Questions Unlimited

[mlaird]

Interesting change going on over at Questions Unlimited. I didn't get any whiff of this when I interviewed him a couple months ago, but apparently the decision has been made for Chip to step down as chief editor for QU. Jason Russell has stepped up to replace him. Since it seemed like Chip was really the driving force behind most of the crap, does anyone think this ship might get righted? I probably should have started this thread in AHAN, but it can be moved if this thread gets good.

EDIT: SPELLINGS

[... and the chaos of Mexican modernity]

Do you think that the mention of Jason Russell questioning the ethics of the tournament while in the interview has anything to do with Chip stepping down.

[Ben Dillon]

My conversations with Jason suggest that he's a stand-up fellow. He has posted on this board in the past and is fully aware of the lay of the land.

[Mechanical Beasts]

I won't hold my breath about anything actually changing substantially in question quality, but if Jason really does read the boards, it'd be good for him to post here and weigh in with his plans.

[Matt Weiner]

My conversations with Jason suggest that he's a stand-up fellow. He has posted on this board in the past and is fully aware of the lay of the land.

Boy, do I have a bridge to sell you!

Someone who would work for a company that does what QU did is hardly any better than Chip himself, and aside from the (glaring and deal-breaking) ethical issues, QU's bread and butter is selling bad questions to people who know that bad questions are what they want. The website still has the tirades against pyramidal tossups and so on. It can easily be seen that nothing is going to change here.

[Mechanical Beasts]

My conversations with Jason suggest that he's a stand-up fellow. He has posted on this board in the past and is fully aware of the lay of the land.

Boy, do I have a bridge to sell you!

Someone who would work for a company that does what QU did is hardly any better than Chip himself, and aside from the (glaring and deal-breaking) ethical issues, QU's bread and butter is selling bad questions to people who know that bad questions are what they want. The website still has the tirades against pyramidal tossups and so on. It can easily be seen that nothing is going to change here.

Yeah; I just read the eight posts Jason has made on this board in the past, and I have divined that he's "aware of the lay of the land" in that he's aware that we prefer non-plagiarized questions. He's also aware of the lay of the profit and is totally content to pretend that QU is doing nothing wrong.

[kayli]

Personally, I don't think there is any hope for Questions Unlimited. There's just way too much to be done in terms of question writing, formatting, and organization to really hope for too much. I don't think good teams (and even suckish ones like Pensacola) will ever go back due to the bad rap it's gotten over the past forever and the amount of money it would cost to go to a third nationals. However, if you think there's some way to save the system there or some way to get more schools interested in real good quizbowl, by all means go ahead. I just don't think there's salvation for Questions Unlimited.

(By the way, before I went on Questions Unlimited website, I thought that someone put "Questions starting with 'why' make great tossups; e.g., 'In 1174 King Henry II walked barefoot from London to Canterbury. Why?'" in their signature as a Chip Beall joke; but then I realized he actually said that. Oh God...)

[Ben Dillon]

Someone who would work for a company that does what QU did is hardly any better than Chip himself

Interesting. Would you have written off Gerald Ford with a similar argument? After all, he was willing to be Nixon's veep.

I'm just saying that I'm not willing to write off Jason because of Chip (insert "sins of the father" reference here). Plus, my conversations with him when we still attended NAC suggested awareness of the situation, more so than what he's written in this forum.

From the perspective of the quiz bowl community, the prevailing opinion of "throw no business QU's way" can remain in effect while we evaluate Jason's performance. And if nothing substantive changes, that position will remain valid.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Interesting. Would you have written off Gerald Ford with a similar argument? After all, he was willing to be Nixon's veep.

Ford seemed to do much less willfully ignoring evidence of Nixon's crimes than Russell of Chip's.

I'm just saying that I'm not willing to write off Jason because of Chip (insert "sins of the father" reference here). Plus, my conversations with him when we still attended NAC suggested awareness of the situation, more so than what he's written in this forum.

It's true; your argument based on evidence the rest of us cannot evaluate for ourselves is iron-solid. I'll take your assertions that you've seen a better side of Jason Russell on faith, but I can't take them as stunning evidence unless he's also admitted to you that he likes to cultivate a Chip-loving internet personality.

From the perspective of the quiz bowl community, the prevailing opinion of "throw no business QU's way" can remain in effect while we evaluate Jason's performance. And if nothing substantive changes, that position will remain valid.

Yeah, this is the only option.

[cvdwightw]

There are two places where QU made major tactical problems unrelated to the concept of "bad questions" and we are still seeing repercussions.

1. Obviously, the grandaddy of all errors, the 2000 NAC. Put simply, the 2000 NAC was to the high school game what the 1997 NCT was to CBI: the tipping point for the tournament's legitimacy. In the late 1990's and early 2000's NAQT and PACE were the new kids on the block; the 2001 HSNCT drew 40 teams and 2001 NSC had a total of 16(!) teams. It is likely that with both those groups just starting out, at least one of HSNCT and NSC would have gone the way of the early- and mid-1990s national tournaments had NAC adapted to the direction that the market was heading. Instead, we got multiple scandals, the still-running blender joke, and a group of (former) NAC players actively campaigning against NAC. Top teams now found that they had other national options that better suited their needs, and NAQT and PACE were able to survive their formative years. In the span of a single tournament QU/NAC went from being the acknowledged market leader to the butt of a joke by the top teams.

2. One of QU's greatest accomplishments was finding teams in the middle of nowhere and getting them to play their brand of quizbowl. The problem was that for the most part, QU never really developed any sort of circuit in those places or made any attempt to integrate them nationally. QU's business model depended on recruiting and keeping individual teams; NAQT and PACE, it seems, have focused much more on developing and maintaining entire circuits. For NAQT, it's a necessary business model - a significant amount of NAQT's income and profit comes from selling IS sets to regular weekend tournaments - but it's also a model that has built local circuits with brand loyalty. For PACE, it's not a business model at all - it's practically the entire philosophy of the organization. If we look at the teams that have stayed loyal to QU, it's the teams in areas where QU has built a circuit - parts of Texas, New York, Pennsylvania - while many teams that used to go to NAC because "it's what we've always done" have moved on to HSNCT or NSC.

I don't think QU can erase these blunders of a legendarily terrible national tournament and failure to develop loyal local circuits. NAQT and to a lesser extent PACE are the current market leaders and unlike early-2000s QU, they have shown a tendency to adapt to the directions the game is headed, even if it might not be as quickly as some people might like; there are too many people in those organizations concerned with the growth and maintenance of quizbowl as a whole for QU to make inroads and recover the territory that it lost. Matt hit the nail on the head - QU makes its money selling bad questions to people who want them. They can't change their business model and survive - NAQT and HSAPQ have all the talent and all the connections in the "write good questions for fun and profit" business. QU is stuck in 2000 and pulling itself into the modern era is business suicide.

Jason Russell has placed himself in an unenviable position - take over a company that, largely due to the actions of his predecessor, has gone from being the market leader ten years ago to the butt of jokes today, is ten years behind the times with no prayer of catching up, has limited resources and a small and slowly decreasing loyal customer base, and has to deal with two, possibly three groups, with larger market influence whose goals often coincide and are at cross-purposes with those of QU. It's really not clear what he can do to save QU from a slow death - even if he does drive every other competitor out of the bad question market, it's not clear that that market will be worth anything after NAQT/HSAPQ/PACE are done with it.

[Nine-Tenths Ideas]

It's really not clear what he can do to save QU from a slow death - even if he does drive every other competitor out of the bad question market, it's not clear that that market will be worth anything after NAQT/HSAPQ/PACE are done with it.

It's fun and certainly desirable to pretend that the market for bad questions is going to evaporate, but that's probably not the truth. There will always be teams that prefer speedchecks- always, no matter what the majority of teams prefer. General trends have no affect on these teams. They're oblivious to the direction of quizbowl because most likely their coaches refuse to give up whatever outdated format they play on. It will always be at least a decent market share, at least until those coaches move on.

[Matt Weiner]

Yeah, there's a large market for bad questions, but if you're into bad questions you by definition don't really care who writes them, so you would probably buy from the ultra-cheap providers like Questions Galore. QU charges $75 per packet for a full four-quarter format set, which is the major reason why they are rarely used at regular-season bad tournaments as it is. I would be very surprised if QU was financially viable outside the NAC.

[at your pleasure]

Well, I suspect it will shrink substantially in the next two or decades as more and more college and current high school players graduate and become coaches. To analyze this, let's divde non-curcit teams into the following categories:
1. Chip circuit teams. These are mostly in central Pennslyvania, Westchester County, and parts of Texas. Probably the most difficult to pry away.
2. Non-circuit teams in low-density curcuits-These teams are in areas where circuit quizbowl has not penetrated as much, whether due to countervailing organizations(southern Illinois and even upper Montgomery county) or external circumstances such as lack of funds or geographical barriers( the latter probably the reason why the Rockies have produced so few notable teams)*.
3. Non-circuit teams in high-density curcuits. These are non-circuit teams in areas where circuit quizbowl is well established, either because of ignorance or because of other factors.
Of these, type 1 and 2 teams will be the hardest to convert, and type 1 harder still. However, there are two advantages to doing so. First of all, if sucessful inroads into type 1 curcuits are made, this will ease the conversion of the entire circuit which would seriously and prehaps fatally weaken QU. Type Two teams will also be difficult to convert until more current college and high school players start teaching and therby put themselves in a position to introduce circuit quizbowl. Type 3 teams seem to be where most of the expansion will come from, since there is less of a preception of "outsiders telling us what to do" and it's easier for them to start going to tournaments. Indeed, this may already be happening with several of the DC area private schools hertofore have only done It's Academic, although we will have to see if St. Anslem's shift to circuit quizbowl is an anomaly or the start of a trend.
Based on this, I predict slow but steady circuit expansion for the next few years, then an upswing in expansion later on as the aformentioned future coaches are in a position to advocate good quizbowl.

[Stained Diviner]

QU is far from dead. For one thing, though NAC is shrinking, it is still big enough to be viable. (I haven't seen their bank account, but they seem to get enough teams to be viable.) Additionally, they still have some loyal customers.

For another thing, if the product changes, word will get out. They are very good at publicizing themselves, and there generally are people from the circuit who either visit or play in the NAC. If they ran a great national tournament or sold great questions, people would find out.

[Kouign Amann]

Indeed, this may already be happening with several of the DC area private schools hertofore have only done It's Academic, although we will have to see if St. Anslem's shift to circuit quizbowl is an anomaly or the start of a trend.

If Matt and I have our way, you should see St. Anselm's at good tournaments for years to come.

[at your pleasure]

Since you have enough time to keep it on the right track for another few years, I'm sure St. Anslem's will continue to go to good tournament for the foreseeable future. My question is not "Will St. Anslem's continue to play good quizbowl for the foreseeable future"(yes, as I said above) but "Will other D.C. private schools besides GDS, St. Anslem's and Gonzaga start playing good quizbowl?"

[dxdtdemon]

I wonder if 's regisnation has anything to do with the fact that while the company is based in Ohio, no one in Ohio currently uses their questions (except for maybe some TV tournaments), and now that it seems that the governor wants to start a competition somewhat equivalent to KAAC Governor's Cup once the economy turns around, QU wants to restore some credibility to its customers by showing that it writes for some of the tournaments in its home state.

[The 2007 San Diego Padres]

the governor wants to start a competition somewhat equivalent to KAAC Governor's Cup

NO DON'T

[Angry Babies in Love]

Is the conversion of teams completely out of our hands? The "expansion" that Doug mentioned could be expansion for if we just wait for it to happens. Some of the DC private schools (Walls, Sidwell, etc.) probably haven't heard of NAQT. I think that some of the greater minds of the local quizbowl communities can go to some of the schools that are "Type 3" on the Graebner scale and try to convince them to play. It shouldn't be hard to find the email addresses of some of the Type III coaches and basically convince them that pyramidal is better than It's Ac or whatever they're doing and they should consider playing pyramidal as well. If the coach is dedicated enough, at least a few programs can be converted, Chip has been doing this for years. Eventually we can try at some of the better Type I teams, but those will take some work.
I think it is important that we try to expand good quizbowl to those who are willing to have it.

[at your pleasure]

try to convince them to play.

This might actually happen.

[ieppler]

Some of the DC private schools (Walls, Sidwell, etc.)

Walls is public, so they, like every DC public school not named Wilson or Banneker, have no money for any extracurricular (or, for that matter, any thing) that isn't football. I may make a Dwight Wynne-esque post about the challenges of recruiting private schools, if I can stop being lazy.

[Angry Babies in Love]

Walls is public

Yeah I forgot that. Good point. Is it challenging to recruit private schools to play non-Chip or play quizbowl at all? I understand that the latter would be difficult, but I don't think the former would be too hard unless the coach was a Chip fanatic. As for playing pyramidal as opposed to just television, that also wouldn't be difficult, i would think. But I am curious to hear other people's experiences regarding this.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

...Sidwell...

Sidwell Friends went to GDS's November tournament last year, i'm pretty sure. Other than that, i'm not sure if they attended anything else.

[Angry Babies in Love]

OK so I suck at choosing examples. Point still stands. There are type 3 schools that we can bring into the circuit.

[Jeremy Gibbs-Marangoni Effect]

From talking to players from a few type II (west-central Arkansas) teams that attended NAC this year, their perceptions of the tournament were so dreadful that they are now interested in building a pyramidal circuit in the area. Thanks, Chip!

[Kouign Amann]

...Sidwell...

Sidwell Friends went to GDS's November tournament last year, i'm pretty sure.

Confirm.

[at your pleasure]

Funny story about Sidwell. I ran into someone I went to middle school with on the subway recently and found out that he is on the It's Academic team there, finds said questions insufficently challenging, and is interested in good quizbowl.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Awesome! They absolutely did not so poorly that day, if i remember, so they definitely have some potential.

[Ben Dillon]

I wonder if 's regisnation has anything to do with the fact that while the company is based in Ohio, no one in Ohio currently uses their questions (except for maybe some TV tournaments), and now that it seems that the governor wants to start a competition somewhat equivalent to KAAC Governor's Cup once the economy turns around, QU wants to restore some credibility to its customers by showing that it writes for some of the tournaments in its home state.

First, I don't think Chip has actually "resigned" per se. The website says only that he's handed over the reins of Chief Editor, but I think we can assume that he's retaining the leadership of the NAA, that he will continue to be the main host for the NAC, and perhaps even that he will continue to write questions... in which case it would take even longer for Jason to implement any changes that he might want to make.

Second, although the postal address is still in Columbus, I think that's where his administrative assistant is who mails out questions and keeps records. Chip himself moved to Utah at least a year ago. Therefore, I'm not sure any conclusions can be drawn about Ohio competitions.

[Howard]

Indeed, this may already be happening with several of the DC area private schools hertofore have only done It's Academic, although we will have to see if St. Anslem's shift to circuit quizbowl is an anomaly or the start of a trend.

If Matt and I have our way, you should see St. Anselm's at good tournaments for years to come.

St. Anselms is no stranger to circuit quizbowl. I saw them at numerous tournaments prior to coach Colvin's retirement.

[eagle121203]

Interesting change going on over at Questions Unlimited. I didn't get any whiff of this when I interviewed him a couple months ago, but apparently the decision has been made for Chip to step down as chief editor for QU. Jason Russell has stepped up to replace him. Since it seemed like Chip was really the driving force behind most of the crap, does anyone think this ship might get righted? I probably should have started this thread in AHAN, but it can be moved if this thread gets good.

EDIT: SPELLINGS

What is AHAN?

[btressler]

I'm unclear exactly what is going on in Lancaster County, PA since the tournaments we've gone to weren't even played in the four quarter format. Maybe they're buying the questions from QU and restructuring them into "speed" tossup/bonus?

But anyway, I snail mail those teams about every other year to let them know of the tournaments in Delaware. Some probably wouldn't travel outside the county, but we have been successful in getting a few teams to show. So it's not impossible to "spread the word". I would very much like to see quizbowl grow in that area since it's only an hour away from us.

I didn't mind the four quarter format as a novelty tournament when we did our TV show, except when a question turned into a hose or judges wouldn't take answers that "weren't on the card".

[Unicolored Jay]

I wonder if 's regisnation has anything to do with the fact that while the company is based in Ohio, no one in Ohio currently uses their questions (except for maybe some TV tournaments), and now that it seems that the governor wants to start a competition somewhat equivalent to KAAC Governor's Cup once the economy turns around, QU wants to restore some credibility to its customers by showing that it writes for some of the tournaments in its home state.

First, I don't think Chip has actually "resigned" per se. The website says only that he's handed over the reins of Chief Editor, but I think we can assume that he's retaining the leadership of the NAA, that he will continue to be the main host for the NAC, and perhaps even that he will continue to write questions... in which case it would take even longer for Jason to implement any changes that he might want to make.

Second, although the postal address is still in Columbus, I think that's where his administrative assistant is who mails out questions and keeps records. Chip himself moved to Utah at least a year ago. Therefore, I'm not sure any conclusions can be drawn about Ohio competitions.

One TV show in Ohio, the ONN Brain Game, stopped using his questions last season.

[Matt Weiner]

I didn't mind the four quarter format as a novelty tournament when we did our TV show, except when a question turned into a hose or judges wouldn't take answers that "weren't on the card".

I certainly hope no one's problem with Chip is based on misguided enthusiasm about game formats. There's nothing wrong with four quarter as long as the questions are well-written and follow some reasonable academic distribution. The problem with Chip is, of course, that neither of those things are the case.

[Important Bird Area]

I'm unclear exactly what is going on in Lancaster County, PA since the tournaments we've gone to weren't even played in the four quarter format. Maybe they're buying the questions from QU and restructuring them into "speed" tossup/bonus?

That's what the Lancaster-Lebanon League did in 1998... but I haven't seen them play since.

[jrbarry]

Chip Beall has lived in the southern suburbs oif Salt Lake City, Utah for several years, at least 4 for sure.

I have no direct knowledge of this new position for Jason, but I am sure Mr Beall is still going to be in charge of his business.

[mlaird]

Interesting change going on over at Questions Unlimited. I didn't get any whiff of this when I interviewed him a couple months ago, but apparently the decision has been made for Chip to step down as chief editor for QU. Jason Russell has stepped up to replace him. Since it seemed like Chip was really the driving force behind most of the crap, does anyone think this ship might get righted? I probably should have started this thread in AHAN, but it can be moved if this thread gets good.

EDIT: SPELLINGS

What is AHAN?

http://www.doc-ent.com/qbwiki/index.php?title=AHAN_Jr

viewforum.php?f=28