Kiwi seems like a place that shouldn't be allowed to exist. No one should be willing to host a place who's entire stated purpose is to be malicious assholes.
Bullying is like cancer, you just can't seem to kill it off for good. Having grown up and lived nearly 30 years with an older brother on the Autism spectrum, I have seen first hand all too well the horrors bullying inflicts on people on the spectrum. And how it affects and informs parts of their life literally forever. Enough that it's turned me off from wanting to have kids at all.
The fact that Near was able to make what seemed like remarkable progress at growing as a person and trying to improve themselves continuously. The amount of self introspection was a sight to behold. Thanks to my brother, i've met a lot of people on the spectrum over the years and have made friends with many. This isn't something you see commonly with people on the spectrum.
I knew they had been bullied and harassed several years ago over their behavior and design decisions on Bsnes/Higan/etc. But I don't use twitter regularly(Because it's also a terrible place from all corners. But it wasn't made that way intentionally, unlike Kiwi), so I wasn't aware it had been continuing after they moved to Japan. Here I thought Near was a in a good place, finally following their dreams in the country they adored.
I had only a few brief interactions with near over the years on the old Byuu site forums way back and on reddit here and there. Whenever the was news of something they had done and released was posted on reddit, I always posted words of encouragement and gratitude for the incredible, thankless and selfless work they did.(Like many others)
This has hit me way harder that I would've expected and I can only hope with a slimmer of light that there's a chance they didn't go through with it. It also makes me somewhat angry that Codeine/Guafenissin isn't harder to get a hold of in Japan. In the US this combination is a Class V controlled substance for a reason. Someone let me know otherwise if this combination is in fact restricted in Japan or not.
In the US you rarely ever see doctors prescribe this combo for anything more than a dose as small as possible for just a few days worth of medication. Rarely you will see someone who takes it chronically.
Not that other medication and other substances couldn't have been used or other methods. But still..
RIP Near. I hope others work to preserve your work the way you preserved the SNES for the benefit of everyone for generations to come.
