Dude's definitely cheating

[will0416]

For reference, the next fastest time is 10 seconds by Deanna48.

[Deanna48]

Can't really read the pic very well (it's too blurry), but if the user is bombyay we've already hashed this out in the chat. I saw one day that he had 4 1-second records in a row under the records tab and figured it was too good to be true!

[LLapp]

Will, I suggest directly alerting the admin, Stephen Ryder, to ensure he addresses this asap. Best way to reach him is at puzzlebaron@gmail.com. Include a link to this thread so he can see the screenshot (which is clear when I click on it).

Thank you for calling out the cheater. That example you posted is too complex for anyone to solve in under 4 seconds, let alone in 1 second.

[jasko]

I also found a 1 second record by bombyay on "The American lives even more for his goal... than the Europe. Life for him is always... being" (I took a picture but was cutoff a bit so missed some of the quote)

[Deanna48]

Oops, didn't know I had to click on the link. I just tried supersizing the image! Yes, it's clear!

[Fudi]

I bet he's crypto-solving high on steroids. Stephen's going to have to start drug-testing us regularly.

[montyb]

Drug test!?! Oh man, I really have to study!

[admin]

Thanks for posting this. I don't doubt that this is cheating - but with some of the stellar (legitimate) solve times we're seeing these days it is getting harder and harder to programmatically detect actual cheating on cryptograms. What should the cut-off be that flags a time as "suspicious"?

(All bombyay records have been reset manually.)

[Fudi]

I think any time faster than mine on a given puzzle should be flagged as suspicious. Hah.

[maradnu]

There are some fantastic times but 1 or 2 seconds is definitely suspicious

[Eureka]

Well, there are a couple of legitimate players who have gotten 2 second records, so we definitely don't want to flag those. I'm not sure if a 1 second record is attainable, but you never know. I'd say we players should keep an eye on records and if we see something suspicious, like Deanna noted after seeing four 1 second records in a row, report it to Admin.

[oddcouple]

Whose fingers can move that fast?

[gavinl]

i would be suspicious of anything faster than 3 seconds

[Deanna48]

I've gotten a handful at 3 seconds, and I can see how if I was just a bit faster I could have done them in 2. I think Eureka is right. I'll bet us players would be able to spot cheaters fairly quickly and then report them to Admin.

[abra]

Will has 2 second solves and I trust his scores. I did comment recently that I didn't see how it could go lower. It sounds like Will and n-j-b don't think one second is possible.