Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Something Awful

Something Awful is an comedy website and founded in 1999 by "Lowtax" Kyanka as a platform for satirical content and discussion. Featuring a motto of "The makes you stupid," the site initially offered humor articles, game reviews, and flash animations but gained prominence through its paid-access forums, including the irreverent " And Die" section and recurring Photoshop editing contests known as Photoshop Phriday. The forums cultivated a tight-knit community of registered users, dubbed "goons," who influenced early 2000s web culture by pioneering interactive formats such as "Let's Play" video game walkthroughs and fostering experimental image manipulation and meme prototyping that predated and informed anonymous boards like 4chan. Something Awful's emphasis on curated absurdity and community-driven content positioned it as a precursor to modern internet subcultures, with its output often archived and revisited for historical significance in digital humor. Despite its cultural impact, the site encountered challenges in later years, including operational shifts following Kyanka's removal from administration in 2020 amid personal conduct issues and his subsequent death by suicide in 2021 at age 45, after which volunteer moderators assumed control to sustain the forums. As of 2023, Something Awful remains active with ongoing discussions and preservation efforts for its visual archives, maintaining a niche but enduring presence in online communities.

Founding and Early Development

Inception as a Personal Blog (1999)

Something Awful originated in 1999 when "Lowtax" Kyanka registered the domain somethingawful.com to host a blog of satirical commentary on emerging phenomena. Kyanka, a and who had operated an earlier site called RK Central on .com since 1996, adopted "Something Awful" as the site's name from a recurring he used to describe online absurdities and mediocrity. The blog's initial content consisted primarily of Kyanka's solo-authored entries, blending cynical humor with critiques of , services, and optimism. Examples included writings on 2 gameplay flaws, fabricated pranks depicting awkward cyber-interactions, and parodies of online subcultures like enthusiasts. Specific posts from late 1999, such as "Hello, Welcome to " published on December 23, showcased scripted dialogues mocking naive users' attempts at digital socializing. Kyanka's tone emphasized the 's potential for banality and irritation, as he later stated: "I predicted that the would be shitty back in 1999." This approach drew from his experiences in communities and early web experimentation, positioning the as a contrarian voice against hype surrounding tools like and multiplayer titles such as . By year's end, entries like the December 29 "Infamous Cleric Petition" extended this satire to in-game exploits and player behaviors in MMORPGs. At , the site lacked forums or , functioning solely as Kyanka's outlet for personal essays that highlighted causal links between technological adoption and social folly, without reliance on external validation or polished production. This foundational phase established a template for irreverent, evidence-based mockery rooted in observed online interactions, predating the site's expansion into collaborative features.

Emergence of Forums and Goon Culture (1999–2001)

In 1999, , known online as Lowtax, launched Something Awful as a featuring cynical commentary on , parodies, and reviews of odd online phenomena, drawing from his earlier Tripod-hosted site RK Central. By 2000, the site expanded to include forums as an extension of the front-page content, initially drawing a modest of a few hundred users who engaged in discussions mirroring the blog's irreverent tone. This shift enabled real-time interaction, with threads focusing on mocking web absurdities, early contests, and shared critiques of digital trends, laying the groundwork for a participatory model distinct from passive blog reading. The forums' user base, soon self-identified as "goons," cultivated a rooted in ironic detachment, rapid-fire wit, and communal gatekeeping against perceived outsiders, with the term originating from an early derogatory label in a general discussion thread that the group reclaimed as an . Goon interactions emphasized brevity, sarcasm, and avoidance of earnestness, often channeling wars into dedicated subforums like Fuck You and Die (FYAD) to segregate vitriol from broader content. This period saw the forums grow to thousands of active participants by late 2001, fostering innovations such as collaborative and precursors, while unpaid registration kept the community accessible yet prone to trolling influxes. Goon culture during these years prized self-deprecating humor and skepticism toward hype-driven web fads, with users bonding over shared disdain for elements like excessive pranks or amateur , as highlighted in site features. Lowtax moderated lightly to preserve the chaotic energy, attributing the site's appeal to its unpolished authenticity amid the dot-com era's optimism. By 2001's end, the forums had solidified Something Awful's reputation as a hub for subversive discourse, influencing subsequent subcultures through exported and raiding tactics, though still operating without the paid membership barrier introduced later.

Early Innovations in Web Humor (2000–2002)

During 2000–2002, Something Awful pioneered interactive web humor through forum-driven contests and collaborative content creation, shifting from static blog posts to user-generated that emphasized absurdity and digital editing. The Photoshop Phriday feature, active by 2000, invited registered users to submit themed image manipulations using , often parodying commercial ads, celebrities, or mundane objects with grotesque or ironic alterations; entries were curated weekly on the front page, rewarding the most inventive submissions and establishing a model for crowdsourced visual that predated broader ecosystems. This format highlighted early adoption of accessible image-editing software for humorous ends, with themes like altered collectible plates or phake video games drawing hundreds of contributions per contest by 2002. The forums, especially the FYAD (Fuck You and Die) subforum, innovated collective trolling and incubation, where users dissected pop culture flaws in real-time threads, amplifying ironic detachment and in-joke escalation. A seminal example was the popularization of the "All your base are belong to us" , derived from broken English in the 1989 Mega Drive game ; initially posted on Something Awful in 1998, it exploded in 2001 through forum-shared GIFs, remixed videos, and spam campaigns, marking one of the first instances of a phrase achieving cross-site virality via user remixing rather than top-down media. This reflected causal dynamics of early humor: low-barrier sharing tools enabled rapid iteration, turning niche references into self-replicating content without institutional gatekeeping. Other features underscored performative pranks as humor, such as 2000 ICQ prank archives logging deceptive chats with unsuspecting s, blending social engineering with transcribed to mock online naivety. Annual Awful Awards in 2000 further formalized community voting on lowlights, like worst websites or trends, institutionalizing ironic critique. These elements collectively advanced humor by prioritizing empirical —verifiable via screenshots and logs—over polished narratives, influencing later platforms' reliance on participation for escalation.

Core Content and Features

Photoshop Phriday and Image Manipulation Contests

Photoshop Phriday is a weekly contest on Something Awful in which registered forum users, referred to as "goons," submit digitally altered images based on a theme selected by site staff, typically involving parody or exaggeration of cultural, historical, or mundane subjects. The name combines "Photoshop," referencing Adobe's image editing software central to submissions, with "Phriday" as a deliberate misspelling of "Friday" to evoke the feature's end-of-week timing. Entries are compiled into online galleries, with standout works highlighted for their creativity, technical skill, or satirical edge, fostering a competitive environment that has generated thousands of images since its inception. The contest originated in the early 2000s amid the site's growing community, with archived editions dating to 2001, marking it as one of Something Awful's earliest structured humor features. Themes often draw from pop culture, such as reimagining origins or historical inaccuracies, encouraging manipulations that blend absurdity with precise editing techniques like , , and surreal additions. Staff curation ensures variety, with multi-part series for complex topics, and the format has persisted through site changes, including implementations in that restricted access to premium members. Beyond the flagship Photoshop Phriday, Something Awful forums have hosted numerous ad-hoc image manipulation contests within threads, often in subforums dedicated to visual humor or experimental editing. These include themed challenges like adding human arms to birds or creating "paranormal pictures" from stock photos, which in one 2009 instance spurred the collaborative invention of the internet horror figure through iterative edits turning ordinary images into eerie composites. Such contests emphasize community-driven escalation, where participants build on prior submissions, predating formalized "Photoshop battles" on later platforms and highlighting the site's role in pioneering competitive digital satire.

Feature Articles, Columns, and Serialized Content

Something Awful's feature articles section featured long-form content such as humorous essays, game reviews, and satirical pieces that expanded beyond the site's initial blog format of critiquing poorly designed websites. These articles, often written by pseudonymous contributors or site founder Richard Kyanka under the "Lowtax" handle, emphasized absurdism, irony, and critique of internet and pop culture phenomena, with publications dating back to at least 2000. For instance, a January 29, 2001, article titled "Storytime: He-Man and the ROCK WARRIORS!" presented a mock-narrative recapping a fictionalized episode of the He-Man cartoon, blending nostalgia with exaggerated parody. Columns within this category included recurring opinionated or advisory series, such as "," a satirical take on and advice formats that mocked human behaviors through an alien perspective, with episodes critiquing topics like species-specific idiocies. These columns maintained the site's contrarian tone, often deriding mainstream trends while encouraging reader engagement through forums, and were updated sporadically to align with contributor availability rather than strict schedules. Earlier examples included Kyanka's personal rants evolving into structured commentary on and , as seen in the January 8, 2000, review of Incite Gaming Magazine, which lambasted print 's irrelevance in the digital age. Serialized content appeared as multi-part features or episodic narratives, allowing for extended storytelling within the site's humorous framework. A notable example is "World War C: An Oral History of the Cobra War," published October 5, 2006, which fabricated an of lore through mock interviews, spanning multiple installments to build comedic escalation. Similarly, gaming impressions like "Anarchy Online: First Impressions" from June 6, 2001, used serialized updates to chronicle playtesting flaws and exploits, influencing early critiques of MMORPG design. These formats fostered discussion, with threads linking back to articles for input, though production waned post-2010 as activity overshadowed site updates.

Forum Structure and Specialized Subforums

The Something Awful forums operate on a hierarchical model, featuring parent categories that encompass multiple child subforums tailored to specific topics, with access primarily restricted to paid members—known as "goons"—following a one-time $10 registration implemented around to filter out low-quality participants and sustain the community. This , combined with internal user rankings like bronze, silver, and gold stars based on post count and tenure, influences visibility and moderation privileges across subforums. The structure emphasizes threaded discussions, where users post in ongoing topics, often with embedded images, links, and , fostering a mix of humor, , and unique to the site's ethos. At the core of the general discussion tier lies the General (GBS) subforum, established as the largest open forum for miscellaneous topics ranging from current events to personal anecdotes, designed to host substantive exchanges while benefiting from the redirection of elsewhere. Complementing GBS, the And Die (FYAD) subforum—launched early in the forums' —served as a designated space for unfiltered flame wars, grotesque image dumps, and provocative trolling, effectively quarantining disruptive behavior to preserve order in other areas and encapsulating Something Awful's tolerance for boundary-pushing content. FYAD's raw, insider-oriented influenced broader subcultures but drew criticism for enabling toxicity, leading to its eventual archival and restricted access by the late . Specialized subforums branch into niche domains, such as gaming under categories like "Let's Play," which originated in 2006 with threads featuring narrated gameplay of titles like Oregon Trail and evolved into a repository for user-generated video walkthroughs that popularized the format across platforms. Technology sections dissect hardware, software, and internet culture, while entertainment-focused areas include Awful Anime for dissecting Japanese animation series and threads tied to music critique under influences like "Your Band Sucks," a companion feature spawning forum debates on genres from rock to electronic. Other niches cover fashion mockery—echoing the site's Fashion SWAT columns—sports analysis, and creative outlets like Bring Your Own Read (BYOR) for curated link-sharing, each enforcing topic-specific rules to channel the community's snark into productive ridicule rather than aimless venting.

Charitable Activities and Community Responses

Spam Prevention and Early Tech Initiatives

Something Awful's forums, launched in late , adopted a one-time $10 registration fee as an early barrier against and automated abuse, a measure rare among contemporaneous free-for-all discussion boards that often devolved into bot-filled chaos. This economic disincentive, combined with human verification during signup, significantly reduced unsolicited commercial postings and low-quality trolling from the outset, fostering a user base committed to the site's ironic humor ethos. By , as traffic grew, volunteer moderators—known as "goons"—enforced anti- policies through rapid thread pruning and user bans, maintaining post quality amid rising web-wide spam proliferation following the CAN-SPAM Act's 2003 enactment. In July 2003, Something Awful encountered external spam prevention challenges when its hosting range was blacklisted by the Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS), a volunteer-maintained database flagging ranges associated with . The listing stemmed from a nearby IP used by a spam operator, not direct site activity, yet it disrupted SA's email operations and ignited backlash from users who viewed SPEWS as indiscriminately punitive, potentially collateral-damaging innocent hosts. Site founder and community members critiqued the system's opacity and error-proneness in an , 2003, front-page titled "SPEWS is Love," which detailed failed delisting attempts and argued for more granular, evidence-based filtering to avoid overreach. This episode spurred Something Awful users to engage in broader anti- discourse, including influxes into Usenet's news.admin.net-abuse.email hierarchy to debate blacklisting methodologies and advocate for verifiable spam attribution over broad strokes. Such community-driven scrutiny contributed to early conversations on refining collaborative tools, predating widespread adoption of reputation-based systems like DNSBL refinements. While not a formal initiative, these responses underscored SA's role in highlighting causal pitfalls in nascent spam tech, such as false positives from IP proximity rather than behavioral evidence. Early technical efforts extended to forum infrastructure tweaks for resilience, including custom scripts for duplicate post detection and integration of basic rate-limiting by the early 2000s, which goons iteratively refined based on spam patterns observed in subforums like Technology. These ad-hoc innovations, shared informally among users, prefigured modern moderation aids and reflected a pragmatic, community-sourced approach to sustaining usability amid evolving threats like forum-hopping bots. No peer-reviewed metrics exist for their efficacy, but anecdotal forum archives indicate sustained low spam incidence relative to peers.

Charity Drives for Disasters and Health Causes

In response to , which devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas on August 29, 2005, Something Awful founder "Lowtax" Kyanka initiated an official donation drive to support relief efforts. The campaign, leveraging the site's community of registered users known as "goons," rapidly collected over $30,000 in contributions within hours, with Kyanka planning to match donations and provide merchandise incentives to donors. However, froze the account amid verification concerns, sparking public backlash and media coverage that highlighted tensions between online fundraising platforms and rapid-response charity efforts. Funds were ultimately redirected to established organizations such as the , allowing continued support for victims despite the interruption. Community-driven donation threads on Something Awful forums supplemented official drives for other disasters, including informal pledges and matches for events like the in , though these lacked centralized organization and verifiable totals from site leadership. For health causes, Something Awful's direct drives were less formalized but included promotional support for member wellness initiatives and awareness campaigns, such as humorous yet pointed critiques of major cancer charities that encouraged scrutiny of fund allocation efficacy. The site's coverage of marathons like , which raised millions for organizations including the Prevent Cancer Foundation, amplified community participation in funding through shared donation incentives and commentary. Forum discussions also vetted and recommended evidence-based health charities, prioritizing interventions with measurable impacts on disease prevention and treatment.

Political and Activist Engagements

Something Awful's political engagements centered on online satire, forum-based discourse, and moderation efforts against perceived extremism, rather than organized real-world campaigns or protests. The site's Photoshop Phriday contests frequently parodied political figures and events, such as the "Unlikely Political Campaigns" threads in April 2004 and January 2008, where forum users manipulated images to depict absurd electoral scenarios involving historical or fictional candidates. Similar efforts included "Political Cartoons" in February 2004 and ongoing iterations through 2025, critiquing media portrayals of elections and leaders via exaggerated visuals. These activities reflected the community's contrarian humor, targeting both major parties without formal advocacy. Forum subforums like Fuck You and Die (FYAD) hosted heated discussions on U.S. elections, , and cultural issues, often emphasizing irony and over endorsement of ideologies. Threads such as "Let us discuss (but not advocate for) against the " in January 2019 explicitly barred calls to action while dissecting tactics in historical contexts like anti-colonial struggles. This approach fostered a nihilistic critique of power structures, influencing broader political through exported memes and trolling styles, as analyzed in Dale Beran's 2019 book It Came from Something Awful, which traces SA's role in shaping anonymous online antagonism that later permeated platforms like . In response to cultural controversies, SA users positioned against movements associated with . During the 2014 Gamergate dispute, originating partly from a post on SA forums alleging ethical lapses in games journalism, the community largely aligned in opposition, with threads mocking participants as reactionary or misogynistic. Later, in January 2020, founder Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka shuttered FYAD after it became overrun with alt-right and Nazi-aligned posting, stating the subforum's toxicity had degraded into "nazi poo poo" that undermined the site's standards. Such moderation actions represented defensive engagements against ideological infiltration, though they coincided with declining activity amid internal scandals. Satirical articles, like "When Is It Okay to Call Someone a 'Nazi?'" in April 2017, further lampooned loose applications of labels in political debates. Overall, these efforts prioritized humorous subversion and boundary enforcement over structured activism, contributing to SA's reputation as a cradle of internet contrarianism.

Cultural Influence and Achievements

Origins of Key Internet Memes and Tropes

Something Awful's forums and editorial features served as incubators for numerous early internet memes, primarily through user-generated content in subforums like Fuck You And Die (FYAD) and weekly Photoshop Phriday contests, where members manipulated images to create absurd or satirical visuals. These activities amplified obscure references into widespread phenomena, often by exploiting poor translations, viral videos, or gaming mishaps shared among "goons"—the site's paid members known for their contrarian humor and coordinated posting raids on other online communities. The site's emphasis on mocking low-quality web content and fostering ironic detachment contributed to tropes like organized trolling, where goons would overwhelm rival forums with disruptive posts to highlight perceived absurdities. One of the earliest major memes popularized on Something Awful was "All Your Base Are Belong to Us," originating from a poorly translated in the 1992 Mega Drive port of the 1989 arcade game . In late 2000, forum users spotlighted the phrase during discussions of bad game localizations, leading to Photoshop Phriday entries superimposing it onto unrelated images, which proliferated across the internet by early 2001. This marked a template for memes, with goons creating variants that mocked authority or conquest themes, influencing later formats on sites like . The FYAD subforum also propelled viral videos into meme status, such as the 2004 "Numa Numa" clip of Gary Brolsma lip-syncing to O-Zone's "," which gained traction after being posted and dissected there for its earnest awkwardness. Similarly, Tay Zonday's "" (uploaded July 2007) exploded after goons highlighted its distinctive falsetto and conspiracy-laden lyrics, spawning parodies and references that peaked at over 100 million views by 2010. The 2005 video featuring ""—a player impulsively charging into battle, yelling the character's name—spread rapidly via Something Awful threads, becoming synonymous with reckless disruption in online gaming culture. Something Awful directly originated the trope in June 2009, when user Eric Knudsen (Victor Surge) posted two manipulated photos in a Photoshop thread depicting a faceless, suited figure stalking children in a park, captioning them with fabricated historical context. This sparked a genre of urban legends spread via forums, evolving into multimedia horror with games and films, though it later inspired real-world incidents due to its immersive mythology. Goon-driven trolling tactics, including "raids" on sites like or furry communities, codified early internet harassment tropes, emphasizing feigned outrage and escalation for humorous effect among insiders. These elements collectively shaped a contrarian ethos that prioritized deconstructing pop culture over affirmation, influencing broader web humor until the mid-2010s.

Impact on Gaming Journalism and Let's Plays

The Something Awful forums' games subforum pioneered the Let's Play format in 2006, when users began posting sequential screenshots of gameplay accompanied by running commentary, often highlighting flaws in obscure or poorly designed titles. This interactive style of documenting playthroughs, initially text-based, evolved into a dedicated subforum that formalized rules for submissions, emphasizing narrative engagement and critique over mere walkthroughs. The format's origins are traced to threads on games like The Oregon Trail, where participants shared humorous, annotated progress, laying the groundwork for video-based iterations. A landmark example was user Slowbeef's April 2007 Let's Play of the adventure game Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh, which popularized screenshot-driven storytelling with sarcastic narration, drawing thousands of views and inspiring imitators within the community. The subforum's influence extended to video platforms, as early adopters transitioned to YouTube, where Let's Plays proliferated into a major content genre by the late 2000s, generating millions of views and spawning careers for creators like those behind The Angry Video Game Nerd series through similar critical gameplay dissection. Academic analysis of over 14 years of top threads confirms the subforum's role in fostering diverse engagement, from narrative LPs to screenshot archives, which shaped community-driven gaming media beyond traditional reviews. In gaming journalism, Something Awful's feature articles and columns offered an alternative to mainstream outlets, delivering irreverent reviews and critiques that exposed hype-driven coverage and subpar writing in sites like GameSpot. Pieces such as the 2005 roundup of "The Five Worst Gaming Articles," which lambasted overly positive or poorly reasoned reviews of titles like Black & White 2, highlighted systemic issues like undisclosed incentives and lack of rigor, influencing a generation of online commentators to prioritize unfiltered analysis. Similarly, the 2006 "New Games Journalism" article satirized emerging trends in subjective, lifestyle-oriented reporting, underscoring Something Awful's contrarian stance that prefigured broader skepticism toward industry collusion revealed in events like the 2014 Gamergate controversy. These efforts, rooted in forum-driven discourse, contributed to a shift where enthusiast communities demanded transparency and depth, indirectly pressuring professional journalism to address biases in scoring and narrative framing.

Shaping Early Internet Troll Culture and Contrarianism

Something Awful's forums, particularly the "Fuck You And Die" (FYAD) subforum established in the early 2000s, served as a primary incubator for early internet trolling by normalizing coordinated disruptions and ironic cruelty for entertainment value, often termed "lulz." FYAD began as a space for flame wars but evolved into an invite-only hub where users, known as "goons," refined techniques like site invasions and persona-based pranks, such as early ICQ trolling campaigns documented in 1999-2000 site features. This approach emphasized performative nihilism over genuine malice, influencing subsequent platforms; for instance, 4chan's founder, Christopher "moot" Poole, was a former SA goon who launched the site in 2003 after facing bans for excessive raiding. Goons targeted "lolcows"—individuals or groups milked for dramatic reactions—fostering a culture where provocation was gamified, as seen in organized troll raids on sites like LiveJournal communities. The site's , encapsulated in its "The makes you stupid" adopted around 1999, rejected the era's prevailing about by prioritizing cynical deconstructions of pop culture, media hype, and earnest fandoms. Forum rules and moderation discouraged repetitive memes or unoriginal content, enforcing a standard of subversive, context-specific wit that antagonized mainstream narratives, such as mocking enthusiasts or corporate gaming trends through snarky feature articles and threads. This bred a toward uncritical enthusiasm, with goons cultivating ironic detachment—treating convictions as targets for ridicule—to counter perceived naivety, a dynamic that prefigured broader in humor sites and . By the mid-2000s, SA's peak membership exceeded 197,000 paid users, amplifying these traits through serialized content like "Roamin' Dad" that satirized suburban normalcy, solidifying its role in embedding as a defensive posture against cultural conformity.

Controversies and Criticisms

Moderation Failures and Toxic Community Dynamics

Something Awful's moderation relied on a $10 entry fee to deter casual trolls, supplemented by rules prohibiting overt illegal content but permitting caustic humor and as community norms. This approach, while initially curbing spam, failed to consistently suppress persistent offenders, as evidenced by users creating dozens of accounts to evade bans, and allowed subforums like Fuck You and Die (FYAD) to foster exclusivity through unfunny post deletions and aggressive banter. In practice, enforcement was whimsical and inconsistent, with founder personally banning disliked users while tolerating bizarre aggression in specialized boards, contributing to a culture where served as both and informal . The community's "goons"—paying members—engaged in organized harassment campaigns, including brigading targets with profane messages, griefing in online games like via the Goonswarm alliance, and real-world escalations such as hacking a deceased teenager's MyDeathSpace memorial page in 2008, followed by calls to his parents and visits to his grave. Other incidents involved flooding a 12-year-old creator with 7,500 harassing messages in January 2009 and targeting sufferers' sites with seizure-inducing flashing GIFs in 2008 to assert dominance over anonymous trolling identities. Subforums like Helldump amplified doxxing of grudges, turning internal disputes into public exposures, while FYAD's freewheeling insults devolved into broader toxicity, including death threats against administrators and their families that drove Kyanka offline in 2005. Lax oversight in these spaces normalized such behaviors, with one banned user's later commission of a 2007 underscoring gaps in addressing escalating threats. These dynamics culminated in moderation breakdowns, such as FYAD's permanent closure on , 2020, after infestation by Nazi sympathizers posting swastikas, iron crosses, and Hitler threads, which administrators deemed irredeemable despite prior tolerance of the board's "worst impulses." The incident highlighted systemic failures to curb ideological amid declining membership, as the forum's paywall-insulated echo chambers prioritized contrarian edginess over proactive , breeding resentment and spillover to unmoderated sites like . Earlier efforts, like promoting in a 2004 moderator essay, further eroded boundaries, enabling unchecked that outpaced rule enforcement.

Leadership Scandals Involving Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka

In early 2020, Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka faced allegations of domestic assault from his second wife, stemming from an incident reported to police on February 7, 2020, in Missouri. The accusation prompted significant internal unrest within the Something Awful community, with forum users publicly demanding accountability and threatening mass exodus if Kyanka did not step down. These claims were amplified by posts from affected individuals, including references to prior patterns of behavior toward ex-partners, though Kyanka denied the severity of the allegations and attributed some community outrage to broader cultural pressures around domestic violence reporting. Legal proceedings culminated on October 27, 2020, when Kyanka pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disturbing the peace, receiving a fine of $164.50, while the charge was dropped. Despite the legal resolution short of conviction for , the eroded trust among long-time members, who cited it as emblematic of unchecked flaws, including inconsistent and personal conduct unbecoming of the site's founder. This backlash intensified forum-wide boycotts and subscription cancellations, pressuring Kyanka to relinquish control. On October 9, 2020, amid the escalating crisis, Kyanka sold Something Awful to longtime administrator Jeffrey of YOSPOS for a nominal fee, effectively ending his direct role. Post-sale, he was banned from the forums, a move framed by new ownership as necessary to restore community standards. Critics within the community argued the incident exposed systemic failures in Kyanka's oversight, where personal scandals intertwined with the site's tolerance for edgy content, ultimately contributing to its reputational decline. Supporters, however, viewed the response as disproportionate, noting the lack of conviction and Kyanka's historical contributions to , though of the allegations' veracity remained contested beyond initial reports.

Associations with Violence, Harassment, and Extremism

Something Awful's user base, self-identified as "goons," engaged in coordinated online harassment campaigns known as brigading, where members collectively targeted individuals, websites, or communities with disruptive posts, spam, and doxxing to mock or punish perceived transgressors. These activities were particularly prevalent in subforums like Fuck You And Die (FYAD), which fostered a culture of contrarian trolling and escalation against outsiders. Documented examples include goons organizing raids on rival forums during internet feuds, such as clashes with 4chan users amid the 2014 Gamergate controversy, where SA participants contributed to mutual harassment across platforms. While physical violence directly attributable to Something Awful remains undocumented in major incidents, the forum's tolerance for extreme rhetoric occasionally blurred into threats, with users reporting real-world fear from doxxing campaigns that exposed personal information. Some harassment tactics migrated to successor sites like Kiwi Farms, founded by former SA users in 2013, which amplified doxxing and stalking against targets including transgender individuals and online personalities, though SA moderators banned overt advocacy of such extremes. No verified swatting incidents—false emergency calls prompting armed police responses—have been credibly linked to SA goons, distinguishing it from later anonymous boards. Associations with extremism stem primarily from SA's role in pioneering troll culture, which influenced ironic meme-making that evolved into alt-right signaling on platforms like , as analyzed in Dale Beran's 2019 book It Came from Something Awful. Beran argues this subculture's nihilistic humor inadvertently memed support for during the 2016 election, blending irony with far-right appeals, though SA itself maintained heavier moderation against overt ideology and leaned toward progressive contrarianism. Unlike unmoderated sites, SA discouraged white supremacist or neo-Nazi content, but its alumni populated early anonymous boards where such views proliferated. Internal threads occasionally debated without endorsement, reflecting the forum's edgy but non-advocacy stance.

Decline, Transitions, and Current State

Factors Contributing to Membership and Activity Drop-off (Mid-2000s Onward)

The emergence of free, accessible alternatives like , launched in 2005, and , established in 2003 by a former Something Awful user, significantly diverted users seeking similar humor, memes, and discussion without subscription barriers. These platforms offered anonymity on and upvote-driven aggregation on , attracting participants alienated by Something Awful's requiring $10 annual fees for full forum access since the early , which limited casual engagement and growth. Something Awful's insular subforums, such as FYAD (Fuck You And Die), fostered exclusivity through strict moderation and in-jokes that deterred newcomers, exacerbating a sense of stagnation as core members aged and departed for professional obligations around the mid-2000s. Founder "Lowtax" Kyanka's withdrawal from active forum moderation in 2005, prompted by death threats, contributed to administrative burnout and reduced oversight, allowing rising internal hostility amid broader internet culture wars. The proliferation of smartphones from the late 2000s onward further eroded forum-based activity, as users migrated to mobile-optimized social media like (2006) and , which prioritized real-time feeds over threaded discussions and lacked Something Awful's structured, rule-enforced environment. Peak activity, centered in the early to mid-2000s, waned as these shifts fragmented the user base, with interviewees noting a progressive meaner tone and departure of early contributors.

Ownership Changes and Forum Closures (2020)

In June 2020, Something Awful's founder and owner, "Lowtax" Kyanka, faced renewed allegations of stemming from an incident on June 22, 2020, which prompted a swift backlash from the site's moderators and long-time members. These claims echoed prior accusations against Kyanka, exacerbating community discontent over his management, including the site's financial struggles and inconsistent moderation. By June 23-24, moderators initiated a revolt, demanding Kyanka's removal to preserve the forum's viability amid fears of total shutdown due to his personal issues and neglect. On June 25, 2020, Kyanka agreed to transfer all assets of Something Awful LLC to of YOSPOS, a 15-year site veteran and moderator, though no formal contract was immediately signed, leading to operational uncertainty. This preliminary handover was driven by community pressure rather than a commercial sale, with moderators stepping in to maintain functionality during the transition; subforums experienced intermittent access issues but did not fully close at this stage. The Something Awful store was taken offline, halting new paid registrations essential for full access, which further strained membership retention. Earlier in the year, on January 2020, the prominent "Fuck You and Die" (FYAD) subforum was shuttered by Kyanka due to an influx of extremist content, including Nazi-related posts, marking a notable closure amid broader moderation failures; it was reopened by late June 2020 under moderator oversight post-allegations. Delays in finalizing the asset transfer persisted through the summer, with Kyanka's erratic behavior, including public meltdowns, complicating the process. The ownership fully changed hands by early October 2020, when Kyanka announced the sale to Jeffrey of YOSPOS on October 9 via , citing personal health and financial burdens as factors, though community revolt was the . No evidence indicates a complete closure during this period; instead, operations continued under interim moderator control, with the site avoiding total shutdown through collective member efforts to and sustain . Kyanka later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disturbing the on October 27, 2020, related to the June incident, underscoring the legal ramifications that sealed his exit. Under new ownership, the forums stabilized without further major closures, though the paid model limited growth.

Post-Kyanka Era and Ongoing Operations (2021–Present)

Following Richard Kyanka's suicide on November 9, 2021, Something Awful continued operations under the ownership of Jeffrey of YOSPOS, who had acquired the site from Kyanka in October 2020 amid community backlash over domestic abuse allegations against . The transition maintained the core paid-access model, with a one-time $10 registration fee funding server costs without reliance on advertising. By 2023, the site initiated efforts, including bulk downloads of user-uploaded images from to counter hosting service limitations, ensuring archival access to historical content like Photoshop Phriday threads. The forums sustained activity across subforums such as Death Games, Debate & Dismemberment, and The Finer Arts, with ongoing threads for user-driven content including writing challenges like , which saw a 2025 edition launched on January 1. User metrics as of late 2025 indicated steady engagement, with approximately 1,200–1,500 users logged in daily, over 212,000 total accounts, and cumulative posts exceeding 274 million, alongside 3.8 million threads. Moderation persisted through volunteer staff, enforcing rules against and , resulting in around 27,000 lifetime bans. Article updates on the main site paused during interim ownership transitions, halting features like the propaganda comic, though discussions remained uninterrupted. In May 2025, owner of YOSPOS discussed the site's 25-year legacy in a , emphasizing its role as a persistent for contrarian humor and niche interests, without major structural overhauls. The platform's reduced cultural footprint reflected broader shifts in , yet it retained a dedicated user base focused on long-form posting over viral trends.

References

  1. [1]
    Fuck You And Die: An Oral History of Something Awful - VICE
    Apr 5, 2017 · “The internet makes you stupid” has been the motto of SomethingAwful.com since Richard Kyanka, 40, registered the domain in 1999.
  2. [2]
    Something Awful founder Richard Kyanka dies at 45 - Engadget
    Nov 11, 2021 · "Lowtax" launched Something Awful in 1999. It's a mix of blog posts (including comedy and reviews), but it's best known for forums that had an ...
  3. [3]
    An Oral History of Something Awful - Hacker News
    Apr 15, 2017 · Something Awful really set the stage for a lot of what followed in internet culture. "Let's Play" spawned from it. The template of the ...
  4. [4]
    Something Awful is racing to save the best and worst of web history
    May 8, 2023 · Something Awful has a long and notorious past, and much of its nearly 25-year history is told through pictures. The site is one of the ...
  5. [5]
    Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, Founder of Something Awful, Is Dead at 45
    Nov 11, 2021 · Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka—the creator of the era-defining Something Awful forums—died by suicide on November 9, Motherboard confirmed with the ...
  6. [6]
    The Something Awful Forums
    **Summary of Something Awful:**
  7. [7]
    1999 articles - Something Awful
    Our Something Awful ICQ pranks target the worst and most idiotic folks on the Internet. Believe it or not, these ICQ pranks are all - unfortunately - real.Missing: early history blog
  8. [8]
    1999 articles - Something Awful
    Something Awful · Something Awful Forums.Missing: early history blog
  9. [9]
    Something Awful | Know Your Meme
    Dec 15, 2010 · Begining. Something Awful was originally created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999. Kyanka, under the persona "Cranky Steve" was originally ...
  10. [10]
    "Goon" nickname origin - The Something Awful Forums
    Dec 6, 2024 · Awful Link of the Day owner came over here back when registration was open to anybody and made a thread in GBS calling all of us goons for ...What was old SA (1999-2007ish) like? - The Something Awful Forumsgoon.jpg - The Something Awful ForumsMore results from forums.somethingawful.comMissing: 1999-2001 culture
  11. [11]
    The Internet Makes You Stupid - Something Awful
    The SomethingAwful forums take economics, culture, and sanity to task via smudged Nancy comics somebody found in god-knows-what terrible place! Clowns and ...Children's Books · Board Games 2 (Part 1 of 2) · World War II Propaganda
  12. [12]
    2002 articles - Something Awful
    Horrible Children's Toys. 05-23-2002 by Josh "Livestock" Boruff. Collectible Plates. 05-16-2002 by Josh "Livestock" Boruff · Phake Games. 05-09-2002 by Josh ...Missing: timeline 2000-2002
  13. [13]
    All Your Base Are Belong to Us - Know Your Meme
    Dec 12, 2008 · "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" is a popular engrish catchphrase that grew popular across the internet as early as in 1998.
  14. [14]
    2000 articles - Something Awful
    Our Something Awful ICQ pranks target the worst and most idiotic folks on the Internet. Believe it or not, these ICQ pranks are all - unfortunately - real.
  15. [15]
    The 2000 Awful Awards
    Dec 29, 2000 · Something Awful is in the process of changing hands to a new owner. In the meantime we're pausing all updates and halting production on our ...Missing: early | Show results with:early
  16. [16]
    Video Game Origins - Something Awful
    Jan 26, 2007 · Photoshop Phriday showcases the tremendous image manipulation talents of the Something Awful Forum Goons. Each week they tackle a new theme, ...
  17. [17]
    Historical Inaccuracies (Part 1 of 2)
    Jan 28, 2005 · Photoshop Phriday showcases the tremendous image manipulation talents of the Something Awful Forum Goons. Each week they tackle a new theme ...Missing: origin | Show results with:origin
  18. [18]
    Photoshop Arms Onto Birds! ...Seriously
    Feb 16, 2009 · « The Something Awful ForumsArchivesComedy GoldmineComedy Goldmine › Photoshop Arms Onto Birds! ... Post History · Rap Sheet · Quote. Swink: Apr ...Create Paranormal Images - The Something Awful ForumsPhotoshop Contest of the Week! [EFFORT] - Something AwfulMore results from forums.somethingawful.com
  19. [19]
    50 most recent articles - The Something Awful Forums
    Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful. What's Hot. Dear Lisa, I Still Have a Drug Problem · Celebrity Speakers Cut from ...
  20. [20]
    Review: Incite Gaming Magazine - Something Awful
    Jan 8, 2000 · Something Awful is in the process of changing hands to a ... Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful.
  21. [21]
    Storytime: He-Man and the ROCK WARRIORS! - Something Awful
    Jan 29, 2001 · Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful. ... Flash Game: Awfulmon · The 2000 Awful Awards · Something Awful ...Missing: history | Show results with:history
  22. [22]
    Golan The Insatiable - Something Awful
    So-called "advice columns" are very popular with your idiot species ... Copyright ©2025 Jeffrey "of" YOSPOS & Something Awful. Email Jeffrey "of ...
  23. [23]
    World War C: An Oral History of the Cobra War (Part 1)
    Oct 5, 2006 · Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful. Previous Articles. A Series of Highly Illegal Death Threats · You ...
  24. [24]
    <I>Anarchy Online</I>: First Impressions - Something Awful
    Jun 6, 2001 · Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful. Previous Articles. The Official SA 2001 E3 Report · Flash Movie: ...
  25. [25]
    Let's Play | Know Your Meme
    May 29, 2010 · Let's plays as they are known now began on the Something Awful forums in 2006 when users created threads about the adventure game Oregon Trail ...
  26. [26]
    Awful Directory
    Something Awful · Something Awful Forums · Something Awful · Forums · Photoshop PhridayPhotoshop · Comedy GoldmineGoldmine · The Flash TubFlash Tub · WTF, D&D ...
  27. [27]
    The Internet Makes You Stupid - Something Awful
    Your Band Sucks presents a guide to some of 2007's hottest reunions, featuring The Police, Van Halen, Rage Against the Machine, the Smashing Pumpkins, The ...Missing: list FYAD GBS
  28. [28]
    The Something Awful Forums
    Ghoulish Boner Slime - This is the ghoulish discussion forum for discussing things, ghoulishly. SUBFORUMS: 25 Years of Something Awful, Fuck You and Dine, SA's ...SA Forums · Death Games · Debate & Dismemberment · Ghoulish Boner Slime
  29. [29]
    Something Awful going on with SPEWS - The Register
    Aug 8, 2003 · An unseemly spat between SomethingAwful.com and SPEWS.org has flared up since the IP range used by the humour site was blacklisted by the anti-spam group late ...Missing: Early Warning
  30. [30]
    SPEWS is Love - Something Awful
    Aug 7, 2003 · Personally, I don't think spammers or SA users need to do much to earn SPEWS a bad reputation, I think anyone who has dealt with SPEWS knows ...
  31. [31]
    Spam Turns 30 - OSnews
    May 4, 2008 · ... horrible SPEWS is, etc. Predictably, a large number of SomethingAwful users started flooding into NANAE (the news.admin.net-abuse.email ...
  32. [32]
    The Paypal Fiasco: In Summary - Something Awful
    Sep 6, 2005 · The entire reason I chose to use Paypal was so I could collect the names and addresses of each donor and send them some free Something Awful ...<|separator|>
  33. [33]
    This Holy Night We Flood the World with Bees! - Something Awful
    Dec 25, 2007 · One of their many animal-charity drives involves setting up bee colonies, which seems like the perfect project to throw our money at. Why ...Missing: disasters | Show results with:disasters
  34. [34]
    PayPal Freezes Out Katrina Aid | WIRED
    Sep 8, 2005 · Kyanka runs the popular Something Awful web community, which is hosted in New Orleans, and donations came in quickly. Within nine hours, ...
  35. [35]
    PayPal Blocks Hurricane Relief Funds - BetaNews
    In the interim, Something Awful directed visitors to donate directly to the Red Cross. Kyanka said he originally setup Something Awful's own fund so he could ...
  36. [36]
    Stop Natural Disasters Before They Start... with Democracy!
    Jan 9, 2005 · In response to this growing epidemic we here at Something Awful have set up a charity that will help the higher caste Indians build a giant wall ...
  37. [37]
    Susan G. Komen: Always the Worst - The Something Awful Forums
    Feb 2, 2012 · Komen Foundation, the country's biggest breast cancer charity, has pulled its grant funding from Planned Parenthood. ... Something Awful is in the ...
  38. [38]
    The Top Games Done Quick Donation Comments - Something Awful
    Jan 5, 2016 · Something Awful is in the process of changing hands to a new owner. In the meantime we're pausing all updates and halting production on our ...
  39. [39]
    What charities are good? - The Something Awful Forums
    Jun 2, 2020 · « The Something Awful ForumsDiscussionAsk/TellAsk/Tell › What charities are good? Bookmark this thread. SA Forums; - Something Awful; - Search the Forums ...The USA Goonfund: Fund Elections In NovemberSOMETHING AWFUL LAWSUIT GANGTAG DONATION EASTER ...More results from forums.somethingawful.com
  40. [40]
    Unlikely Political Campaigns (Part One)
    Apr 1, 2004 · Photoshop Phriday showcases the tremendous image manipulation talents of the Something Awful Forum Goons. Each week they tackle a new theme ...
  41. [41]
    Unlikely Political Campaigns 2 - Something Awful
    Jan 25, 2008 · Right now America is in the grips of CAMPAIGN FEVER. A DREADFUL WOMAN is battling a BLACK MAN for the right to battle a MORMON or a SENILE ...
  42. [42]
    Political Cartoons - Something Awful
    Feb 19, 2004 · Join the SA Forum photoshop goons in their quest to make horror wholesome! ... Where The Wild Obamas Are! Unlikely Political Campaigns (Part One) ...
  43. [43]
    Let us discuss (but not advocate for) political violence against the ...
    Jan 6, 2019 · Joking aside, it seems like terrorism is often a crucial component of anti-colonialist groups' actions ... - Something Awful; - Search the Forums ...Political Cartoons 2025: Dead Bones - The Something Awful ForumsPolitical Cartoons 2023: We're Fine! - The Something Awful ForumsMore results from forums.somethingawful.com
  44. [44]
    'It Came From Something Awful' Links 4Chan And Today's Political ...
    Jul 30, 2019 · 'It Came From Something Awful' Links 4Chan And Today's Political Discourse ... The political actions of online goons have a much more powerful ...Missing: campaigns protests
  45. [45]
    (Almost) Everything You Know About GamerGate is Wrong - Medium
    Sep 5, 2019 · ... GamerGate hub, some of it was linked to the forums on Something Awful, frequented by anti-GamerGate, anti-8chan posters. When GamerGaters ...
  46. [46]
    Something Awful has shut down forum FYAD, citing 'Nazi poo poo'
    Jan 7, 2020 · Comedy website Something Awful has shut down subforum Fuck You and Die (FYAD), with founder Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka citing an intolerable ...
  47. [47]
    When Is It Okay to Call Someone a "Nazi?" - Something Awful
    Apr 20, 2017 · ... Hitler and therefore their followers are NOT Nazis. Do they have a strong racial preference? Given the complexities of the human mind, we ...
  48. [48]
    Goons - The Something Awful Forums
    Nov 13, 2007 · To most people reading this, a Goon is simply a member of the Something Awful forums. ... Popular Threads. Share your terrible neighborhood ...Missing: 1999-2001 culture
  49. [49]
    Something Awful Trivia - TV Tropes
    ... goons mocking, trolling, stalking, and doxing of users of whatever Something Awful decided to hate that day, ranging from anime fans to furries), users who ...
  50. [50]
    https://www.kotaku.com/the-all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-video-is-now-20-ye-1846281979
  51. [51]
    All Your Base - Newgrounds Wiki - Fandom
    All Your Base is a popular meme on Newgrounds and throughout the internet. It is derived from a Japanese game for the Sega Genesis called Zero Wing.
  52. [52]
    r/videos on Reddit: Today Marks the 12th Anniversary of Numa ...
    Dec 7, 2016 · From Something Awful on to Fark, with his trusty watermark, he stole and stuck it all upon ebaumsworld dot com. More replies. 14 more replies."Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday anyone remember ...A look at the internet memes of 7 years ago: Weezer's Pork ... - RedditMore results from www.reddit.com
  53. [53]
    20 Years Ago, He Shouted Leeeeeeroy – And The Internet…
    May 19, 2025 · The video went viral almost instantly – spreading through forums like Something Awful and platforms like YouTube. Millions watched, laughed ...Missing: origin | Show results with:origin
  54. [54]
    https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3719690
  55. [55]
    5 Hilarious Memes With Messed-Up Origins - Cracked.com
    Dec 20, 2021 · Slenderman is a popular creepypasta meme that was created by Eric Knudsen in 2009 on the forum Something Awful. He's a tall, slender ...
  56. [56]
    Something Awful (Website) - TV Tropes
    Somethingawful.com, better known as Something Awful, is a popular comedy/parody website that's been around since the heady days of 1999.
  57. [57]
    Weird Things Goons Made! - Something Awful
    Nov 1, 2011 · Masks, mini-sculptures, cakes, pipe-cleaner animals, a boat: The Goons have much more to show for their hobbies in the form of displayable results.Missing: history 1999-2001 culture
  58. [58]
    The History of the Let's Play Archive
    A long, long time ago, back in 2006, a little trend started slinking around the Games subforum of the the Something Awful forums: people were posting up ...
  59. [59]
    Let's Slay by the Rules of Let's Slay! [LP Subforum Rules Thread]
    Dec 9, 2017 · "Let's Plays" are video game playthroughs documented or recorded for the internet, usually with commentary.Not Nearly As Creepy As It Sounds - Let's Play A Story About My UncleThe LP Req Room - Where All Your LP Dreams Come TrueMore results from forums.somethingawful.com
  60. [60]
    Does anyone know the history of Let's Plays? : r/letsplay - Reddit
    Oct 1, 2018 · Does anyone know the history of Let's Plays? ... The usual story is that they originated on SomethingAwful, specifically by Slowbeef, according to ...What is the oldest (surviving) Let's Play in the modern sense ... - RedditI feel pretty stupid but I can't figure out the Something Awful forums...More results from www.reddit.com
  61. [61]
    Let's play something awful: a historical analysis of 14 years of threads
    In this paper, we report on a study of the Something Awful LP subforum and describe the kinds of engagement the community participates in the top threads.Missing: notable | Show results with:notable
  62. [62]
    The Five Worst Gaming Articles of 2005 - Something Awful
    Dec 30, 2005 · ... terrible year in the unending saga of mediocrity that is gaming journalism. ... horrible, Black & White 2 is horrible and Jason Ocampo is horrible ...Missing: impact | Show results with:impact<|separator|>
  63. [63]
    New Games Journalism - Something Awful
    Mar 9, 2006 · The Something Awful front page news tackles anything both off and on the Internet. Mostly "on" though, as we're all incredible nerds. Previous ...Missing: impact | Show results with:impact
  64. [64]
    https://www.somethingawful.com/icq-pranks/
  65. [65]
    Something Awful was the internet's original sin - The Michigan Daily
    Feb 25, 2025 · ... Something Awful became one of the internet's first viral sensations. ... If it's hard to imagine an internet without trolling, death ...Missing: influence | Show results with:influence
  66. [66]
    [PDF] It Came from Something Awful - Library of Rickandria
    drug overdose during filming. Ledger's already-dead Joker emphasized a ... Something Awful for years and was very familiar with the chans.5 When she ...<|separator|>
  67. [67]
    Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, founder of Something Awful and onetime ...
    Nov 11, 2021 · But there was always a toxic side to Something Awful. Its members would brigade people and organise harassment campaigns. It encouraged some of ...
  68. [68]
    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/freund-176737-smith-home.html
  69. [69]
    Something Awful's Notorious 'Fuck You and Die' Forum Shuts Down ...
    Jan 7, 2020 · FYAD was a subforum of Something Awful, a place where the site's worst impulses flowed freely. Now FYAD is gone, shut down by Something Awful founder Richard “ ...Missing: SPEWS | Show results with:SPEWS
  70. [70]
    Something Awful, a Cornerstone of Internet Culture, Is Under New ...
    Oct 13, 2020 · According to police reports, Kyanka's second wife accused him of domestic assault on February 7, 2020. Motherboard has been unable to ...
  71. [71]
    Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, Something Awful Founder, Dies at 45
    Nov 11, 2021 · Something Awful founder Richard Kyanka, also known as Lowtax, has died aged 45, according to reports.<|separator|>
  72. [72]
    Burgers & Fries owner condemns harassment, wants GG to ... - Reddit
    Jul 13, 2015 · GamerGate is actually a proxy war between channers and Something Awful goons. Defining what it is as that is a bit too much but is definitely ...We the community stood with Sandi (-: : r/starcitizen"Don't inject politics in Media" was always a DogwhistleMore results from www.reddit.com
  73. [73]
    It came from something awful: how a toxic troll army accidentally ...
    Aug 9, 2025 · It came from something awful: how a toxic troll army accidentally memed Donald Trump into office, by Dale Beran, 2019.
  74. [74]
    Lowtax has been ousted from Something Awful, is melting down
    June 25 update: I, Jeffrey of YOSPOS, have reached an agreement with Lowtax to transfer all Something Awful LLC assets to me. No contract has been signed yet ...
  75. [75]
    https://www.facebook.com/richkyanka/posts/818464892242142
  76. [76]
    Thunderdome 2025ive: Stop Critting Yourself - Something Awful
    Jan 1, 2025 · You can disregard the prompt entirely too. The winner might or might not have to start the 2025 thread. I am not sure. EDIT: evidently not, ...USCE 2025: If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr frSomething Awful Forum Guidelines and Rules - READ ME!More results from forums.somethingawful.com
  77. [77]
    50 most recent articles - Something Awful
    Something Awful is in the process of changing hands to a new owner. In the meantime we're pausing all updates and halting production on our propaganda comic ...Missing: operations 2024
  78. [78]
    Talking About a 25 Year Old Website w/ Jeffrey of YOSPOS - iHeart
    May 16, 2025 · ... Something Awful's Owner Jeffrey of YOSPOS and he wants you to make an account at https://forums.somethingawful.com/ Find my stuff at ⁠https ...
  79. [79]
    https://x.com/something_awful