[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/something_awful_logo23.png]]

->''"The internet makes you stupid"''
-->--Something Awful's motto.[[note]]Also [[RulesOfTheInternet Rule 77]][[/note]]

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 [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible 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 [[ForumSpeak Lurkers]] and banned users). In part this is ''because'' of the cost of admission: 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 [[ImageBoards newer]] websites.

For the flash animations hosted on the site that is made by Dave Kelly, see WebAnimation/TheFlashTub. The folks here were also responsible for ''WebVideo/DoomHouse'' and ''LetsPlay/GamingGarbage''.

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!!This website is the TropeNamer for:

* HowDoIShotWeb
* ImageMacro
* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: This was from one of the site's Photoshops.

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!!Tropes associated with Something Awful include:

* AccentuateTheNegative: Much of Something Awful's early content was composed of scathing, vitriolic, and incredibly funny reviews of bad movies, games, and, later, hentai. The score system was unusual--instead of 0 to 100, they had 50 to -50, in practice almost always 0 to -50.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: 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 Music/TedNugent, including his off-center soul patch.
* AutoIncorrect: An amusing depiction of the Cupertino Effect, a character called [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/jeff-uses-spellcheckar.php "Jeff K!!!!"]] who attempts to spellcheck his aggressively incorrect English.
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' compare them to 4chan. Don't do this on 4chan either.
* BlackComedy: Taken to the [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/were-all-gonna.php absolute extreme]].
* ClusterFBomb: 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 "surprise sex," along with other {{Unusual Euphemism}}s if you're not logged in. At the same time, anyone not logged in is able to see, with no censorship, that the general forum is called "General Bullshit", and people who edited their posts "fucked around with" them.
* ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor: An [=AwfulVision=] column once highlighted a pair of videos where a kid who downloaded a Music/TheSmashingPumpkins 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.]]
* ADarkerMe: It's a joke on Something Awful that every goon is a nerdy, overweight "neckbeard" in RealLife. Individual goons, however, tend to make up obvious lies about how awesome they are for the fun of it.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Like Website/FourChan, 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]!"
* FeigningIntelligence: [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/icq-pranks/icq-transcript-big.php?page=1 Played for laughs.]](along with technobabble)
* GetOut: The [[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3261431 GET OUT Frog.]]
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The few goon projects that are actually finished tend to be the ones that never should have been.
* {{Griefer}}: Goons are (in)famous for joining online games not to play them but to find ways to destroy them.
* InternetJerk: Goons are, generally speaking, not known for their manners.
* LetsPlay: It began as something a few weirdos did on the Games forum, but later gained its own subforum (and recently its own moderator), and has spread across the internet. WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} was made in response.\\
\\
Lowtax and [[WebAnimation/TheFlashTub Shmorky]] have also gotten in on the act, playing Game Maker/Unity games of dubious quality (and ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'') as part of ''LetsPlay/GamingGarbage''.
* MindScrew: Some of the animations on the site make absolutely no sense. Then again, that's sort of the point.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The general reaction when a Goon made swap.avi, one of the most disgusting shock videos ever.
* OrphanedSeries: Goon projects have quite the history of never actually being finished, the best known example being a hilariously bad "electropunk" RPG called ''[[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3016292 Zybourne Clock]]''.
* RuleThirtyFour: The "Horrors of Porn" reviews.
* SatireParodyPastiche: The site has turned mockery into an art form.
* SchmuckBait: "Your Band Sucks," which mocks popular bands and then posts the most incoherent responses from fans.
* SpinOff: The infamous {{Image Board|s}} 4Chan was originally founded by former Something Awful users as an {{Anime}} image board based on popular Japanese community 2chan. They've regretted it ever since.
* TrustMeImADoctor: Whenever the website cracks jokes about [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/flash-tub/conspiracy-theory-911.php Ron]] [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/ronpaul-kidz-page.php Paul]], the sentence "I'm a doctor," or a close variant, tends to show up as a joke reason for why his political platform should be taken seriously.
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