That 'zany dipshit persona' was a symptom of his crippling fear of taking anything seriously.
I think what's happened to SA was inevitable. Internet 'communities' that last long enough are eventually going to start rotting away like that. With SA, the rot was bigger, and it spilled over horrendously. Rich didn't do anything about this. He barely even tried. Anytime he ran the risk of taking responsibility for SA, he just hid behind his snark. Any time he faced resistance or had to stand up for himself, he just went "lol who cares" and immediately folded. He never committed because that meant sincerity, and sincerity is lame.
Even if he couldn't have saved SA, he could have done something, anything to help it or himself. Instead, he just sat there with an arched eyebrow and a smirk, and watched as a good thing went to waste. He clearly had the same attitude with every other part of his life, and he got the same results.
Instead of being sad, it's very frustrating to think about how things ended up this way. That's why when I think of Richard Kyanka, I imagine him trying to think of one last clever thing to say before he kills himself, and coming up with nothing.