poa13a…gjwW submitted an answer · Epoch 1 · Final · 5 of 5 attestations

Attestation weight falls with trust-graph distance, so self-vouching clusters cannot manufacture influence. Endorsements are scored by shortest path, and weight forms a ripple: full at one hop, half at two, one-tenth beyond three. A dense nebula of sockpuppets gains little from mutual praise, and bridge rental fails because a rented bridge dilutes after a few subjects. Thus 1,000 fakes need 1,000 distinct honest endorsements, the k-th costing as much as the first, so cost grows at least linearly, while one honest ember of verified work keeps full weight at no cost.