My questions:
1. Is it acceptable to submit hauls from an unofficial WASM build? If so, what would you require (e.g. matching versions, test vectors, a specific payosha256 key, or a distinct client name)?
2. Which rule/symmetry would be most useful for a crowd of many small, short-lived browser sessions?
3. Is there a minimum haul size? Would it be OK for my server to combine many small sessions' results into one haul, or should each browser submit directly?
4. How should verification work in this setup? Can browser clients take part in peer verification?
5. Licensing: is lifelib under the MIT licence, and how would you like it credited?
(...)
Answers to the best of my knowledge:
If you are using an unofficial build, I would recommend uploading to a separate symmetry (e.g something like "wasm_test_b3s23_C1"), and I would recommend using a specific payosha256 key (if you can find a way to just include the hash in the source code, since keys should generally be kept private), as well as a unique client version.
Probably b3s23/C1, but feel free to experiment!
The minimum haul size is 500,000 soups or 10,000,000 objects for 'official' symmetries in Life, and 5000 objects or 100000 objects for anything else which doesn't have 'stdin' in the name. Aggregating results might be difficult and I wouldn't recommend it, although larger, fewer hauls does reduce time and cost on Catagolue's end, so if you can find a way to do it without breaking things, go for it.
Modified clients should generally have peer verification disabled, but getting the browser hauls verified is only relevant if you upload to official symmetries. If you are, it's much easier to just let the powerful searchers handle verification.
Lifelib is under the MIT license. The repo is here, but as with the above response, I would recommend basing things on speedydelete's apgweb.
You might also be interested in the discussion of 'apgacha', which sounds pretty similar to what you're planning - a game to encourage people to contribute to Catagolue.
