prabhav_'s blog

An absolute shit-show contest!
By prabhav_, 2 years ago, In English

This is mainly a ranting blog for the ongoing Credit Suisse Global Coding Contest 4.0, which is an absolute shit show right now, feel free to skip it.

Background:

So if you don't know there was a contest organized by Credit Suisse on 6th October 2022. The contest's problem set consisted of 9 copied problems. Many people were able to solve all the problems so they arranged the leaderboard on the basis of the execution time taken by the code. The contest ended on 23rd October 2022 (or did it?)

So here comes the twist.

Shit show an exaggeration?

Issues

  • In a contest where you need to just make your code the fastest, the version of the compiler can make a significant difference. Guess what? There are no details mentioned of the compiler being used for any language:)
  • There were dumb issues like trailing and ending spaces that caused WA for various people for days if you are lucky
  • You can't see the score for each of your individual submissions.
  • But you can see which submission fetched you the highest score (or can you? T&C Apply)

    T&C*: You can only see the code of the highest-scored submission if it's in the last 10 submissions, else good luck

  • Their query help center gave me an API Endpoint to resolve the issue of only being able to see the last 10 submissions that doesn't work after hours of messaging.

    • P.S: They reply only if replying is convenient for them.

  • They are scaling up and down the execution times of different languages and not revealing the scaling factors publically
  • Their judging system was down for hours if not days in between the contest more than a few times.

    • And if this bullshit wasn't enough

    The contest ended on 23rd October 2022 (or did it?)

    The contest ended on the 23rd of October and it displayed the I quote "Finalised Leaderboard" for more than a few hours during which a lot of people discussed their approaches to optimize various solutions as the contest had officially ended.

    Then suddenly without any email to the contestants:

  • They extended it till the 30th of October
  • Revamped the whole scoring system (more than once in the last 12 hours, more than two weeks into the contest).
  • Somehow judged the past 2 days of submissions but didn't concurrently update the leaderboard, and didn't notify the contestants.
    • I'm pretty sure there are many contestants right now who think they are going to receive their prize as per the finalized leaderboard after spending weeks optimizing their code but they are in for a surprise.


    Irrelevant
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    2 years ago, # |
    ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

    My heart goes out to Z0rr0_2 who was winning the iPhone 13 in the Finalized unfinalized Leaderboard!

    F

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
      ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

      Well he is winning again so no problem with that except for the fact that the contest is trash.

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

        The leaderboard changed for the third time in the past 24 hours and now he's nowhere in top 200.

        UPD: He's rank 220 for some reason now instead of rank 4

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          2 years ago, # ^ |
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          I took the screenshot after the contest on 23rd oct. silly me XD.

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    2 years ago, # |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    I hate that they are scaling execution time based on language. And the scale is decided by some unknown benchmarks they did.

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
      ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
      their reply

      As per this we are just supposed to randomly try to optimize every code in every language.

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    2 years ago, # |
      Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    Chad Credit Suisse

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    2 years ago, # |
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    Kredit suisse will soon enter bankruptcy, let alone care about a random contest they organized...

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
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      Sounds like karma

      P.S. I'm just salty

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        2 years ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it -47 Vote: I do not like it

        Karma is that this time is an Indian the one getting scammed instead being the scammer.

        Anyways sorry that happened to you broh :_(

        PS 2: Sorry Indian sirs, someone must have used my account I don't know how that must happened I didn't share my codes or used a public browser, please restore my rating Indian sirs don't downvote me no more thanks Indian sirs

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

    You can see time limits on problems in different language using console in inspect element :kek:

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    2 years ago, # |
      Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    Global Shit contest indeed ,wasted so much time on this (Glad your mother would be happy atleast). Btw would have tried to overtake you but thought of leaving that shit cuz couldnt bear with it anymore.

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

    By the way how to deal with the case when the original authors notice that a problem prepared by them has been stolen?

    This problem was prepared by me, and Problem 9(and the samples) is exactly the same except for replacing the kind of characters.

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

      This is not the right place to ask. A law firm's office is the right place. Sounds like you could sue them.

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

      Suing them for using something that it is outside in the public domain and hasn't been leaked seem like grim prospect.

      If you are not comfortable with them using your problems or want some retribution or acknowledgement, your first step should be to contact someone from that company that has some relationship with the contest. Let him know what happened and let him know that preparing problems is a retributive endeavor, let him know the price you got paid and that you would be willing to work for them in the future (or ask for anything you want in compensation).

      At the same time you should contact someone at Atcoder or Codeforces, there must be some kind of protocol for when these kind of things happen.

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

        Suing them for using something that it is outside in the public domain and hasn't been leaked seem like grim prospect.

        Something that is freely available on the Internet is not automatically in the public domain. Unlike Shakespeare, physics0523 isn't dead yet ;-) The author or the copyright holder normally chooses a license, which applies to their work and permits the others to use it on certain conditions. By default, the absence of license means that the usage is prohibited. As for who is the copyright holder of this particular problem statement text, check the "Intellectual Property Rights" section at the https://atcoder.jp/tos page.

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          2 years ago, # ^ |
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          The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired,[1] been forfeited,[2] expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

          Where does it say the author has to be dead in order for his/her work to be in the public domain? If you go to a webpage accessible without having to register which rights are applicable for that information to be reused? Most of the web works based on that premise.
          What if in Switzerland those particular tos are not applicable?. Do you even realize the amount of money that would cost him to go Switzerland and sue one of the biggest banks in the world?

          Anyway I wasn't trying to be a fancy smarty-pants I was just trying to give him some down to earth tips on how to proceed, which is exactly what he asked for not trying to be condescending.

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            2 years ago, # ^ |
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            Where does it say the author has to be dead in order for his/her work to be in the public domain?

            Implicitly. Here's the reason.

            Copyright protection doesn’t last forever, unfortunately, and how long this protection lasts is the same whether or not the work has been registered. Works that were created after January 1, 1978, by individuals will get protection for 95 years from the date of the first publication, or 120 years from the date of creation (whichever ends first). Work that was published without notice of copyright between 1978 and March 1, 1989, fell into the public domain unless the mistake was put right within five years of publication. (Source: lexology.com)

            So basically, the IP rights for his problem does not expire until at least 2116. The right has not been forfeited nor waived and should be still applicable as there is no other explicit reason to deny the right currently. Therefore, his problem does not fall into the public domain yet.

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              2 years ago, # ^ |
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              My previous message was what I was going to send until I realized how stupid is trying to be right on something that's not related with what the person was posting and basing my arguments on a Wikipedia page which is based on laws from another country and assuming I know anything about the topic, I hope my original message was of help to the op.

              I'm done posting here

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                2 years ago, # ^ |
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                Which country are you from?

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

            For Shakespeare and many other authors the copyright has already expired. Some authors explicitly make their work public domain from the very beginning, for example D.J.Bernstein releases all his code as public domain and provides some interesting explanations about this.

            If you go to a random website, then you can't do anything with its content that is not allowed by limitations and exceptions to copyright (which may vary between countries, but generally don't allow to replicate the whole thing on your website and claim that it's yours). The other possible rights are specifically granted to you by the website's TOS. Or by the software license if it's a source code.

            Switzerland is a member of Berne Convention just like most countries of the world.

            As for your down to earth tips, they are pretty much reasonable. It's always best to contact these guys and peacefully resolve the issue. If they refuse to cooperate, then try to DMCA takedown their website and maybe contact news agencies. Credit Suisse probably doesn't want negative publicity.

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

      At first I was thinking, "well it could be a coincidence, these things happen", but no, they couldn't even be bothered to change the sample input lmao.

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

    Almost as bad as the actual Credit Suisse crisis.

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