It would, which is why I only klnow that some quizzes do give double points when I just happen to play one that has been tagged for it. It's certainly not all quizzes under 20 ratings, but I don't know what other criteria may be part of the algorithm. Even if I knew, it would hardly be worth the effort of searching the quizzes out. It's just a nice bonus if you do happen to play an ignored quiz. The important thing to keep in mind is that players should ideally be choosing quizzes they think they will enjoy, not for some other reason.

I think it's something like a month and under 20 ratings. But whatever it is, as looney said, that shouldn't be the focus. I mean, by all means, play my quizzes that meet the criteria for me but it really isn't advertised much. It's there, but as a nice bonus from time to time. It wasn't so good when people racked up points in double quizzes just for points. Ratings plummeted.

My Intermediate Challenge today is to find 5 of them. Unfortunately, Salami, I play yours as they come online, so you are not a good source for me. Others might find your profile useful!

To qualify for double points, I believe the quizzes need to have been online long enough to be ranked, but to have insufficient ratings. By playing them, and rating honestly, you are helping to push them towards the rankings.

They do take a bit of work to find, but it's not that bad. I bring up the 'all new quizzes' listings, and choose the categories I prefer. By scrolling down, I can then locate all quizzes that have been online for about a month but are still marked 'new'. I then pick the ones I think I have a chance on - cherry-picking, it might be called, but I'm not going to try a quiz on something/one I've never even heard of.

As for the original issue of popular and unpopular categories, there are very real limits to what can be done. Even if one were to showcase an 'unpopular' category for a day or two or even longer, I doubt very much if players would find start giving the kind of ratings that produce many 'sunnies'. Surely, it would be the best quizzes that would be showcased, many of which already have sunnies. (Showcasing the poorer quizzes within the category would not be fruitful. In fact, it could be counter-productive).

The point is that on the whole people play quizzes on topics that they know something about already or want to find out about. This of course also applies - and to an much greater extent - to quiz creation.


(Edited to correct a typo).

We will never really discourage making quizzes in less popular categories either. As has been said, the people who do seek out, play, and enjoy these quizzes tend to justify the whole thing.

Two of my most highly ranked quizzes has only been played fewer than 75 times each but the people who played them apparently enjoyed them. They was written on niche topics, probably only interesting to people in two states of Australia in one case, and all Aussies in the other case. I'm not bothered that it won't have hundreds or thousands of plays. Those that play them enjoy them, I enjoyed writing them, so happy days all round

There's no limit to writing quizzes, so if I write one that even one person found excellent/useful, then I'm happy!

As long as the quiz isn't totally obscure and inaccessible to common mortals, I think it's something in our favor to have quizzes on off the main road topics. When I was a librarian/curator, we always loved to have something that was rare and yet accessible. This didn't mean all the vacation photos that people would donate to us when they died, though I recycled a few and used materials from the slides, but, if we got some lesser known Greek statuary or Roman temples or Etruscans, we'd be glad!

I have written a quiz on Provencal that isn't the most popular one on the site, but did it to show how it's used in everyday speech in France. I'm proud that we have so many quizzes in so many languages here. They need to be useful to someone who has no particular knowledge of language though...not for specialists.

I think the only quiz I have ever rejected for being too specialized was one on a community theatre production of some play - as I remember it, it was something like a one week run in some town of about 10,000. The quiz was all about the community members who played the various roles.

Oh, and I don't allow quizzes in Music about artists who have never released a recording or sung professionally.

Well pickle my grandmother , I found one of them and agree it was an enjoyable quiz, but I will leave your rugby one alone.

ASA, shouldn't you be outside Mr Sheening the mudflaps on your Kingswood?

I wrote one quiz because of the "Adventures in Authoring" challenge that was way out of my comfort zone. Fortunately I had a collaborator in the form of my teenage daughter. It has had a total of 39 plays and is rated "Difficult". When I spend so much time and effort and chocolate on a quiz, it is disappointing, but if a new quiz appears in that category, I would not play it.

Horses for courses.

In the case of that quiz, zippolover, it wasn't just the category, but also the subject - a lesser known example of the category. I wouldn't worry, though - when the quiz finally rates, five years from now, the ratings are likely to be high, because those who play it will be so glad to have found it.

A lot of my quizzes are on little-known musicians, out of print authors.... I know what I'm talking about.