Subject: EDQ #5: The Art of the Correction Note
Posted by: WesleyCrusher
Date: May 05 13
As a FunTrivia quiz author, you will sooner or later inevitably come into contact with a correction note. There are three ways by which you may get involved with corrections: sending a correction note, receiving a correction request by an editor prior to your quiz going online and finally receiving a player correction once your quiz is online. Each of these situations is quite different and you should be aware of what to do for each of them.
Firstly, sending corrections is not limited to authors - any player can send them - but as an author, especially one who may have a bit of experience, you are in a better position to send them than a player who has never written a quiz because you know the quiz-writing process and rules. So, when you feel that something in a quiz is wrong, put yourself in the author's shoes and, before you send your note, pretend you're the author of the quiz. Would you consider the note helpful and would you feel compelled to act upon it if you were the one who wrote the quiz? If so, send away. Otherwise stop and rethink your note. Make sure that you are truly pointing out an error - whether one in language or one in fact - and also consider whether it makes sense to fix the error. Don't be too picky, however. Sometimes it is not possible to explain the last detail of a complex issue in the space of an interesting info field, so please don't hold that against an author if the explanation is otherwise correct. Also, when correcting language, always ask yourself if you're actually pointing out a spelling or grammar error or just rather want to fix a style you consider inferior.
The bottom line here is that anything that is not actually a correction should not be in a player correction note. If you want to have a deeper factual discussion on a fine point beyond the scope of the quiz, you can send the author a direct message, but for anything else - it's their quiz and if you think you have something to add, why not write one yourself to take the subject further?
The second scenario ties in with the previous issue of EDQ about the queue and edit process: An editor has reviewed your quiz and found some problems with it, so they send it back to you for fixes. At this point, you are expected to make these fixes - completely and diligently. If anything in the editor request is optional or merely a suggestion, the editor will mark it as such - but even then, please strongly consider the change. All editors have significant experience in writing good quizzes, and heeding a simple suggestion may well be the difference between a top 5000 quiz and a mediocre offering!
Also, please understand that editors have different styles and some even somewhat vary their style based on available time and quality of your quiz. Many editors will go into depth and explain things for you if they have the time and believe that the more detailed description will help you learn to become a better author - but sometimes you may also get only a short, general message, especially if there are many errors of a similar, avoidable kind. Do your best to fix the issue and if something is unclear, reply and ask back.
There may of course be the case that you disagree with the editor - we are only human and our corrections may contain errors as well, especially if there's a factual issue - but even then please do not just resubmit your quiz with the issue you want to dispute unchanged. Seek the dialog with the editor - either message them and politely explain your case or, at the very least, put a note in the editor message field of your resubmission when you leave something unchanged and explain why you did so - in case of a factual disagreement, you should link to a reliable source confirming your version.
Finally, the case of receiving a player correction note is the one that requires most judgement from you. When you get such a note, you will not at first know its quality. Some player corrections are obviously bogus (like when a newcomer tries to correct their own answer, someone complains about a technical error or you get a message based on an outdated version of the question still in a timed game's database). You can safely make all of these as "not an error" with just a short notice so the editor who will check your handling of the correction will see you have read and understood the message.
If a message is obviously correct - you made a blatant misspelling which the editing process did not catch, for example - do make the correction, save the quiz and then mark the note as corrected if you can. If you can't make the correction because the quiz has been online and unchanged for too long, put a note to the editor in the box to tell them exactly what you want changed - in form of a text ready to copy and paste and right in the box if at all possible. If you want to send a separate note to an editor, make sure you give the exact quiz title, question number and location to be fixed (question text, answer or info).
Please ONLY mark a note as "corrected" if you actually made a change or are providing instructions for the editor on how to make it. If you do not make a change, you should always select "Not an error".
The most challenging correction note is the one that isn't immediately clear as correct or false. Most of these are factual corrections, but there may also be some for language issues. In these cases, don't just gloss over them and mark them "Not an Error", possibly even with a semi-rude note like "This player has no idea" or a comment like "I know my stuff, I have a Bachelor's degree in ...". Instead, check back that what you wrote is truly correct and if you are correct, provide a reliable link or plausible explanation confirming your opinion. Remember that all your corrections - whether made or declined - will be crosschecked by editors and if you ignore a valid note or brush a note aside unchecked, the editor will call you out on it or, in a really clear-cut case, change your quiz or pull it offline until you fix it. Avoid that by treating every correction as a genuine concern - you could have confused something or simply have been a victim of outdated knowledge. If, at the end of the process, you find out you were right after all, you may want to send a reply to the correction, explaining your case to the original sender - it will almost always be appreciated.
Bottom line: Write every correction like you'd want to receive them and treat every correction as a chance to improve your work. If you do this, you'll no longer need to dread the "red alert" on your homepage - you'll rather see it as a way to make your quizzes even better.
Posted by: WesleyCrusher
Date: May 05 13
As a FunTrivia quiz author, you will sooner or later inevitably come into contact with a correction note. There are three ways by which you may get involved with corrections: sending a correction note, receiving a correction request by an editor prior to your quiz going online and finally receiving a player correction once your quiz is online. Each of these situations is quite different and you should be aware of what to do for each of them.
Firstly, sending corrections is not limited to authors - any player can send them - but as an author, especially one who may have a bit of experience, you are in a better position to send them than a player who has never written a quiz because you know the quiz-writing process and rules. So, when you feel that something in a quiz is wrong, put yourself in the author's shoes and, before you send your note, pretend you're the author of the quiz. Would you consider the note helpful and would you feel compelled to act upon it if you were the one who wrote the quiz? If so, send away. Otherwise stop and rethink your note. Make sure that you are truly pointing out an error - whether one in language or one in fact - and also consider whether it makes sense to fix the error. Don't be too picky, however. Sometimes it is not possible to explain the last detail of a complex issue in the space of an interesting info field, so please don't hold that against an author if the explanation is otherwise correct. Also, when correcting language, always ask yourself if you're actually pointing out a spelling or grammar error or just rather want to fix a style you consider inferior.
The bottom line here is that anything that is not actually a correction should not be in a player correction note. If you want to have a deeper factual discussion on a fine point beyond the scope of the quiz, you can send the author a direct message, but for anything else - it's their quiz and if you think you have something to add, why not write one yourself to take the subject further?
The second scenario ties in with the previous issue of EDQ about the queue and edit process: An editor has reviewed your quiz and found some problems with it, so they send it back to you for fixes. At this point, you are expected to make these fixes - completely and diligently. If anything in the editor request is optional or merely a suggestion, the editor will mark it as such - but even then, please strongly consider the change. All editors have significant experience in writing good quizzes, and heeding a simple suggestion may well be the difference between a top 5000 quiz and a mediocre offering!
Also, please understand that editors have different styles and some even somewhat vary their style based on available time and quality of your quiz. Many editors will go into depth and explain things for you if they have the time and believe that the more detailed description will help you learn to become a better author - but sometimes you may also get only a short, general message, especially if there are many errors of a similar, avoidable kind. Do your best to fix the issue and if something is unclear, reply and ask back.
There may of course be the case that you disagree with the editor - we are only human and our corrections may contain errors as well, especially if there's a factual issue - but even then please do not just resubmit your quiz with the issue you want to dispute unchanged. Seek the dialog with the editor - either message them and politely explain your case or, at the very least, put a note in the editor message field of your resubmission when you leave something unchanged and explain why you did so - in case of a factual disagreement, you should link to a reliable source confirming your version.
Finally, the case of receiving a player correction note is the one that requires most judgement from you. When you get such a note, you will not at first know its quality. Some player corrections are obviously bogus (like when a newcomer tries to correct their own answer, someone complains about a technical error or you get a message based on an outdated version of the question still in a timed game's database). You can safely make all of these as "not an error" with just a short notice so the editor who will check your handling of the correction will see you have read and understood the message.
If a message is obviously correct - you made a blatant misspelling which the editing process did not catch, for example - do make the correction, save the quiz and then mark the note as corrected if you can. If you can't make the correction because the quiz has been online and unchanged for too long, put a note to the editor in the box to tell them exactly what you want changed - in form of a text ready to copy and paste and right in the box if at all possible. If you want to send a separate note to an editor, make sure you give the exact quiz title, question number and location to be fixed (question text, answer or info).
Please ONLY mark a note as "corrected" if you actually made a change or are providing instructions for the editor on how to make it. If you do not make a change, you should always select "Not an error".
The most challenging correction note is the one that isn't immediately clear as correct or false. Most of these are factual corrections, but there may also be some for language issues. In these cases, don't just gloss over them and mark them "Not an Error", possibly even with a semi-rude note like "This player has no idea" or a comment like "I know my stuff, I have a Bachelor's degree in ...". Instead, check back that what you wrote is truly correct and if you are correct, provide a reliable link or plausible explanation confirming your opinion. Remember that all your corrections - whether made or declined - will be crosschecked by editors and if you ignore a valid note or brush a note aside unchecked, the editor will call you out on it or, in a really clear-cut case, change your quiz or pull it offline until you fix it. Avoid that by treating every correction as a genuine concern - you could have confused something or simply have been a victim of outdated knowledge. If, at the end of the process, you find out you were right after all, you may want to send a reply to the correction, explaining your case to the original sender - it will almost always be appreciated.
Bottom line: Write every correction like you'd want to receive them and treat every correction as a chance to improve your work. If you do this, you'll no longer need to dread the "red alert" on your homepage - you'll rather see it as a way to make your quizzes even better.
39 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2
zippolover
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Most comprehensive and very interesting, thank you :) Reply #1. May 05 13, 6:29 AM |
paa2isback 
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Now people will see the correction notice with more brains and not with attitude. Reply #2. May 05 13, 9:05 AM |
skunkee
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Wes' note is pretty comprehensive, but one thing he hasn't touched upon explicitly (although it is covered in the advice to treat every CN as if you would want to receive them) is the abusive Correction Note. It's disturbing the number of these we see and they can vary from rude remarks like 'What are you stupid?' to out and out profanity. We don't talk to each other like this on this site, and sending notes like this is the quickest way to lose your FunTrivia membership. Reply #3. May 05 13, 12:35 PM |
| zippolover
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I am very pleased to know that, however I do not believe that those who send such notes are likely to read threads such as this. Reply #4. May 05 13, 1:00 PM |
| skunkee
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You never know! Reply #5. May 05 13, 1:04 PM |
Jabberwok
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I think there is never any excuse for being abusive and insulting to a writer or an editor,I'd be happy to see the back of players who think it's an acceptable form of behaviour. Reply #6. May 05 13, 1:37 PM |
looney_tunes
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I'd like to add that making your correction note for a quiz clear and precise is also important. We get a number of correction notes that were not sent from the question, but as a general error, and only say something like "satisfyed" or "they were blue". If that message is sent to an author who is no longer active on the site, an editor will need to carefully read the entire quiz trying to locate the question to which that note might refer (and it always seems to be Q20!) before they can even start to consider whether it is valid. If you are playing in Classic mode and use the I See an Error box at the end of the question, your question comes tagged with the question number. If you send it in any other way, please make sure that you have indicated the question number. Of course, if the question was encountered in a timed game, there is another issue to consider. A number of these games use cached question sets, so that the error persists in the game even after the original quiz has been corrected. If you think the error warrants it, you should actually follow the link to play the original quiz, and see if the error is still present there. If it is, you can send a correction note. If not, then there is no point in sending a correction, we just have to wait for the cache to be updated. Reply #7. May 05 13, 1:40 PM |
agony
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Further to the idea of nasty notes - please let staff know if someone sends you a nasty note, via the CN system or not. Don't delete it until a staff member has seen it. Notes of the "that was stupid" sort get a warning (a final warning, first time), while those that use foul language or are threatening or otherwise over the top warrant immediate toasting of the account. We really don't put up with that kind of thing. And further to the idea of being clear and complete when sending a CN - a citation if you are questioning something factual really helps. This is especially useful if you are correcting something that can't just be looked up in twenty seconds by googling. In Music, especially, there are so many stories and legends that get passed around that it's very hard indeed to track down the truth on who a song is about, or why someone left a band, or what a band name "really means". This is also why, as an author, you'll be asked to provide backup for certain types of questions - the editors have learned that dealing with CNs on those questions ten years from now will be murder, and want a place to start. Reply #8. May 05 13, 1:51 PM |
Christinap
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I think the most common correction note I get from other players is the good old UK/US spelling one. I always reply very politely to the person sending the note pointing out that there is a difference between the two countries, and a couple of times people have come back to me and said they were not aware of that. I don't know a way to overcome this, short of putting in the intro to every quiz that I use UK spelling. Reply #9. May 05 13, 4:19 PM |
| looney_tunes
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I think most of the people who send correction notes about country-variant spelling wouldn't understand the message that UK spelling is used, since they aren't even aware of what that means. Sometimes we just have to accept the opportunity to educate! Reply #10. May 05 13, 4:51 PM |
| guitargoddess
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That's partly why I recently posted a reminder about regional differences (and sometimes it's generational differences) in the Forums. It's not the first such reminder that's been posted, and it likely won't be the last! Reply #11. May 05 13, 5:31 PM |
Rowena8482
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I had a doozy recently, where I sent a note about a word that is, frankly, fairly obscene here, and not at ALL one that would be used "in company" so to speak, and it turned out to be a US/UK thing as the word just doesn't have the meaning/connotations in the US it has here, so nobody "over there" :D had thought anything of it, and I was clutching my pearls and everything! Reply #12. May 05 13, 5:37 PM |
| guitargoddess
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Did it start with an f? Reply #13. May 05 13, 5:39 PM |
playmate1111
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Lol! Reply #14. May 06 13, 6:25 AM |
LadyCaitriona
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This is my personal opinion, but I find it's a good practice to send a compliment about a quiz or question along with my correction. There are two reasons for this: 1) Authors work very hard to create a quiz, and it's nice to know that the effort has been appreciated even if there is an error to be fixed. 2) Tone is not easily conveyed through note-writing on the Internet. While you may intend your note to be helpful and constructive, it may be perceived by the quiz author as being abrupt or condescending if there are no other tonal cues in your note. A friendly "Hi! I really enjoyed your quiz on Belly Button Lint, but I think there might be an error in Q25..." establishes an amicable tone for the note and, speaking as an author who has received many correction notes, it's a lot more pleasant to see in my inbox than "You spelled Schwarzenegger wrong!!". Reply #15. May 06 13, 8:18 AM |
adam36
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Thanks Wesley Crusher, very informative and equally troubling that so many authors receive nasty notices. I have been lucky so far, and the correction notices I have received usually are about my abysmal spelling and marginal grammar. Reply #16. May 06 13, 8:26 AM |
| agony
|
When dealing with a rejection note from an editor, before the quiz goes online, I cannot stress enough how important it is to deal with everything the editor requests. Taking care of one of the problems and leaving the rest will not get your quiz online. New authors, especially, tend to be in a rush. This is a bad idea - rushing through requested changes almost always will mean MORE waiting, because the quiz is going to come right back to you, asking for all changes to be made. And now you've established yourself as uncooperative, which does not really endear you to the editors and make your quiz jump to the head of the queue. Reply #17. May 06 13, 8:52 AM |
jmorrow
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This is related to corrections, so I thought it would be appropriate to this discussion. After a quiz is placed online, there is a period of time when the author is able to make changes to the quiz. Once this period of time is up, the quiz becomes 'archived', and the author will need the help of an editor to make any changes to the quiz. The purpose in allowing authors to alter their online quizzes is to enable them to deal with corrections from players, the bulk of which (if any) come in soon after a quiz is placed online. However, authors should NOT be altering their online quizzes for other reasons, e.g. because you are rethinking your questions, or you want to make your quiz easier, or to add more information that you didn't include when you were writing the quiz. It also goes without saying that it is a very bad idea to go back into your quiz after it is placed online to undo the changes that an editor asked for during the editing process, as that is a surefire way to lose your ability to write quizzes. If you think about it, this has to be the way it works, as there would be no point in having an editor to review every quiz submission if the author could just rewrite the quiz after it is placed online. We would have no way of knowing if an author was changing an online quiz to insert profanity, or some other unsuitable material. Even if your intentions are good, and the changes you wish to make to the quiz are appropriate, an editor should still be given the opportunity of reviewing such changes. Bottom line: Once your quiz is placed online and before it is archived, you can make changes to it to address valid corrections sent by players. If you realize that your quiz contains an error, but no player has sent a correction note about it, a good practice to adopt is to send a correction on your own quiz before dealing with the error. That way, an editor will get to review the correction note and the changes you made to the quiz. In all other cases, the best thing to do is to engage with your editor on any changes you wish to make to an online quiz BEFORE making the changes. Reply #18. May 07 13, 5:00 PM |
Creedy
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So if we find a simple typo in our own quizzes, we should send ourselves a correction notice? Or for straight out errors such as misinformation? The correction notices that irritate me somewhat are the ones that aren't corrections at all, but personal opinions the quiz taker has. Reply #19. May 09 13, 7:08 AM |
| Creedy
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(In passing I might add that I get enormously annoyed with myself for failing to see the darn typo in the first place, when I go over and over each quiz before submitting. So I've decided it's really a communist conspiracy) Reply #20. May 09 13, 7:19 AM |
39 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2
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