What happened to Disch?

[Ben Boldt]

Not sure this is the right place to ask.

Shortly before nesdev went down, it was posted that Disch had passed away.  He frequented this forum.

Link to his profile

How do we know this is true and how did it happen?  Does anyone know any more details?

[FAST6191]

Such things were reported here/on a discord chat as well
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=27632.600
Specifically
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=27632.msg395902#msg395902
I don't have any further information than what has been posted there.

[Ben Boldt]

I guess our glimmer of hope is that he chose this method to cancel his online identity and may show back up with a clean slate as someone else.  I can't think of a reason why he would do that though unfortunately; he was quite well-liked and probably not running from prosecution from Nintendo AFAIK.  Maybe Squaresoft had an issue with Final Fantasy source code being out there.  Maybe he was in fact a 2nd (or 3rd) identity of byuu/near.  I'll happily reach for those unlikely possibilities to avoid accepting the obvious.

It is one of those things that we would really like to know more about but might actually be better off left a mystery.

Farewell Disch, wherever, and whoever you are.

Anyone contemplating a path of destruction, talk to us and share your story so we can be a part of it.

[Jorpho]

I can't think of a reason why he would do that though unfortunately; he was quite well-liked and probably not running from prosecution from Nintendo AFAIK.

Sadly, it seems to me sometimes all it takes is one loud, persistent jerk to ruin everything.

[Ben Boldt]

Wrong place indeed. Discuss dead people somewhere else.

Sorry, I'm a little out of my element with nesdev down.  There didn't seem to be a better place for general type of discussion here.

[PolishedTurd]

I had not heard about this. How sad indeed. He was very helpful to me personally, answering my persistent questions about NES memory paging. It surprises me if that's his real age. He would have been a child during the heyday of the NES, whereas I figured he had worked with it professionally.

I sent him a private message a couple years ago thanking him for all his help both to me and the community and asked him if there were some way I could repay him. His response was:

I don't have any advice for you other than to find a way to keep doing what you love.  If that involves helping other people when you can, great!   If not, that's great too!  Ultimately this community is built on people pursuing their passions -- so just find whatever that is for you and go for it.

Something to consider. What a terrible loss.

[PZT]

I guess our glimmer of hope is that he chose this method to cancel his online identity and may show back up with a clean slate as someone else.  I can't think of a reason why he would do that though unfortunately; he was quite well-liked and probably not running from prosecution from Nintendo AFAIK.  Maybe Squaresoft had an issue with Final Fantasy source code being out there.  Maybe he was in fact a 2nd (or 3rd) identity of byuu/near.  I'll happily reach for those unlikely possibilities to avoid accepting the obvious.

It is one of those things that we would really like to know more about but might actually be better off left a mystery.

Farewell Disch, wherever, and whoever you are.

Anyone contemplating a path of destruction, talk to us and share your story so we can be a part of it.

You sound like you mean well, but nobody is canceling their online identity and showing back up with a clean slate as someone else, and every time people are implying they have, it's very disrespectful to their loved ones who lost them
"wherever or whoever you are"? he's gone wtf, he's not Elvis

[Draken]

Being in disbelief that somebody has passed on isn't disrespectful, and it is something typically felt by the loved ones of the deceased as well. Isn't it a typical part of the grieving process?

Being hopeful and wishing that someone were still alive shouldn't be so offensive. Geez...

[MysticLord]

The average late 90s to mid 2000s romhacker is getting close to 50. I know of a few that have died of cancer and heart attacks. We're not immortal because we keep playing with the toys we grew up with - time stops for no one.

[PZT]

Being in disbelief that somebody has passed on isn't disrespectful, and it is something typically felt by the loved ones of the deceased as well. Isn't it a typical part of the grieving process?

Being hopeful and wishing that someone were still alive shouldn't be so offensive. Geez...

I get that, but the people who originated the hoax that Byuu is still alive are using that not as a way to be hopeful but as a way to undermine their dying words about how they were treated
I'm not saying Ben here intends any of that, but he does seem to believe the disinformation campaign started by those people that Byuu will come back one day under an alias, which is a sketchy thing to believe
The implication, intended or not, of thinking Byuu will come back, is that harassment didn't take them from us and therefore the people who harassed them are innocent

I know Ben here doesn't think that, but the idea that Byuu is alive is PR damage control for their stalkers, and they're working very hard to convince people of that, despite the full name being out there and a major national newspaper confirming it with co-workers
Wishing someone isn't dead is not an offensive thing, but context is everything and we shouldn't be quick to believe fake news just because it makes the world look less dark

And not to get distracted, most importantly for this thread, Disch has been a documented member of this scene for like 20 years with tons of posts and his own separate projects
He had his own friends here and is his own person, didn't dev for the same console, many of us have probably worked with him or used something he worked on, he's not the Tony Clifton to Byuu's Andy Kaufman, that's absurd, they have nothing to do with each other
I hope this post reads as respectful because I am replying in good faith here
I'm just easily annoyed at the implication that Byuu is deceiving the whole community so they can go hide out in the Bermuda Triangle with their roommates Bigfoot, Al Capone and Jimmy Hoffa, and I really hope people won't be saying it forever

[Ben Boldt]

I mostly agree with you and the obvious answer is, yes, it's true that he's gone one way or another.

Unlike Near, there is some room for uncertainty with Disch though.  He disappeared, and then there is a claim made that he is dead with no details.  Do we know who made this claim, or is that some creep just watching for an opportunity like this?  Did someone make an unverified assumption?  Not sure how we can eliminate that with basically no info available.  If it is a trusted person who said it, then I don't have any trouble accepting it.

[MathOnNapkins]

It would certainly be nice to merge with a dimension where Disch were still alive. Unfortunately that is not the case. I was in disbelief when I'd heard word of their passing (early to mid June of 2020), but managed to track down an obituary at the time, as well as an In-Memoriam Facebook group set up by their family members. I did not archive the obituary, and I can't seem to find it now, but if you've ever tried to search a random obituary online you'd know that they tend to not stay widely available for long unless you're willing to pay extra to search deep archives. (And I guess a family can pay to keep the obit up longer on places like legacy.com?). That said, there is plenty to confirm their passing if you know a few key details.

I will close this thread. If you're still not satisfied, contact me via PM and I will show you what I am comfortable giving out. I just don't feel like it's appropriate to send details like that in a public forum post.