Is there even a real way to verify an artist's honesty these days though? I mean, someone could say they used AI for a bit of it, or just heavily filtered a photo, and who's really checking? Maybe it's just me but it feels like the whole contest system is built on trust that might not hold up anymore. Like, where do we draw the line between tools and the artist's own hand, you know?

Kinda feel like this is making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. Comm goes dead all the time on dives, it's not the end of the world. You waited two minutes then went up slow, that's pretty standard protocol for most places I've worked. Been in that exact spot a few times and just kept my cool, signaled up with the line and nobody freaked out. Green tenders might miss a hand signal but they usually see a tug on the line or a light flash. Seems like a lot of effort to rig a whole secondary line setup when you could just train the new guys better on basic comms.