I'd say the other way around, honestly. In writing I can stick a * there so it's obvious that there's more to it than it seems. In speech, unless it's explained beforehand, it might not be a good idea.

I really thought that when you wrote "faked" that reflected on Zeev's character. That he was trying to pull a fast one. Only after encountering the disclaimer did I realize what you meant. Many people won't read the disclaimer, and therefore when dealing with someone's reputation you should pick a word which might avoid misunderstanding.

Fair point.

I might say some things about Zeev, but I certainly wouldn't say he's a liar. He's a talented developer.

Saying someone's faked a benchmark is an extraordinarily serious accusation of professional malpractice. I think your little joke is a very misguided.

Having seen how the sausage is made at many performance oriented companies this seems to be a bit of an overstatement.