I don't recall any rules about those not playing in the private round not being able to play in the public round.

Granted it would be impossible to win overall, but as I see it anyone can play in public round.

Also, if someone trims points off of code you or anyone else posts then they then get a lower score than the poster until such time as the poster or someone else posts lower code.

There is no PROPRIETARY RIGHTS to the code just as there was not in the PERLGolf challenges.

I'm not going to go back and read all the rules now, but I don't remember any rules like that, but if there are then I think they should be removed to be in the real spirit of the Perl Challenge this is modeled after.