maroonrk's blog

New Rated/Unrated Participation Options in AtCoder Contets
By maroonrk, history, 3 years ago, In English

As discussed in my previous blog, we are going to introduce a new system for Rated/Unrated participation. It will take effect from this weekend's contests (ABC, AGC, and ARC). See this post for details.

If you have any questions, please leave them here.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -13 Vote: I do not like it

One request...please add problems tag after the contest so that we can filter the problems by tag

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +53 Vote: I do not like it

    Downvoters.tell me why you downvoted..Isn't it helpful to have tags in Atcoder problems??

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      3 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

      IMO it's kind of unrelated to the blog, but I guess you don't deserve the tons of downvotes you received (since I think a lot of people want that feature too). I upvoted to help balance it back.

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

        I wanted to tag maroonrk what he thinks about it..I believe it's a prime need of the platform

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          3 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +26 Vote: I do not like it

          We know there's a lot of room for improvement in our platform, and we've already received similar requests many times. We are not ignoring those proposals; we (especially engineers) are just working on more important affairs. Some changes are visible to everyone, but others are internal things, so you won't notice them.

          I suspect the reason for the so many downvotes is that 1) you wrote the unrelated request, and 2) it's already been posted many times.

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3 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +41 Vote: I do not like it

Can you update this blog and this blog with new changes as it may be helpful for the one who registered on Atcoder for first time and don't understand new system (At present it will not affect much as many people will read the top blog but after months it will be hard for new registered person)
Also Thank You for this new amazing system it will decrease cheating as well as increase one's determination to solve problems as they can't just quit otherwise they will loose rating

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +26 Vote: I do not like it

Are participants who register the contest after five minutes passed always unrated?

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -39 Vote: I do not like it

Improve the UI as well sir!

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +92 Vote: I do not like it

I think this does a good job of discouraging the behavior of leaving a contest without submissions just to keep your rating.

A few concerns:

You mentioned in your earlier blog I considered what kind of participants I'd like to honor the most. It was those who have strong confidence and eagerness to take part in contests, not those who care about their rating too much or think like, "what if I can't solve a problem...". (and I fully agree).

I'm wondering if the way this is being implemented achieves the opposite effect. For someone who is very concerned about losing rating, these rules would reward them. Under an unrated registration, they will not only be able to read the problems but also be judged, appear on the leaderboard, (and earn GP30 points?) without the risk of losing rating.

Finally, as people in the original threads have mentioned, it's clear how providing an option to register long before the contest along with a rated "no-matter-what" approach could lead to complaints (for example from people who forgot about the contest or overslept).

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

    Subjectively I think it is a strategy from AtCoder admins to thoroughly isolate the rating-concerning users from the real contest, just like saying "if you are not our target audience, we give you a chance to leave. Nevertheless you are still free to make use of our service." I personally think it is a bit controversial.

    Additionally, the rating rule may cause the significant decrease of rated participants. And I suspect the rated participants may distribute at a higher rating, which will be really negative to newbies -- unless they have strong confidence and eagerness to take part in contests.

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      3 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +20 Vote: I do not like it

      I don't expect a significant decrease in the number of rated participants. People who are using the late submission strategy may choose the unrated options. However, in the previous rule, such people show up only when they performed well. Therefore, their disappearance doesn't affect other people in a bad way.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

    Thanks for the comments.

    fdironia's comment above describes my philosophy well. It's not fun to lose ratings due to the people who take the "Let's submit only after solving hard problems" strategy. However, if such people are unrated, I don't mind them because their performances don't affect my ratings anyway.

    Regarding GP30 scores: If you are close enough to a ticket to the Finals, you must be a strong and eager competitor. Thus this doesn't make much difference. We allow GP30 points for unrated participants for consistency with the previous rule (= unrated (<1200) participants can also get GP30 points). That being said, if, by any chance, many top rankers of GP30 use an unrated participation strategy, I may change the system from some season.

    For the last point, yes, that can happen, but it's a personal responsibility. You can avoid such accidents by choosing an option right before the contest. Rated register long before a contest is a feature for those who cannot be in time for the contest but still strongly want to be rated.

    After all, this is not necessarily the final change. We'll look at what happens with this rule and are open to future modification.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Two logistical questions:

1) Do unrated users share the same leaderboard as rated users?

2) Do unrated participations count for GP30 scores?

I feel it would be good to have a complete explanation somewhere where people can tell the difference between a rated participation and an unrated participation — right now, it feels as though the only distinction is whether the participation is counted for rating, but that doesn't have to be true. For example, one could make an argument for requiring rated participation to count for GP30 scores, but just as having an option where losing rating for accidentally skipping a contest is likely to be controversial, so can the option of participating in a contest in a format where one accidentally invalidates themselves from GP30 scores because it isn't properly documented.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

    1) Yes, but you can use filters to see only rated participants.

    2) Yes, so don't worry about invalidating yourself from GP30 by an accident. I'll add GP30 things to the AtCoder blog post for clarity.

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

As one smart guy said: AtCoder, stop being so awesome! Possibility of unrated participation is incredibly useful for average users (rating <2000) which want to try themselves in Lockout matches. Now you can fully focus on your tactic for a match if there's no risk to lose rating! My personal gratitude for this feature!

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3 years ago, # |
← Rev. 4   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

[deleted]

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -98 Vote: I do not like it
The comment removed because of Codeforces rules violation
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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

    It isn't like you are participating in competitive programming contests on any platform anyway. So none of these changes affect you.

    I see that you decided to retire from competitive programming after reaching the expert rating zone on the codeforces platform only once. There's nothing wrong with that and you are not alone (see the rating distribution histogram). But I'm curious about your reasons for still hanging around and shitposting many months after your retirement. What is preventing you from participating in contests right now? If you are afraid of losing your rating, then why are you opposing the idea of making unrated participation possible?

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

It seems that there is a typo in the title...

Optinos

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3 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it -22 Vote: I do not like it

I signed up for rated ARC but then I got tired and went to sleep. I now woke up with -114. Wouldnt it make more sense to follow the old rule where you are only rated if you participate? I guess im salty right now but I dont really see the rationale for this change specifically for people who do not submit any problems?

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +46 Vote: I do not like it

    I dont really see the rationale for this change

    The explanation is very simple. Let's look at the leaderboard of the older ARC128 contest:

    Spoiler

    You solved problems in order, starting from A to E. And spent 34 minutes on problem E after solving D.

    Now compare this with gyh20, who went straight to problem E and made the first WA submission already on the 23rd minute of the contest, followed by a later AC submission on the 37th minute. And this was a very smart tactical decision with the old rules! Because it was possible to just bail out of the contest without submitting anything and become unrated in the case if quickly solving problem E somehow turned out to be problematic. Just wait for the next contest, rinse and repeat.

    I observed this kind of tactics in a wide use in easier ABC contests. Some green/cyan/blue people used to start their contests from submitting the 4th or the 5th problem. And the same people made no submissions in many other contests they registered for. This started becoming increasingly popular. And I guess, that's the main reason why the rules changed.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +31 Vote: I do not like it

    Just click on rated participation $$$1$$$ minute before the contest.

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