I currently have 3 quizzes on line and 2 of them have become somewhat of a problem due to the fact that my sources have not double checked their info as I was assured it had been. I have been making corrections as needed and would like to thank all who have sent in corrections and done so in a civil manner. The quizzes themselves are not the main topic of this post. The corrections are.

For the most part all the corrections have been done in a well meaning manner. One correction, however, irked me just a little as it ended with a derogatory comment about my ability to count. I can assure the quiz taker that I know how to count quite well and the mistake in the question, or rather, the explanation of the answers, had nothing to do with my ability to count as much as a simple oversight on my part. The correction would have garnered the same results had that last line not been there at all.

Now that I have finished venting, I would like all who have found their way to this site to remember that all of the quizzyland quiz contributors are people just like you, your neighbors, your coworkers, etc. They make mistakes just like everyone else and have never professed to being the great trivia guru of the world. We are all here to have fun and adding little spiteful comments about the mistakes is uncalled for.
I will also apologize ahead of time if this post offends anyone. Please, let's just all remember that we are here to enjoy ourselves and maybe make a few friends along the way.

psyco_mom

psycho_mom, keep up the good work and keep those new quizzes coming. I think you're doing a wonderful job and I am looking forward to your next quiz.

puttietat

psycho-mom: you said exactly what I have been
feeling. I noticed those who are most critical have never entered a quiz. I think they forget it's only a game. Have fun, relax, and enjoy. Thank you for your quizes.

Here, Here !!

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Welcome to my Snake Pit..

I totally agree with manners used in SUGGESTING a correction. Quiz creators don't intentionally enter mistakes but everyone is human. It is rude to suggest that a person can't count. I have also noticed the jerks who send these type of comments are not creators themselves. I also highlight SUGGEST as many of us who create quizzes also happen to be experts in these areas(i.e: hold a professional degree in that area).

I think one problem with regards to corrections is that we have a limit of 255 characters when entering one. I know sometimes I have had to be rather terse because of this limit, especially if a quiz has more than one error or I need to put a long piece of information (with a URL, for example) in the correction. I'd like to be able to take more time to explain! I think that the eventual ability to actually contact Quizzyland people directly would help this.

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Cris Waller
CrisW@ix.netcom.com

crisw, I agree wholeheartedly with you on that. There have been times when I've written this long explanation that really doesn't sound rude at all. Then, I keep getting those darn "Keep it within 255 characters" messages. So, I have to start trimming. Often, when I'm through, I've had to get to the bare bones and have lost any touch of humanness that I had before. I know it doesn't sound right, but it's the only way I can keep it under the character limit.

Terry, can this be fixed? It might help the situation some.

I'm going to enter a dissenting opinion on the 255 character point. I don't think that a space limitation justifies a breach in politeness. A simple response such as, "spelling, statistical or grammatical error exists in #4," is usually enough to get the point across. Remember, there is no money or prize stress involved in this site. Evaluate your motivation for playing.

I guess the reason I think it could be increased, though, is that sometimes I feel like it might be helpful to tell exactly what I'm finding in the question/answer. It might be more helpful for the person to know exactly what I found that might need to be looked at.

Plus, there have been several times when I've wanted to make multiple points. There may be several errors in a quiz that need to be addressed.

However, the time that I really feel the need to have the amount of space increased is when I'm complimenting someone. I'd love to have the extra space to be able to fully tell them why I found their quiz to be particularly good. Or, that questions 1,4,7, and 9 were great ones because of.... But now, I'm limited and can only partially explain why I like it. As one of the editors, I try to send a compliment when I can to those people who have done an outstanding job in creating a quiz - ones where I don't have to correct their spelling, grammar, etc before I can approve the quiz for play. I love being able to say "Great job in creating this one! And here's why.........!" The space limit prevents me from doing that as well as I'd like to.

Remember, not all the comments you're going to get are going to be pleas for corrections. Some of us want to tell you how good a job you did.

Thank you to all that have spoken on this subject. I also agree that 255 character limit may be a little to short. However, the instance that I was referring to didn't have anything to do with the character limit. The correction/suggestion had already been made and the following line was added "Maybe the one who created this cannot count?". Obviously the correction didn't take 255 characters in this case. While I appreciated the input, I didn't care for the last little 'jab'. Aside from this incident all the corrections to my quizzes have been polite and appreciated. The last thing I want is wrong info in my questions.

Again, thank you to everyone that spoke up here. I'm glad I'm no the only person with this point of view. To all the creators out there ----- keep on creating!!!

psycho_mom

Linda
Good point on the compliment idea. Compliments are always appreciated, especially when we find other players who share similar interests.

You will ALWAYS run into people who will be rude, especially since there's some sens of anonymity here. I get it all the time myself, and the best thing to do is to simply ignore it. I'll add a 'delete' and 'reply' function to messages soon, and probably lengthen the size limit. The 255 letters is actually a database constraint, but i can expand it and take a speed hit on the database. That's no big deal.

T

Terry
A delete and reply function would be great. I'm sure some of the players who have been participating for the last month or so(or longer)are quickly filling up with comments. Also, many of the people who send comments are not creators themselves and it is impossible to send messages relaying that either a correction has been made or that the editor stands by the correctness of a question.
P.S-your site is the best thing on the internet since free email!

If you really need to type more than 255 characters, send the first part of your message as a correction. Then send the rest of it as an 'information' (not as a correction b/c it may fool the program into thinking many people are correcting the same quiz). This way you can write your entire reply.

Reply function would be great though!

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"Never have so many suffered so much so so few could
be so happy." -Major Frank Burns

THAT'S IT! All we needed was a creative mind to show us what we were overlooking! This is a great tip, ladymacb29! Thanks for sharing it - now I can make longer comments to people. Now, why didn't I think of that, though?!

Yet another demonstration of what great (and intelligent) people we have here at FT!

I got an idea. If you want to reply to people who have sent corrections telling them "thank you" or why they were misled, you can send them a 'suggestion'. Just find a quiz they have created (you can go view your own quizzes then justr put their name in the URL) and send them a suggestion (so they don't get marked off for a correction).

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"Never have so many suffered so much so so few could
be so happy." -Major Frank Burns

The problem with Lady Macbeth's suggestion is that many respondents (especially the rudest ones!) have never created a quiz.

I know Terry was working on a more direct system; hopefully when he gets back we'll know more!

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Cris Waller
CrisW@ix.netcom.com