Play fair!
The last couple of months I have been met with increasing concerns about cheating. My response has always been that I cannot control cheating and I cannot see the point in cheating anyway, because there are no prizes to be won. But I must admit that from time to time I also marvel at the knowledge of some quizzers.
I hope that everyone plays fairly, but if one or two of you out there haven’t been able to resist the temptation to use google, I do encourage you to stop doing so. It is disrespectful to the other Quizzypedia quizzers who all play a fair game and it is disrespectful to me and the guest quizmasters who put a lot of effort into making a fun quiz for all of you out there.
Therefore, I would like to ask everyone to: 1) Read the paragraphs from the rulebook at the bottom of this post 2) Sign your name in the comments box below (please sign it in the following way @myusername).
I know that anyone can sign a play fair statement and still do as they please, but I do believe that it will have an impact if people commit publically to playing fairly. At least I hope so…
If I am still met with concerns in a couple of seasons, I will have a chat with the quizzers who are being called out to try to determine if the accusations are false or not.
I hope this post will be received in the positive spirit in which it was meant.
Game on!
Excerpt from the rulebook:
What is NOT allowed:
No googling! This means that you have to know the answer or be able to figure it out by yourself. That is, no assistance from anyone or anything. You cannot call a friend and you cannot “bing” the answer instead of googling it, go to Wikipedia or your old trusted friend Encyclopedia Britannica, go to your personal library/CD-collection/DVD-collection to look up authors/singers/actors. You have to know the answer yourself, plain and simple. Think of it as if you were playing a quiz game in your own living room together with your friends – in that situation it wouldn’t be okay to look up the answer or facts connected to the question either.
What is allowed: It is okay to use certain instruments that will help you in tiresome tasks. If, for instance, you have to multiply or subtract two numbers it is okay to use a calculator. If you have to answer how many centimeters the diameter of a basketball hoop is, is okay to use a measuring tape to get a sense of how much 45 centimeters really is (or how much one centimeter is!). AND IT IS ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS OKAY TO ASK THE QUIZMASTER FOR CLARIFICATION TO A QUESTION. If you happen to stumble upon the answer without intentionally seeking it out (you might hear who the artist behind “Purple Rain” is on the radio, or what Manchester United’s football stadium is called in the news) it is okay to submit the answer – it will not be considered cheating.