The Quizbowl Resource Center

by **tintinnabulation** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:05 pm

cornfused wrote:
nadph wrote:The server's still timing out when I try to access http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sharadmv/, even after clearing my cache. Any word as to why this might be? Sorry about the confusion.

Still down here, too.

Same.

by **InfiniteJest101** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:59 pm

Sharad,

Hello! Let me begin by saying thank you so much for providing this resource for the rest of us Quiz-bowl fanatics --your database is definitely the best for a high school quizbowl player. Kudos to you and all those who helped you make this possible.

That being said, I would like echo the concern of others, that in essence your database has become inaccessible and something of a frustration. I have no qualms about the redesign/relaunch of the Torry Pines database, but just now I attempted to access QuizBowl Central and it once again timed-out. Any improvements to the site, including multiplayer, are rendered meaningless if the site can't even be accessed in the first place. Alongside the rest of my team, the main reason I frequent the site, as I imagine most people do, is to research questions and learn new things for Quiz Bowl competition.

Is there any way you can resurrect the "old" TorryPines website while you work out the kinks in QuizBowl Central? Perhaps at least for the remainder of this semester? If the database if not going to be available, quite frankly I would rather you just publicly shut it down than have us continuously cross our fingers hope we get in to a resource that worked fine in its previous incarnation.

Again, thanks A MILLION for offering the database in the first place - just wanted to offer some feedback.

-Z

Poster was reminded to offer us more of a signature than "Z." --mgmt

by **sharadmv** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:01 pm

I am currently building the website with a more stable framework. It most definitely will not crash anymore. I'll let you guys know when it's done.

by **Grams's Go-Go Boots** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:17 am

InfiniteJest101 wrote:Sharad,

Hello! Let me begin by saying thank you so much for providing this resource for the rest of us Quiz-bowl fanatics --your database is definitely the best for a high school quizbowl player. Kudos to you and all those who helped you make this possible.

That being said, I would like echo the concern of others, that in essence your database has become inaccessible and something of a frustration. I have no qualms about the redesign/relaunch of the Torry Pines database, but just now I attempted to access QuizBowl Central and it once again timed-out. Any improvements to the site, including multiplayer, are rendered meaningless if the site can't even be accessed in the first place. Alongside the rest of my team, the main reason I frequent the site, as I imagine most people do, is to research questions and learn new things for Quiz Bowl competition.

Is there any way you can resurrect the "old" TorryPines website while you work out the kinks in QuizBowl Central? Perhaps at least for the remainder of this semester? If the database if not going to be available, quite frankly I would rather you just publicly shut it down than have us continuously cross our fingers hope we get in to a resource that worked fine in its previous incarnation.

Again, thanks A MILLION for offering the database in the first place - just wanted to offer some feedback.

The feedback of complaining that a free service isn't working perfectly, and so just tear it down? And who cares if you would rather it just publicly shut it down? Is it going to mar and/or sully the good name of "InfiniteJest101"? Sharad, please think twice before you ruin the reputation of David Foster Wallace any more.

Sharad's busted his ass just to even set this thing up in the first place. A feature doesn't work immediately? Boy, if only there was some alternate way to practice quiz bowl. Like, I dunno, actual practices, or IRC, or the whole thing that's going on with Skype.

There's just this assumption that people are not only willing to do things to benefit others with minimal gains for themselves, but they're willing to do that while people make unreasonable demands about them. Guess what? They won't. You're actually going to make people stop doing things that benefit quiz bowl. But hey, I guess we can also yell at people who put all this work in for no reason other than to actually do something good for quiz bowl, and then be shocked - SHOCKED - when people stop making goodwill gestures because everyone acts like jerks. This sounds like the best possible plan to me!

by **Mike Bentley** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:07 am

I suppose I'll mention that the IRC TriviaBot (aka scobowl) does some of the same things that Quizbowl Central does (namely, read questions to you). If you don't want to deal with playing other random people in #scobowl, you can host your own instance of it and have it read questions to you across various sets. Information on this is available at places like http://www.aegisquestions.com/triviabot/, http://www.doc-ent.com/quizbowl/triviabot and http://code.google.com/p/qbbot.

by **shandotassadar** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:50 am

I hope I am not the only one who has experienced a particular problem when using the site. I know you can set the category to a specific subject, but when I tried setting the categories to two or more specific subjects, the site completely stops working. I feel bad when this happens, especially when I was playing with others and the site cannot be used again until it is reset.

This problem has occurred three times: all the same trying to set it to specific categories. I am guessing that is the problem...and I know not to even dare try it again, unless to irritate my friends I play with...hahaha....oi.....SORRY!!!

by **Black-throated Antshrike** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:18 am

Is the entire site down right now, because I can't connect to it? Also, how well does it play with Opera?

by **Coldblueberry** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:20 am

Does anyone else have problems logging in/creating an account?

by **sharadmv** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:19 am

Just wanted to say that OCF will be very flaky. I am currently creating a more stable site to hopefully release this weekend.

by **tintinnabulation** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:33 pm

Hey Sharad, thanks for getting the site back up! It's great. If you decide to do another update, could you try to make the site a bit more compatible for small screens? I am not a technical tech person, so I do not know how difficult that would be for you to do, but I can't hit "buzz" on my netbook without going full screen or zooming out because there is no scroll; it doesn't automatically reformat for a smaller screen, either. On my phone (Android, if that matters), I can't scroll over to the edge to hit "generate" on the reader, which is obviously a bit of a hitch.

I really appreciate all the work you've done on the site, especially with all of us nagging you during the downtime. You've done a great job. If you're doing another update, I'd love it if you could try to fix the problems I've run into.

(Oh, and I think it's still impossible to create an account. Anybody else still getting that?)

by **cornfused** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:59 pm

Heck, it's still down for me.

by **tintinnabulation** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:01 pm

cornfused wrote:Heck, it's still down for me.

Worked for me on Friday night, now it's down again. Timing out.

by **sharadmv** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 6:45 am

Greetings!

Finally, a new (stable) site is ready for release!

It is located at http://www.quizbowldb.com. YES! A DOMAIN NAME!
It is still under construction, as the multiplayer has not yet been completed. However, I will be working hard to finish that over the upcoming weeks.

New Features:
1. New Name: Quizbowl DB (due to domain name issues)
2. MUCH better UI (uses newer front-end technologies, such as Twitter Bootstrap, backbone.js, underscore.js, jQuery, HTML5 inputs, CSS3)
3. MUCH better backend (still running on node.js, but utilizing better file serving (via expressjs and ejs), more efficient code, much more stable, etc.)
4. Upgraded reader (nicer features in general)
5. Upgraded search (nicer UI, faster!, paginated results, --no download just yet, but working on it)
6. Social integration. Yes, I now have integrated Facebook into the quizbowl site. I feel that since so many users are online at the same time, I should make it a more social experience. I hope this way, it will be a more personal experience and will help encourage members of the quizbowl community to get to know each other.
This also solves several other problems. This creates an almost-foolproof authentication system! Unlike my old, somewhat sketchy one, this one utilizes OAuth 2.0 with Facebook, so it is highly secure. Furthermore, this solves the issue of "trolls" in the multiplayer/single player that will mess with the system. Your account is directly tied to your Facebook, so therefore, you NEED a Facebook to use any of the "social" features of this site. While logged in, your scores will be recorded for statistical purposes, as they were before. IMPORTANT NOTE: I will not be getting all your FB information!!!!!!!! All the information I get is 1. Your general public FB information (available to everyone in the universe), 2. Your email (so i can send notifications and updates like this to everyone). The main reason for the FB integration is for better authentication and some social-ness for the site. I don't need/want all of your guys's information, so don't be scared by the scary "Allow permissions" dialog. I want this site to be as fun and useful for you guys as possible.
7. More stable realtime technology. I'm utilizing a new technology which allows for cross-domain, cross-protocol, cross-language RPC and message broadcasting. This has several implications. 1) This technology seems unable to crash, but I'm sure you guys will find a way eventually :P. 2) This technology will make it super easy to port Quizbowl DB to Android and iOS. In this case, I hope that I can recruit some eager developers in the QB community to make these apps. 3) I'll be able to create a really intricate multiplayer game framework, much more than I could have before. Multiplayer should also be portable to mobile.
--As a quick display of this technology multiplayer, I have added a "Ticker" much similar to the Facebook ticker. It will display when people logoff/login and their correct buzzes on questions in the single player reader. I don't really think this is a super important feature, but I think it's a cool display of the technology that I'm using. Tell me what you guys think.

MOST IMPORTANT NOTE:
This site works best in Chrome. It does NOT work in Internet Explorer. If you're using IE still, please do the world a favor and get Chrome.

Anyways, that's all pretty much. I've moved off Berkeley servers and am now solely running of Amazon EC2. This should be able to handle itself decently. If there are server issues, I will look into them ASAP.

Please, check out my code at http://www.github.com/sharadmv/quizbowl. (Thanks to Gerald Fong who helped out a lot!)
Android/iOS devs, if you're interested, ask me for API access/docs.
Any other questions/comments? sharad.vikram@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

by **Ivar the Boneless** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:51 am

This looks extremely cool, but it also happens to be blocked on our school computer because of "potentially damaging content"?

by **Christ, I Know** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:44 am

sharadmv wrote:Your account is directly tied to your Facebook

Hmm, so how does this work if we're at school and Facebook is blocked through an internet filter?

by **Coldblueberry** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:06 am

Ultrasurf

by **Black-throated Antshrike** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:30 am

Since Chrome and Opera are so similar, will it be able to work on Opera too?

by **idrayer** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:30 pm

Any potential for creating user accounts for those of us who are no longer on Facebook? Or did I just miss something on the site?

by **SirT** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:04 pm

Andrew Jackson's Compatriot wrote:Since Chrome and Opera are so similar, will it be able to work on Opera too?

Chrome and Opera use completely unrelated rendering engines; they are nothing alike.

by **cornfused** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:39 pm

Firefox?

by **sharadmv** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:49 pm

Firefox should be fine.haven't tested opera though

by **rangaswamy.vivek** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:34 pm

Wow! This is amazing! Great job, Sharad!!

by **tintinnabulation** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:58 pm

I love the new site! It works really well...except on my Android, still. Don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, but pressing anything other than "Search" or "Reader" or "Multiplayer" has no effect. Thanks for all your work--happy to finally have something permanent that works well!

by **cornfused** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:51 am

sharadmv wrote:Firefox should be fine.haven't tested opera though

Firefox was mostly non-functional (at work) and Chrome (on my laptop) is AOK.

by **brenhil** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:51 am

Hey Sharad, first off I can't thank you enough for keeping us updated and working on this ongoing project to help QBers study whenever they want, however they want - it's fantastic.

The new site looks awesome and is clearly more stable than the last. However I can't submit any of my answers, even when I have logged in through my Facebook account. Once I press "Buzz" I can't press Submit or do anything else, and am forced to start a new question.

I don't if I'm the only one with the issue, but just wanted to let you know.

Thanks again!

by **cornfused** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:25 pm

Is there a chance that Category=Fine Arts isn't available?

by **brenhil** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:23 pm

cornfused wrote:Is there a chance that Category=Fine Arts isn't available?

I'm pretty sure that issue got fixed like an hour ago. It was stated that Fine Arts is once again working, and I'm solely doing Fine Arts questions as I type this.

Should be working.

by **Fond du lac operon** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:46 pm

IIRC, there was a way to fix questions that somehow ended up in the wrong category back in the day. Is this feature gone from the new site, and if so, are there plans to re-implement it?

by **sharadmv** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:14 pm

I do plan on adding all those features back to the site.

by **sharadmv** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:55 pm

Hello all,
Just added IE 7+ support for Quizbowl DB

http://www.quizbowldb.com

by **Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:57 pm

I've been using the reader today, and the only problem I'm having in Firefox is that using space to buzz isn't working, though clicking works fine. Space to start the question and Enter to submit an answer also work; it's just the buzzing that's not working.

by **fett0001** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:28 am

The Golden Fleecing wrote:I've been using the reader today, and the only problem I'm having in Firefox is that using space to buzz isn't working, though clicking works fine. Space to start the question and Enter to submit an answer also work; it's just the buzzing that's not working.

Had the same problem recently.

Also, now Facebook login seems to not be working. A browser window opens, and then immediately closes, to no apparent effect.

In addition, I get no response to an answer, other than an update to the score on the left. Problem is occurring in both Firefox and Iron.

by **sharadmv** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:48 pm

Was doing maintenance, but it should work now.
What version of FF are you using?

by **brenhil** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:52 pm

Currently not working for me or one of my friends. Can't submit answer or buzz without having to refresh page. Search function still works.

Tried on all latest versions of Chrome, FireFox, Safari.

by **Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:01 pm

I am using Firefox version 11.0.

by **fett0001** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:50 am

The Golden Fleecing wrote:I've been using the reader today, and the only problem I'm having in Firefox is that using space to buzz isn't working, though clicking works fine. Space to start the question and Enter to submit an answer also work; it's just the buzzing that's not working.

Same problem here. Space to buzz doesn't work in firefox 11.0, but does work in chrome.

by **cornfused** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:41 am

On Chrome, none of the FB functions (sign-in or seeing other people's activity) have worked for about a week now.

by **fett0001** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:07 pm

cornfused wrote:On Chrome, none of the FB functions (sign-in or seeing other people's activity) have worked for about a week now.

Not having this problem in Iron, so it might be a Google Bloatware issue, or something specific to you.

by **cornfused** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:53 pm

fett0001 wrote:
cornfused wrote:On Chrome, none of the FB functions (sign-in or seeing other people's activity) have worked for about a week now.

Not having this problem in Iron, so it might be a Google Bloatware issue, or something specific to you.

Maybe the former. I'm having the problem on two different computers.

by **fett0001** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:36 am

I tested with chrome, and I'm not having trouble with facebook connectivity. Some issue other than the browser and adblock must be causing the trouble.

by **cornfused** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:22 am

fett0001 wrote:I tested with chrome, and I'm not having trouble with facebook connectivity. Some issue other than the browser and adblock must be causing the trouble.

I'm not having trouble either - so whatever it was, either it disappeared, or thanks are due to Gerald and Sharad for finding and fixing it. So, thanks, gents.

by **Mike Bentley** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:42 am

PACE is pleased to announce that it is now sponsoring Quizbowl Central. We look forward to players and teams from around the country (and the world!) continuing to use this great resource that Sharad has developed.

by **sharadmv** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:36 am

Thanks A TON to PACE for doing this!

by **fett0001** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:41 pm

Minor quibble: For me, in both Iron and Firefox, chat covers up the last few characters of each line of questions at 1280 x 800 resolution.

Firefox space to buzz bug is still around.

Edit: clarity

by **Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:52 pm

Something I've also noticed is that special characters and sometimes entire words don't appear. For example, in 2009 ACF Fall, Furman/Claremont/Illinois/ ULL, Krebs cycle tossup, the "α" in "α-ketoglutarate" shows up as a question mark. In 2010 ACF Nationals, Penn/Illinois A, Robert Guiscard tossup, the names "Jerusalem", "Normandy", and "Apulia" don't show up at all.

by **The Atom Strikes!** » Wed May 16, 2012 5:02 pm

Hey guys, quizbowldb seems to be down at the moment. Is this a permanent situation? Has it moved? Will it come back?

by **No Electricity Required** » Wed May 16, 2012 6:31 pm

The Atom Strikes! wrote:Hey guys, quizbowldb seems to be down at the moment. Is this a permanent situation? Has it moved? Will it come back?

It seems to be working now.

by **cornfused** » Tue May 29, 2012 1:38 pm

The logon feature's been down for a few weeks, though - for me (Firefox and Chrome) and for at least one other user (Chrome).

by **Mnemosyne** » Tue May 29, 2012 1:52 pm

Any chance the "export to pdf" feature will return? It was there when the site first switched from torey pines and I thought it was the coolest part.

by **Hannibal** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:45 am

I understand the want to link quizbowldb to Facebook for troll prevention, but as someone who visits this site 10+ hours a week and does not have nor plans on getting a Facebook anytime soon (that grammar sounds really wierd, but I'm too bad at grammar to tell what's right), is there any chance of this being google account integrated? Also, is there any timeframe at all for when multiplayer will go up? Does "a while " mean 3 months? 6 months? A year?

"And neither uses Facebook nor plans to begin using it anytime soon" --Mgmt

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