JonKhan's blog

By JonKhan, history, 5 hours ago, In English

Has anyone else noticed the quiet tragedy unfolding in recent rounds? For years, Alice and Bob stood as equals. Every game theory problem ended with the sacred question: "Print Alice if Alice wins, and Bob otherwise." Lately, however, a dark trend has taken over. Authors aren't even asking who wins anymore—they just ask: "Print YES if Alice wins, and NO otherwise."

Think about how much Bob has already sacrificed for this community. For over a decade, Alice has been given the first move in almost every single game, and Bob accepted playing second without a single complaint. He endured countless rigged games where the optimal strategy simply reduced to a one-line cout << "Alice\n";. Through it all, he kept showing up and playing optimally.

Now, problem setters have taken the final step and erased his name from stdout completely. Even when Bob plays optimally across $$$10^4$$$ test cases, outsmarts Alice despite the second-player disadvantage, and clutches the game, he doesn't get the satisfaction of seeing his name printed. His hard-earned victory has been reduced to a cold, heartless "NO"—turning his triumph into nothing more than a boolean footnote to Alice's failure.

Bob is not just !Alice. He has been grinding game theory alongside her since the dawn of Codeforces, and he deserves basic recognition. I call upon all problem authors and coordinators to take this into account: stop the Bob erasure, bring back "Alice" and "Bob" to the output section, and give Bob his rights back.

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4 hours ago, hide # |
 
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You're right.

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4 hours ago, hide # |
 
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Yes Jon, you are absolutely right!!

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Hail Bob

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nahh

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Bob needs justice!!!!

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I'd rather write cout << "Alice\n" instead of cout << "Bob\n".