Hey , @admins : Sorry ! But I could not resist the temptation to share this with fellow code cheffers .
Being on the list of chefs for the “LUNCH TIME” contest that Code Chef organises , I have come to know that Code Chef might make major changes from October contest for the LONG contest .
Things on table are like :
Separate test cases for Challenge question . ( Something that I suggested )
Limit on number of submissions for Challenge question during the contest ( Again something I pointed out ) .
Partial marking just like Lunch time contest . ( Many have asked for this , since long time ago . )
It is really good that they are trying to make changes. One thing i would like to suggest is about Comment Moderation during Long Contest. Best example is LEEXAM during the current contest. People were asking queries like “Should we output 0 for N>16” and also people put comments like “What use of setting limit as 50 when answer is 0 for n>16”. Besides a lot of people discuss test cases .Such comments are not limited to only one question and can be seen every contest. I feel give away the major concept of the question and hence degrade the quality of the contest.It takes a lot of time for admins to delete such comments(over 1 day sometimes) as it is not possible for them to be around always.
I would suggest that Code chef implement a system like the discussion forum wherein users above a specific Karma or even normal users are allowed to delete or atleast hide such comments till they are reviewed by the admins. This would be much faster and convenient for admins also. I would also request everybody to refrain from posting such comments and maintain the quality of the contest.
@kcahdog : Maybe comments on problem page during a “LIVE CONTEST” should only be published after moderation . Only comments approved by admins should be published .
@vineetpaliwal Sir, I had suggested this 2 months ago and it was also implemented during a Lunch time contest i guess. I had asked a doubt in some question during the contest.However i did not see either my comment or any response to it for 2-3 hours and have no idea what happened. It will be frustrating to wait 3-4 hours for comments to get published as many people cannot afford to spend so much time waiting.besides it will create a problem because of different time zones in various countries.
Well, for the comment moderation during long contest, one reason according to me is that in Short Contests, all admins/testers/setters are probably online for the complete duration of the contest, and they even discuss for the comments and other things(submissions etc), but in long contests it is not really possible to monitor the comments 24x10, and hence they have mentioned some guidelines and rules and users must abide by those rules while posting comments. Experienced users must report about any such comment which is found breaking any rule and also warn the said person about the comment.
