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Forum/discord raid by FE comm members


Crimson Red
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tl;dr, some people in the FE community or something raided our forums, spammed, said really stupid and offensive things, then raided our Discord with disgusting images and other things, and you may want to know this to try and prevent such things from happening elsewhere. It was extremely bad or I would not be posting about it.

Full version:

Hey guys.


Though my name has changed as I don't like attention, this is Blazer, 12+ year veteran Fire Emblem player and owner of one of the oldest Fire Emblem fansites/communities, the Fire Emblem Shrine.

We've always been a small and humble community, priding ourselves on being kind, welcoming, and passionate about Fire Emblem. Now, a lot has changed in the past 11+ years and we're certainly not active and well-known like we used to be, admittedly unlike SF (which, created at about the same time, I have seen grow since its early days), but these values are still important to us, and we don't appreciate others "disrupting the peace", so to speak.

With the intro over, I'd like to bring to attention that some people, from the Fire Emblem Universe community and possibly others—I do not know all the details, and honestly I am not all that interested—raided our forums and our Discord chat recently.

You can see some of their posts here: http://imgur.com/a/a4Fv2 and shouts: http://imgur.com/a/SkB4V

I don't want to go into the details, but they even made insensitive remarks in our mature discussion forums (similar to the serious discussion forum here) about someone who committed suicide and also about someone who passed away from cancer. They spammed in our forums, our shoutbox, and then in our Discord.

The discord was what brought this to my attention, as I have not been doing well lately and so I don't follow the forums constantly like I used to... somehow, either through a bot or other means, they repeatedly posted messages that turned into a voice that played on the computer, which I initially thought was a virus. I soon found out that this voice was the least offensive thing: after this, disgusting, potentially traumatizing pictures of things happening to bodies were repeatedly posted in the chat. It could definitely scar someone. Members were frantic and panicked (naturally so) and I quickly received messages and even a text so something could be done.

Now, this was only possible in part because I was too trusting: I left an open server link because no one outside of my community, the FEShrine, would have any reason to join it, and it did not cross my mind that a group of jerks with nothing better to do would go out of their way to search a forum, join the discord, and play one of the dumbest, most tasteless "jokes" I've ever seen. This coming from someone who jokes all the time and was a prankster as a kid: this wasn't funny even 1% and it ruined my and others night after a very difficult day.

However, that does not excuse the forum activity/spamming/terrible remarks (not all of which were shown), or the things in Discord, which we do not wish to show to you all for your sake.

I do not intend to retaliate directly against them, but if you are familiar with these people, please keep in mind that the people below, along with NayrLover and Arch (maker of Elibian Nights) at least participated in these activities in some manner.

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I think I have taken a fair course of action. I wasn't even going to post this, but after they hurt my members (and more importantly my friends) and wasted so many people's time, I feel that this should not only be made known, but prevented in the future if possible, especially since I have heard another discord chat also got attacked.

Feel free to discuss or add anything if you know anything. I hope your day/night has gone better than this.

- A Fire Emblem fan formerly known as Blazer

EDIT: Any of my FES friends who are members here could back this up, but it shouldn't be necessary. My friend also posted this on FEE. He called it trolling but that's not real trolling IMO. Trolling used to be something that took actual thought and could still have some tact and even be funny. It wasn't just spamming, offending people, and wasting time. I honestly don't care for whatever cover-ups people have to offer, but please don't be this kind of person and please don't let this happen. I've certainly taken steps to prevent such a thing from happening in the future, though despite how long I've been on the internet, it still shocks me how much free time people have to go out of their way to be stupid and mean.

Edited by Crimson Red
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Shit posting in a thread about the death of one our members' friend is not cool at all.

Mistake was realized and post was deleted.

Post was out of line and I apologize for having said it, I didn't take other people's feelings and beliefs into account.

The entire situation was with the aim of light jabbing and went overboard especially so when other un-linked individuals took the commotion and decided to post the way unnecessary pictures of gore, which we all collectively felt was overkill which stopped it and we've been collectively trying to get to the bottom of it and find out where that individual came from and whether he was even one of our own in the first place.

We were originally talking about old forums and eventually the discussion lead to FEShrine, we found that it was still up and then we noticed it had a mature section, for fun we decided to post silly comments and remarks in that forum and only in that forum(there were also posts made in one singular topic outside of this board, as on the homepage underneath my topic in the most recent topics made it was the most recent, again this was essentially just it being at the top of the list, nothing else factored in to that decision, especially nothing malicious). Because of this, we, namely I, went through the more recent of the topics and posted comments that were related to the topic but were still taking the piss out of the concept of the "mature domain". None of this was meant or intended to be personal, those topics just happened to be the ones at the top of the board.

Not excusing, just explaining. None of this was intended to be excessively offensive, but only light jabbing.

Edited by NICKT™
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The discord was what brought this to my attention, as I have not been doing well lately and so I don't follow the forums constantly like I used to... somehow, either through a bot or other means, they repeatedly posted messages that turned into a voice that played on the computer, which I initially thought was a virus. I soon found out that this voice was the least offensive thing: after this, disgusting, potentially traumatizing pictures of things happening to bodies were repeatedly posted in the chat. It could definitely scar someone. Members were frantic and panicked (naturally so) and I quickly received messages and even a text so something could be done.

Not condoning anything here: These were not part of the FEU group's work and was something that they themselves were all disgusted by at the same time. Edited by Bedimal Eliwan
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As the acting admin of FE Universe and administrator of the FEU Discord group, I want to deeply apologize for what happened. I am personally holding those who acted responsible.

I don't expect you to take me at face value when I say that the user who spamposted disturbing images to your chat was not a member of our group; that member also attacked us a month ago, and I would also encourage being on the lookout.

If you're interested in mending ties, please contact me. You can reach me through the FEU discord or via PM on here or on the FEU site. I'm currently locked out of my skype, but I should get access to that in a day or two as well.

Edited by CT075
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Not condoning anything here: These were not part of the FEU group's work and was something that they themselves were all disgusted by at the same time.

Probably wouldn't have happened if those responsible for starting it didn't start it.

Blazer has been a very helpful member to the community in the past, both from his tutorials and giving his time out to help myself and others privately.

It's very sad and shameful to see folks from another FE community go out of their way and attack a fellow forum like FES, especially when that forum is led by nobody but good people.

Blazer. If you want to talk, give me a shout my dude.

You have my support.

Edited by ghast
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Blazer,

I would like to formally apologize for the events that transpired tonight. There is no excuse for our behavior, and I take full accountability for what happened. What started as a drunken laugh very quickly spiraled out of control, I should have known better. We will do everything in our power to identify the members responsible for attacking the discord server, and will deal with our own members who participated (starting with myself--as acting admin CT075 can attest, I have taken an indefinite leave of absence from leadership at FEU). As Cam said above, I encourage all community discord servers to be on the lookout for users under the aliases PillCosby, tcfh001, and Sgt. ShadoWolf. One of these members attacked our own server recently, and has attacked several others.

Ghast is right. This wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been acting like total dumbasses in the first place. I offer my sincerest apologies, although I doubt that it means much at this point.

Edited by Arch
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This is going to be as tactless as everything else I say

Out of the users mentioned, I would only strongly associate MCProd and Arch with who I would consider to be "FEU Regulars". For what it's worth, Bard and SEVA aren't associated with us at all (I have been notified that SEVA is a lurker -- not really someone I have taken notice of, in any case).

I blame NickT for starting the whole thing and Arch for not stopping it and being there at the time.

We(Cam and I) plan on penalizing NickT as well as others who participated in the incident. We're not yet sure on what to do with Arch but at the very least, we'd like him to write a formal apology to Blazer.

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Okay, let me preface this by saying what really doesn't mean much as it fixes nothing, but I deeply apologize for the role I played i tonight's events. There is no good reason for this stunt we pulled, and while our intentions were for it to be nothing more than a small joke, things clearly didn't wind up that way. I hold a policy of not regretting actions I've taken, and because of this policy, when I make a mistake, I do everything in my power to fix it. As part of my wish to correct my mistakes tonight, I formally apologize to the FireEmblemShrine forums and discord server, and accept any reprimands or punishments FEU feels I deserve for my actions. I don't feel I'm well known by any means in the community, but anonymity or not, there is no justification for the actions I've taken tonight.

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Hi, Ghast spoke to and filled me in on this, and I thought I'd show some support, especially considering it upset you enough to post on our forum. FES is as old a fixture in the fandom as we are, we've had a good relationship for years and even worked together as sites on translation projects and fandom-related news in the past, so naturally it's upsetting to see you were targeted by people for a forum raid. I think it's important not to go on a witch hunt, things like this transpire because of fundamental problems within communities and negative environments, not specific users. That's not to say the people responsible should be cleared of "blame" (what a fickle word that is, huh?).

While it's clear that the incident was organized outside of SF and any of our communities, many of them are members of our forum and so it's difficult not to feel obligated to at least talk to the ones I know personally. I'll speak with them at some point in the near future, privately.

Feel free to send me a PM if there's anything you'd like to discuss. Good luck!

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Here's a few other anecdotes about the guy on other places, courtesy of Coby:
I'd like to warn you: There's some foul language inside, not to mention the images are large.
[spoiler=Discord screenshots]
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Also, I was the 'Bard' dude, not going to let anyone else take the blame on that.

Didn't intend anything other than a shoutbox joke or two, and, like most people, had no idea that things would get so serious. 'Jokes' about suicide or cancer aren't funny. There's no justification for that. The discord things? Inexcusable. The comment I made about TLP was definitely uncalled for, and I'm sure we could have a better way to discuss that. You have my apology for that comment, along with the intent of coming to your forum to mess with the users. It wasn't a good call.

For the serious stuff, I couldn't try to apologize about. That's horrifying and inhumane.

I'm not a good person, but I'd like to identify myself as someone who was involved. Don't blame anyone without including me.

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I'd like to second Tang's statement, at least, specifically with what punishments have already been done. I feel like I've taken care of things fairly decisively, and I don't think much more is necessary, and thus more would start to be considered a "witch hunt". Of course, if you disagree, feel free to suggest other things that could be done. Here's a summary of things that have been done:

- Arch has given me ownership of the FEU discord. His status as an admin has been removed.

- A new role ("Revenant") was created for the second warning (that is, the formal one) in the discord. It has reduced permissions over the normal role.

- The new role has been assigned to NickT and he has been stripped of other roles.

- MCProd and Zane have been stripped of their contributor roles ("Writing/Writer" and "Wizard" respectively). Although this comes with no actual decrease in power, it has a bit of a metaphorical meaning in saying we value their contributions less if they aren't upstanding members of our community. I plan on this being a temporary measure, however the length of time for this is still undecided.

- All other participants have been verbally warned (1st warning).

Edited by Crazycolorz5
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I'm sorry that your site got attacked, but what does any of it have to do with Serenes Forest? As in, why did this need to be posted here?

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I'm sorry that your site got attacked, but what does any of it have to do with Serenes Forest? As in, why did this need to be posted here?

I assume it's because SF is

a) has a wider audience, so it can be discussed between different FE commmunities

b) offers a slightly less biased place for discussion than either of the home communities.

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I assume it's because SF is

a) has a wider audience, so it can be discussed between different FE commmunities

b) offers a slightly less biased place for discussion than either of the home communities.

What kind of reasoning is this

SF has its own share of drama, how is it considered okay to bring your drama into another place that as a whole hasn't even been involved in what had happened? Look, what happened to FES sucks. But if SF didn't have anything to do with it, then maybe it shouldn't be posted to our forums ;/

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I don't really care for posting things to SF either, but it does seem like the natural choice for cross-forum discussion, as basically everyone is here.

That is to say, SF is involved insomuch as it involved the FE community in general.

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I don't really care for posting things to SF either, but it does seem like the natural choice for cross-forum discussion, as basically everyone is here.

That is to say, SF is involved insomuch as it involved the FE community in general.

Not really ;/

At the very least, why not just keep the conversation private between just the admins and the relevant people instead of making it so that anyone can see this?

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. . . and you may want to know this to try and prevent such things from happening elsewhere. It was extremely bad or I would not be posting about it.

I assume. So, just for general knowledge and informing.

Edited by Crazycolorz5
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uh it just looks to me like OP posted it here and other places as a warning to other communities.

Yeah, this.

I wasn't present for anything that happened (Thank God) so I can't add much. Just that he posted this here to give everyone a head's up in case it happens again elsewhere. A similar topic was posted on FEE by someone else, I believe.

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I'm sorry that your site got attacked, but what does any of it have to do with Serenes Forest? As in, why did this need to be posted here?

Pretty much everyone who allegedly made the attacks is a member here.
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Thanks for all the comments. I did read them all.

I'm not really personally offended (even if the pics were gross), but it did bother a lot of my members. As Tangerine said, "I think it's important not to go on a witch hunt", and that's not my goal here, nor am I blaming FEU as a whole or looking for apologies. Stuff happens, it's the internet, and it's taken care of. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

As the acting admin of FE Universe and administrator of the FEU Discord group, I want to deeply apologize for what happened. I am personally holding those who acted responsible.

I don't expect you to take me at face value when I say that the user who spamposted disturbing images to your chat was not a member of our group; that member also attacked us a month ago, and I would also encourage being on the lookout.

If you're interested in mending ties, please contact me. You can reach me through the FEU discord or via PM on here or on the FEU site. I'm currently locked out of my skype, but I should get access to that in a day or two as well.

Thank you for the info.

I believe you, but even so, what happened happened, regardless of the circumstances.

I won't hold it against you personally. You can talk to me on Discord if needed (BBaller#1033) but I think the best thing is to just keep going as we are. FES generally keeps to itself anyway which is why we were really surprised and taken aback by this. We have no desire for drama or conflict, and we're content with just being a small group of veteran Fire Emblem fans.

Probably wouldn't have happened if those responsible for starting it didn't start it.

Blazer has been a very helpful member to the community in the past, both from his tutorials and giving his time out to help myself and others privately.

It's very sad and shameful to see folks from another FE community go out of their way and attack a fellow forum like FES, especially when that forum is led by nobody but good people.

Blazer. If you want to talk, give me a shout my dude.

You have my support.

True.

Thanks for the support. I think we're okay, I'm mostly worried because we do have some more sensitive members (which is not a bad thing IMO, everyone is different, and the topics of suicide and cancer along with the gross images aren't joking matters), as long as people are aware this is not a cool thing to do but it has the potential to happen anyway, that should be enough for now.

@Arch, @MCPugi, as you said I'm afraid the apologies don't really matter to us now, as it's not like we're crying over spilled milk, but at least this hopefully means it won't happen again. I figure you don't care and expected as much, but I'm afraid I'm not removing the bans of anyone who popped in that night, regardless of scale.

I guess if I had to say something, it'd be that I'm disappointed in you, Arch. You probably don't remember, but a long time ago we used to be good friends and even work on stuff together, so even though we've fought since then and no longer agree on things or the like, I did want to respect you as an old friend. Even if it's not totally your fault, this kind of thing and the jabs at FES did make it kinda hard. We're like... 20 something now, I'd like to think we're adults and have grown up past the days of silly trolling, competing over silly things, sabotage, etc.—I've really distanced myself from the FE community at this point (having quit hacking years ago and not having time for much community interaction) so it's sad that when I do finally post again and see familiar faces, it has to be about something like this.

but that's nothing but sentiments, so it's no big deal.

Hi, Ghast spoke to and filled me in on this, and I thought I'd show some support, especially considering it upset you enough to post on our forum. FES is as old a fixture in the fandom as we are, we've had a good relationship for years and even worked together as sites on translation projects and fandom-related news in the past, so naturally it's upsetting to see you were targeted by people for a forum raid. I think it's important not to go on a witch hunt, things like this transpire because of fundamental problems within communities and negative environments, not specific users. That's not to say the people responsible should be cleared of "blame" (what a fickle word that is, huh?).

While it's clear that the incident was organized outside of SF and any of our communities, many of them are members of our forum and so it's difficult not to feel obligated to at least talk to the ones I know personally. I'll speak with them at some point in the near future, privately.

Feel free to send me a PM if there's anything you'd like to discuss. Good luck!

Thanks for the support. As long as you're aware and don't condone this kinda thing, that's enough for me, haha. Not expecting much else, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I would also like to think that we have a good relationship, and though we're just a small little fixture now, I do hope we can continue to have a positive relationship and even collaborate together if the chance arises. :)

I'd like to second Tang's statement, at least, specifically with what punishments have already been done. I feel like I've taken care of things fairly decisively, and I don't think much more is necessary, and thus more would start to be considered a "witch hunt". Of course, if you disagree, feel free to suggest other things that could be done. Here's a summary of things that have been done:

- Arch has given me ownership of the FEU discord. His status as an admin has been removed.

- A new role ("Revenant") was created for the second warning (that is, the formal one) in the discord. It has reduced permissions over the normal role.

- The new role has been assigned to NickT and he has been stripped of other roles.

- MCProd and Zane have been stripped of their contributor roles ("Writing/Writer" and "Wizard" respectively). Although this comes with no actual decrease in power, it has a bit of a metaphorical meaning in saying we value their contributions less if they aren't upstanding members of our community. I plan on this being a temporary measure, however the length of time for this is still undecided.

- All other participants have been verbally warned (1st warning).

Not at all. As I reiterated, the biggest thing to me is I feel like this should be made known. The FE community should not have this kind of stuff happening in my opinion. Note that my original post does not (as far as I see or remember) have any real call to action, so while I appreciate that you care enough to do something, we're not pressing the issue any more than me making the post about it, something I basically felt obligated to do as both the administrator and friend of my forum members.

I'm sorry that your site got attacked, but what does any of it have to do with Serenes Forest? As in, why did this need to be posted here?

It's worth at least watching out as similar things could happen here or in other places, where it's by the same or different individuals, and regardless of where they come from. Also, I don't see why the FE community can't at least pretend to care about other parts of the community at times like this. However, I'm sorry to see it seems that you are upset that I posted a thread. I get your point and why I might not post here.

At the very least, why not just keep the conversation private between just the admins and the relevant people instead of making it so that anyone can see this?

I do not know all the relevant people, and the general idea of not leaving your discord chats open to invaders even when you think no one would do such a thing is something anyone with a Discord server could probably learn from.

uh it just looks to me like OP posted it here and other places as a warning to other communities.

I only posted it here, as this is the biggest community. As BlueLeafeon said, someone else posted on FEE, as they were hurt by it.

I don't really care for posting things to SF either, but it does seem like the natural choice for cross-forum discussion, as basically everyone is here.

That is to say, SF is involved insomuch as it involved the FE community in general.

This, basically. I honestly didn't expect as many responses as we got. I think it solved its purpose and there's no real reason to discuss it further. But thanks.

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Not at all. As I reiterated, the biggest thing to me is I feel like this should be made known. The FE community should not have this kind of stuff happening in my opinion. Note that my original post does not (as far as I see or remember) have any real call to action, so while I appreciate that you care enough to do something, we're not pressing the issue any more than me making the post about it, something I basically felt obligated to do as both the administrator and friend of my forum members.

My main point is that "I've dealt with it and don't think any more needs to be done". While the content itself is about specifically what has been done, I did post it with basically the same point you're saying here. (i.e. it's just what I should do as an admin, and again, I don't think any more is really necessary).

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Hey man, I'm thankful that you gave us a heads up and I'm really sorry to hear that something so awful happened on your forums--and within our greater FE community.

Hopefully you're able to undo the damage and quickly forget about this mess. I also hope the offenders--at least the ones who apologised--are sincerely regretful of their actions. Joking around a little is fine, but you need to be able to control the situation.

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