For Terry and the Editors,

Maybe someone has already suggested this ... I've been out of the loop for awhile.

I keep getting correction notices on my ChemSpell quizzes. I'm sure many of you haven't played them, but what I do is give the player chemical names (Barium, Silicon, Lithium, Sulphur, Potassium) and the player fills in the blank with the words their elements spell (e.g. "Basilisk").

I'm sure my questions keep appearing in Fill Me In, because every few weeks (it seems like) I get correction notes telling me that there is no "K" in my words. This is because the instructions on how to play the quiz are in the introduction, which isn't shown when the question appears outside of the quiz. (I think you can hover your mouse over an icon to get the quiz introduction, but let's face it, how many people actually do that in a timed quiz?)

Would it be possible to add a small text box to the quiz template to add a line of instruction that pertains to an entire quiz that would only show up when questions from that quiz are used in one of the site games, apart from the original quiz? I really dislike the idea of repeating the quiz instructions for every question, so it would sure make life easier if themed quizzes like this could add a line of text like "Use the element symbols of the following to spell a word" that would prelude the question when it's used in the daily/hourly games, and be hidden (or inactive) when the quiz is played in its original format.

I'm not a programmer so I have no clue how easy or difficult it would be to do this. It's just an idea I had today when I got a correction note from someone who already sent me a correction note a couple of weeks ago about the same question in the same quiz.

Thanks for hearing me out!

That would also be great on those "which one of these was NOT in the movie" type Qs - they catch me in hourlies every time.

FITB? LC, what does the 'hint box' state? Or, am I off base and not understanding?

Well, since all of the answers in my quiz are one word in length, I used the hint boxes for ... well, hints! Not to repetitiously explain how to play the quiz. E.g. the hint for the above question was "legendary reptile".

In the question you outlined LC - it seems you are getting correction notes from players who do not know that K is the chemical symbol for Potassium! They show their lack of knowledge by complaining that there is no K in your words - it's got nothing to do with it not being a 'stand alone question' - to anyone with a comprehensive knowledge of the Periodic Table of Elements, your questions are simple!

Can I just say that I agree with Delboy, and also that I really enjoy your quizzes?

Indeed, LadyC, I have come across your questions in the FITB game and have never had any problem understanding what was required.

I've never had any problem with your questions either! (Maybe it helps though, that the Dutch name for potassium actually starts with a K! )

There may be some who are wondering well why K and not P? Well Potassium in Latin is KALIUM, another example is Pb for lead from the Latin PLUMBUM (also the origin of the word Plumber). There are several elements whose chemical symbol comes from the Latin, or indeed, one or two other languages, and therefore it's 'letter' is not what one would expect - a fact that LC exploits very cleverly in her quizzes

*blushing furiously*

Thanks all for your kind words! You know, I don't think I've yet used "lead" in any of my quizzes. It's hard finding a word with "pb" in it to begin with, let alone one that can be spelled using only element symbols.

upbeat

That'd be a great one, Rowena, if there were a chemical symbol E

Ummmm Uranium, lead, ummmm now yer stuck - no element has E or Ea as it's symbol

Try again Row! hehehehehe

Edit - hehehehe great minds think alike GG - we posted together there! There's a 5 min delay between our posts as I was checking the table using another browser, so didn't see your post

Upbraid?
(Uranium, Lead, Radium, Iodine and Deuterium)

Good try - but Deuterium is not an element - it's an isotope of Hydrogen, also known as 'Heavy Hydrogen'

You could however use UPBRAIDS, using the chemical symbol for element 110, which is Darmstadtium. It's cheating a bit though, because element 110 is synthetic - made in a physics lab, or created by an atomic explosion, as are all elements above Number 93

No wonder I failed chemistry!

If there's such a word as 'upboat' or 'upbiat', we'd be all set, lol

Upbinds
Uranium, Lead, Indium, Darmstadtium :P

Read my post a few back Row - Darmstadtium is cheating

Copper Lead Oxygen Argon Darmstadtium

Cupboards - nice one - but element 110 is cheating! hehehehe

Well solved! See my post just above yours re cheating

Maybe so SpanishLiz - but I guarantee she would get irate correction notes .......

How about hipbone = hydrogen, iodine, lead, oxygen and neon