I agree that the “puzzle thread” was a bit over the top, but keep in mind that most Klans already had a pretty good idea of how it was done.

More relevantly, our “exploit” was directly shared with Evil Trout practically as soon as we discovered it (if not immediately, then at the latest it was after our first raid which earned an astonishing 24 scoops). He gave it his complete approval, and it was only later when a lot of organization and work pushed the potential of raids higher and higher that a nerf became necessary. We were not the only ones who knew about it, nor indeed were we the only Klan actively raiding.

Then there’s your “exploit”, which Evil Trout removed as soon as it came to his attention. That’s what I consider to be the difference between an approved “exploit” (though I’d hardly call it an exploit since Evil Trout admitted that he intended for Klans to earn Vanilla in that matter) and an unapproved exploit.