Which is worse? Cheating or sandbagging a cheater?

Or equally bad?

Cheating is worse, but by sandbagging you're lowering yourself to their level.

which is worse? cheating or falsely thinking someone is cheating because they are winning and then sandbagging an innocent person?

@h2b2 said in #3:

which is worse? cheating or falsely thinking someone is cheating because they are winning and then sandbagging an innocent person?

Well, I see cheating like stealing, but if you sandbag it's more like indulging. Some people wake up at night, go to the freezer, and finish off a gallon of ice cream. You shouldn't have done either, but we all indulge and like comfort food.

Being a wrong-way driver or overtaking one?

Both lead to the same consequences ...

Aside from GM's crushing 600's for content, at what level is sandbagging taking place? I'd guess it's more prevalent in bullet & blitz?

@UnderwaterDillDough said in #4:

Well, I see cheating like stealing, but if you sandbag it's more like indulging. Some people wake up at night, go to the freezer, and finish off a gallon of ice cream. You shouldn't have done either, but we all indulge and like comfort food.

We don't all sandbag though, which is what I understand from your comparison...?

@Tuck_Fheory said in #7:

Aside from GM's crushing 600's for content, at what level is sandbagging taking place? I'd guess it's more prevalent in bullet & blitz?

Smurfing is not allowed in Lichess (and I'm soo glad). That's Chess.com.

I once played against a sandbagger + engine cheater here, around ~1600 blitz.

@QueenRosieMary said in #8:

We don't all sandbag though, which is what I understand from your comparison...?

I am not saying one way or the other. I am sure we can't say absolutes. Even when a cheater cheats, they aren't always cheating. It's not the exact same thing you said, but even when we use your assertion, "We don't all sandbag though", Hans could say that now because he is playing top GMs whereas when he was 12/13 he wasn't. In fact, that is the reason he stated for cheating.

The comparison I was making was to food. You could say stealing is like taking candy from a baby, but sandbagging is a lazy way to eat. You don't take out ingredients and cook and do the job properly. This would be non-cheating, and we are all good and bad cooks. The meal we make might have mistakes in it, and then we learn from it. But if all you do is stick your hand in the freezer and grab ice cream, or you just grab a piece of leftover pizza, you are taking the easy way. This is like sandbagging.