A GoFundMe is raising money for the benefit of Kyanka’s three daughters. This is a related thread on Something Awful. The original story continues below.
Longtime Something Awful forum administrator Fragmaster posted that the site’s founder, Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka, has died. “I guess I should start by saying this is no joke since this is my first time posting in 10 years, but I got bad news today directly from Rich’s family,” Fragmaster wrote. “Low taxes are over.”
“I didn’t ask for specifics,” Fragmaster continued. “I don’t know the details. I don’t know what Rich’s opinion is right now. I’m not here to answer questions, I’m here to share news. I really hate sharing this news. But let’s go.”
Given everything Something Awful has been up to over the years, some have wondered if it’s a hoax. “Is this true?” one forum member asked. Some expressed shock at the news, while others offered their condolences to his children.
Kyanka’s second wife, who goes by the name LadyAmbien on SA, confirmed her husband’s death in an outraged post about how he treated her and their children.
The following is the SA admin’s eulogy for the site’s founder, originally published in a thread titled “Tribute to our late founder, goodbye, Richard Fawn”.
In 1999, Kyanka founded Something Awful, and the influence of the site today cannot be underestimated. It also spawned endless classic memes like “All your bases are ours” and even 4chan’s launch pad. Our colleagues at Gizmodo ranked it 89th out of the 100 websites shaping the internet today, writing:
While Something Awful has had its moments of comedy, rants, and commentary, SA’s community is its true legacy. On their forums, members of Something Awful created Slenderman saga, a whole new genre of video in Let’s Plays, and thanks to offshoots like Goonswarm, SA has indirectly witnessed some of the biggest (and expensive) videos ever History of space combat games. It’s also, uh, actually bad.
“The Something Awful forum has spawned a lot in the decades of its existence,” Fragmaster said in his YouTube eulogy. “Some things were scary and unfortunate, a lot of things were beyond comprehension, and a huge waste of time. But in the end Rich created a community where interesting things happened and people connected.”
In October 2020, Kyanka sold the site and wrote on Facebook: “I just signed on for the distribution rights to Scary Stuff Goodbye.”
That same year, Kyanka was accused of assaulting his second wife in February 2020, details of which were detailed on the Something Awful forum. Later that fall, Kyanka pleaded guilty to the disorderly charge, but the assault charge was dismissed, Motherboard reported. This isn’t the only time Kyanka has been charged with assault: Motherboard also reported that police were called to a domestic violence dispute between Kyanka and his then-girlfriend in June 2020. No arrests were made “due to contradictory statements and lack of witnesses,” the police report said.
In another post on SA, LadyAmbien wrote: “He is a complex person who has so much potential for a happy life when he tries to successfully heal his demons and addictions and ends up this way , it’s just devastating,” adding, “Most people aren’t all good or all bad.”