Diamantis's blog

By Diamantis, history, 21 month(s) ago, In English

I was wondering if the idea of re-arranging the ranks below 1600 or 1900 has been brought to the table before. According to this bot that I found to figure out my percentile, it seems that there are 5 ranks that serve the purpose of distinguishing the best, from the best of the best! That is, master, international master, grandmaster, international grandmaster, legendary grandmaster all belong in the 99th percentile. To present that, I found a random user that is a master and found his percentile in the percentile plot, using the bot I mentioned. I personally cannot speak about these ranks since I'm a mere mortal. However, I think it might be good for the codeforces community if there were more ranks to better describe people that fall below the 99th percentile. It doesn't seem fair to give 1% of the community 5 ranks and 99% of the community also 5 ranks. I personally think that there is a great level gap from rating 600 to 900, and then from 900 to 1200, however they are represented by the same rank. I think this would discourage new users to use this platform. Unless we want to deliberately keep the amount of codeforces enthusiasts relatively small for whatever reason, I think we should consider describing those level gaps I mentioned with new ranks. Also the expert is 300 points, so we could also add another rank there, keep 200 points for expert and completely restructure anything below 1900.

For example, something like this:

  • 0-900: Newbie
  • 900-1100: Pupil
  • 1100-1300: Apprentice (I found out this existed in the past)
  • 1300-1500: Advanced
  • 1500-1700: Specialist
  • 1700-1900: Expert

What do you guys think?

Percentile Plot

  • Vote: I like it
  • -34
  • Vote: I do not like it

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21 month(s) ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

I believe that having 2 extra ranks between newbie and 1200 is unnecessary. 1200 is a fair barrier between complete beginner and someone who has been learning CP for a little. If someone practices PROPERLY for a few weeks they can easily make 1200+. Many people (myself included for a long while) practice incorrectly which is why they get stuck gray/green, so if someone practices correctly they can easily get out of gray.

Also, adding ranks below pupil will just lead to less motivation to get out of gray.

In addition, 1300 should not be considered advanced, I am 1300 but still feel like a beginner in the grand scope of things, all it takes to make 1300 is some basic problem solving skills, greedy algorithms, and binary search.

However, I do think that just adding a percentile indicator may be a good thing though as it would allow for people to gauge their ability relative to others.

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

    I agree with you, 1300-1400 is easily obtainable if you're diligent enough, but a few weeks is not enough time for one to get Pupil if they have no background in math/cp, no matter what

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      21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      I suppose, but still, ~100 problems should be enough to reach pupil with no prior experience, and if you do 2 problems per hour, 3 hours a day that is 17 days. To reach pupil you just have to be able to do 1200-1300 consistently. I agree for some people this may take longer, but lots of the math required for pupil is taught in middle school or early highschool, and people should have understanding of most pupil concepts like maps and binary search from regular coding. Key is doing problems harder than what you are comfortable with, and not reading editorial unless long time spent thinking about the problem.

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        21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        The amount of effort you're suggesting is way more than someone who isn't obsessed with CP would put in. And most newbies wouldn't dedicate 3 hours a day just to get to 1200.

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    So true

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21 month(s) ago, # |
Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

I have no idea about ranks for 0~1600 as I came across with Codeforces relatively later. When I was stuck at ~1400 for too long, I just ditched Codeforces and waited for several months before coming back. The only thing I know is that 2300~2400 for International Master is dumb. Probably giving <700 coders 'Newbie' is dumb too. Maybe 1000 is a better threshold.

However I want to see a new rank for negative rated accounts, called 'Troll' or 'Clown' or something because it's really funny, and the color of every letter on the handle should be different.

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

    Apparently I deserve a 'Clown' title as well, for presenting a serious idea that most people downvoted.

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21 month(s) ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

Why should Advanced come before Specialist ?

The title “Advanced” in my opinion shows someone that has advanced knowledge in algorithms, not much algorithm knowledge is needed to reach Specialist (as of now). I think Specialist -> Advanced -> Expert is better than Advanced -> Specialist -> Expert

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    It's just an example.

    My point was discussing the idea of bringing in new ranks.

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21 month(s) ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it

Newbie ending at 700 is too low.

I think Newbie should end at 1000, have a new rank between 1000 and 1200, and do not mess with anything higher.

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    That's a good idea as well.

    The ranks I presented were just an example to be discussed.

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21 month(s) ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

Imagine getting negative contribution for proposing an idea to the community.

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    21 month(s) ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    It would make sense that I contributed 0 if my idea is bad but I didn't hurt anyone...