Recently, I received a message from someone whose quiz was rejected. She seemed to think that the editors are "communists" who reject quizzes because they "don't like the style".

I would like to answer such charges.

As an editor, I see my job as upholding the high standards for which Quizzyland wants to be known. Because of this, I simply won't let poor quizzes online. I personally never reject a quiz because I don't like the author or the subject (unless the subject is one that is not allowed on Quizzyland, like obscenities or quizzes of a sexual nature). I reject quizzes because they need to be improved.

On average, I reject around 50% of the quizzes I see on their first pass through. Here are the main reasons why (you will note that none of the reasons are a matter of Communist style ) and how quiz creators can avoid rejection.

Poor Spelling
Poor spelling is a hallmark of a poor quiz. You may have written the best quiz ever, but if you have 3 misspelled words in your first sentence, I am not going to read the rest of your quiz! If errors are minor and clearly incidental, I'll correct them. But if a quiz is full of spelling errors, I'll reject it.
The Solution
If you know that your spelling skills need some work, proofread your quiz before you submit it. If you aren't sure if a word is spelled correctly, look it up. You can also have someone who can spell well look your quiz over.

Lack of Capitalization
This is a biggie with me! First words of sentences and proper names (like countries and peoples' names) must be capitalized!
The Solution
Check for correct capitalization before submitting the quiz.

Poor Grammar
Yep- if you want a quiz on line, you can't say "They is going to the store", use sentence fragments, or otherwise do anything that would shock your English teacher.
The Solution
Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Poor Punctuation
Apostrophes are the biggie here. Please remember that apostrophes are for possessives, plain "s" for plurals!
The Solution
I wrote a quiz called "It's Its" primarily due to my frustration with apostrophe-users here. You might want to take it- and the other similar quizzes in Education-English

Incorrect Facts
Obviously, if your facts are just plain wrong, I'll reject the quiz.
The Solution
Double-check your facts! Don't just accept something you found on a web page somewhere as correct.

Badly Designed Fill-In-The Blank Questions
FITB answers should never be more than a word or two long, and they should be unambiguous- there must be only one obvious way that the answer could be entered.
The Solution
Make sure that the answer is obvious. if it isn't, make the question multiple-choice.

Nonsense/Irrelevant Questions
The biggie here is people who can't seem to come up with a last answer, so they write "Did you enjoy this quiz?".
The Solution
Don't. Write ten good questions.

Duplicative/Unoriginal/Copied Quizzes
We can only have so many quizzes on a certain subject before things get reallyboring. Simple math, for example- how much fun is it to take quiz after quiz that asks "What is 3 x 4?" or "How many inches are in 5 feet?". Another quiz I hate to see is one on anagrams. Boring! A quiz should take some time and effort to create, not be something that is slapped together in three minutes just for the sake of creating a quiz. In addition, if it's clear to me that you copied questions out of a book, I will reject your quiz. Not only is this a possible copyright violation, it's unethical.
The Solution
Be original! Be new! Don't be boring!

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Cris Waller
CrisW@ix.netcom.com

[This message has been edited by crisw (edited 06-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by crisw (edited 06-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by crisw (edited 06-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by crisw (edited 06-24-2000).]

Please consider what category your quiz belongs in before you submit it. If you make a quiz all about Britney Spears, The Roman Empire or Adam Sandler movies, they should be submitted in Celebrities, History and Movies, respectively.
Granted, sometimes a quiz will fit in more than one category. In such cases, submit it in the category you think it fits best.
About 75 percent of the quizzes I get in General Knowledge get rejected after just reading the subject. If it's a sports quiz, submit it there. It's not that hard.

Don't get us wrong... we appreciate your quizzes! Without you all we would not be over 4000 quizzes today! All we're asking is that you take some time and use some creativity and original thought in your creations.

Valerie
Editor, General Knowledge and Hobbies

[This message has been edited by val9000 (edited 06-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by vendome (edited 06-23-2000).]

I agree with every word you said and what Val9000 added as well.

I edit Celebs and TV and Entertainment and my only addition to the suggestions is that people play a few of the quizzes that already exist on a certain subject BEFORE they create any NEW quizzes on that exact same subject. All too often I see quizzes on The Simpsons, Friends, Full House, Dawson's Creek, Charmed and other popular tv shows that are covering all the same territory other quizzes have already hit upon. I have made a new policy in my categories not to put any of these "copy" quizzes on line and put a warning in the headers of those categories.

I am also a big one on the Caps of names and places and ambiguous FITB questions.

BUSINESS:

1. No more ticker symbol quizzes. We already have one or two of these quizzes. Please do not submit anymore.

2. Make sure you are using your terms correctly. There is a definite difference between a "blue chip" and a "top 50" company.

MUSIC:

1. If your quiz contains questions about the musician's personal life, it belongs in the celebrities category.

2. If your quiz is about lyrics, make sure the lyrics are appropriate for this site. No quizzes containing inappropriate material will be allowed.

3. Do not repeat questions. Check to see if other quizzes on the same topic contain the same or almost the same questions.

POLITICS:

1. Please leave out your personal opinion. Quizzes with obvious political slants will be rejected.

ABOUT ALL QUIZZES:

The main goal at Quizzyland is to have fun. If your quiz contains new and interesting questions, others will enjoy it.

Best Wishes to all!

Keep those quizzes coming.

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

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I can read reading, but I can't read writing!

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IndianPainter

bellchoir87@aol.com

Personally, I am also far more likely to write a personal note when there are just a few errors on an otherwise well-written quiz. If I can't get through the first 2 questions without groaning over the errors, that quiz will get an impersonal note (and I often wish I could check off more than one reason for rejection!).

Solutions? Check your quizzes before you send them. Make up quizzes for a category that isn't already glutted- do we really need yet another Notting Hill quiz? And check your quiz again!

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Cris Waller
CrisW@ix.netcom.com

[This message has been edited by crisw (edited 07-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Linda1 (edited 07-24-2000).]

bye bye...

Some people just have no class.

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

Childish name calling is NOT allowed on this or ANY FunTrivia forum. We have people of all ages and beliefs.

My 8 year old grandson and 14 year old granddaughter love to do the quizzes catered to their ages.Even though they are monitored (and yes, even the 14 year old is monitored),I have never worried about profanity or vulgarity,due to the excellent job the editors do. It pleases me to see that someone like the above mentioned 'person' will not be allowed on this site. If a young person does a quiz, and I can tell they really tried, I give them credit for it. Thanks again . gammab