Something Awful: Difference between revisions

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Somethingawful.com, better known as [[Something Awful]], is a popular comedy/parody website that's been around since the heady days of 1999. Its [http://www.somethingawful.com/ Main Page] features articles ranging from parody, to self-parody, to the downright surreal. Originally, the articles were all written by site founder Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka, but over time it has built up a large rotating staff of writers of varying quality. The site allegedly exists to chronicle and mock [[So Bad It's Horrible (Darth Wiki)|the worst things in existence]], but has branched out a bit since its founding and now has a number of features and articles that defy all characterisation, as well as extremely active forums.

The [http://forums.somethingawful.com/ Something Awful Forums] are the source of much of the site's notoriety. Its members, known as "goons", have to pay $10 (US) to join, and even more if they want to get avatars, access the archives, or use the Forums' "search" function. In spite of the cost of entrance, there are over 100,000 registered goons (and who knows how many [[Lurker~~|Lurkers~~]] and banned users). In part this is ''because'' of the cost of admission: [[Electric Retard|no one]] wants to spend their ten bucks just to get banned for [[troll]]ing]] the next day. When you add in zealous moderators, you get one of the more controlled [[Message Board]]s out there.

The [http://forums.somethingawful.com/ Something Awful Forums] are the source of much of the site's notoriety. Its members, known as "goons", have to pay $10 (US) to join, and even more if they want to get avatars, access the archives, or use the Forums' "search" function. In spite of the cost of entrance, there are over 100,000 registered goons (and who knows how many [[Lurker]]s and banned users). In part this is ''because'' of the cost of admission: [[Electric Retard|no one]] wants to spend their ten bucks just to get banned for [[troll]]ing]] the next day. When you add in zealous moderators, you get one of the more controlled [[Message Board]]s out there.

If goons are relatively subdued on their own forums, however, the opposite is true elsewhere, and they are renowned for being some of the most sophisticated and organized [[troll]]s to stalk the internets. Or at least they used to be. These days, they still do some active trolling on the side, but the [[troll]] torch has passed to [[4chan|newer]] websites.

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* [[A Darker Me]]: It's a joke on [[Something Awful]] that every goon is a nerdy, overweight "neckbeard" in [[Real Life]]. Individual goons, however, tend to make up obvious lies about how awesome they are for the fun of it.

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: In a [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/your-band-sucks/worst-rock-stars.php Your Band Sucks article], David Thorpe gives several reasons he doesn't like [[Ted Nugent]], including his off-center soul patch.

* [[Berserk Button]]. Do ''not'' compare them to 4chan. Don't do this on 4chan either.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Do ''not'' compare them to 4chan. Don't do this on 4chan either.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]. Goons tend to throw invective around for kicks. Especially the hilariously sacrilegious "what the Christ." However, the word filter replaces "fuck" with "gently caress", "fucking" with "loving", "shit" with "poo poo", "shitty" with "lovely" (which makes ''actual, sincere'' uses of the word "lovely" hilariously ambiguous for casual readers: "My grandma is a really lovely person, she gave me her old car!") and "rape" with "[[Unfortunate Implications|surprise sex]]," along with other [[Unusual Euphemism~~|Unusual Euphemisms~~]] if you're not logged in.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: Goons tend to throw invective around for kicks. Especially the hilariously sacrilegious "what the Christ". However, the word filter replaces "fuck" with "gently caress", "fucking" with "loving", "shit" with "poo poo", "shitty" with "lovely" (which makes ''actual, sincere'' uses of the word "lovely" hilariously ambiguous for casual readers: "My grandma is a really lovely person, she gave me her old car!") and "rape" with "[[Unfortunate Implications|surprise sex]]", along with other [[Unusual Euphemism]]s if you're not logged in.

* [[Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For]]: An AwfulVision column once highlighted a pair of videos where a kid who downloaded a [[Smashing Pumpkins]] album ''illegally'' [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/awfulvision/grizzly-adams-vlog.php?page=5 destroys the CD copies he made in a fit of rage after reaching the conclusion that he doesn't like the music.]

* [[Dead Baby Comedy]], taken to the [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/were-all-gonna.php absolute extreme].

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]. Like [[Image Boards|4chan]], the Goons have done a few acts of vigilantism when they see fitting. However, comparing the two, both on- and off-board, is usually answered by an obligatory "I am offended by that comparison! At least we don't [insert questionable act here]!"

* [[Feigning Intelligence]]. [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/icq-pranks/icq-transcript-big.php?page=1 Played for laughs.] (along with technobabble)

* [[Get Out!]] - The [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3261431 GET OUT Frog.]

* [[Get Out!]]: The [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3261431 GET OUT Frog.]

* [[GIFT]]: Goons are, generally speaking, not known for their manners.

* [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]: The few goon projects that are [[Vaporware|actually finished]] tend to be the ones that never should have been.