I was just wondering how long has this "Please go back and complete all the questions" thing been in place? I've just noticed it this past week or so and it's driving me mad because I keep forgetting it's there.
When I look at one of my own quizzes, I've always just read through for whatever it is I'm looking for, then hit submit so I can see the II, but it no longer allows me to do this - I have to answer every question. I can see why it's there for players, sort of, (I have never thought it mattered what score someone got once they were unable to rate unless they scored a minimum) but could it be made to recognise the author and not do it to them? The system knows when the author plays as it does the "you own this quiz and have not been marked" thing.
Or am I the only person that does the "whizz and click" thing and thus the only one that cares?
Just thought I'd ask and see if anyone else does the same/feels the same/cares one jot
Also, is there a minimum number of Qs I need to answer to get it to "go" or does it have to be all of them? (I guess one or two would be better than all of them but it's still a bit faffy)

I don't know if this is applicable. It does touch a certain part in a sense (how systems work). It is from Moondog's 1969 LP "Moondog". It is a piece of interjection at the start of his second offering of classical based music:
"Machines were mice and men were lions once upon a time. Now it is the opposite; it is twice upon a time." I think it means the accountants have won, the count matters most and the programmers cannot stand an empty data record because it will upset the beancounters.

I noticed that new refusal to accept a quiz with no responses a week or so ago when I wanted to check the II in someone else's quiz to see how they had changed it in response to my correction note. I never use it for my own quizzes - if I want to see it, I open as if to edit and it's all there in front of me. If I really want to see how it looks as presented, I can hit save and then preview. So there is no need to play the active quiz.

I think possibly this is an attempt to avoid cheating by logging in and submitting a quiz to see the answers before going to another account, or just another window, and answering the actual question.

Personally I find it much easier to find little typos or things that I didn't word quite correctly when I view my own quiz in play mode, not in the edit screen or in the preview. I don't know why, but it works. I've often opened my own quiz in play mode to check something and I do the submit without playing as well, so this thing about answering all questions can't have been in place all that long. I'm not sure that coding it to recognize the author and allow them to submit a blank quiz would work though. My guess is that the system would probably first look to see if it's a completed quiz and then it looks at who the player is. That's just my own theory though.

It is to throw up a speed bump to those who routinely google FunTrivia quizzes during hourly games and submit them to steal the answers.

This is a technique used by a small number of extremely active players (some of which frequent these boards and will read this message).

Needless to say, it is against the spirit of our games, and is being discouraged. Deep penalties may be applied in the near future to such players.

Wow. While I've googled for an answer or two at times in timed games, depending on the topic, I can't say I ever thought of googling the quiz itself and submitting it blank for the answers!

Guess I'm too late to try it now

Superb move - while we will never be able to prevent googling as such, players should at least have to find an outside source instead of getting the verbatim answer right off FT.

I have to agree, Wes, although I don't play a lot of the timed games.

I had no idea that people would submit the quiz without playing just to get the answer for another timed quiz... Amazing the lengths people go to.

Oh good heavens! I never even thought of that Terry! I can't believe anyone would a) be bothered to go to those lengths and b) be able to do it fast enough for it to be helpful... I live and learn.
don't suppose you could make it so the author doesn't come up against it could you? please? (It's not as though you are busy or anything [runs, fast])

This sort of thing seems no different than taking answers from the Funtrivia Encyclopedia, which is punishable with banning (See A Note on Cheating ). Shouldn't players known to be doing this get the boot?

It seems that all the lengths at cheating some players go through is more trouble than it's worth. Whatever goal or badge your trying to achieve you'll get there eventually if you just keep playing. I know of no game or circumstance where you lose FT points or a badge for doing poorly on a game or quiz. I do admit I google some non timed questions, particularly in the Monster Quiz & the Bus Ride where your're given permission to do so if you feel like it. A lot of time I do it for more info if a question or subject piques my curiousity. I haven't encountered the 'must be completed' message yet, I'm hoping this doesn't apply to fill in the blank questions where if I have no idea of the answer I just leave it blank. Hope I don't have to throw some wild ramdom guess just to get the quiz to register.

You are not only allowed to research on these two, the Bus Ride actively encourages it. The whole purpose of the visit is to learn about the country, and each of them has far more of interest than can be contained in ten questions. On the first time around, I allowed myself an hour in my plans for the evening to find out about the country. Part of that, near the end, involved finding information about local foods for one of the threads on the Bus Ride chatboard. Next time around I posted something about local holidays every day. That was just me, wanting to share the interesting stuff I found, but there is plenty to discover just for yourself.



When you don't know the answer to a FITB question, you can enter a single letter so that the answer screen reveals the correct answer to you, which doesn't always happen if you left it blank. One or two non-responses in a quiz obviously doesn't trigger the message, a completely empty quiz certainly does. The trigger point must be somewhere in there, but I do not plan to experiment by answering only 1 question and submitting to see if that is enough, because I wouldn't want to treat any quiz with such disrespect.

While we're at it, can the FT encyclopedia be blocked for the Bus Ride quiz of the day? I know research is allowed but I think it should involve actual looking up of answers, rather than just opening the FT encyclopedia page and clicking through the quiz.

Using the Encyclopedia to just find answers without reading the questions and thinking about them certainly defeats the intention, but the players only cheat themselves out of the possible learning experience. The handful of points they can get doesn't really hurt anyone else, as far as I can tell.

Edited to add: Of course, anyone who did that should feel ethically bound not to rate the quiz (assuming they can do so - I have already played everything on the tour) as they have not actually experienced it as it was intended to be played.

While we're at it...It would be really nice to get the "Go back and complete all the questions" when you are doing a "fill in the blank" timed quiz and hit return after the first question instead of the tab key.

And a question about the "speed bump" set up to detour those who routinely google FunTrivia quizzes during hourly games and submit them to steal the answers; clicking on a few answers to submit the quiz takes only a second for many players. I mean, if players can consistently get 15/15 correct answers in the team v. team game, in less than 45 seconds, how hard can it be? Just an observation.

I know that something like 5 or 6 of 10 is not enough because one of my cats hit the Enter key during a quiz I played while I was about halfway and the message saved me from an accidental incomplete submit.

Wesley, I played the "Fill Me In" timed game earlier. By mistake, after answering the first question, I hit the enter key, instead of the tab key. It submitted my game. I didn't get the "go back and complete the questions" comment. I was able to see every answer to the questions on that hourly quiz that I didn't get to answer.

Players don't just get 15/15 in 45 seconds in TvT, they can get 10/10 in 15 seconds in PoC, 30/30 in 120 seconds in Mind Melt (occasionally) etc.

Terry has spoken about this, these people are not cheating. A couple may be Googling very fast, but that is not against the rules, and they do lose points for it with the time they take. But mainly, these people are memorising the questions and answers, and it only takes them the time to see a keyword, click and scroll down. Here is the link: http://www.funtrivia.com/bb.cfm?action=details&qnid=25052&boardid=1000000

This new mechanism applies to untimed quizzes, not the timed games. If it works well, we can only hope that Terry will add it for timed games (and the Brain Twist in GC) as well to avoid those accidental submits, in particular on Pot of Gold, World Quiz and Fill them In where that Enter key is just too close for comfort

[quote=WesleyCrusher
I know that something like 5 or 6 of 10 is not enough because one of my cats hit the Enter key during a quiz I played while I was about halfway and the message saved me from an accidental incomplete submit. [/quote]

My cats occassionally hit the keyboard when I'm writing questions. Unfortunately my computer isn't equipped with an instant feline translator.

It seems no different, but it is. It's actually worse than using the encyclopedia. It is to my understanding that the zero that is scored by these players will get credited in the quiz scores, thus potentially bringing down the quiz difficulty rating, thus potentially getting less plays as a result.



You missed the point of the post you quoted. The point was that some players can click fast enough for this speed bump to be a non-factor. What's a few seconds when a correct answer is 100 points?

I don't spend much time in Forums, and so am a neophyte, but I just have to respond to this. Those of us who play on teams competing in TvT and Heroes, along with the daily and hourly tourneys, find it a fun and "healthy" competition among our peers. People who look up the answers, for whatever reason, are in another category altogether. And they absolutely alter and skew the standings since there is a tiny time penalty, but a huge penalty for a wrong answer.

So, what exactly would a "deep penalty" be? And does "may be applied" really mean "will be applied?" And what could be deeper than banning?

This "technique" goes against the grain, theme, and sportsmanship of the site. As a member of this site, and especially as a Gold Member who pays to help maintain this site and keep it at its high standards, I would like to see this addressed more fully, and I would think the "deep penalty" would be banning from the site.

Why even have this page if the rules won't be enforced? Are these rules taken on a case by case basis? Would I get banned if I decided to rip answers directly from the quizzes? If my team decided to cheat in Heroes using this method, would there be a mass hanging?