Hello Codeforces community,

In this post I want to address the two major problems that I see with cf and provide a solution to them to my level of knowledge.

Cheating and Numerous Valueless posts and users floating on cf.

The first is related to cheating. Initially I believed that cheating can not be done in short contests but after being an active user for more than 4 months on codeforces & other sites, I've now understood that I was wrong. Cheating can happen in any contest be it Codechef-XYZ or Google-XYZ or CF-XYZ, but it for sure doesn't go unnoticed. A section of other users notices the cheating and if no strict action is taken on it, then majority of the same section gets encouraged to do the same and they make pairs or divide the tasks for the future contests. Hence, the fact that no action was taken on the offense acts as a propagator for others to do the same.

Solution :

< copy-pasted-from-my-comment >

I think I have an idea how these cheating activities can be reduced. Codeforces should have a feature to report plag in which we can link the profiles of all the users who are allegedly cheating in the previous contests.

A bot could then match the recent contests' solutions of all those users and if a similarity above a certain percentage is found, then the case should be forwarded to a moderator who can penalize them as per the rules.

Also anyone can also link the similar solutions like above in the feature to make things easier. This can be helpful during the hacking phase as it will then be permanently displayed in rankings of the contest too.

I believe users from the same institutes read solutions of their colleagues and friends after the contest and are more likely to detect plag, but then they make another fake profile and flood the posts which is quite annoying for someone who doesn’t care about all these.

I don’t know if cf has this thing but if it doesn’t, then the idea should be forwarded to Mike sir asap.

Coming to the second problem:

The useless posts and fake accounts. I was curious to find out how easier it could be to make an account on codeforces if I already have one and if I don't want to use my real email. Turns out it is pretty easy, anyone can do it in a matter of seconds — or even make a bot to do so.. I won't disclose how, because I don't want to promote it in any way, but it is a problem as it is. ((I along with many other users was using Amino App in the same way but last year Amino saw it as a problem and banished all the fake accounts before announcing their Amino+ version.))

After the fake account is created the user solves a recent question, and then posts their sh*t which is perfectly annoying for me.

Solution :

An email validator should be added to check if the emails are authentic, or less likely cf should validate the user by taking some sort of identity (just adding it but I don't suggest as it will be harder to maintain). Also cf can increase the count of problems a user needs to solve before posting to 10, maybe, or 15. For making a comment 1 is okay~

I understand that having more satisfied users is best for cf and the community but compromising the quality of Codeforces with it is just unbearable for me. I prefer not giving codechef long for the sole reason that mass cheating happens there and evryone asks for solution (so irritating) and stay away from codechef discuss at the time of long contest. Due to which I'm somewhat losing my interest in cc problems and contests. (By satisfied I meant that the users who solve the problem after cheating also feel satisfied and if they are caught and penalized they won't and maybe leave the platform. But believe me, they won't.)

I'm taking the case of India, because majority of users happen to be from India, myself included. It is not that only Indian cheats, but a proportion in every country's population have the same mindset and since the population of Indians on cf is also huge so they always end up being a target.

Also, I believe(pmw) that someone who loves something or is passionate about it won't cheat with their hobby. And I don't know the case about other countries but in mine, cp is not seen as a hobby by a majority but as a chance to get popular in their surrounding or to get a job pfft. So they do whatever they could to gain it. For them I would say — take cp as an opportunity and not as a chance (PM me and I would elaborate). And also they won't leave the community if penalized because of the same reason(chance).

Rest I hav no problems with cf or any other users. This was just my thought on it, and I myself didn't like the idea of making a post on it but in the end I did.

P.s. I don't want anyone to heavily criticize a country and its people based on the small proportion in it which is moron or whatever u wnt to call it. We are not taught to cheat in our schools. Cheating is simply a seed that grows like a weed(unnoticed) and turns into a poisonous plant and it can happen with anyone, anywhere. Instead we are taught to be maryada-purushottam like Shree Ram. So I req everyone to develop a pious character like Shree Ram and discourage what's wrong. Jai Shree Ram.

Happy Coding!