A long long ago, there was no divisions and long challenges (actually all cc contests) were combined. it was fun having many 3 stars beating a 7 stars!
In long challenges we usually prepare 11 problems, and choose the 8 easiest for div2 and 8 hardest for div1. However I noticed that some 4stars struggle in the first problem of div 1 (actually last time one 5 stars got many WAs in my cakewalk!).
So I was considering to share one or two problems between divisions. Div1 could get 10 or 9 problems. If the problem is not immediatly trivial, I think most 6 and 7stars coders will not care too much. Moreover if we go berserk, we can combine both rounds and forget about divisions!
In short contest there are less time, so I think is fine to not share problems, but in long challenges there is plenty of time, and the shared problems does not consume too much time.
@alei Instead of combining I would suggest make more balanced contest not like too-hard , too easy …then again too-hard , and also if possible then CC organize 2 more short contest as well as more strict plag detection (fast MOSS) @admin
I think it’s a really good idea. There should be a level battleground for all. In this way, I think newbies to CP will get a lot more exposure and would be able to learn a lot more
No it will not solve the problem. As per my suggestion the upper bound of rating change for long challenge should be decreased by the order of 10. i.e. if previously we would have gained +x then it should be made +x/10 because long challenge simply inflates your ratings. I personally know many people who are master on codeforces and 5* on codechef thanks to long challenge.
There are many person with 4* on codechef and specialist on codeforces. This is not justified, so codechef should first think for its rating system before all these changes.
If this is applied then the number of problems will have to increase( from 8 to 11 or more), because problems too trivial for top coders will get ignored, and problems too difficult for begineers will get ignored.
Hence the overall difficulty of the contest will shift upwards for newbies, and bit downwards for top coders.
But then again, we are talking about a 10 day period to solve a set of problems, but does each one of us actually take 10 days to solve them? I think not.
So I think if problems get increased, then it’s possible to apply such changes.
Put 4 star coders in div 2, for all types of contest and increase the number of questions in Div2 by 1 or 2. I am an expert on codeforces but here in Div1, even the 1st problem in short challenges and the 2nd question(or 1st) question in long challenges scares me.
I’m pretty sure this happens to many other people.
Furthermore if 4 star people are able to solve 1-2 problems in 20-30 mins in the short challenges it is a confidence booster for the rest of the contest.
No I don’t think making long challenge unrated is a good idea as many people invest their time in long challenge for rating increase.
Just combine both the divisions and increase number of problems to make a balanced contest.
seems you are also one of the person with 4* on cc and specialist on cf. By the way I checked your profile and what I see was you only participate in long challenge which inflates your ratings so without ant doubt you came in defense
Gently reminder to community that creating fake accounts to propagate your views or attack/flag disagreeing posts goes against the spirit of discussion. Such accounts shall be actively suspended once detected. I have deleted the violating posts, lets keep it civil and healthy
It’s fine to share more number of problems based on their difficulty and quality.
But I don’t think it’s a good idea to merge both divisions if questions are too easy. For example this long challenge.
We might see 1-3 star coders winning cash prizes XD
Also if we combine them, will it affect inflation ?
I guess div1 coders will get more +ve or -ve Delta. Not sure though.
But on a second thought, it will be fun to compete with huge amount of people.
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