#466865 - Thu Apr 16 2009 07:49 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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Whew, I wouldn't be an editor for the world. It all seems like too much stress and hard work to me. I do so admire you people!What is your salary again? I forget.
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Wandering aimlessly through FT since 1999.
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#466867 - Thu Apr 16 2009 08:02 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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What about Public holidays?
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Wandering aimlessly through FT since 1999.
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#466868 - Thu Apr 16 2009 08:26 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Administrator
Registered: Sat Mar 29 2003
Posts: 16595
Loc: Western Canada
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I'll just elaborate a little further on MotherGoose's fine explanation of the correction process.
If, after a reasonable amount of research, I can't come up with a clear and definitive answer to the problem, I will often change the wording of the quiz enough to make it fly. A question like "What was the very first blah blah ...." where that is disputed, becomes "Which of these is among the first blah blah...." with the disputatious answer option removed, and a quick explanation about the controversy in the interesting info.
If I really can't come up with a reasonable alternate question, the quiz has to come offline.
I think some players assume that if the editor doesn't know enough to make a reasonable judgement, we just think "Oh, it's just one correction who cares?" and toss it out. This does NOT happen.
The research skills I've learned in almost six years of dealing with corrections are quite strong - I've become a more competent internet researcher than my University student son. Dealing with corrections is by far the most time-intensive and frustrating part of this job.
And that is why the editors sometimes get a little testy when players continue to question the utility of sending correction notes. Yes, we read them, yes, we take them seriously.
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#466869 - Thu Apr 16 2009 10:23 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Prolific
Registered: Sun Jun 24 2007
Posts: 1178
Loc: California USA
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Thanks for the responses, MotherGoose and Agony. I wondered sometimes how you'd go about it as it's to take every quiz question and correction notice at sole face value! And very true, oftentimes, not everything is available by a quick google search. The hard work that you put in is greatly appreciated. Especially all the extra stuff that goes on behind the scenes that is easy to take for granted. Triple time and paid holidays are definitely deserved. 
_________________________
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
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#466870 - Thu Apr 16 2009 03:39 PM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Mainstay
Registered: Sat Jul 17 2004
Posts: 727
Loc: Essex UK
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I've just sent a correction notice and I'm wondering if I've been a bit picky. It was something in the interesting info regarding the marital status of a film star, which has changed since the quiz was written, as they tend to do! It didn't affect the answer to the question in any way.
In a couple of quizzes I've written, the editors have told me not to put things such as "who was the first person" or "who was the last person" as they are subject to change. Good point, but I wondering whether the marital status of celebrities should be avoided for the same reason? Or perhaps there should be a rule allowing the question 'Whom did she marry in June 2000?'. In some cases the year alone wouldn't be sufficient!
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#466872 - Thu Apr 16 2009 05:37 PM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Moderator
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 12593
Loc: Kowloon Tong Hong Kong
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Ooops! I hope after what I said about editors' pay, no one has the idea that they are anything other than wonderful volunteers and completely unpaid!
_________________________
Wandering aimlessly through FT since 1999.
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#466874 - Thu Apr 16 2009 07:12 PM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Enthusiast
Registered: Tue Oct 14 2008
Posts: 301
Loc: Florida USA
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I send correction notices for things like "Who is Britney's boyfriend" or "Who is so-and-so's wife" when so-and-so divorced said wife five years ago. The rules were more lax back then, but they aren't now and can be confusing.
I don't think questions should be completely not allowed about a spouse if it is worded correctly, such as "Who was Brad Pitt's second wife?" - who his second wife was will never change, regardless of how many times he divorces and remarries. As long as the entire quiz is written in the same tense, I don't see how it could make for a correction notice.
Edit because I have a bad habit of not reading over before I hit "post".
Edited by funnybuni (Thu Apr 16 2009 07:14 PM)
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Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
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#466875 - Thu Apr 16 2009 07:32 PM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Mainstay
Registered: Sat Nov 03 2007
Posts: 506
Loc: Tyrone
Northern Ireland UK
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I'm with buni on this one.
There's a particular question that bugs me. It goes "which is Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency"? I've seen it since he stopped being Prime Minister and there's an even chance that he won't be an MP after the next election.
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There are just two types of people in this world, those who hear the music and those who don't.
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#466879 - Thu Apr 16 2009 09:12 PM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Multiloquent
Registered: Tue Jul 04 2006
Posts: 3613
Loc: Lawrenceville Georgia�USA�...
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Not that it matters, really, but Brad Pitt has only been married once, to Jennifer Aniston, and they are divorced. Just to prevent anyone reading this thread, which is meant to show how the editors deal with correction notices, from taking the example too literally and assuming that this is an actual quiz question.
_________________________
Sue (shuehorn)
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#466880 - Fri Apr 17 2009 01:39 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Prolific
Registered: Wed Oct 31 2007
Posts: 1615
Loc: London, England
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Due to my excessively pedantic nature I should point out that Tony Blair is no longer an MP - he stood down in June 2007.
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#466881 - Fri Apr 17 2009 04:06 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38005
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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The advice remains the same, if you see any questions like this just send a correction notice and it will be dealt with.
_________________________
Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#466882 - Fri Apr 17 2009 05:40 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Apr 22 2002
Posts: 5007
Loc: Western Australia
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While on the subject of quiz correction note etiquette, I would like to make a few more comments.
When a correction note is received, the editors give the author a little time to respond to the note. If they don't respond within a reasonable period of time, we check to see if they are still an active visitor to the site. If they are, then we send them a note asking them to take care of the correction. If they aren't, then we try to fix the problem ourselves. So if you have sent someone a correction note, and it isn't fixed immediately, be patient.
Naturally, rude correction notes aren't tolerated at FunTrivia and if we see them, we will take action. This is a typical comment that I send to people whose correction notes are less than polite:
"Please be advised that this is not an acceptable way to send a correction notice. Think about how you would feel if you wrote a quiz and someone sent you a note like this. All correction notices are viewed by editors. If you continue to send rude correction notices, you risk having your account at FunTrivia terminated."
Here is a response to a rude correction notice that I had to send recently: "TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS THE INTERNET EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING. It is very rude and it is not tolerated at FunTrivia. Ditto such elegant expressions as "f'in"."
Also, please do not send correction notes if it's not really a correction. When you send a player a note, you have three choices to click on – send a compliment, send a correction, or send a direct message. If you wish to make a comment on a quiz (e.g. that a question could have been worded a little differently), it is may be more appropriate to send a direct message. Direct messages do not come to the attention of an editor, whereas correction notes do. Sending an invalid correction note wastes the time of the editors who have to check into it.
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Don't say "I can't" ... say " I haven't learned how, yet." (Reg Bolton)
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#466884 - Fri Apr 17 2009 06:25 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38005
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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Quote:
Also, please do not send correction notes if it's not really a correction. When you send a player a note, you have three choices to click on – send a compliment, send a correction, or send a direct message. If you wish to make a comment on a quiz (e.g. that a question could have been worded a little differently), it is may be more appropriate to send a direct message. Direct messages do not come to the attention of an editor, whereas correction notes do. Sending an invalid correction note wastes the time of the editors who have to check into it.
Using the direct message system, or the compliment option to send an abusive note will, however, come to the attention of the administrators and if very abusive there will be no warning, the account will just be terminated with no right of appeal.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#466886 - Fri Apr 17 2009 09:40 AM
Re: Quiz corrections etiquette
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Feb 21 2000
Posts: 5745
Loc: California USA
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One more thing about corrections to point out-
We editors cannot correct any questions that appear in the various daily and other games- only Terry rebuilding the database can do that. A lot of the notes we get regarding corrections never being done are in regards to the games.
So, if your correction notice isn't about a specific quiz, but about a question from a game, that's why it doesn't seem to be corrected. We do go in and correct the original quiz, but the database doesn't update to reflect this.
Edited by crisw (Fri Apr 17 2009 09:41 AM)
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Senior Editor and Site Administrator
"I'd rather make one dog happy than please all the dogmatists in the world."
P. Z. Myers
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