Quiz Bowl Prep

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
Locked
jonah
Auron
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:51 pm
Location: Chicago

Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by jonah »

Did anyone else recently get an email from a company by that name that started with "Dear Educator, This message is to announce a scholarship program for the 2009-2010 school year. Quiz Bowl Prep will be awarding up to ten $250 scholarships to graduating seniors" and featured a whole bunch of awful questions?

If so, do you know how they got their list of email addresses? I've never heard of this company, their website is unenlightening (and with private WHOIS information), their questions are terrible, and the email appears to violate the CAN-SPAM act (by being a commercial email that doesn't include an unsubscribe mechanism).

I can post the whole message if people want. Anyway, what's the deal with this?
Jonah Greenthal
National Academic Quiz Tournaments
User avatar
Stained Diviner
Auron
Posts: 5085
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:08 am
Location: Chicagoland
Contact:

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Stained Diviner »

I got the message too. After looking around on their website, their names are Dan and Gregg, they claim to have a lot of teaching experience, their mailing address is a PO Box in Cairo Ohio, and their phone number is 567-712-0676. I still don't know who they are.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
User avatar
Dresden_The_BIG_JERK
Tidus
Posts: 709
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:56 am
Location: Lowell, IN

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Dresden_The_BIG_JERK »

The website looks legit-ish? Who knows the quality of their work, but it seems genuine atleast.
BJ Houlding

Winnebago '04
Saint Joseph's College '08
IHSSBCA Certified Moderator
jonah
Auron
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:51 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by jonah »

Dresden The Moderator wrote:The website looks legit-ish...it seems genuine atleast.
Oh, yeah, I don't think it's a scam or anything like that. But I do think it's scummy to scrape the IHSSBCA website (which I'm guessing is what they did; in any event, they clearly did something similar) for email addresses and then mass-email them to sell a commercial product, especially when it's against the law to do so the way they did. The fact that their questions suck (see below) doesn't help either.
Dresden The Moderator wrote: Who knows the quality of their work
I do:
They wrote:1. Name the Mexican Revolutionary General who, in 1916, led an attack on
the 13th Calvary Regiment in Columbus, New Mexico.
Pancho Villa

2. What is the term for organic molecules, such as DNA and RNA, found in
the nuclei of cells?
Nucleic Acids

3. What agreement between pro-slavery and anti-slavery states helped pave
the way for Maine to become a state in 1820?
Missouri Compromise

4. Maya Ying Lin, a student from Yale, won a design contest for this
Washington D.C. monument in 1981.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

5. In degrees, give the sum of the interior angles of a hexagon.
720°
Jonah Greenthal
National Academic Quiz Tournaments
User avatar
dxdtdemon
Rikku
Posts: 391
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:46 pm
Location: Beavercreek, OH

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by dxdtdemon »

That is one of the correct area codes for a phone number in Cairo, Ohio.
Jonathan Graham
Beavercreek HS 1999-2003, Ohio State 2003-2007, Wright State (possibly playing)2012-2015
moderator/scorekeeper at some tournaments in Ohio, and sometimes elsewhere
"Ohio has a somewhat fractured quizbowl circuit, with a few small pockets of intense competition (like in Mahoning County) and with the rest scattered around the state."-Chris Chiego
User avatar
Stained Diviner
Auron
Posts: 5085
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:08 am
Location: Chicagoland
Contact:

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Stained Diviner »

How many area codes does Cairo, Ohio have?
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
jrbarry
Tidus
Posts: 690
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2003 10:22 pm
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by jrbarry »

I got the email at my school address. I never give my school address for quiz bowl purposes. I can only assume the two guys have collected as many quiz bowl contact names as possible and looked up our email addresses on websites. I know some Ohio coaches, but I have never heard of these guys. Their products do not look promising for teaching players information, imo.
J.R. Barry
Retired teacher and former coach
User avatar
Nine-Tenths Ideas
Auron
Posts: 1558
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:14 pm
Location: MD

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

jonah wrote:$250 scholarships
Well, I can stop saving for college now.
Isaac Hirsch
University of Maryland '14
Never Gonna Play Again
User avatar
... and the chaos of Mexican modernity
Rikku
Posts: 378
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:30 pm
Location: Orlando, Fl

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

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

jonah wrote:Quiz Bowl Prep will be awarding up to ten $250,000,000 scholarships
Fixed, and now I bet anyone would play these questions for that much.
Zach Foster
North Myrtle Beach High School class of 2009
George Mason University class of 2013
User avatar
dxdtdemon
Rikku
Posts: 391
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:46 pm
Location: Beavercreek, OH

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by dxdtdemon »

Shcool wrote:How many area codes does Cairo, Ohio have?
Northwestern Ohio used to all be in the 419 area code, but instead of splitting it up, they just gave newer people 567 numbers. This is a really small village that just has a bar, a gas station, and a grain elevator, and depends on other towns for services for the most part. I think they are in the Lima school district, but no school in Lima is really that known for quizbowl, however there was one NAQT tournament for local teams only around there last year.
Jonathan Graham
Beavercreek HS 1999-2003, Ohio State 2003-2007, Wright State (possibly playing)2012-2015
moderator/scorekeeper at some tournaments in Ohio, and sometimes elsewhere
"Ohio has a somewhat fractured quizbowl circuit, with a few small pockets of intense competition (like in Mahoning County) and with the rest scattered around the state."-Chris Chiego
User avatar
rjaguar3
Rikku
Posts: 278
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:39 am

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by rjaguar3 »

Just checked my e-mail and somehow I got a message from Quiz Bowl Prep as well.
Greg (Vanderbilt 2012, Wheaton North 2008)
User avatar
Jesus vs. Dragons
Tidus
Posts: 615
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:04 pm

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Jesus vs. Dragons »

Hmmm. Did anyone think of the possibility of a Fred Morlan led sabotage? Angered after VCU protected their wireless internet and infuriated by the fact that he didn't think to ask someone for a password, he has begun to release everyone's e-mail address to an amateur writing company. But the joke is on you Mr. Morlan! I am onto your ploy, and now that is has been uncovered we will no longer stand by and simply take this lying down!! We shall revolt! lol
Ethan Hewett
UF 2013
Chipola College 2010
Sneads High School 2009
User avatar
cvdwightw
Auron
Posts: 3291
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 12:46 am
Location: Southern CA
Contact:

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by cvdwightw »

TheLessFamousEthan wrote:Hmmm. Did anyone think of the possibility of a Fred Morlan led sabotage? Angered after VCU protected their wireless internet and infuriated by the fact that he didn't think to ask someone for a password, he has begun to release everyone's e-mail address to an amateur writing company. But the joke is on you Mr. Morlan! I am onto your ploy, and now that is has been uncovered we will no longer stand by and simply take this lying down!! We shall revolt! lol
Oh dear...the squirrels have blown a giant hole in the fabric of causality.
Dwight Wynne
socalquizbowl.org
UC Irvine 2008-2013; UCLA 2004-2007; Capistrano Valley High School 2000-2003

"It's a competition, but it's not a sport. On a scale, if football is a 10, then rowing would be a two. One would be Quiz Bowl." --Matt Birk on rowing, SI On Campus, 10/21/03

"If you were my teammate, I would have tossed your ass out the door so fast you'd be emitting Cerenkov radiation, but I'm not classy like Dwight." --Jerry
User avatar
AKKOLADE
Sin
Posts: 15782
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:08 am

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by AKKOLADE »

I'm not even the chief admin any more!
Fred Morlan
University of Kentucky CoP, 2017
International Quiz Bowl Tournaments, CEO, co-owner
former PACE member, president, etc.
former hsqbrank manager, former NAQT writer & subject editor, former hsqb Administrator/Chief Administrator
User avatar
Auks Ran Ova
Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
Posts: 4295
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

TheLessFamousEthan wrote:lol
thank you for adding this I had not realized you were joking
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
User avatar
Jesus vs. Dragons
Tidus
Posts: 615
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:04 pm

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Jesus vs. Dragons »

Ukonvasara wrote:
TheLessFamousEthan wrote:lol
thank you for adding this I had not realized you were joking
I actually didn't mean to add it, and when I looked at it I realized how idiotic it looked. Thanks for pointing it out... :sad:
Ethan Hewett
UF 2013
Chipola College 2010
Sneads High School 2009
jonah
Auron
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:51 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by jonah »

I inquired as to where they got my email address and was informed thusly:
Your email address must be listed somewhere that is related to quiz bowls that we discovered as we were researching. We were only sending out emails to people that we thought may be interested in quiz bowl like activities. Let me know if you'd like to be taken off of our list.
Have a good day!
Greg, Quiz Bowl Prep
Peeved (even though I knew that was precisely what happened), I responded:
I am indeed interested in quizbowl, but only good quizbowl (as defined at http://www.doc-ent.com/qbwiki/index.php ... d_quizbowl and in particular, featuring pyramidal questions), with which your questions are inconsistent.

Also, you should know that under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 USC 7701 et seq) it is illegal for you to send commercial email to people with whom you have no prior business relationship without including your physical address, an unsubscribe feature, and an explicit statement that the message is commercial in nature, as detailed in 7704-a-5-A of the CAN-SPAM Act (available at http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/15C103.txt).

Please remove me from your mailing list and take under consideration the legal implications of the bulk mail you send out in the future. You may also wish to consider the ethical implications of scraping email addresses from websites; it is hardly a socially acceptable form of solicitation.
Jonah Greenthal
National Academic Quiz Tournaments
User avatar
Auks Ran Ova
Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
Posts: 4295
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

TheLessFamousEthan wrote:
Ukonvasara wrote:
TheLessFamousEthan wrote:lol
thank you for adding this I had not realized you were joking
I actually didn't mean to add it, and when I looked at it I realized how idiotic it looked. Thanks for pointing it out... :sad:
Don't be sad! Together we can make you an Awesome Poster (tm)!
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
User avatar
Jesus vs. Dragons
Tidus
Posts: 615
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:04 pm

Re: Quiz Bowl Prep

Post by Jesus vs. Dragons »

Ukonvasara wrote:
TheLessFamousEthan wrote:
Ukonvasara wrote:
TheLessFamousEthan wrote:lol
thank you for adding this I had not realized you were joking
I actually didn't mean to add it, and when I looked at it I realized how idiotic it looked. Thanks for pointing it out... :sad:
Don't be sad! Together we can make you an Awesome Poster (tm)!
So I have hope after all! The day is saved!
Ethan Hewett
UF 2013
Chipola College 2010
Sneads High School 2009
Locked