My question is simply this: If a user decides to be "clever" and edits their
output or Photoshops the screenshot to make it look like
synced_to_graph is true, is there any way to actually catch them?
Since we can't see their screen in real-time, is it possible to differentiate between a real result and a fake one? I am just curious if it is possible to catch this kind of over-smart behavior.
No, there isn't. There have been concerns about cheating in the other Bitcoin Node challenge of this kind too. At some point there could be even organized farming of merits this way, as someone who is savvy could prepare and sell information or proof for each of the steps that are required in a challenge. NotATether made some changes to the Bitcoin Node challenge to limit the cheating, but they are never going to be bullet proof. They may just reduce cheating from the less savvy users.
Whatever method is applied, it will only have some effect. For example, changing from allowing text-based outputs to screenshots only would limit the number of users who could cheat this way. Many people do not have the expertise to make a proper edit of a non-browser based value. Still users who are experienced with image editing could bypass this rule or even provide this as service to others.
You can close this thread now, most replies will be pointless as there is no method of providing objectively verifiable information of this kind.
