Quizbowl for Charity

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Nuclear Densometer Test
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Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Recently I've been thinking about creating some sort of collaborative tournament similar to that of the FNT, except all the proceeds going to a charity.
After talking with Trygve Meade and Andy Watkins, I've concluded that this project seems feasible and could potentially succeed. That is if we have enough people interested in writing for it.

The current plan:
Put together a team of about 20 people (Again, similar to the Fall Novice Tournament) to write a full set over the summer. As of now, I believe that a tournament difficulty of just over IS would be best, or just over Fall if this becomes a college endeavor.
From there, we could mirror it across the nation with all the registration/mirror fees going directly to a charitable organization.

Given conflicts with writing for the 2nd iteration of Fall Novice, I'm looking to the spring for the bulk of the mirrors.

Post here if you're interested or email me at amitDOTbilgiATyahooDOTcom

EDIT: I was just now informed of Matt's Buzzers being an alternative charity for this project. I for one think it is a sound idea.

Interest Check (for writing):
Me
Douglas Graebner
Kay Li
Zach Foster
Ben Cole
Alex Gross
Phong Nguyen
Dallin Kelson
Sandy Huang
Connie Prater
Trey Taraila
Nick Clusserath
Akshay Chandrasekhar
Last edited by Nuclear Densometer Test on Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:55 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by at your pleasure »

This sounds like a fine cause, and one I am happy to support with my question-writing time.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by dtaylor4 »

Last spring, I ran a singles tournament, and donated the proceeds to Matt's Buzzers.

Through low mirror fees, and donating the proceeds to a charity designed to benefit programs who need a hand up, I think this tournament has the potential to do a lot of good, if executed successfully.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by kayli »

I'll sign up for writing. I need more experience on question writing.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by ... and the chaos of Mexican modernity »

If this ends up being a high school tournament, then I would very much like to contribute.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

I would prefer to see this charity be for quizbowl things. A tournament like this could do a whole lot of good to raise money for teams in the current atmosphere of budget cutting and help us to ensure that active teams aren't forced into dormancy by their administration.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:I would prefer to see this charity be for quizbowl things. A tournament like this could do a whole lot of good to raise money for teams in the current atmosphere of budget cutting and help us to ensure that active teams aren't forced into dormancy by their administration.
Agreed. I'm sure budget cuts are affecting teams nationwide, so as of now this tournament's proceeds will definitely go towards Matt's Buzzers or another (if any) quizbowl charity.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by kayli »

Perhaps a scholarship fund for new teams who want to attend HSNCT or NSC but are too out of the way/too poor to go?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Arsonists Get All the Girls wrote:Perhaps a scholarship fund for new teams who want to attend HSNCT or NSC but are too out of the way/too poor to go?
This is a good idea.
Only problem is how to go about setting up an "official" scholarship fund.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by mastaloo »

I'd be interested in writing a few questions.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Duncan Idaho »

Nuclear Densometer Test wrote: Interest Check (for writing):
...
Ben Cole
...
Connie Prater (possibly)
I talked to her again, and Connie officially expresses her interest in the project.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Kwang the Ninja »

I can write and/or edit this. Should we set up a Google Doc or something to start writing?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Kwang the Ninja wrote:I can write and/or edit this. Should we set up a Google Doc or something to start writing?
I have a Google Doc prepared. I'm just waiting for a few more people to commit.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Self-incompatibility in plants »

I could definitely see myself writing for this.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Here's the link to the Google Doc for anyone else who's interested.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... td1E&hl=en
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Knot Gneiss »

I'd like to write for this.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by AlphaQuizBowler »

I'm a little confused on how this tournament is going to work. Will schools that mirror it be required to give all the registration fees to charity?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:I'm a little confused on how this tournament is going to work. Will schools that mirror it be required to give all the registration fees to charity?
I would imagine the mirror fees would go to charity, but it'd be nice, I guess, if the hosts would give money too!
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Andy is correct.
We will also make the mirror fees $10 per team like most other tournaments.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Charbroil »

Nuclear Densometer Test wrote:As of now, I believe that a tournament difficulty of just over IS would be best, or just over Fall if this becomes a college endeavor.
Just out of curiosity, why do you want a high school tournament over IS set difficulty? I think it was Charlie Dees who mentioned that there's a scarcity of novice level mACF high school sets, and I think the community would certainly be greatly benefited if such a set were available, especially in the Spring (since I heard that the Fall Novice Set will appear again next semester).
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

Charbroil wrote:
Nuclear Densometer Test wrote:As of now, I believe that a tournament difficulty of just over IS would be best, or just over Fall if this becomes a college endeavor.
Just out of curiosity, why do you want a high school tournament over IS set difficulty? I think it was Charlie Dees who mentioned that there's a scarcity of novice level mACF high school sets, and I think the community would certainly be greatly benefited if such a set were available, especially in the Spring (since I heard that the Fall Novice Set will appear again next semester).
For a more accurate measure of difficulty, I'm shooting for HSAPQ 4Q/ACF. I recently moderated/played a few tournaments with those sets and many local teams. They seem to do fairly well with them. But of course, we're emphasizing easy answer lines with more difficult clues so hopefully most tossups should be converted.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

I'll suggest that shooting for in-between levels of difficulty--even when executed by somewhat more experienced writers than those working on this project--almost never work, usually erring on the side of difficult (even if that's not the editors' intention) and usually producing some bad ideas. It's tremendously safer to write a regular difficulty or novice set.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Tanay »

I can write for this.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Nuclear Densometer Test »

NoWayItsTanay wrote:I can write for this.
Awesome.
We still have room if anyone else is interested.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Auroni »

if there is any supervisory role for this project that still needs to be filled, I'd like to volunteer
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by mastaloo »

So, is this still happening now?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Kwang the Ninja »

The Google Doc was updated 13 hours ago, which was before the news broke. However, just because Amit is banned from PACE events/has lost the trust of the community is no reason he shouldn't continue to head up this noble (and well-organized) effort; this is just the sort of thing that can help him to eventually get back in everyone's good graces.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Given that neither this nor the Fall Novice tournament has enough writers at the moment (and won't anytime soon, and we've really got to get rolling) I'd be happy to adopt this project into FNT--which will probably get us our third editor, allowing us to issue an open call for writers, draw up a writing schedule, and get to work. (FNT would even consider having the same $10/team charitable contribution that Amit initially had established.)

I talked to Amit last night on this subject and he agreed that it's just going to be harder for a project headed up by him to attract all that many teams. I think the Fall Novice label is a safer one for advertising.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by nadph »

On that note, I'm interested in writing for this/Fall Novice if there is a need for more writers.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:Given that neither this nor the Fall Novice tournament has enough writers at the moment (and won't anytime soon, and we've really got to get rolling) I'd be happy to adopt this project into FNT--which will probably get us our third editor, allowing us to issue an open call for writers, draw up a writing schedule, and get to work. (FNT would even consider having the same $10/team charitable contribution that Amit initially had established.)

I talked to Amit last night on this subject and he agreed that it's just going to be harder for a project headed up by him to attract all that many teams. I think the Fall Novice label is a safer one for advertising.
Is there actually going to be FNT 2? There hasn't been any posting to that effect, and that absence was one of the motivations behind writing the SCOP Novice set, which does have enough writers and will be finished (well, 100% written/packetized and ready for playtesting) by the end of July.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Kwang the Ninja »

I will also write for FNT, but I'm not sure how well (other than personnel) the Charity set will roll into the FNT; some (actually, a lot) of the answer selection on the Google Doc for the Charity set is way harder than I remember FNT being last year.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by mastaloo »

Kwang the Ninja wrote:I will also write for FNT, but I'm not sure how well (other than personnel) the Charity set will roll into the FNT; some (actually, a lot) of the answer selection on the Google Doc for the Charity set is way harder than I remember FNT being last year.
At least some of the questions that have already been written are salvageable; I for one know that my tossups tended to be a little on the easier side, and I'm sure there are others in that same grouping.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

styxman wrote:
Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:Given that neither this nor the Fall Novice tournament has enough writers at the moment (and won't anytime soon, and we've really got to get rolling) I'd be happy to adopt this project into FNT--which will probably get us our third editor, allowing us to issue an open call for writers, draw up a writing schedule, and get to work. (FNT would even consider having the same $10/team charitable contribution that Amit initially had established.)

I talked to Amit last night on this subject and he agreed that it's just going to be harder for a project headed up by him to attract all that many teams. I think the Fall Novice label is a safer one for advertising.
Is there actually going to be FNT 2? There hasn't been any posting to that effect, and that absence was one of the motivations behind writing the SCOP Novice set, which does have enough writers and will be finished (well, 100% written/packetized and ready for playtesting) by the end of July.
That has been the plan; we'd had difficulty finding a third editor, and we were unable to issue any public calls for writers until we did.
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by SoLegit12 »

This sounds awesome. Manual might mirror this. What's the primary charity at the moment?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by at your pleasure »

About how much of the answer space is salvagable? Can some of the harder questions be used for final(s) packets?
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Re: Quizbowl for Charity

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Charlie Dees and I have just talked about the process of taking on this charity project. Here's the situation. We've decided that the best combination of the Fall Novice mission and the mission of this project is to ensure that entry fees for novice quizbowl tournaments are low. (Last year, the Fall Novice project had $0 mirror fees so that hosts could charge as little as possible--and we encouraged them to charge as little as they could while still making money.) The best quizbowl charity is to make sure that teams can play tournaments--and then they can spend the money they save however they wish. We couldn't figure out a way both to have $0 mirror fees and collect money for charity without that money coming from hosts or from the teams that play the tournament.
Nuclear Densometer Test wrote:
Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:I would prefer to see this charity be for quizbowl things. A tournament like this could do a whole lot of good to raise money for teams in the current atmosphere of budget cutting and help us to ensure that active teams aren't forced into dormancy by their administration.
Agreed. I'm sure budget cuts are affecting teams nationwide, so as of now this tournament's proceeds will definitely go towards Matt's Buzzers or another (if any) quizbowl charity.
As you can see, this vision is compatible with the initial vision for the project.

So if you had been writing for this project, please email me to let me know that you'd like to write for Fall Novice. I'll add you to the forum straightaway.
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