Issue: Improve Handling of Users with Zero Score in Leaderboard Ranking

[Yashaswini-K-P]

Description

Currently, users with 0 solved problems appear in the leaderboard and are assigned a rank. When multiple users have the same score (0), the ranking becomes arbitrary and does not provide meaningful ordering.

This makes the leaderboard less useful when many users have no activity yet

Current Behavior

-->Users with 0 solves are included in the leaderboard
-->They are assigned ranks even when all scores are equal
-->Ranking order among zero-score users appears arbitrary

Expected Behavior

-->Users with 0 solves should not be ranked in a competitive way
OR
-->They should be grouped under a separate section like:
“No activity yet”
If included in leaderboard, ordering should be stable and non-competitive

Suggested Fix Options

Choose one consistent approach:

*Option 1 (Recommended):
Exclude 0-score users from ranking
Show them separately under “No activity yet”

*Option 2:
Keep them in leaderboard but:
Do not assign rank numbers
Sort them by a stable fallback (username / join time).

Can u assign it to me, so that i can work on it.

[github-actions]

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[jagdish-15]

I do agree that the current handling of users with identical scores, especially 0 scores, can feel somewhat arbitrary. Though instead of limiting this only to zero-score users, I think it may make more sense to extend the logic to all users with equal scores and implement proper tied rankings instead.

For example:

1. Hiya 500
1. Maitreyee 500
3. Jagdish 480
4. Hridaya 470
4. Afaan 470
6. Aditya 430

rather than assigning different competitive ranks to users with the same score.

This would naturally solve the 0 score issue as well, while also making the leaderboard behavior more consistent overall.

What are your thoughts on approaching it that way?

[Yashaswini-K-P]

I agree with implementing tied ranking for users with equal non-zero scores, as it improves fairness we can create a seperate issue for it.
However, I think zero-score users should be treated separately from ranking logic, since they represent inactive users rather than a tie scenario.
We can either exclude them from ranking or group them as inactive to keep leaderboard meaningful.

[jagdish-15]

Sure, I'll assign this issue to you. Just make sure the implementation fits well with the existing terminal-style theme of the platform.

Also, please create a separate issue for tied rankings among users with equal non-zero scores if you're up for working on that as well!

[Yashaswini-K-P]

could you clarify which design direction you'd prefer for the zero-score users?
--> Remove 0-score users from the leaderboard completely and show them under a separate "No activity yet" section. OR
-->Keep them at the very bottom of the leaderboard, but without any rank numbers assigned.

[jagdish-15]

I think the first approach would make more sense here, since the second one makes virtually no difference to the overall leaderboard experience.

Please also make sure this integrates properly with the existing search/filtering behavior, pagination, mobile layout, and the overall terminal-style UI consistency of the platform.

[jagdish-15]

On a second thought, I think this should probably be handled slightly differently across the leaderboard tabs.

Users who have no activity whatsoever (overall score = 0) can be moved into a separate “No activity yet” section across the leaderboards.

But users who do have an overall score, yet temporarily have a 0 score in the daily/weekly/monthly leaderboards, should still remain visible there, just without being assigned competitive ranks for that specific period.

Example-

1. A
2. B
3. C
────────────────
-- D
-- E
-- F

Otherwise the daily/weekly/monthly leaderboards may end up looking almost empty most of the time.