Search found 1665 matches

by Cody
Thu Feb 15, 2024 5:42 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals
Replies: 30
Views: 4102

Re: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals

Dantooine is Big! wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 4:32 pm
Auks Ran Ova wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 4:30 pm Have you really?
I feel this is a sufficiently serious suggestion and proposal [...]
is this also a bit??
by Cody
Fri Dec 29, 2023 2:51 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: qblint: Google Docs™ add-on for proofing and quality assurance of quizbowl packets
Replies: 1
Views: 986

qblint: Google Docs™ add-on for proofing and quality assurance of quizbowl packets

I have published a Google Docs™ add-on that streamlines quality assurance for quizbowl packets by providing automated consistency checks and automating common tasks. It consists of several components: a style and grammar checker, pronunciation guide placement, character counter, and a function to ke...
by Cody
Thu Aug 31, 2023 6:47 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: qpd - pronunciation guide placement
Replies: 0
Views: 2601

qpd - pronunciation guide placement

This is a public release of a basic script for placing pronunciation guides from the Quizbowl Pronouncing Dictionary . It has been used for 3 or more tournaments. This (older) short video is representative of how the script works. Left-click inserts a pronunciation guide. Middle-click copies a pronu...
by Cody
Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:44 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: qams² answer spreadsheet for set production and packetization
Replies: 0
Views: 2391

qams² answer spreadsheet for set production and packetization

qams was redesigned last year in order to keep up with modern set production practices. I am now releasing it to the public as qams². qams² is designed for sets with more question states and writers than qams, and colors the answer sheet based on question state rather than writer/editor. If your se...
by Cody
Fri May 12, 2023 10:16 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Science Heat Checks (2024–25)
Replies: 0
Views: 788

Science Heat Checks (2024–25)

I am writing a science speedcheck tournament, a spiritual successor to Andrew Hart’s and Maryland’s Impossible Speedcheck tournaments. The overarching principles of this tournament are to: (1) ask lots of questions that can’t be done, or done well, at longer length; (2) ask lots of questions about u...
by Cody
Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Why doesn't film come up more?
Replies: 24
Views: 8641

Re: Why doesn't film come up more?

It’s been tried (0.40/0.33), and the headache was not worth it. Granted, it’s a new decade... I think the existence of multiple distinctive all-film sets (and two more coming up this year!) suggests that it's possible to find .5/.5 per packet or so of non-repeating, sufficiently academic material. ...
by Cody
Tue Apr 25, 2023 1:38 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Why doesn't film come up more?
Replies: 24
Views: 8641

Re: Why doesn't film come up more?

With apologies to Capt. Picard, my main reaction reading this is: Make it so! There's no reason in principle why the next set you (the general you) put together can't make room for more film. In general, when it comes to distributional tinkering, I think it'd be cool to see more people Just Go For ...
by Cody
Thu Mar 09, 2023 12:22 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?
Replies: 8
Views: 2719

Re: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?

a player instruction, such as “description acceptable”, is only necessary when departing from standard quizbowl rules – e.g. descriptions are not acceptable for things with proper names. if you accept a description, but do not tell players that you are going outside of the ruleset, then accepting t...
by Cody
Tue Mar 07, 2023 4:46 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?
Replies: 8
Views: 2719

Re: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?

using “description acceptable” for answerlines without proper names is a bad writing tick that should be abolished. top 3 pet peeve. a player instruction, such as “description acceptable”, is only necessary when departing from standard quizbowl rules – e.g. descriptions are not acceptable for things...
by Cody
Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:14 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?
Replies: 14
Views: 6083

Re: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?

the return of AHAN wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 1:24 pm
Cody wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:44 am
But you can't isolate two teams out of four and compare them because you are ordering all the teams in the bracket at once.
Says who? It's four teams. It's not an inscrutable number of permutations.
then do it 😂 standings first, then we can discuss generalizing.
by Cody
Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:44 am
Forum: Theory
Topic: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?
Replies: 14
Views: 6083

Re: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?

The purpose of an advantage final is to balance the benefit of a final that provides public display of the best teams and the crowning moment against the detriment of a team going X-0 all day, then losing a one-off final to a team that went (X-1)-1 who they had beaten earlier in the day. And if the...
by Cody
Mon Feb 27, 2023 10:56 am
Forum: Theory
Topic: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?
Replies: 14
Views: 6083

Re: What's the purpose of an advantaged final?

The purpose of an advantage final is to balance the benefit of a final that provides public display of the best teams and the crowning moment against the detriment of a team going X-0 all day, then losing a one-off final to a team that went (X-1)-1 who they had beaten earlier in the day. And if the...
by Cody
Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:33 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 20
Views: 5363

Re: 2022 ACF Winter – Specific Question Discussion

I see no problem with using "site". Certainly, UNESCO doesn't, so it's a natural fit. The clues are carefully worded to help players arrive at the correct answer, including the clue about Abu Simbel -- which is about the Aswan High Dam, and the answerline is expansive. I do not understand ...
by Cody
Sun Jul 10, 2022 3:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: MRNA II: The Second Dose (Spring 2023, Medium/2 Dot)
Replies: 16
Views: 11520

Re: Announcement: MRNA II: The Second Dose (Spring 2023, Medium/2 Dot)

Any reason you all are targeting 15 packets? That seems a recipe for like 90 percent of teams not hearing at least 4 of them except at practice or in a shootout. Why is the fact that most teams don't play them a relevant point? This is guaranteed to happen to 2 packets with an advantaged final, no ...
by Cody
Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:12 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: MRNA II: The Second Dose (Spring 2023, Medium/2 Dot)
Replies: 16
Views: 11520

Re: Announcement: MRNA II: The Second Dose (Spring 2023, Medium/2 Dot)

Any reason you all are targeting 15 packets? That seems a recipe for like 90 percent of teams not hearing at least 4 of them except at practice or in a shootout. Why is the fact that most teams don't play them a relevant point? This is guaranteed to happen to 2 packets with an advantaged final, no ...
by Cody
Fri Jul 08, 2022 2:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: SuMO VII at Tusculum, Greeneville TN (7/9/2022)
Replies: 14
Views: 5316

Re: SuMO VII at Tusculum, Greeneville TN (7/9/2022)

With exception for John Lawrence’s post, this is some of the most atrocious COVID-posting yet displayed on this forum. Literally no one said a word about the other umpteen tournaments this spring (including ACF Regionals and NAQT SCT) where hosts did not have a vaccination policy and people were dyi...
by Cody
Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Using Google Sheets for a tournament? Use qams.
Replies: 10
Views: 15111

Re: Using Google Sheets for a tournament? Use qams (previously countformat).

I have updated the OP with a new feature to generate packet templates that you can paste into a word processor.
by Cody
Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:49 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022
Replies: 9
Views: 3396

Re: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022

I'm happy to see another tournament choose to write 12 packets rather than 14 or 15. I basically agree with what Mike said: writers already do too much work for usually little pay to be writing 2 or 3 extra packets that almost never get played in tournaments (I've never played more than 12 games in...
by Cody
Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:17 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022
Replies: 9
Views: 3396

Re: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022

Conversely, I think 14 packets is a big waste of time and effort. Maybe 5% of your teams are going to be playing packet 13 and 14. For regular season events, quizbowl should just adapt to fewer rounds and possibly slightly unfair finals formats. I'd rather play more tournaments than waste a bunch o...
by Cody
Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:55 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022
Replies: 9
Views: 3396

Re: Open Call for Editors Penn Bowl 2022

The only field sizes that can guarantee 10 games in 10 rounds (reserving two packets for finals) are 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 18, and 24 teams. 5 of 9 2021 Penn Bowl mirrors (including the main site) would not have been able to run with 12 packets. Collegiate sets require an absolute minimum of 13 packets t...
by Cody
Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:36 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Tournament preparedness kits
Replies: 4
Views: 1736

Re: Tournament preparedness kits

imo, it would be wise to prioritize such a list. important information risks getting lost in the deluge. what are the absolute essentials to start the tournament? writing utensils, spare paper scoresheets, flash drive* for (or with) electronic packets (internet is never guaranteed and outages happen...
by Cody
Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:14 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: 1991 ACF Nationals field
Replies: 9
Views: 9792

Re: 1991 ACF Nationals field

Is this her? https://twitter.com/caroljguthrie?s=21 No, but this is and she's listed as faculty and staff in the South College catalog . Not contact information is listed, but it shouldn't be hard to wrangle that info from South College or try a stock email format (e.g. first initial last name @ so...
by Cody
Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:00 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: 1991 ACF Nationals field
Replies: 9
Views: 9792

Re: 1991 ACF Nationals field

The program for 1995 Nationals has some stuff. 1st place - Tennessee A 2nd place - Georgia Tech A 3rd place - Maryland A 4th place - NC State Whether we can assume the existence of B teams is questionable, but it's pretty likely. However, no info from the tournament is listed in the table for Win-Lo...
by Cody
Tue Feb 01, 2022 10:04 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 53
Views: 25768

Re: 2022 ACF Regionals - Specific Question Discussion

My knowledge of biology and genetics isn't the best, but can I ask what the reasoning was behind having "this phenotype" as the indicator for the death tossup? A lot of people I talked to at our site were really confused by that question, since it seemed like a fairly obtuse way to ask fo...
by Cody
Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:20 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

I’m not sure where the idea that bonus play is not competitively relevant comes from – though as Andrew notes, it wouldn’t particularly matter if it were true – but there is a plethora of data to test this on because almost everyone hosts their statistics on the hsquizbowl.org Tournament Database. ...
by Cody
Fri Jan 21, 2022 1:00 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

One thing I would be interested in seeing: what happens with the ACF data when you remove tossup points? How dramatically does the importance of bonuses in deciding games increase? It would be interesting to treat tossups as fights over scoring opportunities, and bonuses as the actual scoring--more...
by Cody
Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:47 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

One thing I would be interested in seeing: what happens with the ACF data when you remove tossup points? How dramatically does the importance of bonuses in deciding games increase? It would be interesting to treat tossups as fights over scoring opportunities, and bonuses as the actual scoring--more...
by Cody
Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:17 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

Finally, I take issue with the idea that bonus play is not competitively relevant to quizbowl. It's true that, within a certain band of competence, bonus conversion is much less likely to impact a game result than tossup conversion; we've seen time and again that teams with lower bonus conversions ...
by Cody
Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Penn Bowl 2021
Replies: 15
Views: 7900

Re: Announcement: Penn Bowl 2021

My second complaint is in regards to how a prelim tiebreaker was broken at this tournament. After prelims, both Maryland B and Rutgers B finished 3-3 to tie for fourth in the Pearl bracket. Maryland B had significantly more points per game, 6 more powers, more 10s, and nearly a third fewer negs. Ru...
by Cody
Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Winter at the University of Virginia (11/06/2021)
Replies: 10
Views: 3948

Re: 2021 ACF Winter at the University of Virginia (11/06/2021)

Good news! UVA Event Planning has finally approved us for 9 classrooms in New Cabell Hall. This tournament will be happening in-person with a field cap of 18 teams. Edit: Our field cap will be 18 teams, not 16 teams. You can run 21 teams with 9 rooms; Sam Luongo hosted many tournaments using that f...
by Cody
Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Gender Neutrality in Quizbowl Writing and Playing
Replies: 13
Views: 3958

Re: Gender Neutrality in Quizbowl Writing and Playing

There is little reason not to use answerline referents either exclusively, or deep into the question, for almost all questions. Experimentation on this front dates back to at least Minnesota Open 2012 . Absent low character caps, this practice makes questions better because it removes ambiguity and ...
by Cody
Sun Aug 29, 2021 5:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

The 2021 ACF Nationals Experience Survey will close at the end of the day. We would love to hear from you via the survey, or directly via other channels, including email.
by Cody
Fri Aug 20, 2021 12:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING: 2021 CO Travel thread
Replies: 47
Views: 18505

Re: WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING: 2021 CO Travel thread

long time lurker, first time poster the perfect complement to mob-rule is travelmapping , the much more exclusive (and obsessive) club of people who track the highway segments they’ve driven i added 795.96 miles and 24 counties for 2021 acf nationals, including 5.8% of US30 (much of which was former...
by Cody
Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

The team wrap-up email has been sent to attendees, and is cross-posted here: Dear 2021 ACF Nationals attendees, Thank you all for attending ACF Nationals. It was a true pleasure to serve as your Tournament Director, and I found it to be a very special tournament. I hope everyone had a great time and...
by Cody
Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

Congratulations to our 2021 ACF Nationals Overall Champions, Florida, who beat Columbia in the second game of an advantaged final. Columbia advanced to the finals by winning out in a 3-way play-in tiebreaker (beating Ohio State and Stanford, with whom they were tied at the end of the playoffs). The ...
by Cody
Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

Game 2 streaming now, audio issues mostly worked out.
by Cody
Sun Aug 08, 2021 2:52 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

We'll be livestreaming the overall finals series at twitch.tv/acfqb!
by Cody
Sun Aug 08, 2021 2:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

Stanford, Columbia, and Ohio State are currently playing a 3-way tiebreaker for disadvantaged in the finals against Florida.

Cornell will have the disadvantage against Brown for the UG championship.

Brown has clinched the 2021 ACF Nationals DII title!

The two finals series begin at ~1:30 PM CDT.
by Cody
Fri Aug 06, 2021 11:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern
Replies: 22
Views: 9558

Re: 2021 ACF Nationals: August 7-8, Northwestern

I am attaching a page of QR codes & important links to this post. Everyone's team folder will have a printed version of this. It includes a link to the final prelims schedule, two copies of which are included in your team folder. No games have moved from the draft prelim schedule that was sent o...
by Cody
Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Crossover - a work in progress
Replies: 6
Views: 8152

Re: The Crossover - a work in progress

Generating many-bracket crossovers by hand can be a bit tricky, but it becomes dramatically simpler if you remember one simple thing: a crossover is just a round robin where some of the games have already been played (which is commonly understood, but often not stated explicitly). For example, tryin...
by Cody
Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Nationals Announcement & Date Preference Survey
Replies: 0
Views: 2262

2021 ACF Nationals Announcement & Date Preference Survey

ACF is committed to holding 2021 ACF Nationals in-person this summer, with a minimum of 12 teams, pending public health restrictions, team willingness, and host availability. ACF will require all attendees to be fully vaccinated or have a medical exemption, and will follow current CDC guidelines for...
by Cody
Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:41 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Using Google Sheets for a tournament? Use qams.
Replies: 10
Views: 15111

Re: Using Google Sheets for a tournament? Use qams (previously countformat).

I have updated the OP with a new feature to track subcategory completion.
by Cody
Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:59 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Quiz Bowl League Statistics Spreadsheet
Replies: 2
Views: 1588

Re: Quiz Bowl League Statistics Spreadsheet

You can do this by entering the statistics into YellowFruit or SQBS, and uploading the statistics to hsquizbowl.org/db. You can upload a new stats report to overwrite an existing one (e.g. 'Running League Record'), so that standings & statistics are updated but the link does not change.
by Cody
Thu Dec 03, 2020 10:15 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Playoff Round Robins
Replies: 3
Views: 2228

Re: Playoff Round Robins

Both times, this format has felt unsatisfactory. I especially don't like the following scenario: -Team A and Team B are both in Prelim Bracket Foo. -Team A ends the prelims 5–0. Team B ends the prelims 2–3 with a loss to Team A, Team C (also a top bracket team) and Team D (who didn't make the top b...
by Cody
Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:37 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Playoff Round Robins
Replies: 3
Views: 2228

Re: Playoff Round Robins

The alternative is a crossover, with 2 fewer games in this scenario. In that case, the purpose of the prelims is to seed teams for playoffs and hold playoff games in the first 5 rounds. This is fine, and so is 8 rounds for an online tournament. In the event of a playoff round robin, prelim records a...
by Cody
Sat Oct 10, 2020 9:12 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: Introducing YellowFruit.
Replies: 106
Views: 95077

Re: Introducing YellowFruit.

I have not done statistics in a while, but I was pleased to get a chance to use YellowFruit today. It is fantastic -- the stats entry program that finally fixes SQBS's (understandable) shortcomings. You have done a truly admirable job here, Andrew.
by Cody
Wed Sep 09, 2020 12:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Answerlines for Character Names
Replies: 8
Views: 2746

Re: Answerlines for Character Names

ANSWER: Nick Carraway [accept either underlined name] versus ANSWER: Nick Carraway [or Nick Carraway ] Another advantage of the second form is that it can be hard to tell the difference between Nick Carraway and Nick Carraway , particularly if you woke up early to staff a tournament or have been re...
by Cody
Wed Sep 09, 2020 12:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: IKEA (Fall 2020)
Replies: 48
Views: 32734

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: IKEA (Fall 2020)

Players are expected to play in a quiet environment if possible. If the only areas available to you with a quiet environment (due to quarantine or other circumstances) have poor internet, I strongly suggest purchasing and using an ethernet cable, which can usually be acquired for a low price - Amaz...
by Cody
Wed Aug 26, 2020 11:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Answerlines for Character Names
Replies: 8
Views: 2746

Re: Answerlines for Character Names

I personally find the "clunky" moderator instruction less clunky than printing the same answerline twice; I also think this moderator instruction is perfectly clear. In general, I think giving fewer distinct instructions is better; I prefer "accept either underlined portion" for...
by Cody
Tue Aug 11, 2020 4:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: IKEA Mid-Atlantic Mirror @ Discord (10/3/20)
Replies: 18
Views: 7775

Re: IKEA Mid-Atlantic Mirror @ Discord (10/3/20)

Without questioning Nick's particular skills or abilities: why is a high schooler directing this college tournament? Did we not just have several discussions about appropriate boundaries? This is a valid concern which I considered carefully in making this decision. However, Nick has experience dire...