I'm glad we're finally honestly having the action taken where certain moderators who failed to fix such issues have been removed and we're seeing progress towards the right steps. These spreadsheets are a complete eye-opener to how flawed the past systems were, and I guess explain (but do not excuse) why certain blatantly questionable runs (some of which are now highlighted on that sheet as ones that shouldn't exist to begin with) were accepted in the first place.

I'd honestly like to, at least in the long term, see a rule where categories known to take at least x minutes (I'd suggest 30 minutes, so as 16-track runs and above, as well as 100% stuff, are all counted) require outright video proof just because on such longer runs it's especially easy to fake, or to just calculate everything using best splits in other categories (something I believe the PayToWin time that was revoked ended up being). I'd also like to personally see us make it so that the boundaries to require video proof on the smaller categories enable us so that any time even close to the top times can be verified. Especially with a game like Mario Kart Wii where cheats and other things are readily available and we already know (from both the competitive community's list of caught cheaters, the amount of times here on Speedrun.com that we're finding questionable, etc.) that people will attempt to falsify times, it's important that requirements for video proof are tightened up. I'd like to make it personally so that any run that even challenges Top 10 in a short category from this point on requires proof, just so we don't make the mistake that was made in the past where certain boundaries (such as a few on the spreadsheet where the WR is slower than the proof requirement time) are wrong. Not saying remove any unproven times up to this point or anything drastic, but we need to, especially on a game where you can extremely easily just add up best splits for segments and submit top times (it's not rocket science to add up times in game given so many categories overlap, and without video people don't even need to try to learn how to splice or anything else that may be harder to detect), increase the standards of moderation, and have more runs checked than currently need proper proof, whether that includes performing background checks on questionable players, outright refusing runs that seem too good for a newcomer to the scene, etc..

As much as I don't personally like using any form of aggressive tones to try and force change or anything, I think this case is quite a clear opportunity to show that improvements in some areas of moderation (or at least potentially the requirements for a run to be accepted) are possible, and probably wanted.

I haven't done too many runs in the last few months (focusing more on just general improvement as opposed to runs. although currently I have a run or two with full recording submitted within the last day waiting to be verified), but having regularly checked the site I've noticed a few of these PayToWin runs that I'd have been questioning personally. To me it's always a red flag when someone who has the capability to record fails to do so without offering reasonable justification, but maybe that's just me on a personal mindset of "proving a run should be one of the main priorities if you're serious enough about putting the time in". I fully understand people not having webcams or capture cards (obviously a phone probably wouldn't be capable to do runs unless you had a like tripod for them or something, which do exist for most modern phones) but I don't honestly see many reasons to believe that someone with the ability to record suddenly couldn't when it came to multiple runs in a row. One run maybe you could use the "I forgot to check my recording settings so it didn't actually record when I thought it was" or "My file corrupted" excuse, but surely after one instance of it happening you'd make sure to never make that mistake again and try to prove yourself? People who have nothing to hide go in to situations willing to prove themselves, and either this player didn't get the memo on recording, or just doesn't want to show the world footage.

I'm not going to sit there and flat out say "well he's definitely got an illegal time" because for all we know the player may be legitimate just simply without a way to record for some unknown reason, but clearly if runs are getting through without evidence with the community now concerned, there should be a point where we have to change things to ensure that this environment has as much integrity and validity as is reasonably possible to stop there being as many risks for runs to be faked. This isn't the first time where someone will be highlighted, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but moderators seriously should be looking to be more careful on such areas. It's not specifically hard stuff to catch in reality, and I think that's the concern many seem to have, the fact that the slipups aren't the first obvious ones made.

I think to sum my opinion up, I'd say this: I don't personally mind waiting a few days for my run to be verified, but then I see runs with no evidence verified and getting in to high spots on rankings (not even a matter of "oh yeah this dude's splicing the game sorry we didn't get that" kind of hard to spot stuff. literally no evidence provided when it's clear the person could and/or the person has come out with a good time from nowhere), it's not fun, and it makes people question why they should go through the effort of verifying their own runs. Like... when I know that some of us go through the effort of setting up capture systems just for the sake of verifying our runs, I don't think it's fair that such runs have the risk of being beaten by people who the community seem to not know, where there's been little to no checking, and no evidence has been provided on runs that clearly could be proven if wanted by the runner, or at least a moderator should have stepped in to find out what the case was.

Perhaps if investigations in to such unknown people were made more public (if they have been done and it's all some big misunderstanding) then we'd have less outrage, but as it is, it does look like sloppy errors and suspicious times being allowed through the cracks.