Search found 2189 matches

by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Mar 13, 2024 4:40 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Top 100 player list 23/24
Replies: 6
Views: 2474

Re: Top 100 player list 23/24

22. Mike Cheyne 35. Howie Kendrick I've been fortunate enough to see both of these guys play. I think if you care about peak at all, or if you care about Nationals/LCS performance, you gotta go with Howie over Mike here. Howie Kendrick had his best season at age 35 when he posted an OPS+ of 146 on ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:08 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Alternative Names in Answerlines
Replies: 3
Views: 795

Re: Alternative Names in Answerlines

I agree with you that a wide range of answers should be acceptable and that writers and editors should make a good effort to consider what other answers to list. However, consider that adjudicating rare examples of alternate answers as one-off protests might be a more efficient use of resources than...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sun Jan 28, 2024 8:02 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Packet submission thoughts
Replies: 16
Views: 3327

Re: Packet submission thoughts

Quizbowl is so much better today than when I played 15 years ago. The game is bigger, the game is more professional and buttoned-up, the players are nicer people. So many things have been left in the dustbin of history and I am personally puzzled why ACF packet submission is not one of them. It look...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:24 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Trophies vs Plaques
Replies: 11
Views: 5541

Re: Trophies vs Plaques

The intended audience of college quizbowl trophies isn't college quizbowl players, at least not current ones. No true ACF player needs a trophy to feel accomplished - the satisfaction of learning is all the reward they ever need. Indeed for many years ACF shied away from trophies and gave out tatter...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Jun 30, 2023 12:32 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Regarding BBB and Community Norms
Replies: 11
Views: 7011

Re: Regarding BBB and Community Norms

I wonder how many people in the last 20 years have dismissed and ignored good advice about quizbowl because the manner in which the advice was delivered was insensitive or offensive. Probably a very large number of people, some of whom left the game because of it. Humans are emotional animals and go...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Jun 30, 2023 6:39 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How should we approach async writing and scoring?
Replies: 3
Views: 4025

Re: How should we approach async writing and scoring?

As a hyper-specialized player (in my heyday, I only listened to maybe 6-7 questions on my packet, and shut my brain off for the rest) I actually find the "you're all alone, there's no Ted to save you from literature questions" aspect of asynch quizbowl to be a feature and not a bug. When I...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:10 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Reworking the History Distribution
Replies: 13
Views: 6911

Re: Reworking the History Distribution

I think you're running into two issues: (1) More recent history simply means more to people who are alive today because rightly or wrongly they think it's more relevant to their current day existence. They are more passionate about it, they are more likely to know it, they are more likely to read an...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sat May 06, 2023 8:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t
Replies: 7
Views: 4702

Re: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t

I would have personally placed the clues about the Cumans before the detailed description of the Battle of Mohi because, at least in my day, the battle was more famous than the backstory behind it. Unless there has been a sudden burst of interest in non-first-tier Hungarian kings, I think you could ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Mar 07, 2023 6:45 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?
Replies: 8
Views: 2719

Re: How do we use "Description Acceptable"?

I agree, this is a solution to the somewhat rare problem of answerlines not being fully reified. Similar to the "violence against women" example above, I recall a tossup in my playing days where the answerline was "pink scares" but we were informed before the tossup that descript...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Mar 03, 2023 8:45 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Anybody got strategies for tilting your opponents
Replies: 13
Views: 6236

Re: Anybody got strategies for tilting your opponents

Beat them to a tossup in their area of expertise, especially if you are not known for your expertise in that area.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:31 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Why College Recruiting Fails (2 of 3)
Replies: 8
Views: 4969

Re: Why College Recruiting Fails (2 of 3)

Is there a single effective faculty sponsor of a college quizbowl team anywhere in the country who is not themselves a former college quizbowl player of some note? I'm nowhere near old enough to know what Chris Borglum was doing in college, but Chris is at the very least also a very notable open/mas...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:23 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How can quizbowl support writers?
Replies: 9
Views: 5448

Re: How can quizbowl support writers?

Quizbowl can probably never adequately support writers. Writing is a ton of work, it pays very little, and there's no realistic prospect of it paying significantly more anytime soon. Writing probably fails any objective cost-benefit analysis and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I t...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:35 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash
Replies: 27
Views: 8898

Re: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash

One thing I don't think holds up is argument based on how people engage with things. I think if you were to actually follow college quizbowl players for months and document how they engage with the material that comes up at academic tournaments, you would find that for the most part they are engagin...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Aug 17, 2022 12:43 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Stop giving your sets cutesy names—they have real-world consequences.
Replies: 5
Views: 2855

Re: Stop giving your sets cutesy names—they have real-world consequences.

I think a more likely real-world consequence of giving your tournament a cutesy name is that it would reinforce the stereotype that quizbowl is an unserious or weird event that is not worthy of student participation, university recognition, or social approval. On this front I feel that quizbowl has ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:27 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!
Replies: 6
Views: 3445

Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

You can become a better quizbowl player just by spending 10 minutes with either of these gentlemen. Also a better human being.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Feb 02, 2022 9:53 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?
Replies: 25
Views: 15758

Re: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?

I think the reason you don't see an open division at ACF tournaments is resource constraints: there are limited moderators, limited numbers of game rooms, etc. and it makes sense for ACF to focus this on collegiate players. There'a also, frankly, an ick factor where college students don't really wan...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:46 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?
Replies: 25
Views: 15758

Re: Quizbowl-"Trivia" Community Relations: What Are They? What Should They Be?

I think it's impossible to understand my era of quizbowl (I played 2004-2010 and was involved in ACF and open tournaments for a few years after that) without understanding the "bad quizbowl monster" that Matt talks about at the end. College quizbowl circa 2004 had, within living memory, &q...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:50 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: 2022 Carper Award community discussion
Replies: 16
Views: 8352

Re: 2022 Carper Award community discussion

I myself would like to push for Ryan Westbrook. Ryan acquired (through his own making, somewhat) a reputation as an eccentric who posts poorly. But he was one of the best editors of his era, producing many acclaimed tournaments and events. Has the Ryan Westbrook era truly ended? The guy has had a f...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:25 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Are college quiz bowl questions too long?
Replies: 10
Views: 3356

Re: Are college quiz bowl questions too long?

Like 5-6 years ago, didn't they actually start tracking where in a question people buzzed at some tournaments, and didn't the stats show that very few people were buzzing on early clues?
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:20 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

At almost every tournament that isn't a championship or a qualifier for a championship, convincing marginal teams and players that quizbowl is something they want to do again is a far more important goal than fine-grade differentiating between teams. One theory says that extremely obvious bonus part...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:58 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Myths about Westphalia
Replies: 8
Views: 7491

Re: Myths about Westphalia

You are indisputably correct about the facts. And many similar things could, with great accuracy, be said about the Treaty of Utrecht or the 1783 Treaty of Paris or doubtlessly many others. Unfortunately, your correctness is a bit besides the point. Our society has, by convention, long referred to t...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sat Oct 30, 2021 7:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Name Changes
Replies: 4
Views: 3524

Re: Name Changes

I would say that at some point there are not just diminishing returns to answerlines with lots of alternate answers, but actually negative returns. I don't think I'm the only person here to have run into the situation where an inexperienced moderator sees an answerline with 3-4 lines of alternate an...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:34 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How do you write and edit quizbowl creatively?
Replies: 7
Views: 4302

Re: How do you write and edit quizbowl creatively?

This is a great thread! I'd like to discuss my personal experience in trying to bring a good amount of creativity to my questions over the past year. I'd love to talk about just some of the lessons I learned and some of my ideas on what "creative writing" is. 1. Creative questions don't a...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HSNCT and its Problems
Replies: 30
Views: 16290

Re: HSNCT and its Problems

Does anyone else get uncomfortable when we start having conversations about what "elite teams" are deciding should and should not be done as part of a national tournament, and when the threat that the elite teams will cease attending the event because it does not meet their standards is p...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Inconsistency
Replies: 6
Views: 4844

Re: Inconsistency

Did you play sloppy, or did you just encounter clues you didn't know?
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:48 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Packet Submission discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 10336

Re: Packet Submission discussion

Maybe I'm a confused old man, but why is this such a theoretical discussion? Has packet submission not been dying for close to a decade? If reducing packet submission has deleterious effects on player and writer development, should we not be seeing some consequences by now? Instead it seems that apa...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Aug 25, 2020 5:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: DITCH 2020 (A Packet about Hungary)
Replies: 7
Views: 3150

Re: DITCH 2020 (A Packet about Hungary)

I've been waiting 15 years for this packet. I'll be there if I can figure out how to get to the HSQB Discord.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:48 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Why are there negs in QB?
Replies: 17
Views: 4986

Re: Why are there negs in QB?

I played without negs in high school and with negs in college. I can't say that the presence or lack of negs really changed my thinking or approach to the game. The other team getting to hear the entire tossup and buzzing in at the end was such a bad outcome that I was sufficiently disincentivized f...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:05 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: General Misconduct Discussion (TW: sexual harassment)
Replies: 39
Views: 23244

Re: General Misconduct Discussion (TW: sexual harassment)

Everyone is focused on people with a past history of misconduct. What about people with future potential for misconduct. Suppose, for example, that you, a player, are having a conversation with a friend, and it becomes clear to you that your friend is suffering from some kind of severe mental illnes...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT
Replies: 12
Views: 5406

Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

This was really fun, and by far the most professional quizbowl-related web thing I have ever encountered. Huge praise due to NAQT.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue May 19, 2020 8:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: What makes a good tiebreaker?
Replies: 6
Views: 2421

Re: What makes a good tiebreaker?

I think the single worst thing you could do is use a tiebreaker that is impossible. If it doesn't get answered, then, congratulations: you've just delayed the tournament! I have always favored accessible answerlines for tiebreakers.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:16 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: This Time, A Stern Warning
Replies: 179
Views: 146928

Re: This Time, A Stern Warning

not everyone gets the same punishment for the same crime in our criminal justice system Hold on, is this supposed to be a good thing? Who are we to say whether or not it is a good thing, but lesser penalties for first-time offenders and/or people who have a long track record of being good citizens ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:09 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: This Time, A Stern Warning
Replies: 179
Views: 146928

Re: This Time, A Stern Warning

Jesus fuck. This is one of the most disappointing moments in the history of quizbowl. Like many of you, I have known Eric for over a decade, respected him greatly, and cheered for him. I was in the room when Eric finally won a championship at ACF Nationals and felt so happy for him that I made my wa...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:25 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Underappreciated Supporting Performances
Replies: 4
Views: 7414

Re: Underappreciated Supporting Performances

Behold Peter Austin at the 2007 ICT: https://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament/team.jsp?team_id=11885 42 PPG (compared to Seth Teitler 47 PPG), 17 powers (compared to Seth Teitler 18 powers), powered 29% of all of his tossups (more than Seth Teitler). Finished 2nd overall in scoring on Chicago A. My fav...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Mar 13, 2020 12:41 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: College Nationals and Its Problems
Replies: 132
Views: 54058

Re: College Nationals and Its Problems

Creating subsidiary titles is a very cheap and logistically easy way to give lots of teams something tangible to play for at a nationals. As an undergraduate I cared very much about the Undergrad title at ICT (alas, we lost in the finals) and even the then-nonexistent ACF Undergrad title, which a te...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:59 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: 5th of March Incident
Replies: 13
Views: 9790

Re: 5th of March Incident

Less flippantly, I think the 5th of March Incident is worth studying and commemorating for the following reasons: (1) It is a warning about the dangers of putting one person in charge of everything. It may come to pass that there will be a person in quizbowl's future who has a lot of energy, is good...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:10 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: 5th of March Incident
Replies: 13
Views: 9790

Re: 5th of March Incident

I've always found that if people are talking about a subject that doesn't interest me, I can just not read that thread.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:48 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Ideal Host Cities for a Nationals Event
Replies: 10
Views: 5143

Re: Ideal Host Cities for a Nationals Event

Yeah, this is a very air infrastructure focused analysis and unfortunately there are significantly more factors to consider than just how easy it is to fly somewhere or even how many teams are nearby. I've only been tangentially involved in planning large, Nationals-size tournaments (mostly ACF Nati...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:52 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to improve on a team with a strong generalist
Replies: 1
Views: 2518

Re: How to improve on a team with a strong generalist

Learning the categories that your team struggles with is not only a great way to increase your PPG, it is also a great way to win the gratitude of your teammates. Whether you just notice that tossups on subject x always go dead at practice, or you actually talk to your teammates and figure out which...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:54 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Losing Steam and Motivation in College
Replies: 4
Views: 4375

Re: Losing Steam and Motivation in College

Arguably, quizbowl is in far greater need of people who are good at organizing tournaments, running a team, and other logistical tasks like that than people who are good at answering tossups. If you have any interest in these things (in addition to also answering tossups or not), you should explore ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:23 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Should quizbowl reform the three-part bonus?
Replies: 18
Views: 5222

Re: Should quizbowl reform the three-part bonus?

I grew up with bouncebacks in high school and think they're just fine and worth experimenting with. One clear consequence that's going to have is fewer upsets. There's something fun about beating a superior team to a tossup, and then watching them squirm and facepalm as you get 0-10 points on a bonu...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:42 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Notable Buzzers
Replies: 32
Views: 20579

Re: Notable Buzzers

I was never a big fan of the Judge (the grippy part of the judge paddle seemed to always come off, making it a sticky mess) but many players of my era have fond memories of it. I'm told that in the years immediately after 9/11, it was often difficult to get the Judge through airport security.
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:50 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Notable Buzzers
Replies: 32
Views: 20579

Re: Notable Buzzers

It has occurred to me that it's been a really long time since I've seen "The Knot". It was a 16-player buzzer system, obstinately for four teams of four, but with all 16 cables coming out of a central console. The cables naturally became tangled up in a way that seemed to defy 3-dimension...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:44 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Notable Buzzers
Replies: 32
Views: 20579

Notable Buzzers

Am I correct in saying that the present day is a nadir for buzzer diversity in quizbowl? Seems like due to a combination of other buzzer companies going out of business and Anderson having a superior product at a lower price, everyone is just using those Anderson buzzers now? Certainly, the last qui...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:30 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Should I quit quizbowl?
Replies: 8
Views: 5445

Re: Should I quit quizbowl?

I remember being in your shoes when I was a college freshman all the way back in 2004. In those days UChicago practices were about 3 hours long, and on many nights I wouldn't get a tossup until 2 hours had passed. Part of it is that I was in a room with 3 Hall of Fame level players (Andrew Yaphe, Su...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Nov 25, 2019 11:09 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Red Bull sponsorship of 2009 ACF Nationals
Replies: 0
Views: 5368

Red Bull sponsorship of 2009 ACF Nationals

The "stamina at Nationals" thread reminded me of my favorite fact about 2009 ACF Nationals at Washington University in St. Louis: the event was technically "sponsored by Red Bull". I believe the story is that the TD, Matt Weiner, discovered that there was a form on Red Bull's web...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Wed Nov 06, 2019 3:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Abolish packet submission for ACF Fall
Replies: 29
Views: 8462

Re: Abolish packet submission for ACF Fall

My Negative Memories of Packet Submission as a Player I remember the first tossup I ever wrote. It was for ACF Fall 2004, where I was playing on Chicago E. The answerline was "John Tyler" and the lead-in clue was that during the nullification crisis, John Tyler was the only Senator to vot...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: No prizes is better than insulting prizes
Replies: 22
Views: 11010

Re: No prizes is better than insulting prizes

One thing I used to do is buy slightly more prizes than there were top scorers (so if I wanted to give out prizes to the top 8 scorers, common in my day, I would get like 10-11 books). This way if some book was truly of no interest to anyone, nobody would get stuck with it. I was often surprised at ...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Should Baby Seals Smile While Being Clubbed? Or: Why Should Newer Teams Stick Around College Quizbowl?
Replies: 14
Views: 7785

Re: Should Baby Seals Smile While Being Clubbed? Or: Why Should Newer Teams Stick Around College Quizbowl?

Maybe I'm reading Bruce's post wrong, but it seems like the advice that was most valuable to him (warnings about particular players and team strengths) are both: not the sort of thing the TD's email was proposed to contain (or should contain, given that the TD should maintain some neutrality and bi...
by Skepticism and Animal Feed
Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Should Baby Seals Smile While Being Clubbed? Or: Why Should Newer Teams Stick Around College Quizbowl?
Replies: 14
Views: 7785

Re: Should Baby Seals Smile While Being Clubbed? Or: Why Should Newer Teams Stick Around College Quizbowl?

College Quizbowl is not the only activity where the really good teams are significantly better than the brand new teams. There are a ton of activities that fit that pattern, and most are healthier than college quizbowl (though from my perch in 2010, it sure looks like college quizbowl is much health...