Hello all!
The Story
Recently, I was competing in CodeTON Round 5 (Div. 1 + Div. 2, Rated, Prizes!) and enjoying its problems. I solved A, B, and C, and took quite a bit of time with D and then when I finally finished the code for E (which I thought was buggy), there were less than 5 minutes for the contest time, so I submitted really quickly to see if my code passed.
Apparently, I clumsily did not read codeforces rules carefully, but I knew later that having multiple accounts was prohibited in codeforces. I was participating in this contest from another account (EvilProofy) and was planning to compete for the rest of the contest from this account.
When I submitted the code in the last 4-5 minutes in the contest hastily, I realized that I submitted from my main account (this one) by mistake. I clumsily submitted the same codes for the rest of the problems from both accounts; I was in a rush because there was not much time left in the contest.
I felt a bit of sorrow right after the contest because of the clumsy mistake I made, so I released a blog to explain my situation to see if I can undo what has just been done, and it was only then (thanks — so much — to colposh for telling me) that I learned it was mentioned in https://codeforces.com/help#q6: "Don't create more than one account, if you have forgotten the password, use the password reminding system" and then this blog got a flood of downvotes that it even became inaccessible to other codeforces users.
My Reflections
I love codeforces and respect its rules, and I love participating in codeforces contests (Actually, codeforces isn't even related to my career and I just participate for fun). I enjoy the problems, and I don't care that much about rating. I sincerely apologize for not reading the rules carefully; I understand that this deserved the downvotes.
I felt like this contest would appear on my chart as a major drop and scar my account forever, and if someone checked it out, it would appear that I cheated. I wanted to apologize again for not reading carefully and missing this rule. I can even have my other account EvilProofy banned and closed, and I would be OK. I would, of course, love it if the contest was unrated for me and the other account becomes simply closed/banned. However, I really don't care about the rating drop.
I am writing this blog just to make it clear that I did not cheat (I hate cheating). If I had known that creating multiple accounts is prohibited, I would not have created the other account.
It looks to me like I have lost being a respected codeforces user, which troubled me and made me sad for a bit. I am sorry if that blog wasted your time, respected reader, but it was something I wanted to document. Thank you so much for making it here, you're a nice person :)
vouch
Can I ask why you have multiple accounts, to begin with? It's not hard to see why having multiple accounts is not allowed, a Master competing against Newbies is clearly harmful to the community, and it's not as if you lost your password and couldn't recover your original account either, because you accidentally submitted on both!
I only do CP and codeforces contests for fun, and — as I said — I don't care about rating that much; I did not see how it would be harmful to just have both accounts. I wanted to have the experience to participate in rated div. 2 contests again from another account and feel the nerves of having stakes in the contest, not just like any virtual contest. In this contest, I just decided to participate fully from the other account (it really didn't matter to me).
I'm so sorry if just having the two accounts is harmful to anyone. I did not mean it. That's why when I had known that this was not respectful or harmful to the community, I wanted my second account to be closed immediately. I am not going to use it again, anyways.
P.S. Thanks for your question :) It clarified much to me
Honestly, that's a fair response and I understand where you are coming from.
Just to clarify for yourself and others who might want to make second accounts — the reason doing so is harmful is that a person's rating is determined by their relative placement in a given contest. So if a Newbie places better than 75% of other Newbies, they should probably rank up to Pupil. When a high-rated user creates a new account, they disrupt that natural order and take away points from lower-rated users who deserve them.
Thank you so much for your clarification :)
I know some damage has been done by my previous account (hurting other contestants), and I apologize again for that; I'm neither going to create any more accounts nor participate in my previous account again. If there is any way for the other account to be disabled, or for rating changes for other participants to be adjusted, I would love it.
How old are you?
I think you should not have submitted the rest of the problems on the other account, Although I do feel that it is an honest mistake, I don't know if mike will feel the same way.