Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share something that has been on my mind for a long time. I’ve been working very hard on competitive programming — practicing daily, solving problems, and improving my logic. But something strange (and honestly painful) keeps happening to me.

On LeetCode, my best contest performance (Weekly Contest 449) came when I solved Q4 for the first time. My rank was around 500, and I was so happy and excited for a big positive delta — but then the contest was declared unrated due to an error in problem C.

And today, on Codeforces, I had another of my best performances. For the first time, I solved Problem E1 in a Div1+2 round. My rank was around 1100 (note: my previous best rank was 2258), and I was so excited that I would finally get a big rating boost… but then I saw the announcement: the round was declared unrated because of a missing condition in Problem D.

It feels like every time I perform my absolute best, something out of my control ruins it. I was about to beat my previous record by a huge margin, but again… unlucky.

I know rating is not everything, and I mainly do this to improve my skills — but you can imagine how discouraging it feels when your rare peak performances don’t “count.”

This has happened to me back-to-back, and I’m feeling very sad right now.

If you participated in a recent Codeforces contest and felt disappointed seeing your rank, you are not alone. Many honest participants are facing a harsh reality—contests are being ruined by unfair activities. And who suffers? The honest participants—the ones who work hard, solve problems on their own, and genuinely try to improve. (Even me after solving 3 question seeing rank 6500+... so disappointed and sad)

The Problems a genuine user face

• Cheating on YouTube & Telegram – Solutions for problems are leaked within minutes, and hundreds/thousands of users take advantage of them.

• AI-Assisted Cheating (ChatGPT, DeepSeek, etc.) – Some users use AI tools during live contests to get logic or even full solutions for 3+ problems.

• Smurfing (Alternate Accounts by High-Rated Coders) – Some CMs/GMs create new accounts to compete in lower division and take away deserved ranks from real participants.(I looked at the first page of standings in Div2, and i saw 3 unrated and 2 newbie account Is this a joke?)

It’s frustrating to see cheaters getting better ranks, but remember: They are not learning anything. In the long run, they will fail when real skills are tested. Your progress is real. Every problem you solve on your own makes you better, while they remain weak despite their fake ratings.

Stay Focused, Stay Honest Ranks and ratings are temporary, but real problem-solving skills last forever. So, to all genuine coders—keep grinding, keep improving, and don’t let cheaters demotivate you!'

Keep practicing.

Keep competing.

Keep believing in yourself.