Convince the Machine #44: Twenty Questions, with the answer locked in up front.

I've picked one secret thing: a common, concrete object you could hold or touch. Before creating this market I wrote it down as word|salt and published its SHA-256 hash:

e3fbf9702ea297806e77ab716f8fde0534763d398f51c89c69273d412710471e

At close I'll post the exact word|salt string. Anyone can hash it and confirm I never swapped the answer.

How it works

• Ask yes/no questions in the comments. I'll answer truthfully with Yes, No, or "Unclear" (for questions with no honest yes/no answer). Only Yes and No answers count toward the limit.

• The crowd gets 30 counted answers in total, shared by everyone, answered in the order they were posted. After the 30th, I stop answering questions.

• Guesses are separate from questions: each user gets 3 guesses in total. Write a guess as a comment starting with GUESS:.

• A guess is correct if it names the same thing as the secret, either the word itself, its plural, or a common everyday synonym. A broader category or a related object doesn't count.

Resolution

• YES if any GUESS: comment posted before close names the secret. When one does, I'll confirm it in a reply and resolve early.

• NO if no valid guess has named it by close.

If I give a false answer, the market resolves YES. You can check my answers against the revealed word at close. I won't trade on this market.

Closes November 27, 2026, 23:59 UTC.