Important! Final word and statement regarding FireRat

I want the kids in the community who are currently reading this thread and are feeling repulsed to know your feelings are valid. It's okay to feel scared, or distraught, or upset, or whatever else. This was a tough and revolting situation for even the staff, and it's perfectly understandable if you find yourself picturing yourself in the situation other minors were put in. But please take this an opportunity for growth and take precautions to make sure you don't find yourself in this situation. Do not share personal information such as where you live or what school you go to or anything like that with adults. Do not send them pictures if they ask for it. If you do not feel comfortable with how someone is talking to you, tell them, or better yet leave the conversation. And please, for the love of god, do not engage back with this behavior in any respect if you recognize it. This shit can haunt you for life, and I say this as someone who was harassed recently as an adult. And if you see someone targeting a minor in our community openly, or someone privately tells you they've been harassed, please let us know. We want to stamp these kinds of affairs out as soon as we can, and we want to ensure everyone feels safe on not just the SSRG, but within the hacking and modification scene as a whole.

For those of you who were approached by FireRat, I am deeply and truly sorry that you were hurt. We are trying to make sure this never happens again, and we will root this kind of behavior out whenever we catch wind it's happening.

 

I can agree with the whole situation that is going on in this thread. He is definitely a jerk for what he did and deliberately did the worst for the community as a whole. I just can’t stand this situation for me longer and I’m just really glad that the feds came and stop him.

Some ranting aside, I do feel kind of offended by this situation and I’m really sorry for what happened to him, but seriously, though, from this point forward, I will never use any of his coding or assets. I’m serious. I’ll never will.

I will then respond to this situation for myself by removing his "Generic SEGA Screen" coding on all of my hacks that have this implemented because it uses his code. General rule-of-thumb: As quoted by Spanner, never, ever, EVER use any his coding or assets from that fool ever again.

Also, this is my first post on the forums here. Hello to all.

 

Pretty disgusting and disappointing about Firerat's true nature, and the staff did the right thing in banning, blackballing, and reporting him to the authorities. Such a malicious and repulsive individual does not belong here (nor really anywhere near minors online), not only for SSRG's public image, but far more importantly, for the safety of the userbase. Respect and maintaining a safe environment for one another is far more useful and important than technical aptitude, always. What he has done has invalidated and tainted any technical achievement, skill, or honor he may have once had beyond repair.

I've more or less been on a hiatus from the hacking scene from 2017-2018 and this year, so haven't entirely been keeping up with things, so it was surprising to me when the 1st thread came out revealing his crimes and the ban. There were signs over the years that something was off with him (language barrier, a few very rambly posts in the Lounge subforums, some personal signs I saw), but I didn't foresee something this disgusting and deep down the rabbit hole. However, after seeing the evidence, it is beyond reasonable doubt that he and any sympathizes deserve it and more. Normally when users get into trouble, it's over something relatively minor and stupid (immaturity, carrying on, infighting and drama, etc), but what he did was criminal, make no doubt about it, and he should be in jail. Do not associate with him, sympathize, or enable such an individual; he is a pedophile

My sympathies go to the victims. The community is stronger and can do better than having Firerat around!

 

OK, now that I have had the chance to read this all, it is time to pitch in my own thoughts:

FireRat needs some sort of help. This isn't sympathy, this is just me stating that if he thinks this way, he needs serious mental help.
But, it won't work unless he accepts it, and it's clear, looking at these excerpts, that he has a certain mindset, one where the person doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks of them and is extremely self-centered in that regard. This isn't the first time or the last time this sort of mindset has emerged in this community and caused suffering for people.
These kinds of people don't need to be tolerated, imo. If they won't listen to constructive criticism, then they don't need to be tolerated. No one should be allowed to treat others horribly just because of their achievements or their authority.
It's a very good thing FireRat was removed, alongside those who were willing to go to the level of harassment to defend him.

If you are defending him, you are one of the victims of his manipulation, or you are like him to some extent yourself.

Don't defend an extremely self-centered pedophile, folks.

Contact those in charge if you ever find a person like this and have conclusive evidence.

 

Fine print: I agree with everything that was said, he should seek help and it's good that he's been reported to the authorities, but...

Is this really necessary? If he did something good, he did something good. Hell, even Hitler was a painter (a pretty bad one at that, but still). I might be in the minority here, but I believe we shouldn't mix personal life and professional life. How can you be sure that other useful tutorials haven't been written by convicted felons? For all we know, even you could have been in jail at a certain point in your life, but that doesn't make you a worse administrator of SSRG if you're good at what you do.

That said, I never interacted with him in any way, so I don't know if he actually was good at anything, I don't remember any of his contributions off the top of my mind.

 

The evidence collection has been reuploaded. For those who think the screenshots in the thread weren't enough, take a look at it, in the first post, if you want.

As for the code removal thing, how would you feel if you put that stuff in, now knowing of what he did? Would you still want to use it? That's my view on it.

 

Believe me, I'm far from siding with him, if that wasn't clear. As I said, I agree with the exiling and whatnot. And yes, I can see your point, it wouldn't be that great to show off a credits screen which says "Sonic 42 was brought to you with the help of a rapist". And yet, some older, completed hacks might already be in this situation, possibly forever if the original hacker retired in the mean time (e.g. if I had his code in my soniNeko I'd have to pull out a new revision twelve years later just to rectify that).

This isn't related to this particular case, I just tend to keep things separated on a general level. For example, Max Mosley (from the Formula One world) was involved in an orgy scandal some years ago, and many fans were upset by that, but... did that make him any worse at what he did professionally? Were all the Formula One races up to that point polluted because of that?

That's the last thing I'm going to say, because, again, I don't want to appear to be siding with him, that's far from the truth. You may know I've been in the staff of female volleyball teams here in my city, and that often involved young girls, and I never even dreamed about doing something bad, but I do know of people who actually did, so believe me, I know this issue better than you think, I know it's bad, I hate those people.

edit: typo

 

I wasn't referring to old hacks that were completed. Anything in progress, that can be done, should at least try. And no, I believe you in what you are saying with what you have done yourself.

 

Christ on a fucking motorbike he's so much worse than I thought. There's so much disturbing shit on display here, but what bothers me the most apart from, you know, grooming literal kids and sexually fantasizing about them is how... open he is about it. He treats it like it's something that others don't understand, like he feels proud of it. That disturbs me the most, that he sees this as something normal, something that people should accept.

Really most of what I can say has already been explained far better by the people who have actually had to deal with the kid diddler, but if you're still convinced that he needs help, I don't think he'll be able to get it, he's pretty much a lost cause and the best way to deal with him is just to keep warning people no matter which community he comes up in. Do not, under any circumstance, let him even entertain the idea of continuing this crime against humanity. And don't waste your time trying to get help for a person who clearly cannot help themselves, especially one who thinks they're doing nothing wrong and that they're apparently the fucking victim here. They're not. And warn people of those who defend him too while you're at it. There is no defense for this shit, there never was, nor will there ever be any. He's a pedophile, he should be in jail.
End of story.

Oh, and Eduardo Knuckles and anyone else who has sympathy for him can also go fuck off for all I care too. I really don't care what FireRat or his unmerry band of apologists think of me, you're defending a pedophile, anything you could say about me, no matter how true, might as well be mute.

To those who were, to put it as best I can, fucked with by him, my sympathies go out to you all, and I hope you all will recover from it.

Now, back to the shadows with me as well. I hope to see to it that we never deal with a delusional fuckface like this anywhere again.

 

I'm not happy to see it, but thank you for sharing. The awkward silence created by a lack of evidence made it harder to make the right call.

 

Hi everyone, it's been a while.

FireRat helped me a lot while I was developing Sonic & Ashuro for the SHC 2017. He always seemed to me like a depressed person, who spends a lot of energy on personal projects, school...
I wasn't expecting this kind of revelation at all when I came back here.
I always stayed on good terms with him, even if I asked about him when I could.

I'll be honest, I'm extremely shocked to learn all this, that you think you know people and you don't. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to tell you anything.
Despite the esteem and respect I have for him because he has taught me and helped me so many times, I feel a deep uneasiness.
Nevertheless, I am someone who is enormously open-minded and understanding. To me, what he does is still disgusting, but as long as he doesn't hurt anyone, as long as he doesn't actually do anything about it, as long as no kid has been physically or mentally affected by his problem, then I have no problem, in quotes. I don't know if some people will understand my point of view, I'm not saying that I tolerate pedophilia far from it. My half-sister was victimized by a pedophile, her own father two years ago, and it devastated me.
For example, someone has the right to be racist, to have convictions, if only it remains convictions and nothing goes beyond that, and he's not going to mnifester or shoot black people or things like that (well ok he went as far as doing CGI or going on the dark web, and I don't know his personal life to say he didn't do anything to anybody)...

Anyway, I understand why he was banned, a lot of young people hang around here, God knows what could happen.

I sincerely hope that he will realize that his deviancy is illegal, unhealthy, and that he will have to go to a doctor.

I appreciate and respect this person for what he has brought to me (and I would never have guessed his hidden face), but not the person presented in this thread.

FireRat if you read me, I hope you'll do well, and I sincerely appreciate you, but I can't tolerate what I've learned now, it's still disgusting.

See you all soon! \m/

EDIT:
I add that compared to Nineko's post and his opinion on the Formula One driver, it's about the same opinion I have myself.
I'm the type to dissociate the monster from the artist/professional.

I won't go so far as to recode Sonic & Ashuro to avoid leaving his "support" in my hack, because I'm lazy. lol.

But yeah overall I totally agree with him (Nineko). Thanks.

 

Guess what.

 

People have already stated in this thread that FireRat manipulated and hurt them mentally. It's not too far of a stretch to say that it applies physically as well.

Also, Spanner clarified that old hacks are fine, but any WIP hacks should avoid his code if and at all possible for their own reputation.

 

To further clarify, the official stance is (as it should be) that the past can't be changed. Can't go back and retroactively remove him from works that have already been released and done. If you have a project in progress that *does* have work from him, though, there's ample reason to purge what all you can of that work, and effectively distance your project and work as far from him as possible. We can't make you hold to that, but I doubt the community would look kindly on still openly using FireRat's work after this point.

Again, you can't change the past and what's already out, released, and done. We don't expect you to. For now and the future, though, it's obviously for the best to avoid FireRat's work and purge everything you can from active codebases.

As for Ashuro, I get where you're coming from, but people have been harmed. I do agree that pedophiles shouldn't just be outright damned, as they are people who have mental issues, and should be able to receive the help they need to deal with the problems and prevent themselves from being a danger to others. But FireRat has gone beyond being a pedophile. He has chased his fantasies, and has harmed multiple people along the way, with indications that he is more than willing to create more victims and go further if circumstances align. He is, has, and will continue to act, and he has no interest in reformation. As such, he is blacklisted, and should not be trusted or accepted. He is, and will continue to be a danger to others.

 

Your point of view is heard.

I still feel shocked and disgusted.

I'll be a little more wary of who I deal with on the internet.

Take care of yourselfs, SSRG.

 

I think we have exhausted the discussion at this point in time, as it has been a few months since the thread was made.

If anyone has anything further they want to add, please PM a member of staff and we will reopen it for you.