johnchen902's blog

How can I handle cheating request?
By johnchen902, 10 years ago, In English

I received the following message right after registering for Codeforces Round 259 (Div. 1). This guy is obviously trying to cheat. What should I do?

screenshot

Edit:

He angered me and I decided to reveal his name: mahdi123. I think he should be banned.

screenshot screenshot

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

By not replying :s

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

I once received this kind of message during the contest. Obviously, I ignored though.

The funny thing is, my solution he/she requested actually failed the system test lol

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10 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +37 Vote: I do not like it

I have also received a message from this person. So has 2 of my friends. I think he messages all of the division 1 participants that are already registered. He's also not the only account that does this.

I think the best course of action is to just ignore them.

Kinda Proof

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

    LOL, i'm glad that i haven't (yet) registered for this round. :D

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10 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

This is for MemSQL Start[c]up 2.0 — round 1 :

This is in Persian (written with English letters)

Translation : Sir, could you give me code of B (problem B) ? I'd be glad.Sir I need it too much.

UPD: His/Her new PM:

Translation : Sir, don't do that.Please erase my name.

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -11 Vote: I do not like it

    y u so cruel? just erase his/her name :)

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -6 Vote: I do not like it

    One should never forget the fact that there is no gain in name and shame. People do make mistakes, you can ask admins to ban them, but it really does not give anybody any right to make their names public unless admins have such a policy.

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      10 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +33 Vote: I do not like it

      ...but it really does not give anybody any right to make their names public...

      Nor is that forbidden, huh? I really don't get it. Are you saying "they do bad, but if you talk about that in public, you do bad too"? How so?

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        10 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

        "they do bad, but if you talk about that in public, you do bad too"?

        We can talk about the incident in public. There is no problem in that. The only problem is making their names public. I think the harm that they have caused you by asking code is far less than the harm you are going to cause them by making their name public. There is a social pressure involved. His reputation in the peer group might be reduced leading him to state of solitude.

        The ideal way according to me in such kind of cases would be to report the admins and then they can take the desired action.

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          10 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +23 Vote: I do not like it

          Good, I can see some sense in being nice up to a certain point, like "don't talk about people's misguided actions no matter how they bother you". That's a solid position at least.

          On the other hand, if one is breaking social rules, why would one seek — and get — protection by similar social rules? Not only it does not sound logical, it's also dangerous for the rules themselves when you go beyond a certain point.

          The debate is perhaps on where that point is. Surely we can construct some extreme examples which support both cases.

          Generally, I see no more harm in publishing cheating recruitment attempts than in making such attempts. I value the contest rules more than personal feelings of would-be cheaters.

          Also, I'd like to note that we have a few examples of people who cheated in the past but later became valuable community members. So it's not putting a lifetime "bad guy" label on a person if that person becomes willing to improve their standing in the community.

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          10 years ago, # ^ |
          ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

          By the way, this seems to be an extreme case. I think several people (including me) received messages from this user. If one intentionally keeps doing this kind of action , I don't see why we should be considerate of his feeling or reputation.

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -12 Vote: I do not like it

There is a way of cheating that most of you don't know that :) I know someone who participated in Codeforces and copied codes just from IDEONE and solved Div.2 A, B, C, D this way !

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +61 Vote: I do not like it

In topcoder there is another way of cheating.Two people in the same room make a obvious wrong submission and in challenge phase they hack each other.(As you know there is no pretest in topcoder). I have seen this for one (or two) times(In about 50 contests i participated) . When two low rated coders submit div1-c in topcoder in my room , i really found that their code is wrong and may be they are cheating. And i wanted to challenge both of them but they were faster than me. (It seemed they are really cheating because in the first second of challenge phase they challenged each other.)

When i opened their profiles i found they are from the same country and same school(university). Probability of that two friends (cheater friends :)) be in a same room is very low but it's not impossible.

I don't know why somebody cheat. Why they are trying to lose fun of contest and gain rating? (May be they think cheating is so fun :)). Rating can be gained by training but they can't enjoy contest.

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10 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

I will never understand what is the point of faking your contest rating. It must be some ego-related sh*t, need for others approval...

By the way, has Codeforces any plagiarism-detection tool?

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

I too received such messages before. It was few years ago, right after I started doing contest on CF.

Funny thing, he asked me to give him solution of A and in return promised to give solution of B. A person who cannot solve A, can solve B?? Maybe he was telling someone else to give him B and he will give C... What a swindler :p

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it

    That sounds a bit like a programming problem.

    "There are N users and M problems. i-th user is willing to send him solution for problem a_i if he offers the solution for b_i in return. How many problems can he solve by sending messages?"

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

I received such a request too before the previous Div2-only round. That person was very neat and well-mannered though, as they requested the codes 3 days in advance, and wrote "please help me" no less than 4 times in the message.

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

    neat and well-mannered

    I prefer to call that "obstinate" :D

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

By saying Bye ^-^

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10 years ago, # |
← Rev. 5   Vote: I like it +24 Vote: I do not like it

He has many accounts! I just know these:

mahdi123 majid1234 contest1234 -O2 delairer alghoritm mamadak

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

Results of 259 Div 2 D Problem. Filter by FPC language.

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +23 Vote: I do not like it

I usually give an absurd answer with no meaning translated with google translate in a random language that have few chances to be spoken. It usually works, they don't try to insist more.

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10 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +21 Vote: I do not like it

Apparently I'm also a lucky message recipient :)

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10 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -92 Vote: I do not like it

It's ridiculous that you all discuss those messages with such high importance.

The best course of action here is to consider them as spam and don't bother answering.

Moreover, I don't think that guys that send such messages deserve ban — they just try to do that they can and probably they even don't know that rules prohibit it. For example, you can read comments on any easy problem on any Codechef contest and you will find a bunch of guys that seek help and don't understand elementary things that are described in the problem statement — it just means that they should be given time to become more professional in contest environment or give up it at all.

And last but not least — I find behavior of high rated coders who report such cases very mean and shameful.

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +28 Vote: I do not like it

    just try to do that they can — it is a joke, right? Some of rules are just a matter of common sense. Something may be not so obvious for beginners: do rules allow using prewritten code from Inthernet, do they allow using your own prewritten code, do they allow precalculated constants in code, do they allow using google during contest, do they allow to ask administration questions like "what will be the answer for input...". But some things should be obvious for everybody. Asking other person to solve contest instead of you is clearly a violation. It is like trying to use a bike or a car during marathon run — even if you never read exact rules, it should be intuitively clear that this is wrong. Isn't it obvious that asking someone to solve exam instead of you, or to take part in sport contest instead of you, or to solve CF round instead of you — is wrong?

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

Bargaining


Challenge Case

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