Suggestion regarding Contest organised by Colleges

Many unrated contest conducted by different colleges on the platform of codechef didn’t provide editorials and also sometimes timing of contest clashes.I request codechef admin can take care of that to provide proper editorial and select time so that contest never clashes.
Thank You.

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The least they can do is to attach proper tags with each question after contest, so that searching for problems to solve on particular topic becomes easier. Better idea would to let 6-star or 7-star rated people do this, with this there will be less burden on the admin.

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Further, plagiarism test ought to be done to ensure originality of problems too…

I agree, too that the editorials should be provided after the contest ends.

I think plagiarism test for originality of problems is going to be difficult and if you change the statement of the problem, then it may be very difficult to trace and also sometimes you may think of a problem on your own but they might already exist but you might not know.

But editorials are really required for these contests.

@droy0528 - Regard timings, codechef does not, and SHOULD NOT have any say. Its sole discretion of the organizer when he wants to keep his contest. And this decision is usually taken after checking for clashes. If a clash is happening, then either the information wasnt known already, or the organizers cant help it. Both of these cases, shifting contest isnt a good idea if you’ve already made posters and stuff regarding dates etc.

Then, editorials. Well, they should be provided but external setters arent obliged to, especially if they are students. When we made ATMOS editorials, we were having our mid-semester exams so it wasnt at all a piece of cake. Further, they arent paid to write the editorial- it something they may/should do for better after-taste of contest, but that thing is very easily sidelined since after-taste is not much of an important factor.

@skyhavoc is right. Tags SHOULD be properly put, its really mesy and hard to classify problems elsewise.

Better idea would to let 6-star or 7-star rated people do this,

I see your intention, but its better for some selective people to handle it rather than all chunk of 6 and 7 stars. As we say, too many cooks spoil the broth, and we dont want frequent changes in a problem’s tags.

@taran_1407 - As @sdssudhu said, its difficult. Ultimately the thing boils down to- one person has to check for over 10-20 problems that “Are they available anywhere else on internet?” . Its better if contestants diligently report it during contest so we can cancel the contest and take action, since a single person checking for so many problems will be a hell for him- and a really ineffective tactic over all. Problem statement changes will make it difficult to track.

@skyhavoc- Of course, I also agree with you in that situation which you gave. I think you misunderstood me. When I said frequent, the situation in my mind was not once in a year. It was something like, problem tag changing every hour/day/week because of disagreement among people.

“SEG TREE IS INTENDED SOLUTION. PLEASE DONT PUT SQUARE ROOT DECOMPOSTION TAG HERE.”

“WHATS YOUR PROBLEM? SQUARE ROOT PASSES THE TEST CASES!”

“TEST CASES ARE WEAK, THAT DOESNT JUSTIFY-”

“AS LONG AS SQUARE ROOT PASSES!!!”

Or worse, they may just update or change tag at their will. Although rare and unexpected from such coders, its better to give such privileges to selected people. Admin can do it, and I can make her do it (:p) , so in case you have any problem whose tags are wrong, you can mail me. I guess that will do for now?

( BTW, who agrees with me that the real downer is when official contest like long, cook-off etc. have no tag except setter’s name. Lol. )

EDIT: Comment word limit -_- . That thing should be increased ffs.

i guess 6* or the 7* peeps are not jobless :stuck_out_tongue:
this should be solely the responsibility of the problem setters to attach tags

I am not stubborn on my point, i am open the other ideas as well. I am happy as long as the work is done. I agree its the job of the author/setter of the problem.

@vijju123 the author of the problem will come up with 3 ways to solve a hard problem, but after some years the community will come up with a 4th way to solve the problem. I think then the tags for the problem should be updated with that 4th approach. After so many years author/editorialist will be inactive on codechef. So, which selected people should do it?

shit man @vijju123 , that purple is not looking good on you.

Lololol. XD. Dont worry.

October challenge was between exams, so its gone XD. Its not something in my control.

I knew I am becoming purple cause Cook-off was held in my return trip to college. I entered contest at 11 pm, did 2 problem in 20 min and backed off cause I feel motion sickness looking at laptop in car.

For reasons out of my control, theres no use worrying, and I always said that one must be detached from ratings. So tbh I am unaffected :slight_smile: . Thanks for your wishes, and dont worry, will be back soon :slight_smile:

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