Even though I know the acceptable answer to give, the answer is still wrong because the question being asked is wrong.

Example:

I just took the Easy game hourly and it had a question that said:

What is the only U.S. state's flag to have another country's flag on it?

Only? It should say: What is the only U.S. state that has a current country's flag on it?

Mississippi has the Confederate Flag (Battle Flag) adopted by the Confederacy in 1863 as their country's flag. While no one really recognised the Confederacy as a separate nation (except the Confederates) the states did have to be readmitted after the war; which, in my opinion gives it some legitimacy because why readmit them if they were still a part of the United States? Symbolism?

I don't know who wrote the question, I became fixated on that question for some reason and was taking too long and just hit the back button. Don't know why, already have all those badges. Habit probably. I find outside of this place I don't even read questions anymore just fixate on key words. That isn't good. I got Funtrivia psychosis! Help!

Wait, what...?

-Nam

When you see a question like that, you need to send a correction note on it. You don't need to know who wrote it or where it came from, just click the link to send a correction. (If it's a duel, you can do it either when you see the answer, or, if you don't want to slow down from full speed answering, at the end you can click the link to see full questions or words like that, and use the link there.) If it's an hourly game, there's a link at the end of the information when it is displayed.

The correction note will be seen by the author as being attached to the specific question in its original quiz, so you don't need to explain anything about where or when you played it, unless the fact that it was a timed game is relevant to your correction. If you then provide an explanation such as the one you have written here, the author will understand the issue, and be able to decide how the question needs to be modified. If the author is no longer active on the site, an editor in the category will consider it on their behalf.

I recognise the question, and since I know little about the various state flags, was immediately able to guess Hawaii, knowing that state's background. Presumably most people are in the same boat, since it is in the East game! Perhaps an administrator will be able to identify the original quiz.

I hit the back button, as stated. I took too long. I'm on a phone; the first main page has no links just questions and answers. Anyway, I would've messed up my current score. Scores are everything here. Why I hit the back button. I have no idea who wrote the question.

Also, I'm a little wary in sending correction notes to older questions (not that I know whether it was "old" or not). They never get fixed. I know because I used to check. The author is no longer on the website, usually, and it stays incorrect. But I'll still do it on newer ones (two to three years).

-Nam

Hi Nammage, that sounds like a question from the World category. However, I am not able to identify the quiz.

I have to say that it would be incorrect to assume that corrections sent to older quizzes go uncorrected. Every correction is addressed, and if the author is gone, editors take care of the correction. If a correction note is not valid, however, we clear it and move on.

In terms of the correction that you would like to see made on the flag question, I would be willing to discuss the merits of such a correction, but not in an open forum. If we are able to locate the question, we might be able to make some changes to it.

Any day when I am working on Correction Notes, I fix at least a couple of dozen older quizzes. As do all the efitors - CNs on old quizzes tend to outnumber new ones by at least a factor of two.

Editors might not make the change that the player suggests, but will use their own judgement. They may also disagree with the player and decide the question is fine as it stands.

But I can assure you completely that every CN gets seen and considered on its own merits, though possibly not quite as quickly as they would in a perfect world.

To echo what's being said here, yes-- ALL CORRECTIONS GET READ, but only if they're sent as Correction Notices.

Correction notices, no matter where they're sent from (be it the quiz or from a daily/hourly) will link back to the quiz itself, so we can track everything. We can even see-- if you report the question and link it directly to that question using the system-- if we've corrected that particular question for issues in the past.

And again, editors will make any necessary changes if the author is long-gone. We will try our best to keep quizzes online so that they can be played, and some editors will go further than others to ensure that we avoid taking quizzes offline. Some can't be helped; a lot can.

The other issue is that it does take time for some corrections to filter through. I sent a correction note to change a question in Sci/Tech, where I edit, and made the change needed, as an editor. The next time I saw the question, it was still wrong, so I sent another correction note, only to find that the change needed had already been made. The technical people on here will know why that happens - probably some sort of caching issue.

To echo what my fellow editors have said, we do read each correction note. I spent over an hour last week on one old quiz, which had one correction on it. When I reviewed the quiz, I found most of it needed rewriting, which took a lot of time and research.

FWIW, I agree with HairyBear, I see nothing wrong with the question. The word "current" is implied in all questions unless otherwise stated. If not, a huge number of questions would need to have the word "current" inserted.

First I want to thank the editors for all the hard work that you do. It is much appreciated both as an author and someone who submits a fair number of correction notices.

Regarding the point about the word "current" being implied, I disagree. Current implies time dependent which goes contrary to the spirit of the site. With regards to the OP, there is legitimate debate as to whether the Confederate flag is actually a national flag (given that Lincoln specifically did not ask Congress to declare war because he did not want the Confederate states recognized) but there are plenty of other questions on the site where "current" should not be assumed.

We try our best to ensure that all questions on the site are written with 'current timing' being implied. We avoid time-sensitivity whenever possible, otherwise we run the risk of having to pull quizzes offline (which is something we do not want to do, considering the time investment on both the author and the editor).

While we aren't going out of our way to look for questions written over the past seventeen years which may not have been written with this in mind, we will deal with quizzes/questions which have time-sensitivity issues if they are stale or, due to whatever circumstances, incorrect.


Regarding the Confederate flag query, I'm no World/Geo/History editor, but was the Confederacy ever officially regarded as a nation by an entity other than itself?

Regarding changing the question to 'What is the only U.S. state that has a current country's flag on it?', that puts up a red flag for me since it implies that it will change; you're only making the amendment to ensure that it's correct 'right this moment', and the way it's revised makes it appear more time-dependant than it did before. Perhaps something like 'Which of these U.S. state flags, in its history, featured the blah-blah-blah?'

We go to a lot of trouble to have questions worded so that "current" is in fact not implied. It's why you seldom see "what is the only...." questions, but often see "what was the first....", or rather than "who is so and so's wife?" you'll see "who did so and so marry on such and such a date?"

I just this morning sent back a quiz that had a question something like "Which of these actors has never played this character?" because the correct answer could, possibly, in future take that role. We do this all the time. Every day. Everyone who has ever written a quiz has probably had this issue explained to them, because they have probably made that mistake while learning how to write quizzes.

"was the Confederacy ever officially regarded as a nation by an entity other than itself?"

No. Britain and France sold war materiel to the Confederacy (Hey, it's just business, right?) but no country ever recognized it as an independent country,

I got a correction wrong in today's Global Challenge (which someone should see a CN on) which was a "Who is the only one of these who...?" type questions where a second one of the choices has since accomplished the requirements of the question (and of course I got it wrong because I knew about the second one but not the first and didn't know when the quiz was written).

Just seemed somewhat appropriate for this discussion.

Exactly. It took us a few years to realize the problems with that type of question, so you'll mostly see them from older quizzes. Even now, though, sometimes one can slip through.

It's a really easy fix, it can just be changed from "only" to "first" and the question can stay online.

If the United States took to all the trouble, time, and money to readmit them to the United States then, in my opinion, that's stating they were no longer a part ot the USA, and separate. Why readmit them otherwise? Symbolism? And then why have the US Supreme Court in 1869 rule it illegal? (The last state was readmitted in 1870).

The question asked what's the "only" state. Even if you discount Mississippi's flag, flags change all the time. Georgia, I believe, in the 2000s had multitudes of other countries on their flag (but then changed it again). Maybe "current" is the wrong word but so is "only" because things change; also while some consider Puerto Rico a common wealth (which it is) others, like Puerto Ricans, consider it a country and one day it may become a state and if they keep their flag the debate will be up again, no?

-Nam

The way to word a question like that is something like "Which of these options has blah blah...."

Then you can go on to explain it all in more detail in the info section. Some editors will sometimes allow a touch of time sensitivity in the info sections, if the issue is complex.