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 servers. The brainchild of passionate 8th grade [[Laurel Springs]] NHB player [[User:Ameya Singh|Ameya Singh]], the "tournament" was won by [[Sam Brochin]] in a small field. Asides from the fact that some called it a logistical "nightmare", the event also attracted controversy after it was revealed that a large number of questions it used were [[Plagiarism|knowingly plagiarized]] from existing packets, rendering it not a true tournament, but instead a scrimmage, indicating deceit on the part of the organizer(s), and resulting in a minor scandal.
 
  
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==Aftermath of the prelims & resulting "scandal"==
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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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===Onset of the controversy===
 
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The event had consistently promoted itself on the [[Hsquizbowl.org|HSQuizbowl.org]] forums as a [[housewrite]]. (Ameya Singh said early on that it would be "based off of NHBB/IHB packets"; the ambiguity of this statement helped contribute to the later ensuing confusion.) After its preliminary stages had concluded, attempts were made to upload the first three packets onto the packet archive, leading many observers to note that comments made 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, as documented on [http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=22615&p=357297#p35729 this thread], many of the tossups were verified by a number of noted members of the QB community to have been directly copied from past tournaments. Aside from the apparent dishonesty of such an action, it was also furthermore pointed out that the above actions taken by the organizer(s) would probably constitute copyright infringement. Other writers who participated in  staffing the project provided chat logs that indicated that this plagiarism was very much intentional (though perhaps not totally malicious).
 
  
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There was also additional concern over the choice to explicitly dub the event the "'''''NHBB''''' Discord Tournament", despite it not being affiliated with or connected to NHBB or International Academic Competitions (IAC) in any way. Though such connections were admittedly denied, such denials were only found in niche areas of associated discussion, thus preventing most 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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===Further developments===
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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 the controversy, the organizer of the event elected to continue in his proceedings, indicating that he would continue to draw questions from existing packets, but not post them. Ignoring the advice of many members of the community with more experience and knowledge of QB proceedings than he had 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 15 housewritten tossups (though this fact is, as of yet, unverifiable).
 
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Some also said they believed Singh to still be too inexperienced to be TD'ing an event. Fortunately, no players were charged a fee to participate in this event.
 
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==Conclusion==
 
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Perhaps as a direct result of these events, a new category on the forums was created to advertise for and organize events, tourneys, scrimmages, etc. with greater transparency with regards to packet usage.
 
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Fortunately, to his credit, Singh eventually later apologized for any errors (or, as he put it, "(arguably) border-line [''sic''] unethical decisions") on his part.
 
  
 
==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/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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