Quizzes In General

[QuizmasterG]

I think we have been down this road with other quizzes.

I do help and have been helped in the past with various questions which have been causing problems.

There are many generous people out there willing to help.

All quizzers - fun or otherwise - really need to have some kind of moratorium about not posting requests for unknown answers until two weeks or so before a closing date.

By the time the date approaches nearly every single question in a particular quiz has been asked on Answerbank.

Anyone could just sit back and harvest other peoples efforts without any of their own.

It can't be that everyone is THAT desperate to win - the prizes are hardly life changing - and usually the charities ask for entry money up front.

Can we show a little restraint please !!

(I compose charity quizzes myself and do appreciate the funds generated by quizzers everywhere)

[Strix]

QuizmasterG

I, personally, have a great deal of sympathy for where you are coming from on this.

I cannot see the point of doing a crossword or entering a competition by simply putting in other people's answers.

When the "winner" is drawn from the correct entries it is little better than a lottery and bestows no glory or kudos on the winner if they have gleaned their correct entry from the efforts of others.

I think if you have garnered your answers from others then you should not submit an entry to that competition.

Bit sanctimonious and pi, I know but there you go.

[podger123]

I do so agree with you. Someone regularly asks for answers to Quizmail and GFQ a couple of days after the quizzes come out Whats the fun in NOT solving the clues yourself The questions usually asked are those that have taken me ages and I won't give any clues until a couple of days before the posting day and not to these regulars.
Another annoyance is when the poster doesn't say which quiz it is because then they'll be more likely to get a response.
It is the answerbank so we must just suffer it.

[boysinblue68]

dear all - totally agree with all comments. It is almost beyond belief the number of questions that are asked on here, especially for charity quizzes - where as you say, you have already supported the charity by buying the quiz in the first place.

I cannot see how anyone can get any sense of satisfaction or achievement from using someone else's answers and claiming them for themsleves. If I can't find an answer under my own means, then I leave a blank space.

I'm also perplexed at two other things - how soon questions are asked after a quiz has been published, and the inability of some people to use google, etc. - many of the questions asked are not difficult - people are just so lazy. But, by being given the answer on here, as you say, some excellent quizzes are ruined by what seems an ever increasing band of lazy people who obviously have no ethics/scruples.

And yes, before someone says it, it is a Q&A site, but please understand how the lazy are ruining good entertaining quizzes.

[novalis]

Like you QuizmasterG I have helped and will continue to help people through this forum as far as my limited knowledge and crosword expertise will allow. If I ask for help it is as a last resort. ( That probably sounds conceited but it is not meant to be. I've always tried to rely on my own efforts as far as possible. )

It is the time scale situation which is the most frustrating. A question appeared two weeks ago from a local quiz with an end of March closing date. That was even before I'd received any copies to sell ---- and I wrote the quiz!!!!

Let's give help by all means. It is the AnswerBank after all. I do, however, support your idea of a moratorium.

[QuizmasterG]

Thanks for those responses - at least I am not alone.

I too will continue to help in a small way but if anyone else reading this could add a note to an answer and "spread the word" it would help to rectify this annoying situation

[gen2]

I sympathise with you QuizmasterG but I'm afraid I take a neutral point on this. My first attempt at a charity quiz (Rocky Horrors) has just come to a close. We raised as much money from sales through the internet (mostly this site) as from local sales. Also there was a higher percentage of returns from internet entrants (they certainly take their quizzes seriously). Fund raisers therefore see sites like this as beneficial.

Remember too that answers given are not necessarily correct as these sites can be very efficient at disseminating misinformation to the extent that some local entrants who did not resort to the use of this site, scored higher than the majority of internet entrants.

Even if this site were to take a strong moral standpoint on this issue, there are other sites that entrants could resort to and achieve the same results. One particular individual (a member here) did just that with my quiz (possibly fearing unfavourabe criticism from fellow ABers) and asked for answers to at least 30 (out of 100) questions elsewhere.

The trouble is that most answerers on AB are probably unaware of the closing dates of quizzes they have not purchased themselves so you cannot blame them. I have probably done the same helping entrants to quizzes unknown to me. I do not knowingly give answers to questions asked early in a quiz's life and agree with exercising restraint where possible.

At the end of the day though, this is a Question and Answer site so you cannot really blame the answerers - I'd be more inclined to question the morals of the questioners.

[DSJ]

I agree with you all to a certain extent, but is this really any different to someone asking a member of their family at home with help when struggling with a crossword clue in the daily paper?

[Aquagility]

I, and I think most regulars on Q&P, agree with the points made so elequently by QuizmasterG. We do, though, react badly to being told how to behave.

The reason sodemall10 gets unsympathetic answers to his posts is his unerring ability to get people's backs up.

Sup with a long spoon! some of your supporters do your cause more harm than good.

[DSJ]

Oh dear! I feel suitably squashed & think it better to keep my mouth shut in future!

[boysinblue68]

There seems to be some sort of agreement that answers are being asked for all too frequently from, what I describe as, an ever increasing number of people. I also agree that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to stop people posting these questions and ruining excellent quizzes.

gen2 - I would point out that whilst sites like this go a long way to increasing sales and therefore raising more money for the given charities, the problem comes with the "lazy ones" who think that they have to have an answer for every question. I'll repeat what I've said before - people are already supporting the charities by buying the quizzes - why then do they have to use someone else's answers rather than leave a blank space if they cannot find the answer by their own means? After all, we're not talking about life-changing sums of money for the prizes are we? - the fun and interest from my point of view is pitting my wits against the quizsetter - I'll use reference books, the internet, etc. to find the answer, but I won't go and post a question expecting someone else to answer a question for me.

[nonomaybe]

This subject, with variations, pops up on quite a regular basis.
It was pointed out on one occasion recently that this is the ANSWERbank, so people should expect answers to be given.
However,most people seeking help actually ask for clues so that if successful have the satisfaction of having found the answer. Where it goes wrong for some (me included) is when
a respondent "helpfully" posts the answer,perhaps they haven't read the request properly! It'

[podger123]

Some lazy so and so who shall remain nameless but who never gives thanks for answers and also never helps out with answers actually posted a GFQ question on a different website which involved darts being thrown to achieve scores. It was easy to do even without a dart board and it was FUN to come to the hopefully correct answer myself.

[QuizmasterG]

The point (sort of) I was really trying to make was not the fact that answers were given to quizzes - as people rightly point out, it is an ANSWERbank - but the timing.

It should not be necessary to ask questions up to TWO months before the closing date of a quiz.

Obviously, all avenues to answers have not been explored or people are just being lazy !

Quizzers enjoy the challenge and most, if not all, will a least give a clue to someone who is having a problem with one or two questions.

I really object to someone (as happened recently) posting 16 questions out of a possible 60 - more than one quarter of the total, again two months before the deadline.

If you can't be bothered to do the quiz - simply don't bother !

[QuizmasterG]

Thanks to everyone for your time and effort in replying.