"why do you talk about something awful so much" it has surprised me quite a bit as I've gotten older but the 2000s-2010s SA culture has only become more relevant to current events and media as time goes on, i assume from the natural watershed effects from people aging into their 30s and making media properties that go on to become incredibly influential. I was never a big poster there, I was a lurker 99% of the time and had zero influence on the site, so it's really not personal for me except for stuff like Dropsy, since I was there for the original thread. the SA millennials started popping up in noticeable ways as early as 30 Rock (recall the "lemon party" recurring joke for example) and as the younger members age into their prime output years we're just going to keep seeing more of it.
I’d like to post about something important and special to me in the hopes that perhaps someone might see it and derive meaning from it too: the Something Awful Forums. I want to talk about it because I think it’s the best place on the internet.
This is one of the oldest communities on the internet. Once upon a time it was the secondary component of a website mainly dedicated to ridiculing other stuff on the internet. That’s a vein of content that has led to a lot of terrible behavior over the years, and the Something Awful community has certainly had its bad moments. However, within it there has always been a certain strain of, well, I don’t want to say “niceness” per se because at the beginning it was really all about being mean, and we still take any opportunity to lightheartedly razz on each other when it comes up. Instead I would say that there’s always been a strain of accountability. “Don’t touch the poop” is a mantra nearly as old as the site itself, and what it means is "you can use this website as a platform to make fun of things that are silly or dumb, but you absolutely cannot use it as a harassment platform." This hasn’t always been executed perfectly (and in particular was not held to by the site’s original owner, good riddance) but it has guided the SA forums on a journey of evolution that has led to it becoming a less mean-spirited, less volatile, less divisive, less reactionary place while the rest of internet has become (imo) more of those things. In the current iteration the number one rule at play is DON’T BE A DICK.
Nowadays the front page, which was once the main attraction dedicated to skewering other parts of the web, is gone except as an archive. The forums are now the main attraction, and they are now dedicated to simply discussing things you like. Posts go into threads sorted by topic, in chronological order. There is no algorithm. There are no bots. The rules are based on what will result in the best website for users rather than advertisers, so you don’t have to say unalive or sewer-slide. The site is attended to by an active, engaged moderation staff made of community members who are genuinely interested in making it the best community possible. If you see bigotry or harassment, you don’t have to fire off a report to a vaguely defined group of anonymous reviewers who may or may not do something about it. When a report is acted on, the moderator action automatically goes on a big list alongside the moderator’s name and their reasoning for the punishment. If someone is a nazi, they get fucking banned. If someone is a transphobe, they get fucking banned. If someone is an asshole, they get probated for a few days so they can cool off. The result is a forum full of people who are, generally speaking, chill and nice.
My favorite example of the evolutions of the site’s culture and userbase is that we used to say it was a “dead gay forum” to complain about how it was losing popularity, using gay as a pejorative because that’s edgy. Now? We still call it a dead gay forum, but positively because we love how dead it is (low pop makes for a tighter community) and we love how gay it is (the site has a significant queer population, myself included!)
.. and now, I would like to cordially invite you to make the site a little less dead and a little more gay (or not) by joining us!
One of the ways that the SA Forums maintain quality is a high barrier to entry. Well, not that high but certainly high relative to the big sites. It costs ten dollars to make a forums account, which is required to read and post on the forums. However, to celebrate the site’s 25th anniversary, the management is doing something the forums have not done in a long time, a free weekend! This weekend only, you can register a forms account, read the forums, and post in a limited number of them, absolutely free!
If you are nostalgic for the Internet of the late 90s and early 2000s, or you never got to experience them and are curious what posting in them was like, this is your chance to do so. To celebrate the 25th anniversary the forums now have a new section designed to look and feel like the early days, but without all the casual homophobia and such. Same posting vibes, new posting sensibilities. If you are a new member, it is advised that you take the time to not just read the rules but also read existing threads and get a feel for what the forms are like before you post. Newbies beware, you may get flamed!!!
still (not) dead and gay after 25 years!
You’ve already read my pitch, but if you want some more convincing, here is a thread where SA posters talk about what the site means to them and why they like it. Some of these people have been posting on this website for longer than I’ve been alive.
Post Your Favorite Reasons You Still Read These Forums
But the forums aren’t just for posting about the forums, they’re also for posting about things you love! Here are a few threads dedicated to things I’m interested in, in case you share them.
Balatro:
Balatro: You can keep jokers in place by clicking and holding on them.
Jerma:
jerma thread: I didn't realize it was possible to be shorter than Jerma
Excellent birds:
Birds, birbs and bribs: Archaeopteryx's palms up, sarcasm air quoting: "Clever girl."
Fanart (56k WARNING NOT DIALUP FRIENDLY):
PYF Weird/Awesome Fanart: I have complex tastes but shame is one of them
That’s just a few of my favorite threads. If none of that interests you, check out the main page and start browsing! I guarantee you’ll find something you like. Take note that FYAD is kind of the “anything goes” subforum (still no nazis but you might see a picture of a penis or something) while every other subforum is more or less SFW. My favorite forums are Post your Favorite, Video Games, Ask/Tell, and Rapidly Going Deaf. I tend to steer clear of FYAD and the politics subforums since they’re really not to my taste. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you’ll find a place on the only forums that acknowledge the truth that modern social media will not: The Internet Makes You Stupid!
Some joke fan art I made of Paula Deen was posted on the Something Awful forums a while back under the return of the weirdest fanart thread. I want to know what they’re saying about it, but I don’t want to pay for an account. I just wanted to read their reactions to it :(
If someone has an account there, would you be willing to send me a screenshot? I just want to laugh too.
You know what I really, really want to do? I want to buy a bunch of old websites that used be huge, bustling communities, think YTMND and Something Awful Forums, and try to revive them. Like, put out flyers, video ads, and product placement in movies in an attempt to restore these former giants to their old glory. I don't even know why I want to, I just do.
Soviet Russia. A man tries to join the Communist Party.
'I don't think you'll accept me due to my family history. My grandmother used to be a pirate, you see.'
'Oh no, nothing to worry about here, comrade. Pirates were basically proto-bolsheviks, they redistributed wealth of the rich to the poor and often fought servants of the oppressive regime. It's actually a huge plus.'
'Well, there's another small issue. My grandfather was Jewish.'
'Was he really? You must know that in our Soviet country all nationalities are equal and this will have absolutely no bearing on our decision. But the fact that your grandma was a pirate is a bit problematic.'
