Why add anything?

My current problem is that alt accounts mess up the rating system and rankings in the lower divisions.

My solution:

People create alt accounts for certain reasons. I would like to propose a feature that gives people an alternative to regular alt accounts. I don't want to take away alt accounts, I want to improve the experience in a meaningful way.

Why do people participate in contests with alt accounts?

• self assurance that their real rating is justified
• desire to participate in low Division contests as real as possible
• desire to chase a positive feedback loop (dopamine kicks)
• desire to start a new account, because the main account is hardstuck/peaked
• desire to participate in lower Division hacking
• …

My solution in details:

Allow people to create and manage fairAlt accounts through their main account settings.

a fairAlt (basic):

• can be created with 1 button click
• starts at 0 rating
• can gain rating
• can be deleted
• will be placed in divisions depending on its rating

advantages of fairAlts:

• people using the system will mark their fairAlts
• Codeforces will be able to track these accounts
• Codeforces could display the leaderboards differently
• Codeforces can ensure that fairAlts do not influence the rating of normal accounts
• normal accounts can influence the rating of fairAlts, which will cause fairAlts to gain rating normally

I assume that the more advantages a fairAlt has over a normal alt, the more people will use this feature. Here is a list of additional fairAlt features:

• allow 2 accounts to be merged (the younger account becomes the fairAlt of the older account).
• if the fairAlt reaches a higher rating than the main account, the main accounts “max rating” can be updated if the person wants to
• the contribution of the fairAlt can be removed and added to the contribution of the main account.
• the activity of the fairAlt can be removed and added to the activity of the main account.
• when creating an account, one receives a notification that hidden alt accounts violate the rules and should only be created through the main account
• in leaderboards, every fairAlt should have the option to either make themselves appear like a fairAlt or a normal user (again, ensure people using fairAlts don’t have any disadvantage over people using rule-breaking alt accounts)

How would this solution influence Codeforces:

My solution is not perfect, but I am sure it would work in its current form. With the help of the community, it could most likely be improved in many ways. The competitive environment should become even healthier and more mature than it already is. Codeforces would be able to publish rating distributions that are much more accurate and not as influenced by rule violations.

I enjoy using alt accounts in games, but I would not use one on Codeforces because it is bad manners. I assume more people like me exist, those that want to have an alt account but cannot justify creating one. The feature would allow people like me to have more fun on the platform.

The main drawback is the implementation needed. I have no clue how willing Codeforces admins are to implement that many features. This does not seem like a small update either. The elo system has to differentiate between fairAlts and real account, new UI would be needed, converting and combining 2 accounts in some way may not be possible with the their current databases...