83: Chapter 83 One Hundred Thousand

This internal message from DataOps_03, an administrator in the platform's technical group, was much more formal than the previous one.

"Hello, Contestant No. 1453."

"Pardon the intrusion, I am Shen Chengye, the head of the technical group for this challenge."

"We have completed the internal review of your supplementary reproduction package here. The review conclusion is consistent with the description in your report: the official Baseline indeed has the issue of mixing training window and test window statistics during the preprocessing stage. This issue was an oversight in our earlier work, and we sincerely apologize for the additional communication cost it has caused you."

It was divided into three points below.

First, the platform will suspend the automated ranking release process and re-evaluate all submission results that obviously follow the official Baseline preprocessing logic. Final scores will no longer be based solely on automated scoring and ranking; instead, the weight of manual review will be increased, focusing on report logic, reproducibility, generalization capability, and compliance with the causal isolation principle for time series.

Second, in addition to the original prize mechanism, the platform intends to pay him a special technical contribution fee. The specific amount is related to whether a limited confidentiality agreement is signed, which can be further discussed.

Third, the platform hopes to invite him as a technical participant in the external data audit special project to assist in the design and review of subsequent competition questions, customer data samples, cleaning scripts, and evaluation processes.

At the end of the private message, the sender wrote very cautiously.

"This cooperation does not constitute an employment relationship, nor does it constitute an exclusive advisory relationship. The specific cooperation model, remuneration standards, confidentiality boundaries, intellectual property ownership, and data access permissions are hoped to be confirmed in writing first, before deciding whether to enter into telephone or video communication."

At the end of the message, a mobile phone number and a corporate email were attached.

The sign-off was: Sincerely yours, Shen Chengye.

Jiang Lin read this letter from beginning to end twice.

The other party's posture was set very low.

But low does not mean simple.

This was not a private apology sent in a panic by some engineer whose loophole was caught, but a risk handling letter that had been scanned by the technical group, the review group, and possibly even the legal department.

The first point is stopping the bleed.

The platform acknowledges the problem, revises the scoring, and gives the contestants a formal explanation. This prevents the matter from being dragged to external forums and then being forced to passively admit mistakes in public opinion.

The second point is compensation.

It is not just a pure bonus, nor is it a crude hush money. To be more precise, it is the risk handling cost paid by the platform for a technical error.

The third point is the real probe.

The platform wants to know whether No. 1453 behind the screen can become an available external technical source for them.

A person who can dismantle an accident in advance before the data turns into an accident.

Such a person is valuable.

Jiang Lin picked up the black pen on the desk and spun it between his fingers.

If he were just an ordinary contestant, seeing this letter would probably make him excited first, then nervous, and finally anxious to add the phone number on WeChat and quickly make a phone call with the other party.

But a phone call is the least suitable communication method for now.

On the phone, emotions would run ahead of the terms.

The other party's remark of we value you very much, a remark that there are many subsequent projects, and a remark that specific prices are all negotiable can easily make a person who lacks money put themselves into the other party's narrative before seeing the boundaries clearly.

Jiang Lin does not need this kind of enthusiasm.

He opened his email and created a new message.

The recipient was filled with the corporate email left by Shen Chengye.

The title reads: Written Reply Regarding Challenge Review, Special Contribution Fee, and Subsequent Cooperation Boundaries

The body text is very short.

"Mr. Shen: Hello."

"It is my honor that the reproduction package can help your platform locate the problem. Regarding the three matters mentioned in your internal message, I hope to confirm the following boundaries in writing first."

First, the closing announcement must clearly state that the official Baseline has the problem of mixing training window and test window statistics in the preprocessing stage, and must also state that the platform has adjusted the final review rules accordingly.

Among the contestants of this session, some may have followed the preprocessing ideas of the Baseline.

They have the right to know why their scores were re-evaluated.

Second, the special technical contribution fee is acceptable.

But the limited confidentiality agreement must be limited.

Your platform's original dataset, internal field meanings, customer information, unreleased review processes, internal rectification arrangements, and the reproduction package source code he submitted can be kept confidential before the platform's official announcement.

But the agreement should not restrict him from publicly discussing general technical issues in the future.

The principle of information leakage caused by mixed standardization of training and test windows, the causal isolation principle in time series data preprocessing, general methodologies for data audit and backtest audit, and independent technical articles not containing platform data, code, and business details should not be included in the confidentiality scope.

Under the premise that the above boundaries are established, he accepts a special technical contribution fee of "100,000 yuan" RMB.

If your side cannot accept this confidentiality boundary, he is willing to give up the special technical contribution fee and only retain the normal participation rights and interests of this challenge.

After writing these lines, Jiang Lin stared at the three characters of "100,000 yuan" for a few seconds.

This number is not small.

At least for him now, it is not small.

It is enough to buy a decent second-hand workstation, several enterprise-level hard drives, a basic oscilloscope, a batch of electronic components and sensors, and re-light some procurement items that were originally marked gray by him.

But 100,000 can't even count as the fringe of freedom.

It is just that little bit of fuel needed when an engine is ignited for the first time.

Jiang Lin will not block all the outlets of future technical expression for this little bit of fuel.

Third is long-term cooperation.

This is the place that needs the most care.

He continued to write downward.

"Regarding the subsequent data audit special cooperation, I do not accept exclusive cooperation, nor do I hope to form a binding with your platform as a fixed consultant."

"The more appropriate way is: both parties sign a framework agreement first, and then each subsequent audit project separately confirms the task statement, data scope, deliverables, time cycle, quotation, confidentiality level, and intellectual property ownership."

"The audit conclusions and rectification suggestions formed for your platform's specific data, specific customers, and specific evaluation system can belong to your internal use according to project agreements."

"However, the general audit scripts, general detection frameworks, abstract methodologies, and process templates formed or improved by me in the project should remain under my personal name. Your side can obtain the intra-project use authorization, but must not obtain exclusive rights, nor restrict me from using them for audit tasks of other non-your-side data."

Writing up to here, Jiang Lin did not continue to report a specific amount.

The 100,000 yuan contribution fee is acceptable because this money corresponds to the work that has already been completed.

But future projects are different.

A single-field review and a complete platform audit are not the same thing.

The emergency vulnerability review before customer delivery is even less the same thing as ordinary data cleaning suggestions.

If he casually reports a number now, he will be locked by this number later.

Finally, he added a paragraph.

"Before the above principles are confirmed, I will temporarily not enter into telephone or video communication. If your side recognizes the above boundaries, please send the revised draft agreement and project quotation suggestions via email first. After I read them, I will decide whether to enter the next stage."

"In addition, regarding the issue of vulnerability disclosure, please rest assured. Before the platform officially releases the closing announcement, I will not publish any information involving your platform's dataset, reproduction package source code, or internal processes on any external channels."

"This is the restraint I should have as a submitter."

After writing, Jiang Lin read through it from beginning to end and deleted a few sharp edges.

Change "binding your platform" to "forming exclusive cooperation".

Change "cannot take away my tools" to "must not obtain exclusive rights to the general tool chain".

The thought of "whoever quotes first loses" of course would not be written out.

Seven forty-two in the evening.

After the email was sent, Jiang Lin did not stare at the mailbox anymore.

For a reply of this level, it is impossible for the other party to make a decision alone. At least the technical group, legal affairs, and competition head must look at it.

If fast, there will be a reply tomorrow morning.

If slow, two or three days is also normal.

Jiang Lin closed the browser, stood up, and stretched his shoulders and neck.

The sky outside the window had already darkened.

Street lights lit up downstairs in the residential area, children chased a football in the open space, and nearby an old man walked slowly holding a thermos cup.

The next morning at nine seventeen, a new email was received in the mailbox.

Sender: Shen Chengye.

Re: Written Reply Regarding Challenge Review, Special Contribution Fee, and Subsequent Cooperation Boundaries

The body text was shorter than Jiang Lin expected.

But there were many attachments.

"Mr. Jiang: Hello."

"Thank you for your clear reply. We have internally discussed the boundaries you proposed, and in principle recognize your opinions on the scope of confidentiality, intellectual property rights, and non-exclusive cooperation forms."

The content below did not beat around the bush.

The platform agrees to clearly state in the closing announcement of the challenge that the Baseline has a statistical leakage problem in the preprocessing stage, and state that the platform has adjusted the review rules.

The announcement will not disclose Jiang Lin's reproduction package source code, nor will it publicize his identity, and will only use "technical review materials submitted by contestant No. 1453" as the source description.

The platform also accepts the special technical contribution fee plan of 100,000 RMB.

A draft limited confidentiality agreement was attached, and Shen Chengye specially added a sentence in the main text:

"This agreement does not restrict you from publicly discussing similar technical issues in the future, nor does it restrict you from publishing methodological articles that do not contain our data, code, and business details."

In the subsequent cooperation part, the other party also made concessions.

The cooperation form was changed to "framework agreement + single task statement".

Each project separately determines the data scope, deliverables, quotation, and intellectual property arrangements.

There was also a quotation draft in the attachment.

Class A, basic field and missing distribution review, 5,000 to 20,000 yuan.

Class B, complete data contamination link audit, 30,000 to 80,000 yuan.

Class C, emergency special projects involving evaluation systems, fairness, customer delivery, or potential platform vulnerabilities, starting from 80,000 yuan, to be negotiated separately.

Seeing this, Jiang Lin tapped his finger lightly on the mouse.

This quotation at least shows that the other party did not treat data audit as a few thousand yuan of outsourcing odd jobs.

There is also a twenty-two-page framework agreement draft in the attachment.

Jiang Lin downloaded it first, then disconnected from the network.

He opened the PDF and started reading from the first page.

The agreement was written looser than he expected.

No exclusivity.

No liquidated damages traps.

No such crude clauses as "all technical achievements formed by Party B during the cooperation period belong to Party A".

But Jiang Lin still stopped at page thirteen.

There was a sentence there: The relevant code, scripts, documents, and methods formed by Party B during the performance of the project shall be preferentially authorized for Party A's use within the scope of business.

Preferential authorization.

The four words looked mild.

But mildness does not mean safety.

It has elasticity.

Elasticity means room for wrangling in the future.

Jiang Lin highlighted this sentence and added a note beside it.

Needs to be changed to: Party A obtains non-exclusive use authorization within the project scope, which does not affect Party B's use for other non-Party A data scenarios.

On page seventeen, there was another sentence: Party B shall not disclose technical problems learned in the project to third parties.

This sentence is also too broad.

The four words "technical problems" can be infinitely expanded.

Today it can refer to the contamination link in customer data.

Tomorrow it can also be interpreted as general principles of time series data audit.

The day after tomorrow, it can even be used to prevent him from writing a technical article that does not involve the platform at all.

Jiang Lin continued to annotate.

Must be limited to: Must not disclose information related to Party A's specific data, customers, business processes, and unreleased system implementations; does not restrict general technical principle discussions.

After reading twenty-two pages, an hour had already passed.

Jiang Lin rubbed his glabella.

The terms did not have big pits.

But there were quite a few small hooks.

Contracts are naturally like this.

When written for cooperation, they must look like cooperation.

When conflicts of interest arise, every vague word inside will become a weapon.

He created a new reply.

This time it was shorter.

"Mr. Shen: Hello."

"I have read the draft agreement, and the overall framework is acceptable, but text revisions need to be made to the following two places before signing."

He listed the problems on page thirteen and page seventeen.

Finally, he added a paragraph: "The special technical contribution fee this time corresponds to the completed technical review materials, and should not be automatically regarded as my acceptance of the long-term cooperation framework agreement. The special contribution fee agreement and the subsequent framework cooperation agreement should be signed separately and take effect separately."

This sentence must be there.

Money is money.

Future cooperation is future cooperation.

Cannot let the 100,000 yuan become the platform's ticket to drag him into a long-term contract.

After the email was sent, Shen Chengye replied very quickly this time.

Before long, the new draft was passed over.

Both texts were modified.

Preferential authorization was deleted and changed to non-exclusive use authorization within the project scope.

Technical problems were also narrowed down, limited only to Party A's specific data, customer information, business processes, unreleased system implementations, and project conclusions, no longer restricting discussions of general technical principles, general audit methods, and publicly reproducible examples.

The other party made concessions quickly.

It shows that they care more at this moment about things being controlled within formal procedures.

It also shows that 100,000 yuan is just an acceptable accident handling cost for the platform.

But for Jiang Lin, this is the beginning of another meaning.

For the first time, he used his anonymous technical ability to exchange a clean sum of money from the commercial system of the Real World.

What is truly important is not the 100,000 yuan.

But that the Real World priced his technical judgment for the first time.

When Jiang Lin thought this, the email reminder at the bottom right corner of the computer jumped again.

Shen Chengye sent the final confirmation email.

"Mr. Jiang, the revised agreement has been adjusted according to your opinion. After your confirmation, we will process the special technical contribution fee first. The platform closing announcement is expected to be released at 8:00 tonight."

8:00 tonight.

Now, there are still two and a half hours until the announcement is released.

Jiang Lin closed the mailbox and leaned back in his chair.

On the leaderboard, No. 1453 was still ranked seventh.

But by 8:00 tonight, all contestants will see one thing.

The person who truly changed the rules of this competition is not at the top of the leaderboard.