The following is a guide of actions to be taken in the case of an accusation that a team cheated or otherwise violated the rules of competition.
Accusations of cheating may include but are not limited to:
- A team using somebody else’s code
- A team misrepresenting the work they did
- A team having too many team members
- A team using code that was written outside the event
If any of the participant or team member on the premises of the hackathon is aware of an accusation of cheating, please get in touch with the organisers of Hackofiesta as soon as possible. If it is after the event, please email at hack@iiitl.ac.in. The following steps are to be followed while reporting an incident. One of the Hackofiesta Staff will assist you in doing so.
Try to get as much of the allegation in written form. The important information to gather include the following:
- Identifying information (name, email, phone, etc.) of the reporter
- Identifying information (name, email, phone, etc.) of the participant/team accused of cheating
- Reason the reporter suspects cheating
- Other people suspected to be involved in the cheating
- Other witnesses / people who suspect the cheating
- Any relevant URLs (e.g. for GitHub repos)
Once something is reported to a staff member, immediately contact the organisers at hack@iiitl.ac.in.
Once the Hackofiesta Team have been contacted they will investigate the allegation by reviewing public materials about the hack, including project repos, project submissions, and anything else available to them.
If the team determines cheating did not occur, they will compile a report and inform the reporter accordingly.
If the team is unable to determine that cheating did not occur based on publicly available resources, they will then communicate with the alleged cheater. Informing them of what has been reported about them.
The alleged cheater will be allowed to give their side of the story to the staff. After this point, if the report stands, the alleged cheater will be let to know the actions that will be taken against them.
Some actions when dealing with alleged cheating offenders may include:
- Warning the cheater to cease their behaviour and that any further reports will result in sanctions
- Not allowing the participants to win prizes
- Revocation of prizes & recognitions
- Banning the participants from future events (either indefinitely or for a certain time period)
- Publishing an account of the cheating
Sanctions for cheating are covered by the Disciplinary Action Policy.
Depending on the cheating allegation, the team may decide to make one or more public announcements. If necessary, this will be done with a short announcement. No one other than the Hackofiesta Organisers or someone delegated authority from Hackofiesta should make any announcements.
If some attendees were angered by the cheating, it is best to apologise to them that the cheating occurred to begin with. If there are residual hard feelings, suggest to them to write an email to Hackofiesta. It will be dealt with accordingly.