed to Lowtax and his friends, Photoshop Fridays were largely rigged, accounts would be locked for no apparent reason and good luck getting a response from that cancer guy that never checked email. And fine - that's his site, his rules, and opted (since phpBB was free and had "access" to university servers) to set up something just for me and my friends. Apparently I wasn't the only one because the user base slowly declined with some hardcore hangers-on sticking around to form the shell of a community it is now. Lowtax was always an asshole, but he did build something that greatly influenced internet culture (again, for better or worse is left up to the reader).
ryandrake 5y ago
> 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 enough and gotten to know yourself and other people you realize how complicated and flawed each and every one of us are. We see this a lot in posts here and elsewhere: Some historical figure or someone with a lifetime of achievements and impact gets mentioned. Then, inevitably, a poster comes out of the woodwork to remind everyone: "Buuuuuut he was sexist" or "Buuuuuut he sometimes beat his kids" or "Buuuuuut he once cheated on his wife" as if that one fact nullifies everything else the person did. I'm glad OP acknowledged that the person in question was "complicated". We all are complicated. People should not be reduced to a single dimension or a single bad thing they did. I hope when I finally pass away, my epitaph talks about the major things I did, rather than that one worst thing I ever did, that someone found by analyzing 40 years of comment history.

RNCTX 5y ago

> 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. How many people do you know who quit their job and/or sold their business because a stripper said they slapped her too hard? Personally: none. Don't believe the shit you hear from neurotic e-girls. His skirmish with Uwe Boll was prophetic. Internet nerds who've led mostly sheltered lives don't mix with real life grifters and addicts. Mixture of the two different species can only end in domestic disturbance calls, DWIs, defaulted child support, and eventually one or the other of the parties' last gofundme.

bigbillheck 5y ago

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

swivelmaster 5y ago
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.
WorldMaker 5y ago
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.
kuraudo 5y ago
Hard disagree; early Something Awful was hilarious and it was mostly becuase Lowtax was more involved with front page posts.; I'm still chuckling just remembering some of those posts.

missinfo 5y ago

From his Patreon last year: As you know my patreon has declined from like $9k to under $1k because of the fucking idiots who embrace the ideology of, "If You Read It On the Internet, It Must Be True!" Ironically, this was the original slogan for the site, before I changed it to "The Internet Makes You Stupid." Both apply equally in this case. Nobody seems aware that anybody can allege anything. Nobody seems to give a shit that I built and maintained this community for 22 years; one single allegation destroyed all that good will. One single allegetion destroyed my entire career, site, job, and creation. And don't even try to say "BUT LOWTAX WHUT ABOUT THESE OTHER THINGS IN YUR PAST HURRRRRR" because I've never been convicted or found guilty of doing shit. Ever. Period. A bunch of kiwifarms people easily whipped those gullible idiots into a frenzy of self righteous outrage, and nobody from SA even gave it a second thought. I've always been honest and open with everybody my entire life, which is also why I get easily manipulated. I cannot speak in further length about certain things, so I'm trying to be as vague as possible. Look at the background of both parties involved, look at their history, look at what they've literally and legally done. Not been ACCUSED of doing, but actually DONE. We have a court of law to determine if allegations are valid. Rushing to judgement by simply acting on an allegation, something that has, by nature, not been proven at all, is pure idiot toilet fuck shit. This event really shows who my true allies and friends are, and who are the people that don't give a shit about the things I've actually DONE and CREATED in the past 22 years are. I'm going to capitalize the word done here one more time. DONE. An ALLEGATION. For fuck's sake, at least wait for me to be found legally guilty of SOMETHING. Innocent until proven guilty, except on the internet where it's guilty and then still guilty and always guilty because people make up their minds once and can never change them ever no matter what. Outrage is the currency of the internet, and by god nobody will ever be wrong! Anyway I'm making a plea for logic, if there is any logic remaining on the internet. Thank you to the six remaining patreon members left, and a huge fuck off to the SA outrage culture reactionists that were apparently just waiting for any excuse or reason, no matter how idiotic, to turn on me. Congrats, you're betting on the wrong horse. And yes, I'm aware that by writing this I'm just going to lose more donors but whatever, I'm not and never have done anything just for cash. I just wanted to point out how the site I used to run is now populated by the hand wringing, outrage culture warriors we used to once make fun of. https://www.patreon.com/posts/still-amazed-at-39693289 https://www.patreon.com/posts/still-amazed-at-39693289