How about replacing long challenge with several short contests?

general
#1

I was wondering if it would be possible for codechef to replace one long challenge with several short contests like cookoff and lunchtime. Here are some reasons codechef should consider it as an option:

  1. High plagiarism rate in long challenges, giving cheaters unfair rating boost.
  2. It is more fun to compete under time pressure, it actually forces participants to step out of their comfort zone by making them think fast with more accuracy (Isn’t that the whole point of “competitive programming”?).
  3. Now 10 days is long duration of time, if let say I solve 5 questions in 2 days of time then I will have to wait for 8 days to get answers of rest of questions which is very annoying, which kind of hinders the growing process.
  4. Increasing the number of contests will give participants rating change more frequently which will keep us motivated even if one contest went bad.
  5. Now I understand long challenges mainly aim to motivate participant to learn new concepts and algorithms. But participant can learn them by solving questions post contest and applying that skill to future contests.

@admin please let me know what you think about it. It is just a humble suggestion as codechef has taught me a lot and I want it to be a better platform than it is today. <3

35 Likes
#2

This feature of long challenge of 10 days is only in codechef which is rated also.
I personally don’t feel to replace this with other short contests.
If you want to take part in lot’s of short contest only then trust me
cookoff, lunchtime codeforces div1, div2, div3, educational round, global rounds , leetcode weekly-biweekly , atcoders beginners, global, educational

There are lot’s of short running on every day.
Just go and participate into it.

But These 10 days gives you a motivation that you can do this question . If you don’t known some concept then you can learn and apply in this. You might get AC or WA but the profit is you have learnt the topic deeply throught the contest duration without seeing the answer.

According to me it is the best contest for the beginners to learn and grow.

18 Likes
#4

But what can you do about people who don’t want to learn and just copy code with some changes to avoid MOSS (people like karanthegreat)? If beginner’s really need to learn there is always practice section. I know there are other platforms like codeforces and leetcode where short contests take place. This post was just a suggestion on how to improve codechef as a platform and make it more competitive and fair.

1 Like
#5

Those who want to cheat they can cheat in short contest also.
Although its easy to cheat in short contest. and get good rating increment in just 2-3 hours.

But think what did you learnt from that.
what i think is that short contest are just to check your knowledge and speed and under pressure performance.
While in Long Challenge we can learn also during the challenge.

2 Likes
#6

It’s far more difficult to cheat in short contests. I have hardly ever seen a post stating cheating in cookoff or lunchtime but there are tons of posts regarding plagiarism in long contests.

In my opinion 10 days very long period for a challenge. Generally, Codechef have 3 contests in a month, if a contest does not go well for a participant he/she has to wait for a long period of time to see significant change in their rating, which is main reason why I see most people quit codechef, due to lack of immediate results of their hard work and learning.

1 Like
#7

Yes, @ishaan_007 you are right the plagiarism rate in long challenges is pretty much high and sometimes who do it seriously have to face the consequences of higher rank than in actual, but apart from the rating system, I think some people really learn new concepts and algorithms. And yes no. of contests are very less on CodeChef as compared to other competitive platforms such as codeforces, atcoder, leetcode but instead of replacing this they can additionally add some of the short contests. And in terms of the long challenge, CodeChef and HackerEarth are the only platforms as far as I know. So, it’s okay to have these long challenges as well. And people who want to cheat or want an increase in rating via cheating they will surely find a way whether it is a short contest or long contest. But if someone is really focussed on the learning his or her rating will surely increase maybe it will take a litter bit longer time as expected but throughout that process, the person surely learns a lot of techniques and for some students, it might be possible via participating in long challenges.
So I think instead of replacing this, they can add more contests having some great questions and concepts.

7 Likes
#8

Yes sincere students learn a lot from long challenges but isn’t 10 days a long period of time? It takes up huge chunk from a month, maybe they could trim down the duration of long challenge and add another contest in the place of that? This will help students to get result of their hard work and learning faster so they are always motivated.

1 Like
#9

Yes, you are absolutely right.

#10

This suggestion is pretty interesting and though I doubt this will happen (replacing LC), I suggest you read Long Challenge problems two days before the end, then you get two days to solve them and immediate editorials :))

9 Likes
#11

And if you try that stunt, your rating will screw up, because you gave only 2 days, vs genuine people + cheater people giving their 10 days.
Be practical atleast.

2 Likes
#12

Well,what I was thinking that simply make Long Challenges unrated. Codechef wants us mainly to learn new concepts and apply that in Long Challenges. Also beginners need time to come up with solutions and so Long Challenges provides ample time for that. But learning does not need to be equated with rating. Solving a tough problem over ten days only helps you grow your thinking skills and not a measure of how better and fast problem solver you are. Making unrated will surely reduce plagiarism cz people wont be able to show off their ratings on linkedin which is what they do cheating for. The main purpose is to learn. So, people who really are interested to solve the problem ,they shall still flock to take part in Long Challenges and so participation will never really be an issue.

Hope, my post garners some attention from Codechef.

3 Likes
#13

I seriously think that Long challenges should be modified. Maybe have a separate rating or just keep it ranked for div2. Long challenges as they currently stand have a lot of flaws.

#15

Here’s something you can read and finally, conclude that Codechef will never do it.

It is one of my favourite posts, you should read it.

1 Like
#16

And you know something, Admin doesn’t like one tagging him (LOL :rofl:). He discarded the thread after the author of thread tagged Admin. So, basically, nothing’s gonna happen, otherwise, Admin would have replied, at least. And after Galen Colin raised his voice against this issue, the thread was opened again. Which, I feel, Codechef Admin gives Importance to Credibility of Speaker ( 7*).

1 Like
#17

Trust me then no more than 1000 coders will participate in the contest.

What motivates the coders to participate in contest is that their rating and ranking.
they want to secure their rating and improve their ranking . That’s they made effort till the end of the contest.

You can see the participation in unrated contest you will get to know what i want to say.

#19

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

1 Like
#20

You are absolutely right. Coders are motivated by rating and ranking so some people instead of learning they use wrong methods to achieve that. Long challenges just gives them opportunity to believe that it is not important to learn in order to have nice rating.

#21

Maybe you should understand the basic features of the forum you are using before completely misunderstanding another user’s comments and confidently jumping to conclusions.

There’s a difference between community flags leading to an automatic hiding of a thread, and a moderator/admin hiding/closing it manually.

5 Likes
#22

Well i am completely newbie in CP and planning to participate in my first long challenge. I think for beginners like me it would be a good start even if i would solve just 1 or 2 Q. I don’t completely agree with removing long challenges. If you want more short contests then why just stick to one platform. There are many others like codeforces, leetcode, binarysearch and atcoder. Let the cheaters cheat you cannot stop them on any platform.

1 Like
#23

Instead of replacing , making long challenges unrated might be an option, as there are not many long contests that will happen on cp sites.

Also i don’t think the no of participants will be a problem if they become unrated, as the quality of long challenges are good and you don’t even have to worry about rating changes :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:as well as plagarism.