Even if it was, it's not like anybody around here will do anything about it.

This is why we should be closing this thread now. The topic of Googling is a magnetic force.
Subjectivity is subjective; same old same old.


Not to say a discussion of 'what makes good questions' isn't fruitful.

Agreed. Some of the worst quiz submissions are those where the questions are presented in an irrational or bizarre order. When editing, I generally take that as an indication that the quiz author has no understanding of the topic but has simply assembled a 'booming, buzzing confusion' of random facts about a topic and strung them together in the form of a quiz. (Obviously, this hunch occasionally turns out to be wrong, but not often).


Editor, History and People

This advice, which you gave me on my last quiz, was some of the best advice I've gotten from an editor to make my quizzes better. I am 100 times more pleased with my final product on that quiz than I was with the initial version.

I often tell authors in my categories to imagine the player knows nothing about the subject, and their job is to make them want to hear the music or read the book. I have (and I know I'm not alone in this) read books simply because of editing a quiz on them, and I've also gone off to youtube to listen to a band. Bought a few CDs because of it, too.

I suppose it's a little late to warn you now, gazhammer, but you've wandered into a strange little place, this world of the quiz author.... Highly addictive, too.

Funny ones

You can 'test the waters' on question types by submitting Single Questions to Question Quest and having them rated in the New Questions Game. This gets you introduced to the category editors too, allowing an uncomplicated setting to build familiarity. The only drawback I've found in this methodology is that the individual category caveats aren't presented like they are when you choose a quiz topic. My biggest gripe on questions is when they are phrased in a forceful declarative manner and not in a polite interogative way, the old "Name it." versus "What was its name?" debate.

Most comments have already been expressed previously in this thread.

I would like to add one advice: when writing a quiz, try and vary the questions. For instance in a music quiz, I would not like to play ten questions on "who's the drummer for" ten different bands. I beleive it's better you start with such a question, followed by a song composed by the drummer, and so on.

I agree with most things said in this thread but I will add one thing I HATE is questions that write 'HINT:' and then give me a hint.

To me it's just a cheap way of getting out of figuring out how to write a good question that includes this information within it .If you want to give people this extra information then find a way to word it within the question itself.

I feel like I'm back in primary school with other kids pleading "Give me a hint."

I've noticed more and more of these coming through the new question game and I will tell you now that no matter how interesting the question may have been, the minute you add that "Hint' you've lost any chance of getting a good ranking from me.

I agree re "Hint". If the question is not as obvious and then gives a hint that 99% of people would know, then you're not actually asking the question; you're asking which country has the capital London, or whatever your hint is. I can't deny I've never used hints in my own questions, but I would not write them now, if only for the reason that I don't like seeing them in others' questions. It doesn't annoy me as much if the hint itself is not immediately obvious, such as "This country is home to ____",
but in that case, it would be more easily written into the question, I think, as Midget suggests.

There is a difference from category to category too - using a personal example. I've written several "storyline" quizzes, in various categories, that have gone down well with players. The questions are a bit longer, they are "dressed up" with things to make them (hopefully) amusing or intriguing, and make the whole quiz flow from Q to Q with a little story.
I once tried one like that in a category where the vast majority of quizzes are pretty similar in structure, and it went down like a lead balloon. The people who play those quizzes, within that category, know what they like, expected a certain type of quiz, and weren't at all happy with a different one.
The people who played it because it was mine, or written for a Commission or challenge, so followed a link to it, rather than just seeing a new quiz in their favourite category seemed to like it as much as ever. It was the people playing it because of where it was who didn't like it as much. (I knew this from the notes) It was interesting to see. I knew there were/are differences between some categories, as I've had to really work hard to get acceptable quizzes for some of them, but this really illustrated the point.
If you want to know which questions work best in a category, play the highest rated quizzes in that category. There is even a page here somewhere (and I must admit I can never find it, but it IS here) that lists them and is updated (I think weekly?) with the lists of the highest rated quizzes in each major category, so you can keep track.
Then bear in mind that something that will be well received in one category, may not go down as well in another. That's not about the actual questions, but very much to do with the style in which they are presented.

Is this the page you mean, Rowena?

http://www.funtrivia.com/catranks.cfm?cat=1

That page is found using the dropdown menu from Me on the homepage, and selecting Gold Member features (which will only be there if you are a Gold Member) and then Top Quizzes by Category.

If you don't use the dropdown menus (I don't), it's still accessed via the 'Me' button and scrolling down. It's the last option listed at the foot of that page (for me, so I assume for everyone else).

That's the one! For some reason there are a couple of pages I can never find when I want them on here. Even though I really should be able to, it's as if they hide from me. That one is one of them, but you all found it

I have the link in my Favorites bar, otherwise I'd never know where to find it again! (Well, I know now thanks to Rossian ;))

Regarding "not" questions - I find these preferable to using "all (none) of these" as an answer when you want to have three answer options that are correct (or incorrect). Some players don't like these, but I do. It shows more skill as an author to think up a fourth, plausible answer than to just slap an "all of these" in as a fourth answer (whether it's correct or incorrect).

Regarding "throw away" answers - I like these, from time to time, if it suits the tone of the quiz. It my "I Hate the Summer!" quiz, I have two questions with answers that are quite obviously not correct, but the whole quiz has a humourous tone, and the incorrect answers are funny--they are included to amuse players, not to add to the challenge of answering the question, and I have had compliments from players who enjoyed their inclusion. In a quiz with a serious tone, however, these answer options might not be appropriate.