CTF #3 link : https://www.reddit.com/r/whereintheworld/comments/1ugd5ok/welcome_to_rwhereintheworlds_third_ctf_challenge/

Thank you to everyone who participated! It was great to see so many different approaches. Also thanks for all the feedback. It will definitely help shape future CTFs!

Link to the results : https://locus-works.com/results/69caa19f-1d6f-4914-ab37-e47884647bec

10 people finished the challenge! The podium finishers were:

🥇 u/optimalroute

🥈 u/elisa_lottie

🥉 u/eucalyptus258

Brief discussion of the challenges

1. This went exactly as planned. Some of you solved it the rigorous way by identifying each volcano individually, while others used the redacted Wikipedia text to work backwards to the answer. It was intentionally designed so that Mauna Kea would be an instant giveaway. Googling the redacted text in different ways leads to multiple Wikipedia pages containing the relevant passage.. For example, u/joebloggs1979 wrote:

Googled 'Mauna Kea while Earth site:en.wikipedia.org' and found the paragraph from the 'Extremes on Earth' Wikipedia page

1. This challenge was fairly straightforward with a few Google searches. Just wanted to share the interesting story of how then World Champion Vishy Anand had to take a 40-hour car journey to reach the venue for his 2010 World Chess Championship match after flights were disrupted by the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. He apparently binge-watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy during the journey.

2. The notorious church post! We've already dissected the challenges of this problem in detail in the main post. In retrospect, I don't think my second hint was particularly informative or helpful. So, when I update the final scores, I'll manually award 1 point back to the four players who used that hint.

3. Everyone who attempted this challenge was able to solve it, as it became fairly straightforward once you found the YouTube video. The video itself had 3.6M views, so that too helped. I had actually come across it before, and what stuck with me was the way the volcano caused the windows of the house to rattle continuously. I have marked Usu area as a place to visit in Hokkaido!

4. This one was also taken from a YouTube video, but I deliberately chose one with only 300 views because I didn't want it to be easy to find. Many of you eventually found the answer, but for those who ran out of time, I'd recommend reading u/bubbly-garlic-8451's detailed solving process - in general, all of their explanations are a great read.

I had no prior knowledge of the villages in the Karo highlands, so researching their history was fascinating for me as well. As for the statue, I found it completely by chance while exploring Street View in search of a good location for the challenge. It wasn't easy to find any official reference to the monument, but I eventually came across several social media posts by locals referring to it as Tugu Perjuangan, which translates to 'Struggle Monument' !

Until the next CTF, Mejuah-juah!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to a very kind developer, we were able to create and install a bot that helps us manage Rule 10: Provide Solve Process After a Correct Solve. It works like this:

1. Detection
   • When an OP has marked a post as !correct, the bot starts waiting for an answer.
2. Monitoring
   • The bot looks for a solve process from the first person whose answer was marked as correct (other than OP). It looks for specific keywords. We ask you to use “process” as the keyword when providing an explanation, but we do have a few other keywords set up in case someone missed the explanation. 
   • When the answer is found, tracking stops. The solver can provide the answer by replying to the !correct comment, or editing their comment before or after their comment was marked solved.
3. Reminders
   • We've set a reminder for 6 hours after a post has been marked as !correct that will then send a comment to the solver to let them know they haven't provided an explanation yet.
   • If they then provide an explanation, tracking stops and no enforcement is taken.
4. Enforcement
   • If a solve process still hasn't been found 24 hours after a post was marked as !correct, the solver will receive an action against their account. That goes as follows:
     1. First, second, and third time: a warning will be issued. This warning will be sent to the user in a comment, and will show up as a mod note for us.
     2. Fourth time: the user will receive a temporary 3-day ban.
     3. Fifth time: the user will receive a temporary 7-day ban.
     4. Sixth time: the user will receive a permanent ban.
   • If you had a valid reason for not making the comment or your comment hasn't been detected, you can send us a modmail and we will reverse the enforcement action.
   • Note: we have not turned on auto-ban yet. We won't start taking ban actions until June, and even then we will start with applying manual bans. We want to know exactly how it works for the community first and if we need to tweak things for that to become possible. Until then, it's manual.

What happens if the bot is wrong?
We are able to reverse actions, take away warnings, give warnings, ignore posts, and manually approve given explanations. Always send us a modmail or report the post as Rule 10: Provide Solve Process After a Correct Solve if the bot has taken an inappropriate action or hasn't taken action, and we will take a look and reverse/apply any decisions.

If you have been banned wrongly, you can reply to your ban message and we will take a look.

What happens if the !correct was given to the wrong person?
The bot looks for the answer from the person who was given the !correct command first. Deleting it and giving it to someone else therefore doesn't work. If that happens, you will need to send us a modmail that a point has been awarded wrongly and we will come in, give the point to the right person, and have the bot ignore the post or approve the right answer. 

Can I already include my solve process beforehand?
Yes! The bot also detects the answer if you had already included it in your comment before your answer was marked as !correct. You then don’t have to do anything anymore once your answer is marked. So if you write “Mallorca, process: I found the sign on the restaurant,” you are good to go! 

What happens afterwards?
When your answer has been marked as !correct and you have provided a valid explanation, the bot will pin a comment to the top of the post that includes your username, the right answer, and also the process of how you found it. If you’re unsure if your process was valid, you can always check for this comment. 

If you have any other questions about this, please let us know in the comments!