Time To Find New Best of the Best Threads!

[AKKOLADE]

Post in this thread if you have a nomination.

[theMoMA]

lol self nomination

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3946&p=50920

[Pilgrim]

This: http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5222

[AKKOLADE]

Yes and yes.

[BGSO]

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5152

This make it?

[The Time Keeper]

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5152

This make it?

That thread probably has too much stuff not related to its topic and doesn't cover enough things that it is supposed to be about. I think it'd be much better if someone just created a thread with a comprehensive list of study material and packet links. This could be combined with a thread that focuses on how best to study for the game at individual levels of skill and age (brand new highschooler, fairly experienced highscooler, new college player, etc) or that could be a separate thread on its own.

Edit: This reminds me, should newish threads that are sent to Best of the Best be locked? There is the possibility that those important threads could be added to or finer points could be discussed. Most of the stuff already in that section is old enough that locking those threads is fine, but perhaps they should be individually locked instead of the forum itself being locked. I don't think we should let ongoing threads be locked in order to be placed in the Best of the Best, but it would also be nice to such threads and move them somewhere where more people are able to see them. Right now the general plan is to let discussions run their course in the sections in which they originate and then move them when it's over, but could it possibly be better to take good threads and move them to Best of the Best and let people continue to add to them? This idea operates under the assumption that we'll be emphasizing that everyone should read that part of the board, which is the plan, yes? If there's a great thread created in the high school section about something, many college players who could contribute wouldn't see it until it was closed and moved to Best of the Best. Thoughts?

[AKKOLADE]

I agree the above doesn't quite make the cut - not much new information is brought to light, and it didn't bring about an in-depth discussion of study/improvement tactics.

I'd rather let the thread play out before it's moved into the Best of the Best forum, but that's just me - if more people favor letting on-going threads be beatified and moved on over there while staying live, I would be fine with doing this.

I should probably set out with some criteria...

1) Presents a well-thought out argument about an important topic pertaining to quiz bowl excellence
2) Leads to an in-depth discussion of a key quiz bowl topic
3) Presents new information of a notable impact
4) Serves as an excellent tutorial regarding an important portion of quiz bowl

[The Time Keeper]

I'd rather let the thread play out before it's moved into the Best of the Best forum, but that's just me

I feel the same way, I only wanted to point out the possibility of a great discussion originating in a high school forum, resulting in some college players never reading it and being able to add their two cents. However, since most of these topics start in the college section and I'm fairly sure that more HS people read the college forums than vice versa, it's not really a big deal in practice.

[AKKOLADE]

I feel the same way, I only wanted to point out the possibility of a great discussion originating in a high school forum, resulting in some college players never reading it and being able to add their two cents. However, since most of these topics start in the college section and I'm fairly sure that more HS people read the college forums than vice versa, it's not really a big deal in practice.

Which is a real possibility, and if anyone has had this issue I'd apprecaite knowing about it.

[AKKOLADE]

Suggestions:

http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5127
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4328
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5108
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4890
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4810
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4659
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3915
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5098

[cvdwightw]

Once they finish playing out, I would recommend the Power Theory (t=5611) and Neg Theory (t=5627) threads. I believe these satisfy several criteria for a "Best of the Best" thread.

[setht]

Suggestions:

http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5127
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4328
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5108
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4890
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4810
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4659
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3915
http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5098

The "College Quizbowl 4 years from now" (#5108) thread has some decent suggestions on how to get a club that doesn't have lots of writing/editing experience to produce a tournaments' worth of packets. I think this is the only thread listed that gets my vote for going up as a Best of the Best thread--I have no opinion on the trash distribution/discussion threads, and I'm not a fan of any of the other academic threads:

-I don't see the "Serious vs. Fun Teams" (#5127) thread as being all that great. Several people make the point that taking the competitive aspect of quizbowl seriously doesn't preclude having fun, people talk about tournament attire, people talk about using aliases... am I missing something deep or especially useful here?

-I don't think we reached any sort of useful consensus in the "Advanced Question Writing Seminar" (#4890) thread; in fact, I think the discussion is just as likely to confuse new writers as it is to give them any useful tips.

-I think the "stop running HS tournaments for college teams" (#4810) and "(Im)moral values of CBI" (#5098) threads aren't very good at all; they may even rate below average in my book. The former has lots of overblown rhetoric (including some of my own) followed up by people realizing they were mistaken in their assumptions (a useful lesson, I suppose, but I don't think that merits the thread's enshrinement), then a tangle of complaints about NAQT that I don't think were ever resolved to anyone's satisfaction. The latter also has lots of overblown rhetoric, and I would guess that most of the participants in the thread would agree that it didn't really accomplish much within its own confines--that is, it may have prompted some useful work on the qbwiki cataloging issues with CBI, and it may have prompted more outreach to programs that play CBI and don't know about the circuit, but I don't think the discussion in the thread itself is actually all that useful or exemplary.

If anyone has an argument for why some of these threads are especially valuable, I'd be interested in hearing it.

-Seth

[JackGlerum]

the Illinois 07-08 thread, for sheer volume

[DumbJaques]

the Illinois 07-08 thread, for sheer volume

There really isn't a strong enough form of "no."