Editing Smasher:Hax

On June 2021 Hax was indefinitely banned due to repeated and refusal to stop committing defamation deemed to constitute harassment violating sections 2.2.1 and 2.3.3 of the CoC.<ref name="Hax Ban" />

 

As of February  1, 2024, Hax$ has been permanently banned from tournaments due to repeated slanderous and conspiratorial accusations made towards {{Sm|Leffen}}, and other community members, with Hax's persistent reinforcement of these statements, multiple instances of inciting harassment, failing to take sufficient accountability for his actions, and refusing to abide by the terms of his return to local events.<ref name="Hax Permanent Ban">{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dg-R86Zz_toB3EbfvGCJ4wvJTwyQyRlunCh-P1_HCV0/edit|title=Hax's Permanent ban}}</ref> In addition to allegations of doxxing<ref name="Willy P personal statement" /> and stalking.<ref name="DarkGenex Document" />

On June 4th, 2021, Hax posted a two-and-a-half-hour [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKixeJmH2MQ YouTube video] and accompanying 136-page PDF file titled "Evidence.zip 2",<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBIB0pdC2-CuFL0-2JsRyjurKmv4JfJm/ Hax's evidence.zip 2 PDF]</ref> <ref>[https://archive.org/stream/evidence.zip-2-smashbros/drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBIB0pdC2-CuFL0-2JsRyjurKmv4JfJm/view/Evidence.zip%202_djvu.txtclaiming Hax's Evidence.zip 2.pdf archived]</ref> in a tweet that it would "decide the fate of the entire ''Smash'' community."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1401025253564895235|title=Initial Tweet}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeUf6S_b-_U|title=Evidence.zip 2 reuploaded}}</ref> The video, named as a sequel to the archive file that was used to advocate a ban for {{Sm|Leffen}} back in 2013, alleges that Leffen has mentally abused several people in his quest to become the best player, having been leery about him ever since his first interactions with him on SmashBoards in 2011. He urged the community to reconsider whom they were following and alleged several claims, or "charges", against Leffen:

The video drew massive derision and backlash from the community, believing the accusations to be without merit or proof, with many in particular condemning Hax's choice to analogize Leffen to political figures such as Adolf Hitler and accuse him of trying to establish a "totalitarian regime". Nevertheless, there is also a small group who claim that Hax's video has merit, if not tainted in overly dramatic language and comparisons, and they claim the community has a history of being overly forgiving of its best players as a reason to not entirely dismiss Hax's accusations. Leffen himself posted that he was unsure of his next course of action and would be speaking to a lawyer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/TSM_Leffen/status/1401031413143642112|title=Leffen on Hax's post}}</ref> Hax would eventually private the video, which has since been reuploaded by multiple smaller channels.

PracticalTAS published a summary, analysis, and commentary of Hax's 136-page PDF file into a 12-page document, plus a 4-page addendum, on June 6th.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PracticalTAS/status/1401392261502545922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1401392261502545922%7Ctwgr%5E477ad97038a6e68b5916fda8d6f98ab8bd66ce62%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2Fntf2s0%2F%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dtrue PracticalTAS summary, analysis, and commentary of Evidence.zip 2.pdf]</ref> He concluded that the majority of claims in the document were unreasonable, remarking that though Leffen had a history of aggressive social media behavior, his actions were the norm for a player of his fame and prowess, and criticized Hax for attempting to psychologically profile Leffen despite having no authority to do so.

 

On June 11th, 2021, Hax published a revised version of the video,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FfakLr8O8|title=The second video}}</ref> which in contrast was an hour shorter and consisted solely of Hax talking in front of the camera. Hax would speak on the subject through Twitter, posting an apology for the presentation of "Evidence.zip 2"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1srnt6t|title=TwitLonger — @ssbmhax: Why I created Evidence.zip 2 / My closing thoughts for the time being}}</ref> and continuing to post comments about the "situation" of the ''Smash'' scene. The revised video would also be privated later on.

===Ban from events===

In June 2021, on the same day as iBDW's final announcement, several TOs from many US states signed a document that banned Hax from their tournaments, and his name was added to the Global Ban Database.<ref name="Hax Ban">{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qrO5TlLztX-9s7cI78_EfWNepIaHkwVa3379mC_glrw/edit|title=Hax's indefinite ban}}</ref> The ban was made using the previous [[SSB Code of Conduct Panel]]'s 2.2.1 (Level 2) and 2.2.3 (Level 3) offences and was deemed indefinite. The document iterated that Hax's accusations were baseless, particularly comparing Leffen's presence as a totalitarian regime, the belief that Leffen solely called out ZeRo for personal gain, and saying that Leffen would prefer ZeRo was dead following his suicide attempt, and that Hax's calls to deplatform Leffen constituted incitement for harassment. The TOs argued Hax's refusal to recant the statements and double down, only deeming the flaws as "tactical errors", were signs of malicious intent on Hax's part, and thus constituted an indefinite ban from events.

Notable events banning Hax$ include [[GENESIS]], {{Trn|Shine}}, [[Phoenix Blue]], [[Riptide]], [[The Big House]], and [[DreamHack]]. Outside of several US states, Hax$ is also banned from Austrian, British, Finnish, and Portuguese events, as well as Melee Online events.

As of February 1, 2024, Hax$ has been permanently banned due to repeated infractions.<ref name="Hax Permanent Ban" />

===Evidence.zip 3 & ban appeal===

On August 14th, 2021, Hax released another revision to his video called [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msy4E3ScZVk Evidence.zip 3]. In the video, which has since been privated and archived on a separate channel, he accuses Leffen of creating social engineering campaigns against multiple players, such as {{Sm|Hungrybox}} and Hax himself. The video also reiterates multiple allegations from "evidence.zip 2", such as character profiles from the original "evidence.zip" and alleged harassment levied towards Hax himself. Hax alleges that Leffen deleted 6 years worth of tweets in response to his evidence.zip 2 video, as well as being lawyer-bluffed. Hax also criticises his global ban from the scene, saying that his accusations had evidence and were not libelous or defamatory as his ban statement claimed, as well as claiming that his ban was hypocritical when doing nothing in regards to Leffen.

Hax once again accused Leffen of manipulating the #MeToo movement, pointing out that the victim testimony given in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y9Mfch7XXg his video on the allegations in the Smash community] on July 2nd contradicted C's statement in the original evidence.zip, which pinned Leffen himself as the abuser. He also accused Leffen of misrepresenting and even contradicting many claims in his videos on the topic, as well as making insincere tweets to "gain clout". Hax further criticised Leffen for circulating the rumour about {{Sm|Mew2King}} masturbating on a Smash player, which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVuEST8RdL8 proven to be false after Mew2King addressed the allegations]. Earlier in the video but relevant to this topic, Hax built upon {{Sm|Technicals}}' video on Sky Williams and also accused Leffen of conspiring with {{Sm|Jisu}}, whom he claimed was manipulative when they were dating, to defame {{Sm|ZeRo}} with baseless allegations, before verifiable accusations against him had emerged. He restated Technicals' claims that Leffen's allegations of ZeRo sharing pornographic images with other Smashers were moot, for not only were they of age, but they also testified that they were looking at normal images of anime girls instead of porn. Hax also pointed out that, prior to Jisu's allegations against ZeRo, Jisu contacted Leffen, and made [https://twitter.com/JisuArtist/status/1278843558401675264 her tweet statement] only minutes after Leffen tweeted that he would log out of [[Twitter]] to gather his thoughts. Hax claimed that this was strategic and part of the conspiracy, accusing Leffen of drawing attention to the allegations for personal gain and trying to become the most popular Smasher on [[Twitter]] by forcing ZeRo into retirement, allegedly in a similar manner to the way Leffen treated Hungrybox. Hax also believes that Leffen's wish to expel {{Sm|Technicals}} from the community in response to [[Smasher:ZeRo#Challenges_to_the_allegations|their challenges to the allegations]] is an attempt to further manipulate the situation.

Hax criticised Leffen for his response to {{Sm|Samox}}'s {{B|Metagame|documentary}} documentary, claiming he lied about his old controversies and pressured Samox to "censor" victim testimonies and other information regarding them. Hax also expressed concern about the revised version of the documentary, particularly regarding the narrative about the original evidence.zip and the portrayal of Leffen as a "hero", as well as how Leffen now had a theme song deriding the evidence.zip archive. He alleged that this set a precedent for top players to lie and control the narrative, and argued that Samox had not only become one of Leffen's "victims" by giving into Leffen's manipulations, but broke his "integrity" as a purveyor of facts by underrepresenting the accusations in evidence.zip. Later Samox would explain the change was unrelated to Leffen with it being changed due to an unnamed person who was interviewed threatening to sue if the clip of himself was used, with only a total of twenty seconds being changed.<ref>[https://twitter.com/_samox_/status/1750634235461865944/photo/3 Samox statement]</ref>

The video was criticised primarily for the same reasons as "evidence.zip 2", with onlookers expressing skepticism for a myriad of Hax's claims. Many argued that Hax's videos were indeed defamatory, with them believing that the claims and motives are out of character or even extreme. Others have criticised Hax for repeatedly using the original evidence.zip, believing that Leffen has changed and the antiquated nature of the document makes it questionable to cite. Finally, the video was criticised for comparing Leffen to Donald Trump as an allegory to paint the former as "totalitarian". Several community members also criticized Hax for getting more people involved in the controversy regardless of their relevance to the situation and therefore making them prone to harassment, most notably Samox. Nevertheless, some chose to side with Hax, particularly those who are fans of Technicals who believe that there is precedent for Leffen manipulating situations for his own benefit, as well as believing that Hax should not have been punished at all for his videos and public statements.

 

 

 

 

On January 1st, 2023, Hax was probationally unbanned from NYC Melee after agreeing to only appeal to be unbanned in private with TOs, among other clauses.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_qBOMKYLdtPKXrnqoQZ2w8wiaHPNbv2O9J2fK-vvkEs/edit Hax's Probationary partial Unban ]</ref> Outside of NYC Melee Hax would be unbanned on the discretion of the individual TOs and Organizations, in which Hax would attend several majors and regionals outside of NYC Melee.

 

 

 

On January 27, Willy P, the head TO of NYC Melee, made a personal statement regarding Hax's ban.<ref name="Willy P personal statement">{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yjv20zx1279TcGaQGMeLvu1iz_MLwpe82MCV9Z0Kzkg/edit|title=Willy P personal statement}}</ref> He states that they ignored his first ban appeal video, despite it violating the unban agreement, as they initially saw it as a legitimate sign of improvement and accepting responsibility. However, they decided to take action after the second one due to it revealing personal information he was not granted permission to disclose, whilst repeating many of the statements about Leffen that prompted his ban and removing videos in which he apologizes to him. Willy P also criticized Hax for not listening to the people who encouraged him to speak to TOs privately instead of posting his arguments out in the open. He stated that this was a sign that Hax had not actually improved or accepted responsibility, and was unlikely to do so with such flagrant disregard for the rules, so as such NYC Melee voted unanimously to ban him.

 

 

 

On 24th March 2024, Mikey, a TO, would elaborate on the ban stating in November of 2023 that TOs discussed Hax's ban with ultimately TOs not forming a consensus causing some TOs to unban him and others to keep the ban. One of the major points of contention for unbanning Hax was in private with TOs he says Hax would repeatedly defend his allegations even after he publically apologized for them. Mikey believed Hax should be unbanned if he stopped inciting harassment, with Mikey claiming the main harm Hax caused was through his following harassing community members. After Hax restated his claims publically, even after being warned about doing so, justified a permanent ban. Mikey would also refute some claims that he says are promoted by "Drama Youtubers", who he claims are exploiting the situation for their own benefit, where Mikey refutes the idea that he personally was the one primarily responsible for banning Hax, stating it was unanimously agreed upon by TOs. Furthermore, he states the ban is unambiguously permanent, where any future ban appeals would not effect the current ban.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Ufce5V47RV8K5JuwA5PDczbDUJDT10_ETaRaEAizdA/edit Mikey's document elaboration on the perma ban]</ref>

 

 

The document would be made private in response to Hax's mother threatening a lawsuit, although Hax would say he supported DarkGenex publicizing it, stating It was a misunderstanding and the matter was resolved.<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1798048376090746980 Hax defending DarkGenex and confirming the document's authenticity]</ref>

The revelations of Hax's mental health troubles prompted renewed discussion on relieving Hax of his ban. Several statements Hax has made on X have also been seen by the community as signs of Hax's deteriorating mental health, including being "fucked in life"<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1823363722615611812 Hax - "I’m genuinely fucked in life at this point, as I made all of my lifelong friends through it and so it’s impossible to rebuild."]</ref>, being "stranded from society"<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1822164920990941587 Hax - "For the past 6 months, my mother and I have been completely stranded from society." and "I’ve been hospitalized 4 times due to the stress I’m under causing me to repeatedly faint."</ref>, saying "Every passing day is worse than the last"<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1796521475463418156 Hax - "Every passing day is worse than the last. I lose friends,  I lose my sanity, and I lose income."]</ref>, being left with "no future"<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1804597168679891300 Hax - "Please understand that a permanent ban effectively removes me from society and leaves me with no future."]</ref>, and describing his situation as being "akin to death"<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/17965214754634181564 Hax - "The situation I'm in is akin to death, and it can only be salvaged with a "reset" on the ban situation. I beg for mercy in this time of need."]</ref>. Zain notably criticized the "FreeHax" movement for fueling Hax's dependency on playing competitive ''Melee'', arguing that an unban would fail to address the larger underlying problem.<ref>[https://twitter.com/ZainNaghmi/status/1804549730665459978 Zain's statement]</ref>

On 30th July 2024, Hax$ released a ban appeal video, specifically regarding his perma-ban in January 2024.<ref>[https://youtu.be/0S6LeugSbro?si=SVjwm9UNbgzbNAYz Melee Community Permanent Ban Appeal]</ref> He brought up a claimed issue with getting private responses from TOs regarding how long his indefinite ban would be, due to ambiguity between the 2 year ban and indefinite clause. Due to an inability to get responses, he argued that, despite agreeing to only make ban appeals in private with TOs as per his probational partial unban agreement, his public ban appeals were justified, and that a 6 month ban would have been more justified. Given these factors, Hax deems the ban as "cruel" and that, in spite of his own faults, there were mistakes on both sides. The video was criticized due to Hax citing his original ban statement instead of his new one, and for not understanding what specifically he was banned for.

The day after, {{Sm|Radar}} criticized Hax for still arguing the claims in his initial videos, and continuing to deflect the blame to the TOs and inciting harassment against them.<ref>[https://twitter.com/radarssbm/status/1818430253058212040 Radar's Statement]</ref>. Willy P also posted that Hax has been stalking him in his attempts to get unbanned, such as by camping outside the venue, entering the venue and harassing staff, then refusing to leave, leading to his ban from the venue; circumventing blocks on social media; and finding his way into Willy P's unrelated private work Discord for his students.<ref>[https://twitter.com/willypNYC/status/1819933789549732118 DarkGenex on Hax's stalking]</ref> <ref name="DarkGenex Document" /> Hax released a follow-up video clarifying points raised, arguing he was not a true repeat offender. He went on to condemn Technicals, the FreeHax movement, and in Hax's words "dramatubers", as well as the harassment his videos incited, and asked to be put on final probation. Hax concluded by declaring his intent to discuss his unban with the proper parties.<ref>[https://youtu.be/cxxbU2r9WsY?si=AGcA3pgJDcnlBJay Permanent Ban Appeal Part 2]</ref> Radar notably criticized Hax for causing his fans to harass him and not trying to defend him, deeming it unfair for how much he tried to help Hax<ref>[https://x.com/radarssbm/status/1818681012110680486 Radar Statement Addendum]</ref>. Both of these videos were unlisted within three weeks of their posting.

Following these videos, Hax would make several tweets about his ban. On August 1, 2024, he decried his ban as unjust and argued that he was not a threat, declaring he only took drastic measures due to him not getting unbanned when he believed he would. Hax further expressed confusion about being banned due to being "one of the hardest workers when it comes to the longevity of the game".<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1819119452467929579 Hax decrying ban]</ref>

On August 4, Hax responded to the stalking accusations, calling them "defamatory". According to him, he only went inside after spending several minutes outside waiting for 2Saint to confirm he had permission to enter the venue. Hax did confess to circumventing his social media blocks to get messages to Willy P through others, but he denied deliberately joining any private Discord servers, claiming that he merely entered several software engineering Discord communities and came upon Willy P's by chance. He concluded his statement by alleging that Willy failed to appreciate what he had done for him personally, calling him a "coward", though stated he is willing to make amends.<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1820267164131057760 Hax's stalking rebuttal]</ref> Willy P would state that he is still being harassed<ref>[https://twitter.com/willypNYC/status/1819954638075953173 Willy P stating he is still being harassed]</ref> After failing to make amends with NYC Melee, Hax tweeted to them on August 11 asking to reconcile again, hoping they could fix things.<ref>[https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/1822599224749359154 Hax asking to reconcile with NYC Melee]</ref>

*Hax popularized the "20XX" meme in the ''[[Melee]]'' community. 20XX is an allusion to the introduction of ''{{iw|wikipedia|Mega Man|1987 video game}}'', that announced that "The year is 20XX". 20XX describes a futuristic, potentially post-apocalyptic setting, where the [[metagame]] and [[technical skill]] of players have reached a point where they can no longer continue to improve. Accordingly, only {{SSBM|Fox}} is viable, and as players can perfectly capitalise on every situation, matches are determined by a rock-paper-scissors match for [[port priority]]. The joke is often referenced in Fox [[mirror match]]es and particularly impressive displays of tech skill by players. An example of this occurred at [[Apex 2014]], when during ''Melee'' doubles there was [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE7NRAQDxRc&t=256s a match] during grand finals where all four players were playing Fox. The commentator, {{Sm|Prog}}, said "Are you aware of the year..." before his partner, {{Sm|D1}}, interrupts with "20XX. Here we go!". {{Sm|Toph}} had previously elaborated on the joke at [[The Big House 3]]:<br>''<blockquote>Hax's thing is like, "The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Fox." And there's this whole post-apocalyptic universe that is built off of Fox being the only viable character left. Humanity has reached its pinnacle. The peasants are living in poverty. And there are these monasteries where these Fox monks just levitate and [[TAS]] Fox with one controller in one hand, and win a tournament with the other. And the tournament metagame has gotten to this point where everything is played out to theoretical perfection, so they Rock-Paper-Scissors for port priority, and that's the set. And everyone gets really excited about the port priority RPS, so RPS's metagame has really evolved to where it's really just like RPS tournaments are now. And then we have warriors like [[Smasher:PewPewU|Kevin Toy]] and {{Sm|Europhoria}} desperately trying to prevent the apocalypse, the Fox Apocalypse, from happening with their Marths.''</blockquote>

**When interviewed at [[Super Nebulous 4]], Hax mentioned that both the ''20XX'' meme and his usage of Fox were partially attributable to {{Sm|Mango}} and {{Sm|PPMD}}.

**Similar to the 20XX meme, Hax also coined the term 666XX, about {{Sm|Hungrybox}}'s American dominance in early 2016 with {{SSBM|Jigglypuff}}.

**Since his switch to Fox, Hax commonly expresses his dislike for Captain Falcon as an inferior character in Melee, to the point where he claims the optimal strategy for using Captain Falcon is to "L R A Start Fox"-- or quitting out of the match to select Fox on the character select screen. Hax even [https://www.facebook.com/Smashgg/videos/1790930534506014/ created a B0XX] with only those buttons available on the "Falcon Design".

**Almost two years later at [[Pound 2016]], after [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrvVWGCctk4 Mango played Marth against Hax again and lost], Hax [https://twitter.com/ssbmhax/status/716775562547765249 tweeted the same message] as a humorous nod to the original post.

**Hax placed 2nd in the 12 and under Nationals for the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBkWb2JYL4Y 2006 Pokemon Journey Across America Tournament.]

**Hax used to attend tournaments for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. He notably made it to the quarterfinals of the [[bulbapedia:2008 World Championships (TCG)|2008 World Championships]] Senior Division, after finishing the Swiss rounds in 1st place.

**In the game ''{{iw|wikipedia|League of Legends}}'', [http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=ssbm+hax Hax] was one of the best Twisted Fate players in North America, attaining the Challenger rank (the highest in the game) two seasons in a row.