ikbal's blog

Decreasing Number of Div1 Contests
By ikbal, history, 9 years ago, In English

After Good bye 2014, we had 11 div1 contest till now and there was 16 div1 contest between Good bye 2013 Round 255(Happened in 12th July).

What do you think happened this year? Let's discuss this issue and find the reason behind it.

One idea comes to my mind, maybe Codeforces doesn't encourage div1 problem setters enough.

By the way correct me if I miscounted the numbers.

UPD: If we count nonstandard ones situation is 18 vs 20, which seems okay.

  • Vote: I like it
  • +173
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (28)
| Write comment?
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +55 Vote: I do not like it

I found 18 of them... Remember about 3 rounds of VK Cup, Looksery Cup, Rockethon, ZeptoLab and #300. However fact that it is more than 2 weeks from last div1 contest and we still don't have even an announcement of one doesn't cheer me up.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

    I only counted standard ones but if we include those then number of contest in 2014 would increase significantly too.

    edit:(Shouldn't have commented before counting :P)

    → Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

Auto comment: topic has been updated by ikbal (previous revision, new revision, compare).

→ Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +127 Vote: I do not like it

Imagine that you are a student who has some nice problemset in mind. After a little thinking you left with two options: send your problems to TC or CF. Of course, you would like to contribute and all, but being a student you also keep compensation amount in your head, since usually students are not lousy with dough. And what do we have here? — one gets around 350$ for seven problems at CF, and two times more(or more?) for five problems for div1+div2 at TC.

One also doesn't have to prepare an entire problemset at TC — it's ok if you didn't come up with hard problem, they will take one from cgy4ever :) I believe this point is quite profitable in terms of number and quality of contests, because one can give up being an author lacking one-two problems or take some problems that are not really good and were not really intended at first. You take them JUST because you have to come up with exactly seven problems.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +37 Vote: I do not like it

    Another problem is CF staff member who controls problem setting never responds

    EDIT: As a problemsetter, I always get timely responses from HackerRank, HackerEarth,etc., but I don't know why I can't expect response from CF staff :(.

    → Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +46 Vote: I do not like it

    I also agree with this sentiment. I just find writing Topcoder problems much more convenient for me, and it's easier to set a round since you need fewer problems. In addition, like you've said, you don't even need the entire set, since there are shared rounds. Also, the compensation for div1+div2 on TC is $900, so it's almost 3x the amount that CF gives out (you can see more individual amounts for problem levels here).

    Anyways, back on topic, I don't think that this is the main reason for decreasing number of div1 contests. I actually found preparing problems in Polygon much better than preparing them in MPSQAS. Also, you'll notice that Topcoder also has fewer rounds nowadays too (2-3 rounds per month as opposed to 4 last year), so the issue may be something else entirely.

    → Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -68 Vote: I do not like it

the problems in Div 1 are so easy rather than div2

→ Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +77 Vote: I do not like it

I think the distribution of the contests has not been good this year. There are occasions when two or more Div 1-2 contests are almost consecutive and sometimes there is no Div 1-2 contest for a long time.

→ Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -43 Vote: I do not like it

DIV2-only round could be replaced with DIV2 5 problems + DIV1 3 problems rounds, it would be interesting for the most of DIV1 participants.

→ Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +180 Vote: I do not like it

Once me and my friends had proposed a Div1-2 contest. We had included entire problem statements, examples and solutions for all the problems as desired (Earlier at the times of Gerald, you could just send your rough statements only or even could chat about it). I did not receive any reply from current admin Zlobober despite many requests from my side. So I am just speculating that the current admin might not be much accessible and some other problem setters might have faced similar situation.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +46 Vote: I do not like it

    Actually, to propose a round now you need to have statements (legends are unimportant), samples and solutions (not sources but editorials).
    The only problem is that Zlobober is likely not to answer the proposal sent via Codeforces messages system for a long time (maybe forever, I don't know). Use E-mail or VK instead.

    → Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +106 Vote: I do not like it

Back on the time I was writing contests my rounds were delayed, because there were too many rounds in the waiting queue. From this I suspect there will always be a lot of interesting tasks, yet in the waiting queue. So I don't think the reason is there are not enough writers to create suitable tasks.

It's simply poor communication between CF staff and writers. I know a lot of friends (and me included), which sent tasks, but received no response from Zlobober. In the meantime I've proposed my tasks to other competitions. I can imagine he's really busy, but something like "I've got your tasks, I'll take a look when I get some time and give you feedback" (and then add tasks to a waiting list) will really encourage more writers to try setting a round. It literary takes 2 minutes to do this.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +78 Vote: I do not like it

    I had some free time, I prepared div1-round, sent tasks to Zlobober... and I wait. 10 days and counting. Cooperation with him during preparing VK Cup was perfect but now my enthusiasm slowly disappears. "I've got your tasks, I'll take a look when I get some time and give you feedback" would be nice.

    → Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

I wonder there will be the moment in the near future when all ideas of the problems run out of and there wil be no rounds.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +35 Vote: I do not like it

    Will the world run out of new inventions?
    Will the world run out of new ideas and theories?

    Why will it run out of new problems?

    → Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

One of my friends who had sent problemsets that he had prepared said that the CF admin responsible for accepting / rejecting problemsets didn't respond to his messages .

→ Reply
»
9 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

Probably there is one more reason that somewhy was not mentioned here.

Codeforces cannot hold contests every day simply because CF does not have infinite amount of money. Every author wants to be paid and I don't think that there are lots of authors who are ready to prepare contest for free.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

    Then decreasing payments would be a solution. Fewer people wanting to give tasks won't be a bad thing if now we have a queue.

    → Reply
  • »
    »
    9 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

    Nobody wants contest every day, once a week would be fine which means 350 * 4 = 1400$ every month. I do not think 1400$ is the problem for a community with over 10.000 users.

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      9 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

      You have some good points and as we can see it in this link, codeforces suppose to have at least $27,498. Including the payments of testers and translators, I believe, it is still enough for codeforces to fully afford one contest in a week.

      → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        9 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +7 Vote: I do not like it

        This is very simplified model. Do you think these are only costs? What about CF developers? Maybe there are also some costs connected to maintaining servers etc. And I don't know what it could be, but I'm pretty sure that Codeforces have other financial sources than this crowdfunding. If not, then how it existed before that? All of those are hard to estimate if we do not know specific amounts, so such calculations are pointless. However I agree that costs are probably not main obstacle to holding reasonable amount of contests.

        → Reply
        • »
          »
          »
          »
          »
          9 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

          I agree with Swistakk. 4*350$? What about testers, coordinator (Zlobober), servers? Mike himself should get payment in my opinion — though I know it sounds strange.

          → Reply
          • »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            9 years ago, # ^ |
              Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

            And what about Telegram that is the sponsor?! I think at least they maintain servers for Codeforces system

            → Reply
            • »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              9 years ago, # ^ |
                Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

              codeforces servers are hosted in Saratov State University. It's essentially a university project, just like timus or uva.

              → Reply