Important! Final word and statement regarding FireRat

As many have been informed, FireRat (also known as HCKTROX, Trox, DrMeh, RainbowKid, and likely a number of other names) was banned from the community earlier in the year. We more personally briefed people we felt would be most directly impacted by the ban to explain the reasons behind the ban, but it seems that such efforts were not enough to address the issues. As such, we are making it known why he was banned.

FireRat is a predator. And one that has a particular attraction to minors, placing him in a very close relationship with pedophilia.

That is a very serious, and very bold accusation, and one we do not, and refuse to take lightly. The entire staff team (including the Discord staff) have reviewed a large amount of evidence pertaining to FireRat, and others were additionally involved in helping go through and confirm the veracity of this information. After the thorough review, there is no doubt that FireRat is indeed a predator that has been skirting the line of pedophilia, and the staff has been utterly disgusted by it. We do not wish to provide the volume of evidence provided and verified, as it does contain a lot of personal information and, frankly, is repulsive to read.

Originally, we reached out to known associates of his and community leaders in an attempt to avoid making a scene out of his removal. With these people we contacted, we explained the situation, what we had found, and even provided limited elements of the evidence we had reviewed and confirmed. We hoped that would be the end of it, as it would remove him from the community, and he would be effectively blackballed and rejected from the community through the channels that he interacted with the community through.

Unfortunately, that has not held true, and while we initially saw indications that he disappeared, new information has emerged that he is still being harbored by folks. This is not at all acceptable, and has led us to take public and make a scene out of this situation, despite concerns.

No one here should associate with FireRat knowingly. He is a very unwell individual that is of serious danger to the community and those around him. I, as well as the rest of the staff team, refuse to accept such harmful individuals into this community, nor harbor them. We stand with the victims, and we are doing everything within our power to address this. I personally want to apologize to the community that this happened, especially the victims, and for how long it took for us to find out about FireRat's nature and expunge him from the community. This community deserves to be a place free from such disreputable and dehumanizing beings, and his presence was an anathema to that.

To those who still harbor and shield him despite being informed of his nature, my disappointment is immeasurable, that you would put him ahead of the safety and wellbeing of many others. I will not be naming names as an act of mercy toward them, but you know who you are, and you need to re-evaluate your priorities. His behavior, actions, and hazardous nature to others far dwarf any of the work he's done, and to put technical aptitude above the safety of others deeply roots a monolithic icon of abject disregard for your fellow human beings firmly into the soil of your reputation.

Moving forward, it must be made clear: We take all reports of abuse and harassment seriously. *Especially* in matters of grooming, predatory behavior, and pedophilia. Please contact a staff member if you have something to report, and we'll get things sorted. We do not want another FireRat in this community, harming our users. People deserve better.

 

I'm going to be honest, I didn't think I would need to make a reply to this, but here we are.

Eduardo Knuckles has been banned from the site. I and the rest of the staff attempted to avoid dragging him into the public light regarding his association with FireRat, but as he's decided to go on the offensive and attack the staff for the public announcement of FireRat, our hand has been forced. EK has made his choice on who he stands beside, and we are making clear, once again, our position.

Eduardo has been, and as far as we know, still is in active contact with FireRat, despite being shown some of the evidence we had showing that FireRat is entirely and unfortunately guilty of what we have accused him of. FireRat has been using this to his advantage, and has become bold enough to reach out to more folks using the FireRat name relatively recently. I'm going to make this clear: FireRat has groomed victims. I'm not going into details on how many or who, because they damn well deserve some privacy and peace and be allowed to heal, and it's sickening that I even have to dredge this back up for them and cause them more pain.

Those of you who still consider FireRat a friend even after all of this, do what a real friend would: Tell him to get some help, and cut him off until he does. Do not enable him. Do not allow all of this to just be waved off of this as normal. There is no toleration of predatory behavior, and we're going to be firm (if need be) to free this place of such predators. If you want to still keep company with a known, active predator, we can't stop you, but you had better damn well be ready for the consequences.

User safety is first and foremost. If you decide your own self-interest is more important than the safety and well-being of others, there's going to be a serious problem. I, for one, am damn well done giving passes to apologists for the indefensible. And I damn well know the community is, too.

 

WARNING!!!

This post discusses something extremely disgusting, and the fact we have to even bring this up, yet again, is incredibly upsetting. If you are not in a position to tolerate the horrifying nature of the topic, it's better for you not to read ahead.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED​

So, as you might guess, our friend, Mr FireRat is at it again. He is attempting to use various back-handed tactiques to “get us” for his “unfair ban”. I want to post something showing everyone exactly why he was banned, why he is no longer around, and why he is to be avoided at all cost. There have been certain people who have been siding with him, as if he did nothing wrong and does not deserve this kind of treatment, and he has attempted to undermine us as a community, including people who have had absolutely nothing personally to do with this incident. This post will contain a little bit of history, the thing that kickstarted all of this, and finally, a huge dump of evidence that should, to any reasonable person, show that FireRat is an absolutely disgusting and malicious character.

History

A lot of this happened 5+ years ago now, me and FireRat were friends more or less. Through a mutual friend, I’d hear some horrible things regarding FireRat however. I was really not in a good position in my life and I didn’t exactly know how to react to it, so I tried to ignore and downplay it. For a long time, I’d just kind of act like I never heard anything, but eventually I realized I needed to stop associating with FireRat completely, but of course those experiences and things I heard stuck with me for good. In the end, I wasn’t even aware other people knew about what a disgusting person he is, until I had a little talk with a friend, who showed me something.



This was a post in a “kinks” thread on Retro. Now, out of context, this isn’t bad. But when you know that he is a pedo, well you could say I was rather angry about this. I had hoped he felt some shame about this, and yet here he is showing his complete lack of giving a fuck about that shit, even after these years. This got me determined to show exactly the kind of person he was to everyone. I wasn’t going to run away from this anymore.

Evidence

This is the kind of thing nobody likes to touch with a large stick. Maybe that’s why it’s taken so long to really get to all this, in a definitive manner. A lot of this material is just straight up disturbing, so obviously we’re not gonna show everything. A lot of the worst material is in the download file below. There is also the material which shows the link between FireRat and his various nicknames on these posts. Here is the full list we have been able to link together: HckTrox, Trox, FireRat, RainbowKid, LoliconGuy, DrMeh, DrTrox, BityBity, EtcDude, TeeChan, Nicol, B4R0N, DrSnake. This is not an exhaustive list, but that’s what we found evidence for quite easily.



It is important to be aware of the connections between these usernames (and the fact he himself has handily provided these for us), because some of the other evidence wouldn’t make as much sense without this context. These are a bunch of screengrabs in the spoiler, from forum posts we found, and most didn’t even require registration to access. There are archived versions of these as well as the original links. Should FireRat manipulate them after the fact, the archives still show the original content.

Spoiler: horrible

Wrap-up

Now, after seeing this disgusting display, does anyone take defending him seriously? There’s apparently a few who still defend him, and quite frankly it’s one of the most appalling things I’ve seen all year. If you still feel he is worth any defense, then quite frankly you have no principles and you should be extremely ashamed of yourself. This shit is indefensible to the core, and I hope everyone knows to keep your distance. He is a manipulative, malevolent person. People like this are to be avoided, and we will also work in the future to keep this kind of garbage out of the community. He was banned and completely removed from all the relevant communities as soon as we got all the evidence together. He was also reported to the authorities, whether or not they have acted on it is a whole other story. All of the evidence contained in the download should show exactly why. We will not tolerate anything to this tune, no matter who it comes from. His dealings with other people on personal levels is disturbing to say the least and unfortunately we can’t do anything about it now, but I hope this serves as a reminder and a warning for all: There are some terrible people out there, and if you see someone who is manipulative and quite frankly evil like this, it is best not to suffer in silence, but to get in contact with people who may be able to do something about it. I am ashamed I didn’t get this sorted earlier, but I hope anyone struggling with this kind of thing will be able to speak up.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business with a bottle of vodka to finish.

 

As a note, this thread is open for discussion, in case of questions and whatnot. We want the community to voice their thoughts on this all, because it's pervaded the tenor of the community for a few months now. Having to deal with this still is exhausting for everyone, and we hope this is finally the end of it. We've learned a lot from this entire process, and we'll be having some internal talks on what we can do to improve our processes and make sure things like this don't slink around in the underbelly for so long without action.

I'll again extend an apology to those who have been hurt by this mess and the actions by FireRat and his defenders. We want this chapter to be fully closed, and grow from this. Part of that is unfortunately requiring a dredging of this issue up several times over. I speak for the staff when I say that we hope this is, finally, the end of it.

 

I hope that everyone can also see the potential dangers of letting someone who openly fantasizes about children in this manner into a community that has a large base of underage users. This is more than just looking good by outing a pedophile from the scene. This is about protecting our userbase and preventing future incidents from potential offenders within what jurisdiction we have. It's even worse when the person in question has actually committed offenses against children, even if they were theoretically limited to "only" viewing pictures or videos online or having the fantasies that were detailed in the pictures above. It's disgusting behavior, and FireRat has shown absolutely zero remorse for any of it. He has demonstrated an unwillingness to seek help for his condition, and continues to enjoy communities where his behavior is normalized and accepted.

I also want to say that anyone who thinks that any of this is acceptable? If you believe FireRat should be allowed in the community or think we're dragging him without cause? If you yourself have behaved similarly to him? Fucking leave. We don't want you here. You are fostering an environment wherein offenders have the chance to prey on not just our userbase, but any userbase. We absolutely will not tolerate that. I don't care how you or your friends or whoever the fuck supposedly didn't actually hurt anyone, leave. In coddling these fantasies and excusing this behavior, you're making this shit worse. Normalization of anything like what we've seen with FireRat is unacceptable, and we will be rooting it out.

 

This is going to be a controversial stance to take, but I'm going to have to disagree with the "the people who defend him are just as bad" idea.

Now obviously you can't knowingly and willingly defend such actions without basically saying you're okay with them (it's like if someone murdered an old lady and someone was like "well some people DESERVE to be murdered." Bad analogy but you get the idea) but the key word is "willingly". Clearly this person is a very manipulative individual. I wouldn't put it past him to have some sort of blackmail or control over people which is leading them to defend them or ignore their actions. I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but it does happen. In fact I went through a very similar situation with a member of a community I moderate, she went by the name of Beta Angel, you've probably heard of her at this point. It wasn't to the extent of extreme things that FireRat has done, but it was a similar thing. Beta Angel basically had a complete hold over multiple people and held threats over their head if they fell out of line. Fear is a powerful thing.

I'm ranting at this point but just something to think about.

 

I haven't been keeping up with this situation very much (or the hacking scene in general) so forgive me if I'm missing some details on what exactly happened.
(((Also please keep in mind this will be in my usual scrambled writing style, I'm thinking as I write.)))

Well. That certainly explains why Firerat was banned earlier this year.
I wondered for a while what exactly happened and while it made things a bit confusing for someone like me who doesn't keep up to date on everything going on in the community, ultimately I think that yeah, waiting to post the receipts was probably a good thing. It's better than releasing scattered & incomplete evidence.

I can't give any evidence myself on Firerat's character, the furthest interaction I ever had was DMing him for MD programming advice and I let him know I was having internet issues so I'd have to ask for advice some other time. We never interacted again.
Probably the most notable thing that came from that was him saying something along the lines of "I'm a bit of a Renegade myself". My username at the time was Renegade, make of this what you will.
I think I'm pretty desensitized to violence, and I've heard every edgy joke under the sun, but the shit Firerat was saying in those screenshots genuinely sickens me to the point where I couldn't keep reading.

All being said, this post is getting very very long, so I think I'll cut it here.
If there's one last thing I can add? To Firerat and anyone like him? If you aren't going to seek serious psychological help then do the world a favour, go to Hell. The sooner the better. (Was contemplating whether I should post that last bit but I realized if people object to that statement, would I really be the one in the wrong?)

 

The shit around FireRat and his sympathizers pisses me right off. All of them need fucking help.
Not to nitpick, but was there more publicly ousted FireRat sympathizers?

 

I'm not as heavily involved in the community, but I can recall my few interactions with him in 2019 in a Discord server or two being a bit off to put it lightly. I heard something regarding this stuff a while back, but that's really all I've seen thus far.

Reading those screenshots, yeah fuck him. Those were some of the worst things I think I've ever read.

 

Just like Ruthless, I haven't been keeping up with the hacking scene these last months, but I do check on it sometimes.
But this time, I couldn't just see this thing and NOT comment about it. I can't just look at this and say "Oh, just another day in the hacking community... Back to making Sonic machinimas!", because I can't.

I'm speechless. He tells about wanting to torture any "teleiophiles (AKA Normal, decent people... Why the hell is this even a word?)" he sees in his way... So that means he basically wants to torture the entire human population ("Pedo freaks" and any kind of rapists doesn't count as humans), isn't it? Probably including his own parents and relatives as well?

I have two friends, one of them got raped by a sick fuck like him, and the other one almost had the same fate as them. And then HE comes out, saying that being a pedo is not wrong, and that WE are the "bad guys" when HE CLEARLY SUPPORTS RAPE AGAINST CHILDREN TO SATISFY HIS SICK DESIRES?
...
To be honest, I still support him about something... He should have the right to choose the way he wants to get executed. And no, no last meals for him.
I usually don't support violent behavior or suicide, but there are exceptions, y'know. I bet anyone here would kill him if granted the opportunity.


I think my rant got a bit too dark, but I HAD to spit it out this time. I wasn't actually caring about anything that was going on in the community because I was too busy working to grow my Youtube Channel, but as soon as I saw this post, and saw actual proof against him, I got disgusted. But not only disgusted, but I felt an actual blood lust against him.

Sorry for the long rant, I was boiling with anger when I wrote this.

tl;dr: After six months out bc YouTube stuff, I decide to check on SSRG like I always do, and I get absolutely enraged on FireRat when seeing actual proof against him, because why wouldn't I?

As for FireRat... If you had nothing to lose, why not use this gun to kill yourself, then? You'll be doing a favor to Earth as a whole. Plus, you'll be moving the economy because your family will have to buy a coffin, get you a place in the cemetery and stuff, and you'll be helping the working class on these cemeteries to get food on their table. It's a win-win situation! Just die.

And that's pretty much everything I had to say thank you very much and I hope there's nothing wrong with my "hee yee shitty edgy" ranting post, 'cause I might have gone a bit too far this time.

(For the staff: If there's anything wrong with my post, please tell me so I can edit it ASAP, or just take it down if needed, I'll understand. I'm also sorry for any inconveniences I might cause if any of these ends up being the case.)

PS: The .zip file is corrupted. It can be opened, but all the files inside are corrupted and cannot be opened.

 

Now you have seen what he is. And let me make it clear, I don't want to see anyone use any of his stuff any more.

If you used his code, whether it was in a guide or privately given, remove it now. Find something else to use. Stop enabling him.

 

Jesus fucking Christ, I'd never thought this would need to be made public, but I guess here we go :V
With that said, here's one more advice people should follow.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER, EVER TALK TO HIM

I speak from experience. Mistakes were made, and sadly, no one was around to warn me when I had made the one mistake of considering this guy a "friend". He has extensive capacity for manipulation and, as far as I can tell, no one is safe, especially especially especially underage users whom I was.

Do not go into it with curiosity. Do not go into it thinking to give him one chance. If you're young, you might severely underestimate what I'm saying.

Do not contact. Never. Ever.

Ever.

Spoiler: Details, potential trigger warning

I was fairly young when we started talking. It was around late 2016-early 2017. I was 13 back then.

Eventually he told me who he was, and how he felt about it. I'm disgusted at how I remember feeling sorry for him, talking about how oh-so-oppressed he was and how he was so unrightfully not accepted in society! ffs

What followed was something that I was later told was a form of child grooming...

In essence, he somehow made me convinced through manipulative talk that I was like him. I remember him taking random unrelated things about me, like my looks, height or social life and turning it into a "hey, that's a trait many of us share!" type of thing, as well as exploiting the fact that I was obviously underdeveloped in terms of attraction and sexuality. Thinking about this again is painful. Despite being in the middle of my post, this is the last thing I'm writing because I was holding off on it, and I feel sick to my stomach remembering these events, what was going on in my mind and in the chats.

Genuinely believing him made my emotional state completely miserable, and at one point I was consireding taking my own life, especially given I wasn't keen on talking about it and so there was no one to snap me out of it. Thanks to my real life best friend for pulling me out of that rut. I am lucky he was around, and even though he couldn't do what needed to be done as he was the same age as me, he at least was emotionally helpful.

It went on for years.

It wasn't until the beginning of 2020 till everything came public, I met a few people who also were affected and realized what really happened. What followed was a second wave of hell, and I am still not sure I'm over it, as I'm shaking as I'm writing this.

I really didn't want to make this public, but for everything that is good in this world, I hope that at least one person reads this and never repeats my mistake. I'm begging you to take this seriously. I want to save at least someone out there. Please follow my advice.

And part of the reason I climbed up from this is because FireRat had dissapeared for a while.

Not even if you're not underage. Being an adult doesn't mean you're not vulnerable to emotional manipulation. There are examples, but I won't call anyone out.

If there's nothing we can do to get this guy jailed and rid the world of his presence, at least I can do my best to warn people and to prevent what has happened to me from happening to everyone else, even if it comes at the expense of making this shit public.

A fair bit of time has passed. I'm fine now, if you're wondering. Mostly. I was lucky to have great friends who supported me when I realized what had happened. You people are the best and I love you with all my heart. I hope I can once return the favour.

tl;dr don't make the same mistake I did

 

This entire situation is really fucked up. In my opinion for crimes like this FireRat should be removed from all services. I knew FireRat in the past, but I would never guess he's a pedo and sadist, who wants to torture others as a boss in future. In 2016-2019 if he had any chat with me, it was about hacking and his whining about SSRG members and staff, he never spoke to me about this shit (probably he was scared of me, because many times I've told him that I don't tolerate criminals, no matter how talented they are) There's no hope for people like him, he won't change and he will do the same in the future - SSRG did a good job banning him and warning others, because I wouldn't know it without it.

 

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

This dude's absolutely disgusting, how can he even assume that his ban was "unfair"??
To be fair, he had programmed some... Erm, nice stuff before. Too bad he couldn't hide his awful addiction (that shit would still suck if he somehow hid it, but yeah) and did what he did. Sick manipulative fuck.

I feel really sorry for all his victims and wish them all the best, I really hope they won't encounter anything like HIM afterwards. Stay strong, I'm pretty sure the community can handle FireRat's BS. He doesn't deserve to be a part of society, Sonic community included.

 

I feel sorry for those who interacted with this guy. When all this was revealed here on SSRG months ago, I couldn't believe that people were actually defending his actions. WTF is wrong with people?! I actually was thoroughly impressed with his work done in the community throughout the years, but now I can't look at his work without feeling disgusted. Likewise with EK, and anyone else who defends him. (I don't know of anyone off the top of my head though, but I'm sure if I figured out who else defended his actions I'd still be disgusted by them regardless.) Please tell me this guy got locked up and is far away from children.

 

I think I recognize that 2nd print, and I feel terrible that I didn't understand the context at the time, pretty disturbing honestly. The worst of it all is that 5/6 years ago I thought he was a nice person back when I meet in Sonic Games Dimension.

I still don't know how to react to that, honestly. I just feel so sorry for his victim. There is absolutely zero reasons to defend his acts. He should be in jail.

 

Anyone who defends a pedophile is just as much of an unforgivable sick fuck as the one they're defending. He should be locked up.