Contest Suggestions

[Siliconjunkie]

Ok, after the other thread I decided to do this to see what we can come up with to make the contests a bit easier to administer and possible a bit more fair.

I am NOT saying that there was any hanky pankey before, but to the outsider, it would appear to be easily fixed.

Here is my plan. (In no particular order)

1) Post the questions in a thread as we do now.
2) Have users post their answers to a web page and give them a reference number to ID their answers. No information beyond the answers is collected. This will make the scoring blind. I can provide the page as well as hosting. **edit** need dup checking... hrm
3) The quizmaster must request an observer before posting the quiz. The observer will get a copy of all questions and answers before the quiz is posted. The observer is not eligible to compete and will be anonymous. This could be a volunteer or someone appointed from a pool by a moderator.
4) All quiz answers are scored right/wrong. If the answer does not match the original answer in #3, it is wrong. No discussion, no recounts. This sounds harsh, but it gets away from any question of results being tainted.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Flames?

[Siliconjunkie]

Another failsafe.

All submissions will be timestamped at the time the "submit" button is clicked. This will be the time of the answers for the purposes of the contest.

[mickwish]

The "observer" could be Mntsnow, provided he doesn't want to play. ;) That's how Lauren conducted his lottos, although it wasn't very transparent to the casual lurker. As long as the competition organiser posts this as part of the "rules" it shouldn't matter whether it's transparent or not. How many people ever get to see who is observing at the majority of lottery draws? :)

Nice ideas in there, Mark. :D

Cheers
Mick

PS maybe Manda will play as well?? :D

[mickwish]

BTW, absolutely no discussion on answers may not only be harsh, but bad form. Organisers are only human; if an answer can clearly be shown to be incorrect (as opposed to only one of many answers, which is different), then there should be option to withdraw the question and replay or recount.

IMO, anyway. I'd hate to see arguments because the rules are too rigid. :)

Cheers
Mick

[Siliconjunkie]

Well, I am not sure if me playing would be fair. And, her by association.

If I were to host things, it is possible for me to see others answers as well as tamper with them.

If the rules clearly stated that the given answer was THE only acceptable answer, right or wrong, there would be no arguement. Everyone would be in the same position in relation to this. I just can't come up with a fair way to decide that a given answer needs to be changed.

[Carl D]

i just would want very clear instructions on the questions. last time, the quiz wasnt clear in the last 5 questions. they were annograms, but how was i to know these were cities. i could of got more right or maybe all if i knew.

just dont have a quiz like its by microsoft. which means dont put 3 answers to 1 question or the like.