Difference between revisions of "2019 NHBB Online"

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:''See also: [[Question recycling]]''
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The '''2019 "[[NHBB]]" Discord Tournament''', also known colloquially as '''"NHBB Online"''', was an online history bee-style "tournament" (or scrimmage) held during April 2019 on Discord. It was principally run by eighth-grader [[Ameya Singh]] of [[Laurel Springs]], who conceived the initial idea. It had a small field, won by [[Sam Brochin]], but is more notable for using [[plagiarism|plagiarized]] or [[question recycling|recycled]] questions (depending on how charitable one wants to be), resulting in a scandal.
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The '''2019 "[[NHBB]]" Discord Tournament''', also known colloquially as '''"NHBB Online"''', was an online history bee-style "tournament" held during April 2019 on Discord. The brainchild of 8th grade [[Laurel Springs]] NHB player [[User:Ameya Singh|Ameya Singh]], the "tournament" was won by [[Sam Brochin]] in a small field. The event attracted controversy after it was revealed that a number of questions it used were knowingly plagiarized from existing packets, rendering it not a true tournament, but instead a scrimmage.
 
  
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==The Scrimmage Begins==
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The event was promoted on [http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=22615&p=357297#p35729 HSQB] as a "[[housewrite]] based off of NHBB/IHB packets". In fact, the questions were plagiarized from other sets, sometimes with minor alterations. Discord chat logs demonstrated that the plagiarism was definitely intentional (though perhaps not entirely malicious); it may have been started without understanding that, or why, such practices are unacceptable, but once the issues were pointed out, [[Ameya Singh]] refused to change course. He ultimately offered a partial apology that some viewed as not demonstrating due contriteness or real understanding of the issues at hand, while others saw it as mitigating.
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The event had promoted itself on the [http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=22615&p=357297#p35729 forums] as a [[housewrite]] "based off of NHBB/IHB packets." After its preliminary stages had concluded, attempts were made to upload the first three packets onto the packet archive, leading observers to note that comments on the Discord had implied that the questions had been adapted from existing questions, which would have barred them from being posted. The packets in question were instead posted to the forums for review, where many of the tossups were verified to have been directly copied from past tournaments. Other writers participating in the project provided chat logs that indicated that this plagarism was intentional.
 
  
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There was also additional concern over the choice to explicitly label the event as the "NHBB Discord Tournament", despite not being affiliated with NHBB or International Academic Competitions (IAC) in any way outside of using their questions. Though such connections were denied, such denials were only found in niche areas of associated discussion, preventing many from accessing them.
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Another aspect of the controversy concerned the name: the tournament's name seemed to suggest affiliation with [[NHBB]], but in fact the tournament was in no way connected to NHBB or [[International Academic Competitions]]—it merely sought to emulate some stylistic aspects thereof.
  
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==The Scrimmage Concludes==
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These events may have been partly or wholly responsible for [[HSQB]] adding a separate subforum for open practices, scrimmages, and playtesting, along with rules governing announcements for events using old questions.
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In the midst of this controversy, the organizer of the event elected to continue, indicating that they would continue to draw questions from existing packets, but not post them. This drew additional censure, as did a later attempt by the organizer to run multiple other such events. Ultimately, the final round was run on a packet of housewritten tossups.
 
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As a direct result of these events, a new category on the forums was created to advertise for and organize scrimmages using clear packets.
 
  
 
==Packets used==
 
==Packets used==
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Samples from the prelims include:
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A sample from the prelims was published online:
 
*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/173QOXJVojf9UYwQRzJdx7QprG94Qu0j_fcpHXP7Xquk/edit Packet 1]
 
*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/173QOXJVojf9UYwQRzJdx7QprG94Qu0j_fcpHXP7Xquk/edit Packet 1]
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**[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ARi-ztbQyJgL7edo-wU3-Ovv3giI18uFM-I2WlMCftE/edit?usp=sharing Packet 1 (with plagarism noted)]
 
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*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JiD-2gVjxT11Dm2GqnauU77AOOeHWYQDZNjOBEz6X9Y/edit Packet 2]
 
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*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nkh3anG0Al5xmNzH6VqogOVPOhkwlI-_-zSM6B_SImE/edit Packet 3]
 
  
 
[[Category:Quizbowl scandals]]
 
[[Category:Quizbowl scandals]]
 
[[Category:Bad quizbowl]]
 
[[Category:Bad quizbowl]]
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[[Category:Quizbowl on the internets]]
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[[Category:Internet]]

Latest revision as of 13:22, 29 October 2021

The 2019 "NHBB" Discord Tournament, also known colloquially as "NHBB Online", was an online history bee-style "tournament" (or scrimmage) held during April 2019 on Discord. It was principally run by eighth-grader Ameya Singh of Laurel Springs, who conceived the initial idea. It had a small field, won by Sam Brochin, but is more notable for using plagiarized or recycled questions (depending on how charitable one wants to be), resulting in a scandal.

The event was promoted on HSQB as a "housewrite based off of NHBB/IHB packets". In fact, the questions were plagiarized from other sets, sometimes with minor alterations. Discord chat logs demonstrated that the plagiarism was definitely intentional (though perhaps not entirely malicious); it may have been started without understanding that, or why, such practices are unacceptable, but once the issues were pointed out, Ameya Singh refused to change course. He ultimately offered a partial apology that some viewed as not demonstrating due contriteness or real understanding of the issues at hand, while others saw it as mitigating.

Another aspect of the controversy concerned the name: the tournament's name seemed to suggest affiliation with NHBB, but in fact the tournament was in no way connected to NHBB or International Academic Competitions—it merely sought to emulate some stylistic aspects thereof.

These events may have been partly or wholly responsible for HSQB adding a separate subforum for open practices, scrimmages, and playtesting, along with rules governing announcements for events using old questions.

Packets used

A sample from the prelims was published online:

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