Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, founder of Something Awful and onetime king of the internet goons, dead at 45

d3athf1sh

d3athf1sh

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i was surprised by this, and also that the news was initially posted to Something Awful by longtime forum administrator Fragmaster. (not sure if there's any relation?) who was a personal friend of Kyanka, and Motherboard managed to confirm with the Lee's Summit Missouri police department that Kyanka died by suicide on November 9. sorry if this is old news. i just found out.
https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-low...netime-king-of-the-internet-goons-dead-at-45/

 
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Don't want to praise him too much, as he was apparently not a very good person, but there's little doubt that Kyanka influenced internet culture in a big way. My brother was an SA forum member in the site's heyday.
 
Aurelius said:
Don't want to praise him too much, as he was apparently not a very good person, but there's little doubt that Kyanka influenced internet culture in a big way. My brother was an SA forum member in the site's heyday.
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No matter how terrible someone is, suicide is not the answer. Everyone has someone that will be impacted by an individual's suicide.
 
I guess he never recovered from that beating Uwe Boll put on him. RIP Lowtax.
 
qdemn7 said:
No matter how terrible someone is, suicide is not the answer. Everyone has someone that will be impacted by an individual's suicide.
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Apologies, I certainly didn't mean to trivialize that, and his death is still tragic. I just wanted to temper the urge to praise him as an internet icon.
 
Aurelius said:
Apologies, I certainly didn't mean to trivialize that, and his death is still tragic. I just wanted to temper the urge to praise him as an internet icon.
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I don't think you were trivializing either. If someone just wasn't a good person I don't see the need to hide that when they die.

However, I think it's worth considering that he may have been a horrible person because of mental illness. Suicide is caused by mental illness.

Don't think I'm excusing any such behavior. My dad has some extreme mental illness. I don't excuse his behavior. I think it's another example of many that we don't do anywhere near enough.
 
Jeez I hadn't even thought of something awful for years. Before reddit/imgur, it was the meme palace and home of photoshop phriday.
 
I spent so much time on that site, RIP. I think I finally checked out of there after the Uwe Boll boxing.
 
THRESHIN said:
I don't think you were trivializing either. If someone just wasn't a good person I don't see the need to hide that when they die.

However, I think it's worth considering that he may have been a horrible person because of mental illness. Suicide is caused by mental illness.

Don't think I'm excusing any such behavior. My dad has some extreme mental illness. I don't excuse his behavior. I think it's another example of many that we don't do anywhere near enough.
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Suicide does not require mental illness. There are a number of sane reasons to end oneself. Remains to be seen if his reason is one of them. Hope the best for his family and loved ones going forward.
 
I always feel sad and cry when I hear about someone committing suicide. Wish there was a way to help but it is impossible if your not in that person's life or even close by.

It is never the answer.
 
d3athf1sh said:
i was surprised by this, and also that the news was initially posted to Something Awful by longtime forum administrator Fragmaster. (not sure if there's any relation?) who was a personal friend of Kyanka, and Motherboard managed to confirm with the Lee's Summit Missouri police department that Kyanka died by suicide on November 9. sorry if this is old news. i just found out.
https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-low...netime-king-of-the-internet-goons-dead-at-45/

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Sad :( Had alot of fun on there till his stupid **** girlfriend perma-banned me. Damn you emily integral
 
Gorankar said:
Suicide does not require mental illness. There are a number of sane reasons to end oneself. Remains to be seen if his reason is one of them. Hope the best for his family and loved ones going forward.
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I never said that mental illness is required. Only that it is a cause. Sure, there are sane reasons to end your own life. Doctor assisted suicide at end of life comes to mind. But let's leave the semantics aside here. An overwhelmingly high number if suicides is caused by mental illness. These people did not get the help they needed. I see it as a failure of society.
 
THRESHIN said:
I never said that mental illness is required. Only that it is a cause. Sure, there are sane reasons to end your own life. Doctor assisted suicide at end of life comes to mind. But let's leave the semantics aside here. An overwhelmingly high number if suicides is caused by mental illness. These people did not get the help they needed. I see it as a failure of society.
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Yep.
 
A lot of these early internet pioneers are going to start dying off within the next couple of decades. Like Lowtax—and unlike traditional media celebrities—they will pass mostly in obscurity and unremarked. I couldn't believe I'd missed Lowtax's passing when it happened several weeks back, but it didn't make the news outside of a few tech and gaming websites.

Also, it's going to be interesting to see how these early pioneers navigate their later years as they grow old, especially folks like Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic), James Rolfe (AVGN), and the RedLetterMedia guys. How long are they going to try and keep the shtick going that they developed when they were young? What will they do when they inevitably lose viewership? Do they have a 401k? Though both James and the RLM guys have mostly dropped the more zany aspects of their act and are making more mature content nowadays. Walker however . . .
 
Never heard about the site or the guy. Must not have have been that well known internationally.
 
The Mad Atheist said:
Same here.
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You have, too.

dorquemada_cheerioatse.jpg
 
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