I have a couple of things to say in this area:
Firstly, I have great respect for captainmeme and what he does for this site. However, I strongly disagree with one point he made. His explanation of the "ripple effect" appears to me to be an exaggerated overstatement in order to prove his point. I cannot disagree that colluding players drastically affect the game. However, it is not nearly to the degree he describes. the WWIV map involves dozens of players. Now, if a handful of them are cheating this changes the balance of the game but it also solidifies some variable. Good players will not necessarily recognize that cheating is taking place, but they will recognize the change in variables and will act accordingly. It is simply a matter of using information. It is by virtue of strong play, not location on the board, that certain players can overcome cheating. These players appear to have put in significant time and energy to have that thrown away. They deserve to be rewarded but the moderator team has punished them and I think this is a big mistake. Hopefully something that can be learned from, now that there is no going back.
On another note, I would like to encourage the community to ignore Guaroz. His main MO on this site appears to be belittling other players on the forum and generally attempting to appear superior to other people. He is overly concerned with other people and will attempt to make their suggestion and ideas sound stupid so his opinions are not challenged. This is evidenced in many places on this site from his avid defending of PPSC variant, to his dictatorial rule of the SRGs he organizes. My opinion, the worst aspect of this is that he presents himself on the forum as a super-caring, kind, warm person - acts as if every player is his best friend. He carries this into games in a way that others will not suspect that he has the ability to stab. I believe this meta-gaming falls into an extreme grey-area that he has carved out. He defends the moderators to the end so that they will never challenge his meta-gaming (game to game, forum to game) and he can continue to inflate his stats by picking apart new players. His attacks on RUFFHAUS in the forum further show his insecurity and inability to defend his positions maturely and attack his problems at their source.