I am removing my contest proposal from Codeforces.
Note: This is a serious blog post. Also, the opinions presented in this blog are my own and not of my friend BiIIy who wrote the contest with me.
Today I have removed my contest proposal from Codeforces. I should probably have done this a long time ago. The proposal was made in February, but the problems were written and finished by March, and that is when I opened the contest proposal for review and messaged KAN. It is currently December and no progress or development has been made regarding my contest proposal since, so I will be removing it.
I have multiple reasons for removing my contest proposal:
I have no motivation to host an online contest anymore.
I am involved in problem setting with two other high school programming contests in my university, and I write, host, and judge another contest for local high schools.
I have forgotten that I “was in the queue” for writing a Codeforces contest anyway.
Codeforces is not motivated to work with me.
Codeforces does not communicate.
Codeforces is one of the biggest, most important, and most influential platforms in competitive programming so I think it should be held to a high standard. My main motivation writing this blog post is to let other aspiring problem setters know of my experience, and so that Codeforces will look for ways to improve their system for the new year. Specifically, I request Codeforces to be more transparent and honest with those of us waiting in line.
My experience with problem setting for Codeforces is as follows:
Some time in February, Billy and I decide that we want to host a Codeforces contest.
Between then and the end of March, we write five problems that we think would make a good Div2 round. When we finished the set, we opened the contest for review and I messaged KAN.
In May I decide I can write a better B problem so, since I’ve had no response yet, I wrote it and added it to the contest.
Sometime in July this guy writes a blog, I comment on it (click on the link and see context), which attracts the attention of Codechef, and they ask me to send them my problems to them. I do, and they reply quickly with some criticism of the problems. However, at the time I was abroad and school season began, so I decide to give up on writing a contest for the time being.
That guy with the blog was able to host a contest. I assume that is because he had a Div1 contest ready, which may be in higher demand. This is OK… But time continues to pass without any kind of communication from Codeforces. As I was already uninterested in hosting anymore, this is probably when I should have removed my proposal.
October 28th, KAN writes back. This is the only thing I hear from them.
November 7th, I get a comment on (just) one of the problems from 300iq. (image) (For context: in this problem I describe a mincost maxflow solution. I do not think that the feedback I received is useful feedback) I am still not sure what that comment means. No matter, I won’t hear from him again.
Fast forward to today.
I hope to bring these issues to light so that we can have conversation. Currently there are very few posts on this website that provide information regarding contest writing. It is possible that Codeforces simply gives priority to already trusted problem setters and will only use new problem setters as a last resort. I believe Codeforces should not waste our time. It should not take you months to comment on 5 simple problems, provided to you in the most abridged form (as you ask), unless you literally have hundreds of competitions in the queue. If that were the case, Codeforces should make an announcement – “Hey everyone, there are hundreds of contest proposals and it is impossible for our small team to review them all. We will not be looking for any new contest proposals for….” some estimated time.
When I used to try and look up information about Codeforces contest setting, such as what should my expectations be? how long does it take? etc. I could not find anything. Hopefully now, when some other problem setter wishes to learn what I wanted to know they will find this blog.
I will make some suggestions for Codeforces, I hope the team reads these and comments. Ultimately, it is their decision what action to take regarding my complaint. Every reasoning for my arguments is based on assumption. I could not possibly know what happens behind the scenes because Codeforces does not communicate. Therefore, some of these suggestions may be invalid.
My suggestions are as follows:
Codeforces should be more transparent. Some people write poor contests. Their problems may be poorly thought out, vague, uncreative, obvious, or they may have an anime protagonist. In these cases, Codeforces should reply immediately with the issue.
Codeforces may, at some point in time, have too many proposals from novice problem setters. It is perfectly reasonable for Codeforces to be honest and turn away some of these problem setters. It’s like hiring for a job: you have no obligation to hire somebody unqualified. However, it is the company’s ethical and respectful obligation to reply to them promptly and reject the contest proposal. It is a proposal after all.
If Codeforces has too many contest proposals in the queue, they should make an announcement. Something that will let people know that their contest may take longer than usual to be reviewed.
Codeforces should have two separate queues. One for Div1+Div2, and one for Div2 (maybe one for Div3, if Codeforces wishes to allow people to write problems for these in the future). Once you open your contest for review, you should be able to see your position in the queue. This way you can see how long you may have to wait.
When a contest is finally assigned a person to review it, that person should review it promptly. Two months to review five problems, as has happened to me, is absurd. Even then, I only got very vague feedback on a single problem! Concerns, criticism, and compliments (if applicable) should be given to each problem, so that if work needs to be done, the problem setter can get started.
There may be more issues with the system. I wouldn’t know. It took me nine months and I only made it this far.
I have two purposes writing this blog. One is that I hope that Codeforces will look for ways to improve the contest writing system the coming year, and two is to enlighten some other novice problem setters who are still waiting in line for their chance to write their first Codeforces contest by sharing my experiences. The second reason is why I am making a public blog post rather than just PMing Mike, and by making a blog I think it is more likely to attract attention to the issue at hand. By no means is my intention to publicly shame anyone mentioned in this blog.
To reiterate, I do not wish to hold a Codeforces contest anymore, so I am not asking for Codeforces to review my problems. I do ask that Codeforces does not use my problems in a contest without my permission, and that the content of the problems be kept confidential. I may return to contest writing for Codeforces in the future, but not unless changes are made. (At this rate you could have a child before you can have a contest). If you are a new problem setter I would recommend considering Codechef, they respond much faster.
Lastly, it is undeniable that Codeforces is a fantastic competitive programming platform. It is one of the best things to happen to competitive programming period, and it does wonders to the community. I personally owe a huge portion of my programming skill to this website, and I want to see its success continue. It is by far the website I use most frequently in competitive programming. The work that MikeMirzayanov and the team does is admirable, and Codeforces makes tremendous progress every year as the contest programming scene grows. I have great respect for the Codeforces team and I hope that this criticism is not taken negatively. Like I said before, Codeforces should seek to meet a high standard, and it should be more communicative with aspiring problem writers. Otherwise, why even give the ability to propose a contest to all Experts+?
I hope to see a response from the team which will address some of these issues, and that Codeforces will work to make a better experience for contest writers in the coming year.
