We have a fair number of quizzes written mostly in the 2000-2007ish time period that are significantly lower quality than most quizzes today. Back then we allowed 5 question quizzes, quizzes with no interesting info, etc. Many of these quizzes are badly in need of a refresh / renovation, but in most cases their authors have long moved on.

We could just delete them, but I like to think there's stuff in there that is still useful, or at least a good starting point for inspiration, and an interesting new type of authoring challenge.

I was wondering if there was any interest by our authoring community to "adopt" some of these quizzes, and over time improve them. Here's how I see it working:

1. The system would identify quizzes that need rescuing. The lowest rated quizzes on the site, 5 question quizzes, and those with no interesting info would be prioritized. Only quizzes whose authors have not logged in for 10+ years will be up for grabs. We'd maybe list 30 such quizzes at a time.

2. You, as an author, could "adopt" one of these quizzes - first come first serve. The quiz would be taken offline, its stats wiped out, its online date removed, play records for it erased, etc, and you would be made its new owner.

3. You can now modify it, improve it, add to it, expand it (from 5 questions to 10+ if needed), and generally turn it from something old and outdated into something new and shiny. You would submit it as any other new quiz, and it would go through the regular process.

4. When it goes online, it is treated as a new quiz, made today. The original author would get a secondary credit on the quiz play screen. Since all play records are wiped, all players can play it as if for the first time.

Thoughts?

I remember doing exactly this during the summer of 2006, although without the ownership. I would look for the very oldest quizzes and resurrect them with new questions. I'm game to continue.

At the same time, can the questions used for private tournaments be refreshed so these old questions aren't there? It's where I see a lot of old questions, no info and often with a mistake - but the online version has already had the correction made. Players whose main exposure to the site is through a private tournament will be getting a very distorted idea of what we have to offer! As a player, I know to check the current version by playing the quiz, but as an editor I regularly see corrections that are about an error which has long since been fixed. I am not clear what would happen to those correction messages for a renovated quiz.

This is a fantastic idea, and as I said on the chat boards I would love to participate. I'm sure a score of other authors would too!

A brilliant idea, Terry. From a player's perspective, it's really frustrating to get questions with no interesting information.

Yes, to looney's point - I also see quite a few corrections from private tournament play.

Right now, if a quiz goes offline, gets some changes made, and then goes back online, it does not appear on the front page, does not appear in any new quiz listing. Will these refurbished quizzes get a new date stamp and show up as new?

Also, speaking as an editor, will we be able to see what was there before and what it has been turned into? Or will we just what is there now?

1. Yeah, private tournaments are a mess. I need to decide what to do with that stuff, but it definitely needs to be a focus after this quiz stuff.

2. Yes, adoption completely erases all stats, online dates, etc. An adopted quiz is treated exactly like a new quiz. Front page, ingredients, "new" sticker, points, etc etc etc...

3. No, there will be no way to see what was there before. Which, I actually think, is a good thing. The entire quiz will be judged by today's standards at face value. To an editor it will also appear to be any other new quiz creation.

If we have any brave souls who would like to be the first to try adopting an ancient, abandoned quiz, you may do so here:

Requires: authoring experience -- at least 20 quizzes online.

https://www.funtrivia.com/author/adopt.cfm

Adoption completely erases all stats, online dates, etc. An adopted quiz is treated exactly like a new quiz. Front page, ingredients, "new" sticker, points, etc etc etc...

The system will keep track of adoptions, so I'm sure we will soon see an adoption-related upgradeable badge.........

If an author claims an adoptable quiz, changes the title and contents to 'bring it back', how far can they go before they get 'adoption points' for a badge and still have it count.

On the Author Challenges, editors still don't have a way to remove challenge designation from a submitted quiz (the author has to do it themselves), so if they claim a title, change it before it goes to the queue, and an editor doesn't do their due diligence in checking the list, the author kind of circumvents the requirement. I know it's an extreme, but with this here, if an author just claims the template and pops in their own quiz does it still count?

As long as it's the original idea or intent of the original quiz it's no problem.

If an author is changing the topic repeatedly and abusing the intent of the feature then they will be cut off from adopting.

Sounds fun. I adopted one.

Adopted a 5 question quiz on the US Women's Soccer team seeing as a couple of the questions are outdated (the all-time leading goalscorer has changed) and so much has happened in two decades. Looking forward to updating and improving it but keeping some focus on the period in which it was written, really cool idea.

Is there a way to change the format to a match quiz? I've adopted one that would be perfect for that format.

"Is there a way to change the format to a match quiz? I've adopted one that would be perfect for that format."

Added. See "formats" section on the edit quiz screen.

Could I ask what the implications are for the author of the "original" quiz?

Does their number of quizzes written decrease?
Are any of their stats and badges affected?
Is the quiz still available on their profile?

And will there be a protocol in place for authors returning to FT after a long absence who may wish to reclaim their quizzes?

1. Yes, their total quiz count would decline. As it would if we were instead to delete the quiz because it no longer met current day standards.

2. No, badges etc remain untouched. Note that we are right now dealing with quizzes created 20 years ago. Most badges and stats didn’t exist back then.

3. No, currently not. The data is kept though so we could list such quizzes in the original author’s list if we decided we wanted to.

4. No, an adopted quiz is transferred for good. It’s important to note that these are abandoned quizzes that nearly no one would miss anyway. Most were whipped up in minutes, 15 years ago, with nearly no interesting info.

Thanks for clarifying that, Terry.

I have tried to adopt a quiz but when i press the 'Adopt this quiz' i keep getting a message that says "That quiz is not eligible for adoption"

please try now

Working now thanks

My head is spinning with all the changes happening lately: quiz adoption, 50/50 questions, converting quiz formats. Exciting times.

What is the status of letting authors "adopt" and retrofit their old quizzes?

We're still working on it.

At this point it's looking like the restrictions will be roughly the same as those for adopted quizzes (minus the author needing to be gone for years, of course). Very poorly rated quizzes, with little or no info. And authors will most likely be restricted as to how many they can do at one time - at most two, probably one.

None of this is written in stone, though, so details may vary. What we are firm on is that we won't be opening up to wholesale rewriting of quizzes which are still very much playable. That would seem to be a waste of everyone's time.

We'd still like the focus to be using the new tools in place to write more and better new quizzes.

Is there any way to gauge how long a quiz has been sitting in the adoption shelter?

The higher up the list it is, the longer it has been there. New ones appear at the bottom.