Made Mistakes, Learned to Build
Honest confession
I'll Be Honest: I Started With Mistakes
At 13, I copied a harmful credential-harvesting idea I saw in the Ragnarok Online community. It was wrong, immature, and short-sighted. I learned early that technical curiosity without ethics can damage people — and that lesson changed how I built from then on.
That was wrong. I regret that part of my life.
But it taught me three things I've carried ever since
- Technical skills can be used responsibly or irresponsibly
- Short-term gains vs long-term integrity — integrity always wins
- Ethics matter more than cleverness
I chose to grow up. Shifted from misusing community trust to earning it.
2004–2005 · The pivot
Yakuzas RO Community
Joined the Yakuzas RO forum as an active member. Earned trust. Became a moderator. Learned community management the right way. Ran legitimate Ragnarok Online private servers on my Pentium PC — hit 16 concurrent users. Made my computer lag like crazy, but I was building something people enjoyed.
"From misused curiosity to serving a community."
Key insight unlocked
From Misused Curiosity to Responsible Building
Rejected
- Credential-harvesting page — harmful and wrong
- Short-term thinking
Chose
- Community moderator — earning trust by serving users
- Building for long-term value
"Made mistakes at 13. Chose to grow. That choice shaped everything that came after."