Something Awful LLC.

Type	Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Founded	1999
Founder(s)	Richard Charles Kyanka
Headquarters	Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States
Key people	Richard Kyanka, Zack Parsons, David Thorpe, Kevin Bowen
Industry	Web Based
Products	somethingawful.com Awful Video City Name Sports Team MoofWear Awful Gear Awful Mart Flat Falls
Website	somethingawful.com

Something Awful, often abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website housing a variety of content, including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so did its contributors and content. Since then, the website has influenced Internet culture^[1] and helped to perpetuate various Internet phenomena.^[2][3][4] There are many types of business entity defined in the legal systems of various countries. ... This article is about a U.S.-specific corporate form; for a general discussion of entities with limited liability, see corporation. ... For the computer game by Peter Molyneux, see The Entrepreneur. ... Lees Summit is a city in Jackson County and Cass County, Missouri. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the generic top-level domain . ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A page from a forum showcasing emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ... This article is about the Internet An internet is a more general term for any set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking Graphic representation of the WWW information network structure around Wikipedia, as represented by hyperlinks The Internet, or simply the Net, is the publicly available worldwide... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Since the website's creation, its forums have amassed over 120,000 accounts, and the website in general has been involved in an array of events and conflicts. These include a conflict with the Spam Prevention Early Warning System, a Hurricane Katrina relief fund being caught in PayPal's red tape, and an exhibition boxing match between Kyanka and movie director Uwe Boll. The Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS) is an anonymous service which maintains a list of IP address ranges belonging to Internet service providers which host spammers. ... This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 2005. ... eBays North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPals corporate headquarters) PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. ... Red tape (or sometimes paperwork) is a derisive term for excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making. ... Uwe Boll (pronounced []), born June 22, 1965 in Wermelskirchen, Germany) is a German director, producer and screenwriter of films often adapted from video games. ...

History

Something Awful was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka,^[5] who remains in control of the site but is supported by other contributing writers and administrators.

Kyanka started Something Awful several months before resigning from a position at another job for writing a derogatory website update about a fellow employee. He moved the "Cranky Steve" personality in question to the site in 1999.^[6] In the years immediately following Something Awful's launch, several sponsors, including GameFan and eFront, failed to compensate Kyanka as promised for advertising on the site.^[7][8] Diehard GameFan magazine (later known simply as GameFan magazine) was a publication started by Dave Halverson in 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. ... eFront was an affiliate marketing network which purchased successful websites, such as Penny Arcade and BetaNews, and pooled traffic to those sites to command higher prices for advertising during an industry wide ad revenue slowdown. ...

In 2001, the site began charging an activation fee (currently US$9.95)^[9] for forum access. Currently, non-members are not able to post messages or threads. The site and forums draw continuous income from fees for new accounts,^[9] forum upgrades such as custom avatars, and merchandise sales.^{[citation needed]} Some suggest that the forum fee keeps undesirable users out.^[10] USD redirects here. ...

Spam Prevention Early Warning System

On July 20, 2003, the spam filtering organization Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS) added an entire class-B subnet with the Cogent ISP to their spammer list since Cogent was hosting a known spammer that SPEWS found difficult to block. Something Awful was added to the list in the process, disrupting its ability to communicate with its customers. Upon appeal, SPEWS initially refused to unblock SA. The Something Awful administrators responded by telling their users to spam the SPEWS-affiliated newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.blocklisting. The administrators claimed that SPEWS was attempting to hack the Something Awful server. Forum users responded by threatening to perform a distributed denial of service attack on SPEWS, although this type of behavior was strongly discouraged by Kyanka and assistant editor Zack Parsons.^[11] The Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS) is an anonymous service which maintains a list of IP address ranges belonging to Internet service providers which host spammers. ... Cogent Communications is a multinational IP Internet Service Provider. ... A newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ... A denial-of-service attack (also, DoS attack) is an attack on a computer system or network that causes a loss of service to users, typically the loss of network connectivity and services by consuming the bandwidth of the victim network or overloading the computational resources of the victim system. ...

Taxes

In December 2003, prosecutors in Thurston County, Washington filed charges against Something Awful, LLC for failure to pay taxes on revenue. The tax warrant was satisfied in March 2004 and vacated in 2005.^[12] Kyanka has stated that the tax charges were the result of an accountant's error after his move to Lee's Summit from Seattle.^{[citation needed]} Thurston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. ... Lees Summit is a city in Jackson County and Cass County, Missouri. ... Seattle redirects here. ...

Hurricane Katrina charity

Since the website's servers were located in New Orleans, the site temporarily went offline in August 2005 during the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. After the site was brought to a semi-functional state, Kyanka set up a link to a PayPal account where people could donate money to the survivors of the hurricane via the Red Cross. Kyanka put in $3,000 of his own money,^[13] and promised to give some free merchandise to anyone who donated more than $10.^[14] New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... In 2005, there were extensive failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana and surrounding communities. ... eBays North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPals corporate headquarters) PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. ... Red Cross redirects here. ...

In under half a day, visitors helped to raise US$27,695.41 before PayPal froze the account under suspicions of fraud; automated messages informed that there had been "more than one report of suspicious behavior from your buyers."^[14][15] PayPal stated that they would unfreeze the account once it was provided with proof of shipping from aggrieved buyers. Due to the nature of the collection, there were no actual "buyers", and it was impossible to provide proof of shipping for an intangible good such as a donation.^[15] Eventually, Kyanka contacted a customer service representative over the phone, and asked to have PayPal donate all of the money to the Red Cross. However, he was told that PayPal would only give the money to United Way of America due to their business affiliation; Kyanka initially agreed, but after receiving several emails from readers detailing alleged corruption and inefficiency within United Way, he changed his mind and told PayPal to refund all of the money to the individual donors. PayPal refunded the money, but did not refund exchange and handling fees for international donors.^[13] USD redirects here. ... A WWII-era poster encouraged American women to volunteer for the Red Cross as part of the war effort. ... The United Way of America is a coalition of charitable organizations in the United States that have traditionally pooled efforts in fundraising. ...

Uwe Boll fight

In June 2006, Kyanka accepted an open challenge from German movie director Uwe Boll, who had offered to fight critics of his movies in a series of 10-round boxing matches. Something Awful had posted a humorous and derogatory review of one of his films.^[16][17] The event took place in Vancouver, British Columbia on 23 September 2006; after being knocked down several times and eventually counted out by the referee in the first round, a battered and exasperated Kyanka claimed that he had been told by Boll, a trained amateur boxer, that the fight would be just for show. ^[18] Uwe Boll (pronounced []), born June 22, 1965 in Wermelskirchen, Germany) is a German director, producer and screenwriter of films often adapted from video games. ... Uwe Boll (pronounced []), born June 22, 1965 in Wermelskirchen, Germany) is a German director, producer and screenwriter of films often adapted from video games. ... For other uses, see Vancouver (disambiguation). ... Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Shooting deaths

In 2005, William Freund, a mentally disturbed^{[citation needed]} SA member in Aliso Viejo, California, sought advice in the gun subforum about purchasing Hevi-Shot ammunition several days before embarking on a shooting, in which he killed two people before committing suicide. Freund had stated in the thread, which was closed before the killing spree, that he intended to use the ammunition to defend his Halloween pumpkins from vandals.^[19] Aliso Viejo is a census-designated place located in Orange County, California. ... Ammunition, often referred to as ammo, is a generic term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ...

On September 25, 2007, a forum user posted a thread about a double homicide in Oviedo, Florida that involved an acquaintance.^{[citation needed]} As the thread grew, other forum users eventually found the website of Andrew Allred, who posted on the forums as "Bomber166".^[20] The website contained significant details about the victims and the murder;^{[citation needed]} Allred's account was subsequently banned and Allred himself was later arraigned on two counts of homicide, attempted murder and armed burglary.^[19] He has since pleaded guilty to the murders of Tiffany Barwick and Michael Ruschack.^[21] is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... Oviedo is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. ...

Site content

Something Awful is home to a variety of content, including photo manipulation, parodies, pranks, satirical reviews of products, and reviews of obviously poor websites, video games, and movies. The material is written by several different editors, and occasionally by members of its forums as well. On July 12, 2005, David Thorpe —the author of the features Your Band Sucks and Fashion SWAT— "represented" the website on G4's Attack of the Show, although he made several absurd claims, such as that the site started up as a monster truck rally newsletter and that the forums were a front for a cult that required a registration fee of $80 per month.^[1] is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... G4 is an American cable and satellite television channel originally geared toward male viewers aged 12–34, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle. ... Sarah Lane is hott! Attack of the Show! (previously named The Screen Savers) is a live gaming and entertainment television program shown on G4 in the United States, G4techTV in Canada, and the HOW TO Channel in Australia. ... 2005 Bigfoot monster truck racing in Arizona A monster truck is an automobile, typically a pickup truck, which has been modified or purposely built with extremely large wheels and suspension. ...

On June 4, 2007, website columnist Jon "DocEvil" Hendren wrote "The Art of Wikigroaning", coining the term wikigroaning. Wikigroaning is a game in which readers explore two Wikipedia articles with similar topics of contrasting seriousness, such as half-life (the scientific concept) and Half-Life (the game), and compare the length and comprehensive depth of the articles. Hendren's article was featured in the Wall Street Journal.^[22] Wikipedia, a free content encyclopedia project written collaboratively by volunteers, has attracted criticisms along with its size and popularity. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... This article is about the video game. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...

Forums

The site is home to a collection of Internet forums, which charge an initial registration fee of US$9.95 and fees ranging from US$4.99 to US$29.99 for additional features. If a user is banned by administrators, the fees for initial registration and all additional features are not reimbursed.^[23]. A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A page from a forum showcasing emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ...

The forums have helped to perpetuate Internet memes, such as All your base are belong to us^[3] and Tourist guy.^[2] The forums users (referred to colloquially as "Goons") often organize creative activities in which any member can participate. One such weekly activity is "Photoshop Phriday", where users will modify existing images to create parodies through the use of image-editing software such as Adobe's Photoshop.^[24] Another periodic activity is "The Blue Ball Machine", where users create animated images that tile together in such a way as to appear like a seamless whole; these tiles are incorporated into a screensaver which displays them in random order. The feature gained popularity when users on the website YTMND looped the animation to music from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.^[25] The website also highlights some of what its administrators believe to be exceptional forum threads in the Comedy Goldmine feature.^[26] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The phrase is a piece of subtitled dialogue from the introduction to Zero Wing. ... The tourist guy, supposedly standing on the balcony of the World Trade Center moments before his death. ... Adobe Photoshop is a bitmap graphics editor (with some text and vector graphics capabilities) published by Adobe Systems. ... YTMND, an initialism for Youre The Man Now, Dog, is an online community centered on the creation of hosted web pages (known within the community as YTMNDs or sites) featuring a juxtaposition of a single image or a simple slideshow, which may be animated and/or tiled along with... Pee-wee escapes from Warner Bros. ...

Something Awful's FAQ currently states that file-sharing forums never existed on the site, that discussion forums exist for discussion, and that individuals who joined the forums specifically for file-sharing reasons are "thoroughly retarded".^[27] Users who ask for access to these subforums (or other file-sharing activities) are typically ridiculed and may be banned, which may be checked within the forum's Leper Colony.

During Entertainment Weekly's "Entertainer of the Year" contest, in which votes are submitted online, forum users quickly found a weakness in the voting system, and scripts were written to vote for Kyanka dozens of times per second, thus ensuring his victory. Kyanka was quickly disqualified when Entertainment Weekly found that many of the votes were coming from very few IP addresses.^[28] Kyanka did, however, get his name mentioned on their website.^[29] Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ...

References

Kevin Pereira (born December 28, 1982[1]) is co-host of G4s Attack of the Show! (formerly The Screen Savers) with Olivia Munn. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 137th day of the year (138th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Wired News, online at Wired. ...

External links

• Something Awful