What's worse than cheating? Cheaters. Earlier this week, we publicly shamed David L. for posting all our contest answers on some forum. We worked hard on those questions and had to scramble to make the contest once again fair — which we have done. We know we're not perfect. We make mistakes (check our grammar). David L. isn't perfect either, and he's been brave enough to send me this:

Greetings and salutations.

This is Dave L. here, in reply to the public shame I was put through on your website. If you do not REMOVE said post RIGHT NOW my lawyers will tear you apa— Kidding.

I respect Kotaku enough to write an official apology, and considering you're the one that posted my shame I thought it a good idea to send to you. Many think this a bad idea on my part but who am I to follow advice? You're probably not interested so you can stop reading here but I felt the need to send anyway, if just to get my name out of a few Death Notes.

I entered your contest as any other might have, scouring the old posts like a kid fawning after his first game of Duck Hunt, looking for the next hint. It is when I found the answer to 4 did I realize that my friends over on the forums would probably be having the same troubles as I, so I brought it upon myself to assist them in a collaboration of sorts, and in turn get help myself. After finding everything, with the help of the forum, I collected them into a nice, neat package in the first post.

Then, writing up the email to submit to the contest, I scoured the original post of the contest only to see a certain rule I overlooked... The rule about posting elsewhere. Oops. (To be fair, that sucker is hidden amongst a lot of text that can be skipped to find out how to submit to enter)

By then the damage had been done, and could not be reversed. While something in the back of my head told me that I'd probably get banned from the contest, I figured I would take one for the community I'd been a part of for seven years and get the banhammer I knew would be coming my way.

So there you have it. My first contest entered and I botch the whole deal. For all the time you and the other editors devoted to the contest, making you work even harder to assure the fairness of it after my little posting of the answers, and to the visitors of Kotaku who devoted hours to legitimatly find the clues themselves, I apologize.

PS. A lot of people lie on the internet, but this isn't a lie.

PPS. Okami > Zelda

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