Search found 3327 matches

by theMoMA
Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2018-19 Players Choice Awards
Replies: 23
Views: 15103

Re: 2018-19 Players Choice Awards

The vote totals link appears to be broken.
by theMoMA
Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:12 pm
Forum: Rules and global announcements
Topic: Requesting private forum creation
Replies: 5
Views: 30999

Re: Requesting private forum creation

Board staff would like to apologize for the issues with private forum creation over the last competition year. We've gone through and updated the email address to add several admins, and talked about this on the staff subforum, and we'll do our best to ensure that your private forums get created pro...
by theMoMA
Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:54 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: Vulching
Replies: 14
Views: 23795

Re: Vulching

I do think that this whole discussion is helpful in the context of newer players and teams, simply because it's very disheartening when your team fails to convert something that one of you knew at the end, and it's very frustrating when you or a teammate vulches incorrectly and zeroes you out that w...
by theMoMA
Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 Trash Player Poll
Replies: 13
Views: 9604

Re: 2019 Trash Player Poll

It looks like the regions you listed are not defined and arguably overlapping. It also seems like at least some of these polls got very few responses (i.e. I can't imagine there were multiple votes for "Ben," no surname, in the Northeast). I'm not sure it makes sense even to release these ...
by theMoMA
Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:56 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

I sent the set to Harris in case anyone wants to play at NSC. I'm glad people like the event and definitely plan to keep organizing it in the future.
by theMoMA
Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

I now have all the packets, if anyone wants to read this at NSC. (Or if anyone else wants the packets, just let me know.)
by theMoMA
Thu May 30, 2019 12:58 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

Monstruos de Bolsillo wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 2:22 pm Can this happen at NSC?
Sure, let me know who should get the packets. (I'm still waiting for a couple to be sent.)
by theMoMA
Tue May 28, 2019 4:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

Hey everyone, As soon as I get all the packets together, I'm going to send them out so the set can be played at Purdue's trash event this summer. (Anyone else who wants to host a mirror or informal reading this summer is welcome to do so free of charge.) I'm not going to create a discussion forum fo...
by theMoMA
Mon May 27, 2019 7:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

Just 1-2 short days ago, we convened in a small conference room and heard 180 questions on guys. Most of the guys were remembered. It is fitting that on this day, Memorial Day, we continue to remember. We should all be proud . Scoring by PPG (points per guy): 1.76: Tejas 1.55: Naveed 1.08: Andrew 0....
by theMoMA
Sat May 25, 2019 11:08 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

Please start heading to M105 beginning at 11:15 and we'll start reading shortly after. If you can't make it until later, come when you can.
by theMoMA
Fri May 24, 2019 12:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

It looks like we'll have about 9 packets, some of which might be a little longer than 12 questions. Several people are playing META, and a couple are playing Landscape/GOLBEZ, which all appear to be scheduled to begin at ~8:30pm Saturday. I'm guessing 11:30 is an optimistic start time and midnight i...
by theMoMA
Thu May 16, 2019 3:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)
Replies: 24
Views: 14670

Re: Let's Remember Some Guys II: Let's Remember Some More Guys (HSNCT)

The event will probably take place later on Saturday night. How late will depend upon the other side events, the people playing them, and whether those people are also planning to play this. If you're interested in remembering guys, please fill out the survey linked below: https://docs.google.com/fo...
by theMoMA
Sat May 11, 2019 2:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: The Quizbowl discord, and why cheating on it is still cheating and still bad
Replies: 18
Views: 12271

Re: The Quizbowl discord, and why cheating on it is still cheating and still bad

Online packets, and insecure players cheating on them, have existed since long before the advent of the Discord. (I don't know if any specific person cheated online, or whether anyone who cheated online went on to cheat at an in-person event.) Cheating is always wrong, and that goes equally for chea...
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why don't we have 1/1 math?
Replies: 59
Views: 30513

Re: Why don't we have 1/1 math?

I'm trying to think of what kind of argument could prevail on someone who was thinking of cutting one part of the standard 20/20 distribution in favor of bringing another category to more prominence. A recent, somewhat successful argument was Matt Jackson's call to reduce and revamp the mythology di...
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why don't we have 1/1 math?
Replies: 59
Views: 30513

Re: Why don't we have 1/1 math?

The 20/20 distribution has been relatively consistent for decades. It's true that setting "literature," "history," and "science" exactly equal to each other in numerical importance, and each exactly 1.33 times more important than all of "arts" or 4 times more ...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 2:29 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Announcement: new subforum for practices, online packets, and playtesting
Replies: 0
Views: 181053

Announcement: new subforum for practices, online packets, and playtesting

Hi everyone, We've created a new subforum for practices, scrimmages, online "random packets," and playtesting. If you're planning to post an announcement for summer practices, an online packet, or playtesting for an upcoming event, that's now the place to do it. This forum is located under...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 2:16 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019 NHBB Discord Tournament
Replies: 37
Views: 24927

Re: 2019 NHBB Discord Tournament

Message from board staff: Any event that uses spoiled, publicly available questions should never be called a "tournament" or announced as such, and it is not appropriate for an announcement to suggest that an event will be freshly written when, in fact, it will be using questions compiled ...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:56 am
Forum: Trash
Topic: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements
Replies: 577
Views: 455158

Re: Clearinghouse for Random Packet Announcements

In an effort to better serve you, board staff has created a new subforum for posting announcements for practices, online scrimmages, "random packets" such as these, and other unofficial gameplay. Please continue to write many amazing and fun internet packets, and follow these guidelines fo...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:54 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Guidelines for announcing "random packets" to be played online
Replies: 0
Views: 10495

Guidelines for announcing "random packets" to be played online

Following the tradition of the Great Mike Cheyne, many quizbowlers have found it fun and rewarding to write online packets to be read on the Discord, IRC, or other chat service. We on the board staff have nothing but encouragement for these often delightfully whimsical efforts. Until now, such packe...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:46 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Guidelines for announcing scrimmages on exposed questions
Replies: 0
Views: 9997

Guidelines for announcing scrimmages on exposed questions

This thread announcing an NHBB-style "Discord tournament" got the board staff thinking about the fact that players might want to organize scrimmages that use a mix of already-used questions, perhaps with minor alterations. Although no events of this kind should be announced as "tourn...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:31 am
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: Welcome to the new subforum for announcements of practices and other unofficial gameplay!
Replies: 0
Views: 11915

Welcome to the new subforum for announcements of practices and other unofficial gameplay!

Hi everyone, With summer coming soon, and summer practices just around the corner, the management decided that the forums could use a new subforum for announcing unofficial gameplay. This subforum should be used to announce: * Open practices * Scrimmages * Online packets (i.e. the "random packe...
by theMoMA
Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Scattergories 3 at Chicago Open (08/04/2019)
Replies: 21
Views: 9369

Re: Scattergories 3 at Chicago Open (08/04/2019)

Very Funny, guys. I'm also looking for teammates; these tournaments are great.
by theMoMA
Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:00 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why don't we have 1/1 math?
Replies: 59
Views: 30513

Re: Why don't we have 1/1 math?

Furthermore, Will is onto something about the amateur problem. And in particular, I think we as scientists and to some extent scientists as science educators have done a terrible job at writing questions that capture the interest of amateurs and non-scientists. I'm hoping that some of what I did in...
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2019 discussion: Logistics/format
Replies: 37
Views: 22191

Re: ACF Nationals 2019 discussion

In my opinion, we should be finding ways to make Nationals shorter in schedule and require fewer packets, not trying to push things in the other direction. The tournament is already incredibly long and requires what I think are borderline unreasonable amounts of staffer and editor time.
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT format and seeding discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 45202

Re: ICT format and seeding discussion

Here are some scattered perspectives on a few issues raised in this thread. For ICT, I don't know who ended up being the final #1 seeds. The last draft that I saw had Northwestern as a 2 seed, and I thought that was appropriate, but I also would not have been astonished or scandalized to see Northwe...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DI specific question discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 2473

Re: 2019 ICT DI specific question discussion

I think the discussion of the "C++ standard library" question above illustrates an interesting and little-discussed feature of giveaway theory (which itself is a neglected topic in the larger world of quizbowl theory). There is a fine distinction between acceptable and frustrating giveaway...
by theMoMA
Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT format and seeding discussion
Replies: 74
Views: 45202

Re: The ICT format is awful and unfair (or: why I now play for the "Ann Arbor Campus, University of Michigan")

I guess I'll also mention that it's worth putting into perspective how much quizbowl already puts into fairness. I'd be curious to learn if there are other team-based competitive activities out there that don't use single-elimination playoffs, guarantee all teams pretty much the same number of game...
by theMoMA
Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:10 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DI specific question discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 2473

Re: 2019 ICT DI specific question discussion

Thanks for the interesting thoughts on the current events and TV distributions. In some ways, I think the criticisms of those questions are similar, in that they boil down to a dislike of questions that seem to clue from a fairly deep, but not very wide, vein of clues. Put another way, if a player h...
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 NAQT ICT: April 6, Chicago
Replies: 18
Views: 13567

Re: 2019 NAQT ICT: April 6, Chicago

I have set up a private discussion forum for the 2019 ICT; you can request access via your user control panel.
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DII specific question discussion
Replies: 3
Views: 487

2019 ICT DII specific question discussion

This is your thread for specific question discussion of DII ICT.
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DI specific question discussion
Replies: 31
Views: 2473

2019 ICT DI specific question discussion

This is your thread for specific question discussion of DI ICT.
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DII general discussion
Replies: 0
Views: 215

2019 ICT DII general discussion

This is your thread for general discussion of the division II ICT set.
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 ICT DI general discussion and thanks
Replies: 27
Views: 2926

2019 ICT DI general discussion and thanks

Hi all, Big thanks to everyone who played, staffed, and helped write or edit this year's ICT sets. From the production side, I'd like to extend my gratitude to Seth Teitler and Billy Busse for their excellent editing work, and to all of the writers whose submissions made it a real pleasure to edit t...
by theMoMA
Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: Lederberg Trinity (Summer 2019)
Replies: 61
Views: 34037

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Lederberg Trinity (Summer 2019)

I've set up a private discussion forum for this tournament, which you should be able to request access to via your user control panel. Eric is the group leader in charge of approving requests. Let me know if there seem to be any issues with this.
by theMoMA
Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 PIANO/MO Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 50
Views: 9790

Re: 2019 PIANO/MO Thanks and General Discussion

Erik is correct to say that I'm merely offering a value judgment. With a few exceptions, the only persistent one of which was certain questions like the "masks" tossup that seemed pretty obviously to be driving straight at the answer from the get go, I thought this was an admirable set fro...
by theMoMA
Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2019 PIANO/MO Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 50
Views: 9790

Re: 2019 PIANO/MO Thanks and General Discussion

In contrast to some of the people above, much of this set just didn't land with me. Coming into this tournament, I was well aware of the fact that the countries of the world each have a unique literature, geography, artistic culture, and religious tradition. I was well aware of the fact that cities ...
by theMoMA
Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:20 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Old time bonus formats
Replies: 19
Views: 16895

Re: Old time bonus formats

Eh of all these alternate bonus formats, I like the very occasional 10-5/10-5/10-5 the best. The classic way to do thee is "Identify these things from niche pop culture topic, for 10 points each. If you need another clue, you'll only get 5 points." I think MUT may have been the last colle...
by theMoMA
Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:53 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI
Replies: 33
Views: 38595

Re: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI

This talk of the 2007 College Bowl nationals reminds me of another amazing occurrence at that event. Quizbowl sometimes brings you into the presence of greatness. I was there for the murderer's row that was the 2010 ACF Nationals playoffs, and I was at least in the building with 2005 Thomas Jefferso...
by theMoMA
Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:24 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI
Replies: 33
Views: 38595

Re: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI

I have corrected the record to list Charlie Steinhice's proper affiliation, although I maintain that was my joke and will make no such correction in the "Coetzee.cx" matter.
by theMoMA
Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:58 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI
Replies: 33
Views: 38595

Re: Let's tell the kids stories about CBI

One of the underappreciated features of College Bowl was that the format did not presume that any given school had something so basic as a "quizbowl team," and thus, even the regional tournament had an intraschool qualification process. It was supposed to go like this: the student union wo...
by theMoMA
Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:17 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: How We Treat Each Other: 2019
Replies: 32
Views: 26373

Re: How We Treat Each Other: 2019

Another thing I have observed, and that Connor was quite right to point out, is that real dichotomies often exist both between and within clubs dividing "online" people with various degrees of plugged-in-ness to QB discourse and non-"online" people. An effect of these dichotomie...
by theMoMA
Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:02 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Indulge me a moment...
Replies: 19
Views: 16571

Re: Indulge me a moment...

I have a hard time understanding how someone could read Nolan's original post and think that he was somehow being selfish or obstinate about his participation in quizbowl. It's to anyone's credit that they would want to continue participating and giving back after their time in school ends, and it's...
by theMoMA
Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PIANO / Minnesota Open @ UMN, 3/30
Replies: 27
Views: 12601

Re: PIANO / Minnesota Open @ UMN, 3/30

Definitely willing to pay what's needed to facilitate side events.
by theMoMA
Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:36 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What is the purpose of a first line?
Replies: 36
Views: 16220

Re: What is the purpose of a first line?

I wasn't clear enough at the outset of my rather long post that I wasn't advocating the one true method to write a tossup. I didn't intend to suggest that rigorous themes were inherently better than questions that are more mixed in construction, which is why I tried to avoid the naming convention of...
by theMoMA
Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What is the purpose of a first line?
Replies: 36
Views: 16220

Re: What is the purpose of a first line?

Contra Bruce, I don't think these buzz distributions are off base; they look basically how I'd expect and want them to look, as both an editor and player. To me, quizbowl is a game that mixes fast-paced and extremely competitive gameplay with brief moments of respite and strategic contemplation. Whi...
by theMoMA
Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What is the purpose of a first line?
Replies: 36
Views: 16220

Re: What is the purpose of a first line?

That's cool. Based on absolutely nothing, I'd venture that this shows that buzzes (at least at EFT) generally do follow the x^2 distribution with an average of 2-3 seconds of processing lag (I just timed myself reading a few lines of question text and, depending on how long the words are, it takes a...
by theMoMA
Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:07 pm
Forum: Databases and Quizbowl Software
Topic: Listening to Quizbowl Questions
Replies: 4
Views: 5708

Re: Listening to Quizbowl Questions

A text-to-speech service would be cool. Obviously, the most useful thing would be an app that could actually take a quizbowl packet and turn it into a somewhat faithful audio experience of playing. So it would be able to divide the packet into "tracks" for each question, respond to the aud...
by theMoMA
Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What is the purpose of a first line?
Replies: 36
Views: 16220

Re: What is the purpose of a first line?

It may be helpful to read this thread from the 2018 ACF Regionals discussion. I will gauchely quote myself on the subject (in the context of comparing the hardest clues of tossups to the hard parts of bonuses): The lead-in/hard clues serve a slightly different function than the hard parts of bonuses...