To see Cheatsalot123’s developed sets on RA, click here.
Mirrored at the sole discretion of clymax for sake of transparency on Retro Achievements, which was one of the aims of Moderator BahamutVoid in leaving his farewell letter not long after Administrator televandalist’s own resignation letter dropped. If you have any concerns with this mirror, please reach out to clymax directly.
Subheadings added during the editorial process.
October 18, 2025
1. Sweeping Developer Harassment Under the Rug
I like that [people] are try[ing] to hold RA accountable so hopefully they reflect and change things at the website for the best.
I was a achievement developer [but] developer compliance team … got me to walk away forever as a achievement developer it broke me….
I felt they didn’t truly believed that I was being harassed or they cared more about what I did wrong handling the situation[.]
[T]hey ignored my request to not get involved or talk about it any further when I was trying to move past the whole situation.
They made me feel like I was a burden to the community because one of my sets had issues when I stepped down from the role.
They also deleted my goodbye to the community forum post that mentioned I was receiving death threats and harassment.
October 27, 2024
Topic Deletion by Retro Achievements
Original Topic: https://retroachievements.org/viewtopic.php?t=28477 (now deleted)
[Moderator] has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
As Cheatsalot123 decided to stay, the thread is no longer needed 🙂
October 19, 2024
Remnants of Deleted Topic
SrOliveira has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
I’m so sorry this happened, I’m so grateful for the games you created set
shnick1980 has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Very sorry to hear…
Killerkitten753 has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
I’m so sorry. I’m new here and was pretty inspired at how wholesome this place is. It sucks people exist who will harass somebody like this, and for what?
grishka has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
kinda sad the trolls win this round. in an ideal world you’d probably tough it up and fight back or wait until they get bored and slink back under the bridge, because chasing you off is exactly what they’re after. but yeah, if you have more important stuff to deal with, then it’s not worth it wasting time on stupid crap like that.
FBernkastelKues has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Hope you come back under a different name and have better luck.
For what it’s worth it looks like you put a good bit of creativity into your sets, RA needs more people like you.
Maximdraco has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
I haven’t talked to you, but you will be missed.
manakate has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Hey Cheats, I wanted to say I appreciated your sets, especially the Yu-Gi-Oh and Shining Force stuff, and I’m sorry people are doing this to you. If you ever change your mind I strongly agree with what Wes said above, but you gotta take care of yourself first and foremost and I definitely get that.
MajinWamu has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
When we first spoke you made a me laugh quite a bit. I hope everything will work out. Shame you are dealing with harassment. It’s a horrible burden that can really ruin someone’s life. Take care. Your well being is the upmost important.
Infernox has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
I’m sorry it had to come to this, and I completely understand. It’s unfortunate that many people in gaming communities are completely unable to behave like functional human beings.
SuperMeatBro has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
big respect to you. glad you will still be around nonetheless. Wanted to say i appreciated the jr dev days at your sideand following your journey.
televandalist has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Don’t quit. Send the harasser my way. I live for that shit.
“tele made me do it”
voiceofautumn has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Developer harassment is of all ages, but this is a new low, getting chased off the website as well. Basement nerds will always go to extremes. Hope you find a new way to enjoy RA in private away from these losers.
Darkfang114 has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
Even though your sets were not the type of games I’m into, I can still appreciate by looking at the sets. I could tell a lot of work went into them just by looking.. I had seen your name several times and kind of looked at you as a premiere top tier developer. Always hate when devs step down but I understand people have their reasons. Good luck to you and I hope you do stick around, even if it is with a different name. You’re a great contributor to the community here!
WCopeland has commented on the forum post “Goodbye”.
I’m sorry to see you go and disappointed this has happened.
For what it’s worth, we would have been happy to intervene and protect you had we known you were facing harassment of any kind. If you are interested in reversing[….]
November 24, 2025
2. Compliance Department’s Aggression
I was always afraid of developer compliance because my one and only other interaction with them was negative.
I accidentally had left over [m] in my achievement titles when you use that to mark achievements missable I had only 3 achievements in total….
[T]heir tone was very aggressive like I did something really bad to deserve my role be removed if I didn’t correct it [with]in 48 hours of getting the message.
What also bothers me is developer compliance and other RA teams will say they going to have a discussion without you being able see that discussion about you….
[Y]ou are not able to participate in that discussion and potentially make a case to defend yourself….
[You are not allowed to] know[] which team member is bringing up concerns against you.
[The case I would have made, had I been allowed to do so, is that] I let a few developer compliance and QA members know of issues with my set and how to fix the issues that lead to tickets….
I [even] gave them all of my save files and save states before each achievement would unlock.
[Y]ou would think that would be a good thing.
[T]hat is why I also got upset with them when they attacked me for my set having issues….
[E]ven though I didn’t have the role at the time the set had issues[,] I still cared about my sets getting tickets….
I still help[ed] to get the tickets and issues fixed with my sets.
I wonder if this is how they treat all inactive achievement developers [a]like.
If they have to fix a inactive achievement developer’s tickets[,] do they use that against the developer and look down on them[?]
From my understanding[, an] achievement developer isn’t allowed to release their finished work on set if they plan to step down from role soon after….
[T]hey didn’t say how long a achievement developer has to stay around after they promote a set….
[I]f you recently promote a set do you have to demote it[?]
[O]r be forced to stay around until all issues are found with it[?]
[O]r surrender all your finished work to another achievement developer[?]
[O]r throw out your finished work?
November 25, 2025
3. Exposing Banned Users to Harassment
[R]etroachievements.org has no way to have your username hidden or deleted if you are facing harassment due connection to RA….
[D]isplaying users being banned to the public could cause a person to receive more harassment potential off website.
Also did they really display ban status for transparency or [for other reasons]….
[I]f you break our rules we will … mak[e] your ban public….
They could hide the username and have it say banned user displayed instead of the username of the individual and protect banned users from harassment….
[For] deleted users … their username [could be hidden] by making it say deleted user where there username is….
[I]f they cared about their users privacy and safety when using their website they would give users saying they are receiving harassment [an] option….
[T]he option would be[,] when they delete their account[,] to have their username hidden or removed from public view….
[This is] even if someone is banned from your website if there is concerns the user received harassment or death threats because of their role or involvement with RA.
This post has been viewed 65 time(s).
Leave a Reply