Hello everyone,
We've taken into account your comments and critique. After multiple rounds of testing and debate, we've finalized the details for our new rating algorithm.
The calculations behind the new algorithm will be left unchanged from the previous discussion. As a reminder, they were listed here:
Previously, we had discussed the possibility of having contest seasons, as well as how users would be penalized for having not participated in a contest (that they had registered for). We've taken into account your thoughts, and have decided that:
Contest Seasons
Contest Seasons will not be supported until further notice.
Penalties for lack of participation
A user is considered to have not participated if they had both registered for the contest, but had not made any submissions. An issue with the previous ranking model was that users would be excessively penalized for having not participated in a contest, to the point of never being able to recover from the drop in their ranking.
We will not be making an explicit exception for users failing to participate in a contest. However, with our new rating algorithm, we will be able to avoid situations where users previously could not recover from the drop in their ratings. The geometric mean (m) of the expected ranking and actual ranking from the new algorithm ensures that participants will observe relatively small fluctuations in drops of their rating, compared to fluctuations in increases of their rating.
This means that if a user registered for, but had not participated in a contest, they will now be able to recover from the drop in rating in a short period of time to a level that is reflective of their contest proficiency.
Additionally, we noticed that with the existing algorithm, we would run into situations where there would be many participants who were unable to submit any solutions during the contest, but whose rankings would be drastically different from one another. Ratings calculated using these unfair rankings would be similarly unfair.
The new rating algorithm will change this phenomenon for the better. Participants who have the same contest scores and finish times will now share the same ranking.
As a reminder, you will not be penalized if you had not registered for some given contest.
Comments
We would love to hear about what you think about these two decisions. Please leave us a comment below. We will review them individually. ❤️