prizewinning quiz request for answers

[quizmouse]

i notice time & time again the heated discussions about those asking for help with answers on here for prizewinning comps. There must be a solution to this, and as you're all so quick to give correct answers to those asked I find it hard to believe no one has come up with some sort of answer.
I agree that this site is for questions, and these are just questions, but as a setter sometimes I spend days setting questions only to find the answer published here within another few days...
On an earlier posting someone suggested that we ask entrants to state on the form if they have had help??? not sure that would work, could we ask them to give their AB name then perhaps there would be a way (I dont know how) to check to see what help they have had?
Having said that there are no doubt other answer sites available that I dont know about...
I'm sure one of you out there can come up with a way to sort this out and hopefully put a stop to some of the bad feeling caused by this problem.
I think what we have to accept is that asking on here is really no worse than asking around friends and neighbours apart from the fact that it is here for everyone to see if they choose to.
Anyway happy quizzing folks
quizmouse

[oddboddy]

quizmouse i'm one of the setters given up because of this problem. My solution would be to have setters state if they dont want questions asked and have people respect this, theres loads that dont mind questions asked so there would still be quizzes people could enjoy on here. Probably be very few like myself who would request no questions but these quizzes could then be for the quizzers who do like to do them all themselves. Plenty for everyone, everyone happy. Another alternative would be for a way to give answers offsite then at least everyone couldnt see them.
Please note everyone this is my own personal view I am not trying to influence anyone else or argue the toss on this just given a viewpoint of my own to another setter. Thank you.

[DaiFawkes]

I think the site should be closed down for good, and people should be made to actually DO the quizzes. Some of the questions people ask on this site would be embarrassing for primary school kids. Basically, the so-called quizzers who use this site are seriously lazy, not necessarily stupid , but think "why should I do this when there's another idiot out there who will do it for me?"

[tazmac25]

I am also a setter of quizzes but I think people should be able to ask questions on here but I tend to look at the questions asked (and usually identify the quiz) and then make my own mind up as to how long the quiz has been out before I chose to answer

Im sure everyone is aware of Smouse posting over 50 out of 100 of my questions over the weekend in a bid to gain attention to this problem

I still have no problem in anyone posting quesions but smouse did this deliberatly to one of my quizzes - to make a point and it was only when I noticed this happening and I questioned her about it did she stop

Either way they were then all in the public arena for anyone to see - it happens !!!

Not sure there is an answer to this - I recieved a quiz last week and later that day questions appeared on here

Other Q&A sites offer a private message part of the site which unfortunatley AB doesn't - that would be asolution but wether that would ever happen on here Im not sure

Many thanks

[smouse]

I started asking your quiz questions for the following reasons
You were asking questions on the rhyme and reason quiz and when daifawkes asked why your reply was 'because I want to and told them to crawl back under their stone' and then quoted the answerbank blurb about it being a question and answer site
I could not believe that as a quiz setter who must have put hours into setting the dog quiz would have this attitude
Over the last few days over 50 questions have been asked for the excellent rhyme and reason quiz. We have to accept this as I agree this is a question and answer site but we dont have to like it
Can you tell me the difference between 10 people asking 5 each and me asking 50
I was hoping you might think twice before having a go at someone who didnt share your views

[quizmouse]

Look - the last thing I wanted was to cause a ruck - I just feel quite strongly that this is a truly excellent site, and if only someone could come up with a reasonable way to deal with this problem it would be even better. I do not have time to spend hours on here, i usually check it every couple of days which is why i dont get chance to answer many queries ( and often I dont know the answers of course) but I also appreciate that for others perhaps who are less mobile etc this site must prove a real godsend, so surely there ought to be a solution which would allow us all to benifit from the facility and still remain FRIENDS!!

[tazmac25]

Smouse

I had asked a legitimate question about a follow on quiz and got abuse from Dai so I retaliated

I can't understand why Dai Fawkes even goes on this site as he thinks it should be shut down!!

You dont seem to grasp the difference to 10 people asking questions because they are stuck to you asking 50 to spite me and others with the same attitude

Quizmouse

You are right its a shame its gotten to this

Many thanks for another great quiz

Tazmac25

[twirlgirl]

Answerbank is no longer the nice site it was, all the nasty snipes are bound to discourage people from using it. I wonder why it is only the charity quizzes and not the crosswords that seem to be the problem. Crosswords are normally for money prizes to but nobody complains about them, personally I cant see the difference. I have been amazed that there seem to be people out there who watch this site like a hawk and can tell who asks and who answers, it obviously has an impact on their everyday lives. I always gain pleasure from finishing quizzes myself and spend a lot of happy hours doing so but I am human and sometimes need help. Obviously there are some out there who dont and it makes me wonder why they are site user at all. My biggest gripe is that some of the remarks are very offensive and have no doubt that there are some people out there who may well be upset when they read some of the posts having a dig at them. \maybe we should just swap email addresses with those who share similar views but wouldnt it be sad to see the site fold.

[DaiFawkes]

Now you're talking!
My objection is not to people asking for help, but the fact that, when they get help, the answer is there for the world to see. Why don't you swap e-mails and converse with those you know have a similar interest. That's what I do.
You'll never see me asking for help in the public domain, but I do get help from others.

[Diane1954]

i have complained about crosswords,why dont they use their own sub section. this site is impossible sunday morning
i agree it is a question and answer site but as tazmac and smouse and others have said it is disappointing whn questions are asked as soon as the quiz comes out
I know i've asked a question for a quiz which doesnt finish until may but its the only one left and i want to clear my desk.But then everyone could say that. I'v never asked reams of questions which some people do

[tearinghair]

Hi everyone

I'm a fairly new user of this site - a few months only - and I understand exactly what both sides of the argument are getting at. I started using it to ask occasionally for clues (not answers) in two particular quizzes, and then got hooked on suggesting clues myself and then, I'm afraid, giving answers to crossword clues.

When I see answers given to questions that we (there are several of us in the team) have spent ages solving, it is frustrating. In fact I upset someone (don't remember who) on the site by asking for a clue quite early on in a quiz, because I was going on holiday the next week. I imagine compilers must be very cross when their excellent clues are more or less nullified.

But there isn't a huge amount of difference in asking here and in asking people at work, or friends and relatives, is there? I take the point about the answer then being available to all and sundry, but I just can't see a way round that. Unless people who have completed the quiz send it in early and the compilers take note of that and perhaps give a bonus mark if it's arrived before all the answers are given here?

The main point of quizzes that are set in aid of charity is that they raise money, and we surely wouldn't want to reduce that..... otherwise a possible answer might have been to stop offering prize money, so that only people who enjoy doing them would bother to enter. I think maybe we're just going to have to put up with it, and let ABers have a periodic moan about it to relieve feelings?

J.

[wendyl]

Oh dear Oh dear What a sad lot you are! If you don't like the site find another and lets get back to the friendly lot we used to be Happy to help and pleased for the occasional winners. Is the green eyed monster raising its ugly head? I'm sure several charities will lose out from lack of publicity at a time they really need it and lots of them are lucky dips anyway.

[fordward]

i agree with wendy if you dont like the site why look
i dont like garlic so i dont eat it

[giveup]

Surely most people only use the site when they have tried every other avenue. This is what I do and have found people to be friendly and helpful. And after all its really only a game and hopefully keeps the old brain working.

[oddboddy]

quizmouse asked a serious question and it would be nice if both quizzers and setters could discuss this and maybe find a compromise with both sides listening to the others views and discussing this without bad feeling. As a quizzer
who likes to do them myself I just feel it would be nice to at least have the odd quiz that wasnt asked, as a setter I gave up because I didn't like spending hours doing a quiz to have it all asked on here. Im sorry I know its a question and answer site and therefore people have that right its just the way I felt about it and I had loads email or write and say they were sad to have it ruined for them by answers given on here and I felt I was letting those people down too who had worked hard to solve it themselves only to have it forced into a draw. Again just my own personal feeling on it. I cant see a solution but like quizmouse I would certainly like to. To answer giveup unfortunately some actually ask as soon as they receive the quiz as this site provides an easier option to looking. To answer twirlgirl & daifawkes I agree offsite help would be an acceptable option. Maybe other setters would agree on this too. Can I also say charities do lose out as a lot dont bother buying if too many questions are asked as they just think that will be yet another draw.
One person may only ask a few but if enough
do that before long every question has been asked which isnt fair to any setter. Be interesting to hear other setters views on this.

[quizmouse]

oddbody has a lot of very valid points especially the last. I once completed a McMillan quiz 100 questions apart from about 3 of them without even looking anywhere else just by watching this site. Obviously I didnt enter it but just wanted to prove to myself it could be done.

[smouse]

I feel this needs to come to an end between us tazmac but that is up to you. You did not need to bring it up again on this thread but that is your choice and you can continue to do so if it makes you feel better.
I did not do it to spite you I did it because I knew you were a quiz setter and ask a lot of questions on other peoples quizzes and wondered how you would feel when it was your quiz and it proved my point
Regardless of why I asked you didnt like it
In my opinion asking over 75% of a quiz is a shame and it never used to be like that - answers are easily given - I mean lets face it I asked scottish king and said it had Mac in it and yet people answered

[oddboddy]

Thanks quizmouse. I have just thought of another point and it needs raising, a lot on here dont do quizzes they just like helping with answers. They have no way of knowing what the closing date is, whether its the final crucial question everyones after or not or even what quiz it really is as people dont always use the correct name. I protested a while back about a quiz being asked that was actually a league quiz and the person who had innocently given an answer admitted she wouldn't have had she known the full details beforehand. If people who asked just submitted a question and their email these people who like helping could still do so and whilst whoever asked would get the answer it would at least limit it to just them if no answers were actually displayed.

[amadeusamati]

I could solve this better in a class of 5 year olds!! For my pennorth - I am only too glad to help where and when I can and am very grateful for the help I get after spending hours on something - I'm not bothered about winning - but it just makes a difference to have a kick start where all around me have stuck!

[oddboddy]

sprinter53 Like you I dont like this site very much either and daifawkes has said pretty much the same earlier in the thread so I think theres a number of us not in favour of it. However there seems to be a great many that are in favour of it some that just get occasional help and others that use it as a way of doing a quiz without the work, either way the site isnt going to go away so we need to find an acceptable solution that works for all. At least if answers were on an email basis it would cut out the copying.I agree Its not ideal but compromise never is and quizmouse was after a solution that everyone would settle for.