The October Quiz Contest!

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amazingjosh

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Oct 26, 2013, 7:11:41 PM10/26/13
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Welcome to the October Quiz Contest.  

As always, this contest will have a theme, all entries must pertain to the theme, you may- we know the spiel.  If you don't, click here.  

But this contest is somewhat different.  Because it is being run by the coolest people on Earth.  That's right.  The Geography Curators are in town.  Or at least some of us are.  

I would like to quote razorz, who memo'd the geography curators a couple weeks ago.  : 

"I was thinking it'd be fun to partner with Mateo (UK and This or That curator) and do a "Geography This or That" contest. The rules would be simple:

Create a "this or that" quiz about two (we could allow for three, as well) like geographic entities. The entities must be the same (city, state, country, etc.). For example:
  • California or Texas?
  • Ireland or UK?
  • China or India?
  • New York or London?
  • Asia or Europe?

I feel like we could get some really interesting quizzes out of this. I also think this is an under-represented quiz type in the Geography category.... The "prize" would be a CP in the appropriate Geography category/categories, a CP in This or That, and an EP if Rob wants to award it."  

This may sound boring.  It will not be.  Because you are smart.  

This way we can assure the winner of immediate gratification instead of having to wait for their quiz to fit into HQ's schedule.

I also know that some of you are out of games for the month.  This is why the contest will extend until midnight of November 3.  That's 1 week to enter, and voting will end at midnight between Tuesday the 5th and Wednesday the 6th EST.  

I can assure you that more CP's will be handed out than just one.  I'm looking forward to CP'ing as much of these as possible.  

Good luck!


Ubbiebubbie

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Oct 26, 2013, 8:10:21 PM10/26/13
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Yay, maybe some contributions to the Africa subcategory -- I'm eager to see what comes as a result of this!

(However, can we agree to have no Kyrgyzstan or _______ quizzes? Sporcle is already full of Kyrgyzstan-this-and-that, and (in my opinion) we don't need any more.)

beforever

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Oct 26, 2013, 8:13:52 PM10/26/13
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Just so nobody repeats what I'm doing, thus leading to wasted efforts, I am doing a North Americanish quiz. So please e-mail me if you were thinking of making a North America-type thingy, and we can see if we're doing the same thing by accident.

Fusty

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Oct 26, 2013, 8:27:49 PM10/26/13
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Will I be able to do a 3-way one? I have 3 countries I really want to use. If I cant thats fine I was just wondering. 

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Oct 26, 2013, 8:35:16 PM10/26/13
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Yes

razorz

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Oct 26, 2013, 9:22:13 PM10/26/13
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Thanks for doing this Josh. I look forward to playing the entries!

DesertSpartan

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Oct 26, 2013, 9:35:41 PM10/26/13
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Okay, I'm sure nobody is using my topic, but I am doing NorCal and SoCal,  Just in case my expertise in never winning makes my quiz irresistible to the rest of you; to paraphrase "Planet Of the Apes",  Keep Your Stinkin' Paws Off That Topic You Damn Dirty Apes!

AHHHHHHHHH Aggression Therapy!

Anderson(Blackhawks65)

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Oct 26, 2013, 9:49:15 PM10/26/13
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First entry of the contest, I actually had it in my drafts: North or South Dakota? Good luck to you all, this looks like a great quiz contest here.

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Oct 26, 2013, 9:59:13 PM10/26/13
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Left a somewhat important comment on your quiz.
On Oct 26, 2013, at 9:49 PM, Anderson(Blackhawks65) <ablu...@gmail.com> wrote:

First entry of the contest, I actually had it in my drafts: North or South Dakota? Good luck to you all, this looks like a great quiz contest here.

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Quizmaster91

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Oct 26, 2013, 10:03:45 PM10/26/13
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Ditto.

Op zondag 27 oktober 2013 02:59:13 UTC+1 schreef amazingjosh:

Anderson(Blackhawks65)

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Oct 26, 2013, 10:07:50 PM10/26/13
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That was a fail on my part. But it's fixed, thanks so much for not rating it down.

DesertSpartan

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Oct 26, 2013, 10:39:18 PM10/26/13
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Here is my entry, I posted different facts for each correct and incorrect answer.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/DesertSpartan/other-thanquestions-for-entertainers


Usmcfunkymunky

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Oct 26, 2013, 11:16:51 PM10/26/13
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ChargingTiger

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Oct 26, 2013, 11:51:32 PM10/26/13
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TheCleverone

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Oct 27, 2013, 5:47:24 AM10/27/13
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I'd just like to point everyone to Londoner's quizzes - there are quite a few quizzes of the like there.

Mateo56

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Oct 27, 2013, 7:44:34 AM10/27/13
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Hi everyone, looks like there have been a lot of good entries already.
 
Just one thing to add, although some of the above already have - try and make sure that you put the "This or That" tag on your entries (or any other this or that quizzes you make for that matter!) as it will save me a bit of work, and in the future will mean there's more chance of me finding and picking your quizzes. I look forward to the rest of the entries! 

geshmonkey

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Oct 27, 2013, 8:14:04 AM10/27/13
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My Entry: This or That Guinea?
You can't use wrong answers with 3rd Column Grouping, so I hope this makes sense.

Anderson(Blackhawks65)

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Oct 27, 2013, 11:55:14 AM10/27/13
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Found this, thought it would be interesting:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/BanjoZebra/geo-thisthat

Message has been deleted

Quizmaster91

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:02:57 PM10/27/13
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Here's my entry: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Quizmaster91/this-or-that-country-chain .
It's a bit of a twist to the 'this or that' theme, so I hope it's not against the regulations of this contest.
If people like it, I can make many more (I could make 12 others just with countries before I've run out).

Usmcfunkymunky

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:09:10 PM10/27/13
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Quizmaster, I can't speak for A-josh, but I would say that's definitely fine. I liked the new idea and gave it a 5-globe rating.

beforever

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:11:18 PM10/27/13
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... can I make a suggestion, Quizmaster91?

The colors a bit intense at the moment, so can I suggest #BF0D0D for the red, #5FDB2A for the green and #28439E for the blue (if you wanna stick with the RGB color scheme). If you don't like those, pop me an e-mail and we can work out something else cool.

beforever

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:12:19 PM10/27/13
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Oh, and the font color should be white if you're using the red I suggested, since it's darker.

Quizmaster91

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:14:36 PM10/27/13
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Great! I wasn't sure because A-Josh's OP stated 2 (or maybe 3) entities. So I hope to hear from the contestmaster soon (if it's not okay, I'll make a different quiz). But I'm glad you liked this one!

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:27:40 PM10/27/13
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The only rule it doesn't fit is the "No CP's during the contest rule." I'll have to adhere to that, so sorry.

Quizmaster91

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:28:24 PM10/27/13
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@beforever: thanks for the suggestions. I just chose Red Green and Blue just because those are the three colours at the end of the spectrum, symbolizing the fact that you have to chose between 2 answers without middle ground or something. But in reality, I only chose the colour scheme because it beats the default gray. And since your games prove your keen eye for colour combinations, I trust you completely and I'm happy to just go with your suggestions.

beforever

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Oct 27, 2013, 9:29:37 PM10/27/13
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On Monday, October 28, 2013 1:28:24 AM UTC, Quizmaster91 wrote:
And since your games prove your keen eye for colour combinations, I trust you completely and I'm happy to just go with your suggestions.

I just sent you an e-mail with something about the column widths as well, and more about colors. I hope you got it!

zaphenath

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Oct 28, 2013, 10:08:21 AM10/28/13
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My entry:
 
Contest rules never specified an Earthian geography. ;)

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Oct 28, 2013, 4:05:41 PM10/28/13
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They never did

Contest rules never specified an Earthian geography. ;)

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Mateo56

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Oct 28, 2013, 7:39:46 PM10/28/13
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Not sure if this was intended to be an entry or is just coincidence.

But here is American vs. Indian States by BenjaminBaudin, that was released 12 hours or so ago and might as well join the party.

beforever

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Oct 29, 2013, 3:57:14 AM10/29/13
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Here's my entry... North America: East or West Coast?

I thought I'd make it more interesting with inclusion of non-US cities as well. I was quite surprised, though, that nobody had done it already just with American cities (well, as far as I could find).

geshmonkey

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Oct 29, 2013, 12:31:00 PM10/29/13
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I know I've already contributed an entry, but this theme inspired me, so I put up another, New York or New Zealand? - Not an entry, I just thought I might as well.

Droxnar

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Oct 29, 2013, 3:06:39 PM10/29/13
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Here's my entry: 'IRE' or 'ICE'?  It's my first real This or That, so any feedback is more than welcome! :)

Spacemaniac

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Oct 29, 2013, 3:25:59 PM10/29/13
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On Oct 29, 2013, at 21:06, Droxnar <droxn...@gmail.com> wrote:

Here's my entry: 'IRE' or 'ICE'?  It's my first real This or That, so any feedback is more than welcome! :)

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iglew

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Oct 30, 2013, 3:04:52 AM10/30/13
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Is it possible to make a this-or-that quiz that also has Group Answers with the Same Hint to group the questions into categories?

I was trying this, and I was able to make it appear properly, but all the wrong answers only apply to the first one in the group.  I'm hoping there's a clever way to get around that, but I fear I'm just out of luck.

Hullabaloo

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Oct 30, 2013, 5:37:54 AM10/30/13
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Unfortunately, I don't think so.
 
I've had a few ideas using this sort of format, but I've always assumed there was no way around it. I assume you'll be using the extra column for the hints?

geshmonkey

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Oct 30, 2013, 5:56:16 AM10/30/13
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Yeah, Hullabaloo's right, you can't, but what kind of thing were you thinking?

For mine, I used four countries, two at a time.
In the Hints, I used a double line to start and wrote something like 'Country contains the river: <br> Thames', and go that way to start each category.
In the Extra Info, I split up what it was between e.g.
UNITED
KINGDOM
or
UNITED
STATES
so that it doesn't look all messy when repeated, and the clues remain on the left.
It's linked earlier on the the thread (This or That Guinea)

Hope that's what you're looking for iglew.

skuban

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Oct 30, 2013, 8:49:10 AM10/30/13
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They're right, that isn't available. I had that issue when I was making my new types of logic puzzle, but I found a semi work-around. Take a look at this quiz:


If you can make it clear that the top box is referring to one grouping (in my case, the names of the people), then everything below can be associated with that. And if you need multiple rows, just have multiple main headers. I used stars in my quiz that spanned the whole line, so if you had another row that looked like that, it could be relatively clear. I also used <sub> tags for anything that was not a header.

beisaa

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Oct 31, 2013, 11:39:58 PM10/31/13
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Here's my late-October entry to the contest, Bosnia OR Herzegovina?:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/beisaa/bosnia-or-herzegovina

solyaris

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Nov 1, 2013, 7:14:05 AM11/1/13
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Of the ones published until now, my favorites were the two "This or That? Country chain" by Quizmaster91, they stood out for originality of the premise and variety of the trivia involved, both in themes and levels of difficulty.
Spacemaniacs' "Continent countries per letter" was another one with a nice original twist in the format.

On the other hand, considering just the more traditional ones in format, with two strict options, I found beforever's "North America: East or West Coast?" the most interesting in terms of challenge and Droxnar's "'IRE' or 'ICE'?" the one with the most informative one with regard to content.

solyaris

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Nov 1, 2013, 10:07:56 AM11/1/13
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I've also found this one recently published in the Geography section of Sporcle without notice on this board:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/markassonne/which-capital-is-closer-to-the-equator

Would it qualify for the contest? Surely it's well done and original.

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Nov 1, 2013, 10:35:39 AM11/1/13
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That's an entry as of now.


hellofromUK

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Nov 1, 2013, 11:01:13 AM11/1/13
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Here's my entry

http://www.sporcle.com/games/hellofromUK/us-or-uk

Hope this is what you mean, choosing either US or UK. Couldn't really make it totally geographical, because the sheer size of the US would mean questions like largest area, tallest mountain, largest lake, etc too easy, so chose more comparable criteria like economy and health.

SproutCM

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Nov 1, 2013, 1:05:13 PM11/1/13
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Here is my entry to the contest:

Mateo56

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Nov 1, 2013, 4:05:58 PM11/1/13
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Apologies to hellofromUK in advance to my quiz of a similar name that will be released soon.

And great quiz by the way - so far it's winning a UK CP by default.

david6k

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Nov 1, 2013, 7:07:46 PM11/1/13
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Mot sure if this meets the criteria. But I had fun making it.
 
 
- David

On Saturday, October 26, 2013 6:11:41 PM UTC-5, amazingjosh wrote:
Welcome to the October Quiz Contest.  
 

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Nov 2, 2013, 11:00:09 PM11/2/13
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Quiz entries will close in an hour.

You may then begin voting... I apologize for not having a complete list of the entries. But they're all here.

This voting will be weighted differently for a change.

First place quiz will get 5 points
Second will get 3
Third will get 2

Maybe this'll make for different voting, I'm not sure. But I'm trying to fix the problem of one quiz being in all the ballots and not winning.

NYYanks

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Nov 2, 2013, 11:12:11 PM11/2/13
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Entries:

North or South Dakota? by Blackhawks65
India or Papua New Guinea? by usmcfunkymunky
Landmarks: Asia or Europe? by ChargingTiger
This or That Guinea? by geshmonkey
Mars or Venus? by zaphenath
American vs. Indian States by BenjaminBaudin (not specifically entered but posted here)
'IRE' or 'ICE'? by Droxnar
US or UK? by hellofromUK
Iran or Iraq by sproutcm
US Dialects - This or That by david6k (not sure if this is part of it, but decided to put it anyway)

Tom007

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Nov 2, 2013, 11:16:51 PM11/2/13
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Here's my last minute entry: Ontario or Alberta?

NYYanks

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Nov 2, 2013, 11:19:36 PM11/2/13
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Ok then:

North or South Dakota? by Blackhawks65
India or Papua New Guinea? by usmcfunkymunky
Landmarks: Asia or Europe? by ChargingTiger
This or That Guinea? by geshmonkey
Mars or Venus? by zaphenath
American vs. Indian States by BenjaminBaudin (not specifically entered but posted here)
'IRE' or 'ICE'? by Droxnar
US or UK? by hellofromUK
Iran or Iraq by sproutcm

druhutch

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Nov 2, 2013, 11:31:45 PM11/2/13
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Wait! Wait!

(it's basically "Austin, Boston, or Chicago?")



TheCleverone

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Nov 3, 2013, 9:07:21 AM11/3/13
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Ah man, I got the wrong ending date. I've got a half-finished draft for "China or Taiwan" at the moment. Never mind.
Message has been deleted

Mateo56

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Nov 3, 2013, 3:55:34 PM11/3/13
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Ditto! Apart from the China or Taiwan bit.

Although this isn't an entry, no harm in posting this anyway :)

US or Them?

Now to have a go at picking my favourite 3.

david6k

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Nov 4, 2013, 1:37:40 AM11/4/13
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Just saw DoleBanana's quiz, which makes much better use of the same data. His (Hers?) doesn't fit the rules of the contest, but it's a much better quiz than mine.

Spacemaniac

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Nov 6, 2013, 10:14:54 AM11/6/13
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...so isn't the contest over?

On Oct 27, 2013, at 1:11, amazingjosh <sporcl...@gmail.com> wrote:

> voting will end at midnight between Tuesday the 5th and Wednesday the 6th EST.

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Nov 6, 2013, 12:35:57 PM11/6/13
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Crap... you're right. I though there was still one more day left. I'm tallying the votes now, of which there were 3.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 12:40:35 PM11/6/13
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That's really quite surprising. Did you want to keep it open a bit longer, and possibly start a new thread drawing attention to the voting process? I'm sure at least a few more of the entrants would want to have a say?

Quizmaster91

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Nov 6, 2013, 1:14:22 PM11/6/13
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I don't know why, but the dates on this contest have proved to be a bit ambiguous/unclear. Not only have there been 4 (!) entries (released or in the pipe line) since the closing of the contest (Tom007, druhutch, TheCleverOne and Mateo56) but also has almost no-one voted. Maybe there should be some new deadlines so that people that wanted to take part can finish their drafts and that people have another chance to vote. Maybe a quiz deadline for sundaynight (Midnight after sunday 10 november) and a new voting term of a week (monday 11-sunday 17 november)? Just an idea. Also, another thread to draw attention to this, per Mateo's idea, might be handy.

Droxnar

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Nov 6, 2013, 1:25:47 PM11/6/13
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Only three?  Man, I knew I should have voted for myself! 

:D

TheCleverone

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:07:57 PM11/6/13
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Just to say, I never entered. I figured it wouldn't be right to after the closing date.

TheCleverone

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:11:00 PM11/6/13
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I think that what may have happened is that people spotted it was the "October" quiz contest, and figured that it had ended, and didn't bother. I myself forgot to vote, so I'm just as guilty.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:15:18 PM11/6/13
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To clarify, mine isn't an entry. I think that Tom007 and dru's entries were just in time, and mine wasn't. I don't think josh's post was ambiguous, just some people left it to the last minute, and in my case I was busy and disorganised. Therefore I think that the vote should be publicised a bit further and kept open an extra day or so, so that the winner can win in the knowledge that more than 3 people voted and nothing else should be done about mine and TheCleverone's (to my knowledge unreleased) quizzes.

Let's vote on it. Oh, that didn't go so well last time.

TheCleverone

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:20:03 PM11/6/13
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Yeah, mine has never been released.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:21:49 PM11/6/13
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Either way, I'll look out for it when it is :)

TheCleverone

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:23:42 PM11/6/13
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Thanks Mateo

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:39:37 PM11/6/13
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Sorry bout all the confusion... but we have some winners.  And more than 3 votes.  I didn't actually see them.

Anyway, in 1st place is Spacemaniac with Continents' Countries per Letter!  This entry received 7 votes.

In 2nd is beforever with North America: East or West Coast? with 6 votes

In 3rd is sproutcm with Iran or Iraq? with 5.


The reason this contest was more drab is because the next one will be amazing.  Thank you!!

TheCleverone

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:41:05 PM11/6/13
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Congratulations, Spacemaniac!

Spacemaniac

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:48:36 PM11/6/13
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Thanks! And thanks to all who voted!

On Nov 6, 2013, at 21:41, TheCleverone <theclever...@gmail.com> wrote:

Congratulations, Spacemaniac!

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Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:49:08 PM11/6/13
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Well done Spacemaniac, a deserving winner.

Droxnar

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Nov 6, 2013, 2:52:17 PM11/6/13
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Conga Rats! Well deserved all around!

razorz

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Nov 6, 2013, 3:49:52 PM11/6/13
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Congrats to all. I was hoping to award a CP from this contest, and beforever made it possible for me to do so. Well done! I'll be honest (I wanted to wait for this to end)... I thought Spacemaniac's quiz was great, but it's a stretch to say it's a "This or That" quiz. Either way, it's outside of my subcategories so I'll leave the decision to reward it to the curator of the tagged categories and the admins (who often publish quiz contest winners).

puckett86

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Nov 6, 2013, 4:30:40 PM11/6/13
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I've really tried to be civilized here lately, but since none of these gracious quizmakers are going to call you out, I (albeit, a total outsider to these contests) am going to. I just want to say that it's really a shame when quizmakers spend all this time and energy creating fantastic quizzes and entering into this contest, and then the contest organizer doesn't even keep track of the ending date or voting or even the rules (as razorz points out). It's one thing to call yourself an organizer; it's another to actually be organized. There are plenty of users who could run these things, but since you chose to take it over from BZ, please run it smoothly. Otherwise, you are just wasting people's time.

Quizmaster91

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Nov 6, 2013, 5:20:37 PM11/6/13
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First of all, congratulations to Spacemaniac, beforever and SproutCM. Only one overlap with my own top 3, but still 3 amazing quizzes.

Furthermore, in response to puckett86: I don't feel like my time is being wasted. If I did, I wouldn't be here. Yes, there has been some confusion around this contest, but I don't think it's fair to blame amazingjosh for it; at least not solely. As Mateo pointed out in response to my last comment: "some people left it to the last minute, and in my case I was busy and disorganised." In other words, the fact that some people posted their quizzes just in/out of time for the contest might have been just their 'fault'. I know that I said before that the dates on this contest had proved to be unclear, but in retrospect, it was mentioned pretty clearly in the first post in extra large text.
I don't consider the fact that AJ had the ending date for the votes wrong and needed to be reminded by Spacemaniac as a sign of negligence. It's a simple mistake and it could've happened to anybody. It just happened to amazingjosh because he is the one that's prepared to put his energy into hosting these contests, for which I'm very grateful.
And finally, the rules. I didn't vote for Spacemaniac's quiz because, like Razorz, I thought it was a stretch to put it into the 'This or That' category. But the problem here is that the rules for a quiz to be 'this or that' aren't clearly defined. In the end it's a judgment call and I accept it whether I agree with it or not. And by the way; I'm not bitter that Spacemaniac has won. If I were to run the contest I would've said something directly after he entered about the quiz possibly not being 'this or that', but since that hasn't happened, his quiz was just as eligible as any other. And even though I don't consider it 'this or that' I'm okay with him winning the contest because (1) I could see how people would classify it as 'this or that' (2) it is just a great quiz regardless of any of this.

razorz

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Nov 6, 2013, 5:52:21 PM11/6/13
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The idea for this contest goes back over a month ago when I reached out to all of the Geography curators with the idea. Only two curators responded. Yes, I'm calling out the other curators. If you didn't like the idea or were indifferent, you should have said something. You are a curator. If you are going to put your email on your profile, you need to be prepared to receive and respond to emails from users. Nevertheless, because I was ignored by all but two people, I left it up to Josh as to whether or not he wanted to do this. My original plan was to host this contest, making it completely separate from the monthly quiz contest. I was not a fan of Josh copying and pasting my email word for word as the instructions for this contest, but I never told him not to do that, and he and I never discussed the exact instructions for the contest. My email to the curators was simply for the curators to vet the idea; it was not intended to serve as instructions. The day Spacemaniac posted his entry, I contemplated asking whether or not it should be disqualified, but I have tried to distance myself from this contest because I couldn't get more than two curators to approve the idea. I did keep true to my word and awarded a CP. I think there are some lessons to be learned here. Josh is doing us all a favor by hosting these contests, and the contests have produced some fantastic quizzes. Let's make sure he gets the proper feedback, so we can ensure future contests are great. I was hoping for a contest with a theme more complex than what we're used to here, but perhaps this was too complex.

CCCP

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:01:04 PM11/6/13
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@razorz: I never received an email from you or from anyone for that matter on any contest. I just re-checked my email and I still can't find any email from you. So if you didn't get a reponse from me it was because I never received an email from you in the first place.

CCCP

razorz

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:04:18 PM11/6/13
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CCCP, you were actually the one I didn't include because I didn't think there would be any entries with the tag "border." In hindsight, I probably should have included you in the email. Sorry.

CCCP

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:07:21 PM11/6/13
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@razorz: No that's fine I just wanted to make sure you knew that I wasn't intentionally ignoring any email you would have sent.

CCCP

citkeane

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:11:21 PM11/6/13
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I'll leave you guys who were actually involved to dissect what, if anything, went wrong with the running of the contest - it wouldn't be fair for me to offer an opinion having not followed from the beginning - but I am a little confused as to why the winning entry doesn't fit the criteria of a 'This or That' quiz. Is it simply because there are more than two options or is there something else I'm missing? Personally, I'd be comfortable classing it as a 'This or That' but it is a format I only have limited experience with. Anyone care to enlighten this simple fool as to what the issue is?

puckett86

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:13:04 PM11/6/13
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Quizmaster91: I think your e-mail more supports my point than negates it.

"Yes, there has been some confusion around this contest,..."
If there was ANY confusion, then the contest wasn't run so well. Rules and deadlines should be stated clearly by the leader from the get-go. That's how all contests work, not just this one.


 "the fact that some people posted their quizzes just in/out of time for the contest might have been just their 'fault'."
A deadline is a deadline and should be enforced by the contest organizer, not the contestants. The contestants should simply adhere to it. But if the deadline is, say, Oct 31 at 11:59pm then a quiz submitted Nov 1 wouldn't be accepted by the contest organizer. I know it's hard to say "sorry you're past the deadline", but that's part of the responsibility of being a leader.


"I don't consider the fact that AJ had the ending date for the votes wrong and needed to be reminded by Spacemaniac as a sign of negligence. It's a simple mistake and it could've happened to anybody."
But if you organize a contest,YOU, not Spacemaniac, are in charge of keeping track of the dates and votes!

I think this will be a good learning experience for AJ, and I agree with him when that next contest will be amazing because he'll learn from his mistakes. But of you don't call someone out for their mistakes at all, they are likely to make the same mistakes again in the future.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:14:57 PM11/6/13
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I'm quite happy to say that Spacemaniac's was my first choice. As far as I can tell, people are more dubious to define it as a "This or That" style quiz because:

1) The title doesn't elude to it, like most do.
2) There are 6 options to choose from, rather than your traditional 2.

This could easily lead to a debate about how many options can be included and still be defined as a This or That quiz. 2? Yes. 3?  Well probably. 4? ummmm.

The way I tend to define the limit as the number of options one can hold in their head and consider at once. Indeed, that's a very loose limit. In Spacemaniacs quiz, it's quite easy to consider all 6 valid continents and give an answer within a few seconds. Say if a quiz was made where you had to choose between all the countries of say, Africa, evidently this would require a lot more thought, and I personally wouldn't define it as this or that.  I've given my Which European Microstate? (where you've got to choose between 6 options) the this or that tag for the same reason. All of that is open for debate, but it is easy to see why someone would think that.

If I had come across that quiz in a non-contest context, I wouldn't have CP'd it in the hope that josh or Baconite would've picked it up in "country" or "continent", two categories to which it is better suited. If it looked like it didn't in either of them, I probably would have awarded a CP.

With it also being an excellent geography quiz in its own right, it got my vote.

@razorz - I agree that I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of a response from the curators (CCCP's exception noted) on this one. However that said I personally think that the idea was a good one, and at the end of the day the main purpose of these contests is to produce some great quizzes and then recognise them, which we have done/are in the process of doing. The only thing I will say is that the curators that we had established were involved (me, yourself and Josh from our emails) should have had brief discussion before the contest went live to establish the minutiae of what would and what wouldn't be allowed, so that the disagreement about Spacemaniac's quiz wouldn't have happened. All of the subsequent disagreement has been regarding that point, and the general confusion about the result. All stuff that can easily be rectified for next contest. And quite frankly I don't want this to stop any potential future collaborations between the geography curators, especially should another geography themed contest occur down the line!

My fairly dispersed points. Lastly, well done to Spacemaniac again. Despite the confusion you made an excellent quiz.




skuban

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:20:16 PM11/6/13
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Disclaimer, as Oceania curator: I didn't receive an email regarding this contest. Whether it was sent to me or not, I don't know (maybe Oceania was an exception also). But I did not receive one.

Quizmaster91

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:27:57 PM11/6/13
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@citkeane: I think it's always handy to hear a fresh, new insight, so feel free to offer your personal opinion if you want to.

I said that the winning quiz might not fit the 'this or that' theme because the choice is between 5 (i.e. all) continents, instead of two (or three) clear choices. The introduction says "Create a "this or that" quiz about two (we could allow for three, as well) like geographic entities." But again, you could argue both ways.

@puckett86: "Yes, there has been some confusion around this contest,..." the point I was trying to make here was that the confusion about the contest started with some of the contenders, not with Amazingjosh. I went on to say that the directions, contrary to my previous post stated, were very clear.
 "the fact that some people posted their quizzes just in/out of time for the contest might have been just their 'fault'." in the end, the two quizzes that were handed in past the deadline weren't eligible, exactly as how you say it should be.
 "I don't consider ... happened to anybody." here it's just a matter of point of view. I wrote it down as a simple oversight, you as negligence. It is both. Yes, amazingjosh should've handled it better but I think you gave it more weight than it should have.
Overall, I think your points are valid, but you're a bit too harsh on amazingjosh. On the other hand, this tough love approach does make sure that it probably doesn't happen again so it might have its merit.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:29:33 PM11/6/13
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I will also add that josh emailed us on the 20th asking if there were any specifications we wanted to add, so we did have the opportunity to talk this one out. I just said no as I thought fulfilled "Geography" and "This or That" pretty much defined it.

Droxnar

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Nov 6, 2013, 6:51:58 PM11/6/13
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I don't feel that my time was wasted.  I'm still new to quiz-making and I learned a lot from this contest.  It gave me an incentive to make a new quiz type in a category I hadn't given much thought to yet.  Also, it made people notice my quizzes and I even got a CP out of it, even though I didn't win (Thanks Mateo!)  Life can get busy and shtako happens. The important thing is to have fun and make good quizzes.  

Also, if anyone feels that a different quiz should have won, there are a few things they can do:
  1. Leave the quiz-maker a comment letting them know how much they liked it.
  2. Give the quiz 5 globes.
  3. Favorite the quiz.
  4. Nominate the quiz. 
  5. All of the above!

DesertSpartan

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:01:33 PM11/6/13
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I will reluctantly add my 2 cents.  First of all, thanks to all who ran this contest, but I was not real excited about the outcome either.  My issues had mostly to do with lack of guidance.  Normally a Sporcle contest states something like create a quiz using fire.  This allows for huge variation and vast creativity.   This quiz asked for two or three this or that Geography items.  I thought there were some great entries, but Spacemaniac's was more than two or three and others I thought were very loosely geography and more natural fits in another category.  I did not vote in this contest.  I started to and decided against, because some of the quizzes I liked, I could not vote for with a good conscience.  I felt the people that best stuck to the rules as I understood them were handicapped.  Since the wide latitude in the rules was extended, I decided not voting was best.  I did play most of the games and enjoyed nearly all of them, although the venus and mars (I thought arguably the most original, but outside the rules, was beyond me  and I did not even play that one).  

Still a lot of great quizzes.  As far as the 6 item this or that, I think it does fit a normal this or that concept for the purposes of getting the tag. Still, for purposes of this or that quizzes, I prefer something more traditional and felt that quiz did not meet the contest guidelines.

I am certainly not the best arbiter of rules or taste and am fine with the outcome, but I wonder if others did not vote because they had beliefs similar to mine.

DesertSpartan

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:07:08 PM11/6/13
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Just to be clear, I thought the Venus and Mars quiz was outside the rules, because it was a natural fit for science and not geography, which is part of why it was so creative.

CCCP

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:19:17 PM11/6/13
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Having never taken part in a quiz contest and even though I never plan to. Could someone please give me some info as to how quiz contests usually happened and were organized before with BanjoZebra? I am just curious because I cannot give my opinion on how this contest went because I did not take part and I have no knowledge of how they were organized before. So any info from anyone would be appreciated, thanks.

CCCP

NYYanks

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:22:59 PM11/6/13
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I personally agree with everyone here.

1) There was definitely a lack of guidance here. The fact that I, who didn't even enter anything in the contest, had to post all the entered quizzes instead of the organizer of the contest. "You may then begin voting... I apologize for not having a complete list of the entries. But they're all here. " Yes, all the entries were here, but it is much easier for voters to find them on one single post rather than searching through the thread.

2) The fact that only three people voted shows that something went wrong. I think that is probably because there were not really any reminders to vote during the voting time. If you had only three people that voted and did not remind the community to vote, how are people going to know to vote. I voted AFTER Spacemaniac posted to say that the contest was over, but I shortly received an email after saying that my votes would not be counted. What I don't understand is that why couldn't the voting just had extended if everyone forgot?

3) The instructions for the contest were vague. I feel that Spacemaniac's quiz loosely follows the rules of the contest (I voted it #3), which probably is the reason why it was more attractive to the users. 

Just to clarify, I am NOT putting anyone under the bus here. I am just putting out what I thought went wrong.

Mateo56

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:27:58 PM11/6/13
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I wanted to hear a bit more before responding again, but just to add - AJ said:

"Sorry bout all the confusion... but we have some winners.  And more than 3 votes.  I didn't actually see them."

So although I don't know how many votes there were, I'm taking this to mean a lot more than 3 (maybe they went into josh's spam?) so this isn't so much of an issue.

Quizmaster91

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:28:01 PM11/6/13
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@CCCP: the biggest difference between this quiz contest and the previous ones (both the ones run by BanjoZebra and the ones run by amazingjosh) is that this time, there were more specific guidelines for the quizzes (this or that quizzes about geography) and before, there was always just one word, purple or trees for example, that all the quizzes needed to be related to. For more info, here's: the first quiz-making contest .

Michael

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Nov 6, 2013, 7:47:56 PM11/6/13
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If you run a search for the previous few contests also run by amazingjosh (themed around 'fire before this contest, centered on 'transport' before that, and 'summer' before that, amazingjosh lays out the rules in a very classic 'BanjoZebra style'. 

There was a theme such as those I mentioned, and people adapted them to various categories or their particular 'niche' formats. There was a deadline for entry submission and a specified period of time that would be for voting.

The This or That contest was a little bit complicated by the fact that it had to be 'Geography', have a set format and a set number of 'different kinds of answers'... a lot more rules to pay attention to compared to previous contests ran by BOTH Josh and BZ, and I personally kind of feel that with things like this, the more rules there are, the more likely one of them is going to get broken, or at the very least stretched. 

The deadlines were also clearly stated at first, I thought, as someone else also pointed out. But I think during these things, we all kind of expect reminders from the host, input from the host just so everyone still feels the authority, the presence...? And for whatever reason josh didn't, the contest suffered.

But I don't feel my time was wasted making my quiz, just because Spacemaniac isn't as 'classic This or That' as mine. I, too, suffered from the lack of guidance, and forgot to vote, but... funnily enough, I probably would've made Space's my top choice. All the quizzes that were made, if they're good, I have no doubt I've checked out already or will play soon, thanks to them succeeding outside this thread anyway... doing well on the tables and achieving CP's/EP's and publishes. 

I think some of you who've been very vocal in your criticism could've had the courtesy instead to e-mail josh directly with what you had to say. There is no reason to shame him - he has ran them successfully a number of times and I'm sure you could acknowledge that fact and cut the guy some slack. 

On 7 Nov, 2013, at 12:19 am, CCCP <sporc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Having never taken part in a quiz contest and even though I never plan to. Could someone please give me some info as to how quiz contests usually happened and were organized before with BanjoZebra? I am just curious because I cannot give my opinion on how this contest went because I did not take part and I have no knowledge of how they were organized before. So any info from anyone would be appreciated, thanks.

CCCP

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Quizmaster91

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Nov 6, 2013, 8:11:36 PM11/6/13
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By the way, I think it was nice to have a quiz contest with a different kind of theme. It's true that the chance of a rule being broken or stretched is bigger this way, but the way I see it, Spacemaniac took a risk by submitting a game that pushed the boundaries of the contest. I said before that if I had run the contest, I wouldn't have accepted Spacemaniacs entry and I would've said so right away. But since amazingjosh chose to accept the quiz (and it can be argued very well that this was the right decision so that's not something bad) it was eligible. Some people may have chosen to not vote for it because of the loose interpretation, some people may have chosen to vote for it for its originality. In the end Spacemaniac won the contest so his 'taking a chance' paid off.
And yes, many people have said that during the run of the contest, there should've been more guidance. Partly, you're right. In previous contests this was the case so you would expect that. Especially NYYanks having to insert the list of contenders was a good example of this (also, thanks for doing that NYYanks). On the other hand, I hope we're all mature enough to send in our contributions and vote according to the rules stated above without someone tapping on our shoulders every day. Yes, reminders would've been nice, beneficial or handy, but they aren't a bare necessity for these kind of contests. Therefore, I don't think amazingjosh needs to be criticized so harshly for not doing this, for whatever reason (to which I would like to add that I am curious if there is a specific reason, since amazingjosh has done this in all previous contests he has led)

Amazingjosh Sporcle

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Nov 6, 2013, 8:18:34 PM11/6/13
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First off, I would like to apologize for the sloppy manner in which this quiz contest was run. I take responsibility for that, as I was in charge and should have been more ready to handle the contest. However, I don't think that I'm completely derelict of duty; this quiz contest has been the only poor one and I promise to be more alert.

Secondly, I don't think that any of the problems arose from the content of the contest. It was a very good idea, but the participation by the geography curators could have been higher. Granted, I think that all the curators who are reading this have been active participants. But I would like to reiterate razorz's point about being curators. If you choose (you don't have to do this!) to have an email, you should be responding to it at least occasionally.

Finally, I can only promise that all will be better soon. I received a very good contest proposal that hopefully will sweep you in to contesting soon.

Thank you,
Josh

david6k

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Nov 7, 2013, 11:29:55 AM11/7/13
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Good job by the quizmakers.
 
For the future, I think it would be helpful for the quiz coordinator to post in a single post (1) the final list of entries, (2) how to vote (including email address), and (3) the deadline for voting. I'm guessing we were supposed to email amazingjosh? Since NY Yanks posted the final list, I wasn't sure if we were supposed to email him.
 
David

RobPro

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Nov 14, 2013, 9:39:08 AM11/14/13
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Sorry guys as I have been rather slack on Sporcle recently, but I have been following this and I am happy with how many people participated! It may have not been run as smoothly as previous contests, but it did bring a lot of people together and it did yield a nice bunch of new quizzes, with cool ideas so overall it was a success! As the bulk of them are in Geography, I have looked at them and will give some EPs out :) 

DesertSpartan

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Nov 14, 2013, 1:26:49 PM11/14/13
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@RobPro wrote "I am happy with how many people participated! It may have not been run as smoothly as previous contests, but it did bring a lot of people together and it did yield a nice bunch of new quizzes, with cool ideas so overall it was a success!"   I had mentioned a few posts up that I was reluctant to comment on how this quiz went and my reason was that I agree that overall, with the number of participants and quizzes contributed, I thought the contest brought a lot of enjoyment and quality quizzes.
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