Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Packet databases and other quizbowl sites, apps, or software should be discussed here.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by bmcke »

Does Jacob or any other Quinterest person see what I search for on Quinterest? I'd like to use Quinterest when I write questions, to see if certain things have come up before. However, I don't want to spoil any upcoming tournaments in Jacob's server logs or anything. Is it safe to use Quinterest when writing questions?
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

bmcke wrote:Does Jacob or any other Quinterest person see what I search for on Quinterest? I'd like to use Quinterest when I write questions, to see if certain things have come up before. However, I don't want to spoil any upcoming tournaments in Jacob's server logs or anything. Is it safe to use Quinterest when writing questions?
If there's a way to do this, I don't know what it is!
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Corry »

I noticed today that Quinterest doesn't convert accented characters into normal characters, i.e. searching "Noël Coward" will get you different results from "Noel Coward". Can this be fixed?
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

Corry wrote:I noticed today that Quinterest doesn't convert accented characters into normal characters, i.e. searching "Noël Coward" will get you different results from "Noel Coward". Can this be fixed?
I'll work on this over the Winter break.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by ashwin99 »

Would it be possible to make Quinterest search for specific words? For example, when I search for "pH", I get 700 tossups that just contain those two letters. It would be nice if when you search for a word in quotes, it would search for just that specific word. I could help with the programming needed for that.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

ashwin99 wrote:Would it be possible to make Quinterest search for specific words? For example, when I search for "pH", I get 700 tossups that just contain those two letters. It would be nice if when you search for a word in quotes, it would search for just that specific word. I could help with the programming needed for that.
I'll put this on the break to-do list as well.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by noobynoob »

Typo on mobile/interface mode
Edit: jk fixed
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by zman147 »

Did something go wrong with Quinterest's search function recently? I don't remember this being a problem in the past, but now for some reason if I search two separate words which I know are in a question the question does not appear, although if I search for one word the question appears even though it does have both words in it.
For example:
If I search "Shepherd Crusade" I find no results, but if I search for "Shepherd" or "Crusade" I find results with both the words "Shepherd" and "Crusade" in them. However, if I search "Shepherds Crusade" one result does come up (although there are many more that don't), so I'm wondering if maybe the search function is searching for the whole word instead of a word fragment? Is this intentional? If so, has this always been the case, because I remember searching similar queries before but never encountering this problem.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

zman147 wrote:Did something go wrong with Quinterest's search function recently? I don't remember this being a problem in the past, but now for some reason if I search two separate words which I know are in a question the question does not appear, although if I search for one word the question appears even though it does have both words in it.
For example:
If I search "Shepherd Crusade" I find no results, but if I search for "Shepherd" or "Crusade" I find results with both the words "Shepherd" and "Crusade" in them. However, if I search "Shepherds Crusade" one result does come up (although there are many more that don't), so I'm wondering if maybe the search function is searching for the whole word instead of a word fragment? Is this intentional? If so, has this always been the case, because I remember searching similar queries before but never encountering this problem.
I think the search doesn't split the query up, so you'll only get results with both. I'll think about ways to handle plural v. singular, but don't hold your breath.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

Fixes:
  • Now sorts results by year (descending), then tournament, packet, question number (ascending)
  • Accents should be fixed
  • Many small fixes
More to come, probably in March.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Red Panda Cub »

First off, many thanks for the work that you've been doing on the site, Jacob. I have noticed, though, after looking at some bonuses that a significant proportion of them appear not to have the lead-in bit that comes prior to the "For 10 points each." Is there a reason for this?
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

Joey wrote:First off, many thanks for the work that you've been doing on the site, Jacob. I have noticed, though, after looking at some bonuses that a significant proportion of them appear not to have the lead-in bit that comes prior to the "For 10 points each." Is there a reason for this?
I think I screwed up an SQL query at some point, and I can't find any backups of the bonus database, so that's entirely my bad (the leadins are gone). BUT, over the break, I'll be adding an "error-correction" system (and a corresponding better error-report system) for everyone who can add questions, so we should be able to add them all back in over time.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

vinteuil wrote:BUT, over the break, I'll be adding an "error-correction" system (and a corresponding better error-report system) for everyone who can add questions, so we should be able to add them all back in over time.
I'm in the process of coding the new backend; in the meantime, I decided to check how many questions Quinterest has: 50,972 TU, 3,857 Bonus (much harder to input). Thanks to everyone who's been making this happen!
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Lo, a momentary rabbit-stage »

It's possible that these are already options and I'm just technologically illiterate, but I'll ask anyway.

1. Is there a way to use the "study" function such that it does not repeat questions that have already come up? This is an incredibly minor problem, but it might help when studying specific categories to eliminate studying duplicates.

2. At least on the iPhone, it doesn't seem possible to use the study function. The only way I can get it to show up is to click on "desktop view", but pressing "study mode" after that just takes me back to the standard mobile view for search.

Thanks for all the hard work you've put into quinterest, it's an awesome tool.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by coldstonesteveaustin »

I recently discovered that you can use the study function on mobile by going to http://quinterest.org/study.php#desktop.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Maury Island incident »

Hidehiro Anto wrote:I recently discovered that you can use the study function on mobile by going to http://quinterest.org/study.php#desktop.
Thanks! I couldn't figure out how to do that for the longest time. Also, though this is small, it seems like the "Quinteret" thing is back on the mobile version.
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Introducing Quinterest v3.0!

Post by rohitx15 »

Hello all,

I had some extra time on my hands, so I went ahead and updated Quinterest, which was becoming very stale as of late!

Improvements

- Single Page Application - Everything is integrated onto a single webpage now. No more refreshing is required to go to different pages.

- Flexible Interface - An interface mode is no longer needed. Laptops, desktops, and mobile devices will all load the exact same page now. The updated interface is much more responsive than before and a better overall experience than the old interface.

- New Design - The new interface is much more simplified. Unnecessary elements have been removed, leaving only what is needed. The colors are more subdued, and the questions are much easier to read. Overall, everything is a bit more professional.

- Live Search Results - Search results will now appear live as you are typing in the search box past a threshold of characters.

- Integrated Study Feature - The previous Study mode has now been integrated into the main interface as a random button. It is no longer a separate page.

- Faster Database Search - After going through and doing some code optimization (My previous code from the beginnings of Quinterest was laughably bad!) the search feature is now more efficient.

- Code Optimization - There was a lot of code revising and refactoring. Everything is now much cleaner and easier to build on.

- Improved Print Feature - The previously broken print feature is now much improved and integrated with the main interface. It will now print only the displayed questions and it displays them in a clean and neat format to print on paper or save as a PDF.

There are other tiny improvements throughout but not important enough to list them. That's all for now, but there may be more soon!

Again, all suggestions are welcome.
Rohit Lalchandani
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Re: Introducing Quinterest v3.0!

Post by John Ketzkorn »

rohitx15 wrote:Hello all,



- Live Search Results - Search results will now appear live as you are typing in the search box past a threshold of characters.



Again, all suggestions are welcome.
The Live Search feature is a bit poor at times. For instance, when trying to search "All the King's Men" with Questions and Answers on, it searches "all" and crashes before I get to finish typing. Perhaps some blacklist of common words could prevent this or just a removal of the feature, since it's not too much of a hassel to press enter or press the button. Sorry if you went though the time to get it to work, I just don't find it very practical. Thought I'd let you know! Other than that, the other changes are good :)
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Re: Introducing Quinterest v3.0!

Post by rohitx15 »

Joker wrote:
rohitx15 wrote:Hello all,



- Live Search Results - Search results will now appear live as you are typing in the search box past a threshold of characters.



Again, all suggestions are welcome.
The Live Search feature is a bit poor at times. For instance, when trying to search "All the King's Men" with Questions and Answers on, it searches "all" and crashes before I get to finish typing. Perhaps some blacklist of common words could prevent this or just a removal of the feature, since it's not too much of a hassel to press enter or press the button. Sorry if you went though the time to get it to work, I just don't find it very practical. Thought I'd let you know! Other than that, the other changes are good :)
Let me work on it, and I'll see what I can do.
Rohit Lalchandani
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Maury Island incident »

It said that 24 tossups were found when I searched "One Hundred Years of Solitude" but only two were actually displayed. All the bonuses seemed to come up fine.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by rohitx15 »

Generating Steam Heat wrote:It said that 24 tossups were found when I searched "One Hundred Years of Solitude" but only two were actually displayed. All the bonuses seemed to come up fine.
Sorry, I'm tinkering with the code right now.
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Re: Introducing Quinterest v3.0!

Post by rohitx15 »

rohitx15 wrote:
Joker wrote:
rohitx15 wrote:Hello all,



- Live Search Results - Search results will now appear live as you are typing in the search box past a threshold of characters.



Again, all suggestions are welcome.
The Live Search feature is a bit poor at times. For instance, when trying to search "All the King's Men" with Questions and Answers on, it searches "all" and crashes before I get to finish typing. Perhaps some blacklist of common words could prevent this or just a removal of the feature, since it's not too much of a hassel to press enter or press the button. Sorry if you went though the time to get it to work, I just don't find it very practical. Thought I'd let you know! Other than that, the other changes are good :)
Let me work on it, and I'll see what I can do.

Everything should be all good now. Let me know if you find any bugs.
Rohit Lalchandani
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http://www.quinterest.org
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by rohitx15 »

I tweaked with the random search this morning so it should be a bit faster now! However, it could still be better. Getting random results from a database of 56178 entries is actually fairly difficult. It runs now in linear time with respect to the number of questions desired. I'm not sure how to make it much faster. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

P.S. To any and all contributors to the database that have been adding questions, I can't thank you guys enough! I think I speak on behalf of Jacob as well when I say that.
Rohit Lalchandani
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Halved Xenon Stinging »

Thanks for the great work that you guys have been doing with this. In the future would there be any way of adding history bowl packets to quinterest as well?
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by njsbling »

Halved Xenon Stinging wrote:Thanks for the great work that you guys have been doing with this. In the future would there be any way of adding history bowl packets to quinterest as well?
Sure, we will get around to that eventually (during the summer people will have more time to enter things).
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by tktennis »

I just now realized that quinterest is not only the best thing that has ever happened to my packet study, but it's also the best thing to happen to my academic career. I just did all of the research for my psychology final paper in under a day because, by typing in "Stanley Milgram" to Quinterest I can find just about every well-known thing he's ever done to go investigate a little more. Just wanted to add this to laud the program a little more, let everyone know this works (at least at the high school/AP level.)
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Ndg »

tktennis wrote:I just now realized that quinterest is not only the best thing that has ever happened to my packet study, but it's also the best thing to happen to my academic career. I just did all of the research for my psychology final paper in under a day because, by typing in "Stanley Milgram" to Quinterest I can find just about every well-known thing he's ever done to go investigate a little more. Just wanted to add this to laud the program a little more, let everyone know this works (at least at the high school/AP level.)
It's great if this worked in this case, but I'd advise people to be very careful about relying on quiz bowl questions to accurately reflect the actual academic importance of a topic. Given that questions are often written by people who aren't experts in the areas they're writing about, you can't be sure that all of the questions written on Stanley Milgram, to use your example, have mentioned the most important things he's done (much less the subset of questions that happened to be on Quinterest). Remember that, for better or for worse, one criteria writers use for evaluating a clue's difficulty is "how often has it been used in questions before", so occasionally stock clues will circulate that aren't actually as "real-world"-important as one might think from reading tossups.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

Quinterest has now added a major feature: question reading! For more, see the threat about Chris Winkler's add-on, QuizBug: viewtopic.php?f=123&t=18233
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Evan Lynch »

I'm getting a slight issue when I use Quinterest in a Chrome window resized to about half my monitor (resolution 1920x1080, and resized so I can use a Word document in the other half or something). Whenever I click on the search bar to start a new search/enter text it instead misses the bar and clicks on the new link to QuizBug, meaning I have to keep refreshing every time I want to refine a search. Increasing the size of the window to about 2/3 of the screen makes the buttons on the right move, and everything works fine then.

Not a huge issue, more just a little niggle - apologies if I've explained it poorly.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by FelicitaLiverman »

Corry wrote:I noticed today that Quinterest doesn't convert accented characters into normal characters, i.e. searching "Noël Coward" will get you different results from "Noel Coward". Can this be fixed?
Any fix?

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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by Strongside »

Here are all of the tournaments that have been entered on Quinterest since mid-June. Only tossups have been entered.

College/open

2017 WAO
2017 Chicago Open
2017 TTIAC
2017 ACF Regionals
2017 ACF Nationals
2017 EMT
2016 ACF Fall
2016 ACF Nationals
2016 Chicago Open
2016 EFT
2016 MLK
2016 MUT
2016 Mysterium
2016 Penn Bowl
2016 “stanford housewrite”
2016 Terrapin
2015 Delta Burke
2015 Chicago Open
2015 ACF Fall (3 packets were already entered)
2013 Arrabal
2013 Delta Burke (1 packet was already entered)
2012 Peaceful Resolution
2012 College History Bowl (this was a re-entry as the previous version disappeared)
2011 Illinois Open
2011 Penn Bowl
2011 Guerrilla at ICT
2010 Guerrilla at ICT
2010 ANGST
2009 Chicago Open (this was a re-entry as the previous version had a bunch of cut off questions)
2009 Gaddis II (this was a re-entry as the previous version had a bunch of cut off questions)
2009 Westbrook Experiment
2008 MUT

College/open subject tournaments

Geography

2009, 2011-2017 Geography Monstrosity

Myth
2012 YMIR
2012 Anfortas

History
2017 JAKOB
2017 FRENCH
2015 Chicago Open History
2015 SHEIKH
2014 Chicago Open History
2013 Urgent Call For Unity (Chicago Open History)
2012 Chicago Open History
2010 Spring Offensive
About 350 Mike Cheyne American History Questions

Literature
2017 Letras (only one packet)
2017 MASSOLIT
2015 RILKE
2014 Gorilla Lit
2014 Mavis Gallant
2013 Schindler's Lit
2012 WELD
2009 Tyrone Slothrop
2009 Mike Cheyne Lit
2008 Minnesota Open Lit
2007 Chicago Open Lit
2007 Illinois Open Lit

Fine Arts
2017 Jordaens
2017 Fine Arts Common Links
2015 Chicago Open Visual Arts
2013 Angels in the Architecture
2010 Belfast

Philosophy/Social Science
2017 Thought Monstrosity

Science
2017 Math Monstrosity
2016 AVOGADROS NUMBER
2015 Claude Shannon Memorial Tournament
2015 BONGOS
2014 Lederberg 2

Other/Combined
2017 Sivakumar Day-International
2017 Naveed Bork
2017 Scattergories
2016 A Culture of Improvement
2016 Clear II
2016 Christmas Present
2016 Listory
2015 We Have Never Been Modern
2015 VICO (one packet was already entered)
2012 The Questions Concerning Technology
2011 The Bob Loblaw Law Bowl
2010 Dallas Simons Classics
2010 Wild Kingdom

High School

2017 Pace NSC
2016 NASAT (Packets 1-2 were already entered)
2015 NASAT (Packets 1-11 were already entered)
2015 PACE NSC (Packets 1-14 were already entered)
2016 A Bit of Lit (Only 30 questions)

Middle School

2016 SCOP MS
2015 SCOP MS
Last edited by Strongside on Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:27 am, edited 14 times in total.
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Re: Quinterest: Hassle-free Database Search

Post by vinteuil »

Strongside wrote:Here are all of the tournaments that have been entered on Quinterest since mid-June. Only tossups have been entered.
(This list should include 2017 CO as well.)

Brendan has been a huge part in adding all of these, so if you appreciate this massive update (I know I did!!), try to let him know.
Jacob R., ex-Chicago
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