DeeDubb83

Yes, there's lots of scandals in cubing. There was a guy who held multiple records for blindfolded solving, until people discovered that he was peeking under his mask and doing normal solves. There are also issues with competitors learning the scrambles ahead of time and practicing them.

Basically, each competition has an organizer and an official representative from the World Cubing Association who are supposed to keep things on the up and up, but they aren't really paid, and a lot of the judges and people behind the scenes are kids. We hope everything is legit, but really there's a lot of shady stuff that could be going on behind the scenes.

There are programs that generate random scrambles. For practice, many of us use this website:

qqtimer.net

When you open the site, you'll see a series of letters across the top. Those are random moves we should apply (F - turn the front layer clockwise 90 degrees, F' - turn the front layer counterclockwise 90 degrees, F2 - turn the front layer 180 degrees, etc..)

At competitions, they have a list of random scrambles that they use. Each competitor submits their cube to the judges, who scramble the cube to match the listed one, then the competitor has 15 seconds to inspect and then solve the cube as fast as they can.

This is repeated 5 times. The fastest time and slowest time are removed, and the average of the three middle times is used to determine if they continue to the next round/win the competition.

So every competitor should be presented with the same 5 scrambles to make it fair.

Everyone has a method. Most people learn a beginner's method which relies on few algorithms, but more steps. The cube is separated into 3 layers made up of edges and corner pieces in our minds, and usually the beginner's method tackles those three layers like this:

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1. Solve the edges on the first layer (cross)
2. Solve the corners on the first layer
3. Solve the edges on the middle layer
4. Orient the edges on the top layer
5. Orient the corners on the top layer
6. Permute the corners on the top layer
7. Permute the edges on the top layer

​

The advanced solving method comes from memorizing more algorithms, but also learning how to intuitively improve the steps. The steps are:

1. Solve the edges on the first layer (cross)
2. Simultaneously solve the corners on the first layer and edges on the middle layer (F2L)
3. Orient the last layer (requires memorizing 57 algorithms to do this in one step)
4. Permute the last layer (requires memorizing 21 algorithms to do this in one step)

​

Most people slowly build from the beginner method to the advanced method, slowly reducing the steps with the eventual goal of getting down to four steps.

I agree with /u/topppits I think "competitive speed cuber" gives the desired intention without the misunderstanding that you are doing it for a living.

Phew, I couldn't remember much about it, but finally tracked it down.

https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/archive/forum_topics/388

This is the official announcement regarding the matter from the WCA, along with a lot of interesting follow up discussion.

EDIT: Wow! The comment chain is a wild ride! A lot of smart people who are very angry trying to have a civil discussion through language barriers. Even the accused's mother gets in on it! That's an amazing read!