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Comment by newbie789 | Hacker News Reader

Lowtax was by all accounts a real piece of garbage by the end, but he undoubtedly created a place that changed the internet permanently.

I find it kind of funny the amount of ire he drew long before the abuse allegations surfaced though. For example, he was basically auto banned from Twitter by… somebody with the ability to make those decisions at their discretion. I’ve always wondered who that was. In my head, it’s always been a funny thought that Jack Dorsey is some embittered ex-goon that never got over losing $10. (I have no reason to believe this is the case, but it gives me a chuckle)

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Something awful dot com was also blackholed by Google for many years because they did something to piss-off the internet overlords. (For most of the 2000s, you could google for "JeffK" and SA wouldn't show up until like page 20.)

I view Lowtax like Norm McDonald or many other people who provided me a lot of mirth years ago. I would rather not know if they turned out to be a terrible person or not. RIP internet funny man.

> I find it kind of funny the amount of ire he drew long before the abuse allegations surfaced though.

People have to deal with and react to abusive people years and years before big abuse happens and becomes public. That sort of behavior don't comes out of nowhere, but rather escalates over time.

> created a place that changed the internet permanently.

Not in a particularly positive way. It seems like every truly awful person I've interacted with online has roots back to SA.

SA's sweep was so wide that it encompassed both ends of the spectrum. A lot of good stuff also originated there, including the Welcome to Night Vale podcast drama series.

I know Tom Scott, known now for his YouTube videos, was on the forums (I produced a remix for a charity single he made). He's turned out overwhelmingly wholesome and level-headed.

"Auto banned" by somebody seems like a contradiction?

“Basically” was a modifier here, meant to indicate that he was not auto-banned in the traditional sense but rather quickly in a way that resembled being auto-banned.

Lot of ire for him getting banned from a private corporation's service, yet not much ire for him doing him doing nothing to stop people on his forums from harassing the shit out of dozens if not hundreds of people - criminal behavior in many jurisdictions.

Or the fact that he apparently planned his suicide out enough that he purportedly intentionally spent all the money in the joint account he had with his wife before he killed himself. Made sure his lawyer got paid, but left his kids high and dry.

Dude was a piece of shit in real life and online, through both his own behavior and what he enabled and willfully allowed to happen.

I felt real ashamed of the 10bux I gave Lowtax (years ago) after reading about how he treated his wife. There's a GoFundMe for her and her kids, and I sent them 10bux a couple days ago to make me feel better.

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