Hello all, First off, allow me to thank those who put in the time to make all contests- from divisions to educationals to globals to mirrors.
Second of all, I've noticed a spike in the participation rate (10K-11K per contest) which is impressive!
However I also notice that the contests are irregularly spaced, and we occasionally wait 5-7 days for contests. This problem is even worse for div 1 participants.
With rising participation and interest, I would like to see an increased frequency and regularity in the contests-perhaps set a target fixed rate of a contest (of any type) every 3-4 days, with additional contests being placed in between.
This has multiple advantages: regularity ensures consistency, which is positively correlated to community engagement. Furthermore, while one can propose doing virtual contests, I will be the first to say they are not the same thing. Nothing matches a live contest with your peers and friends racing alongside you. (especially when rated).
I hope you guys feel the same!
Thanks for taking the time to read this :)
Codeforces pays to problem-setters. So, "Increased Frequency" means increased expenditure.
Where will Mike get that extra money from?
The crowd-funding initiative seemed to work... with increased exposure you can obtain perhaps more donations, sponsorship...
I would personally be willing to give a few dollars in donation if a systematic increase of frequency were to be seen
I think conducting contests every 3-4 days is a bit too often. It's better to have a rated contest at least once per week, so you can focus on improving your algorithmic skills by solving some past problems, learning new techniques etc, rather than focusing on your rating. But you mentioned something that I consider much bigger problem. Div1 contests are scheduling really rarely. There wasn't any rated div1 contest in August, and looking on upcoming contests list it looks that we will have 3 weeks without any div1 contest. I know that it's much harder to conduct div1 contest than div2 or div3, but I think we have too many div3/2 contests comparing to div1. In my opinion it would be much better to focus more on div1 contests to make every division having at least one rated contest every week.
Yeah div 1’s are wayyy too infrequent. But also for the lower divisions 1ce a week seems low given some people may have obligations, sleep cycle for our Asian friends :p
Missing a once weekly contest means going weeks without one, and for many lower rated users it’s the thrill of the conteat that motivates us!
Note that having IOI 2019 and GCJ final recently is also a huge factor.