About Hax$ and the Corruption of Anonymity

[Xfire]

For those out of the loop, Hax was a beloved member of the Melee community well known for his "20XX" meme and his creation of the BOXX controller, the latter of which was developed when Hax$ infamously broke his fingers. He passed away on 3/25/2025 due to health complications from a prior suicide attempt 6 months ago and a broken heart according to his mother.

In most recent times, since mid-2021, Hax$ himself got into multiple controversies. Notably, he posted a 2 hour video called Evidence.zip2, which attempted to call out Leffen's toxic behavior within multiple communities but was marred by extreme comparisons to Hitler and other conspiracies. It led to an indefinite ban from multiple Melee tournaments, and his conditions to be unbanned were not to publicly made defamatory statements and publicly contest his ban to the NYC Melee community staff (where he resides). He was initially unbanned for some NYC Melee tournaments in early 2023, but would later be permanently banned after he made more public videos for ban appeal. The most damning of this was that Hax$ posted the original testimonies of evidence.zip, which included full legal names of the victims. There were tons of discourse on how his ban should've been handled properly but with Hax$'s passing, further discourse has now become muddied.

Personally, whether or not I agree with how his ban was handled, it's a good demonstration about how the internet can bring the worse to people since they can anonymously disparage anyone with severe repercussions while they themselves face none whatsoever. After reading DarkGenex's perspective about the matter, it makes it more sadder that Hax$ decided to listen to the anonymous people instead of his closest friends and family to get the help he needed (although it appears to be the case according to his update where he talked with his therapist, it was simply a band-aid considering he decided to double-down and disregard his initial apologies). The entire discourse should've been settled in private, but tons of outsiders decided to treat his life nothing more than a plaything to further their amusement. I can't help but feel depressed about how his closest friends are now facing severe pushback about not doing enough to help Hax$.