Question databases

For the stats repository, see: the database

Question databases are websites which provide access to packets from various clear sets. Almost all examples are based on the packet archive, which is merely a list of files organized by their source tournament, but many provide additional functionality like search and filtering.

Features

The most common feature in quizbowl databases is the ability to search for "strings" (i.e. words or phrases) in either question text or answerlines. This allows the task of determining the frequency of a clue or answer easier and hence more commonplace during . The nature of the regular expression matching that underlies this kind of search has introduced artifacts in this sort of analysis, like the inability to learn about subjects with embedded asterisks like the supermassive black hole Sagitarrius A* ("A star") or the heuristic-based algorithm A* ("A star").

The ability to filter sets and the questions inside them by difficulty typically uses the broad categories of "high school", "college", and "middle school", but the utility of additional gradations means that relatively-more standardized difficulties like "highschool/collegiate regular" have been split into multiple values in sets like QuizDB: these correspond roughly to labels like "regular-plus" or "regular-minus," but there is no systematic approach to this process.

Examples

See: List of question archives

The packet archive

Main page: packet archive

quizbowlpackets.com (or simply the archive) is the primary repository for quizbowl packets and question sets on the Internet. It was started by Chris Carter in 2008 or so, and migrated to the hsquizbowl.org server and integrated with the Quizbowl Resource Database in September 2012, where it is now managed by Jeffrey Hill. The archive is updated when the editor of a recently cleared set uploads the set through the Quizbowl Resource Database and Will approves the set for public consumption.

Quinterest

Main page: Quinterest

Quinterest was a question database and search engine. It is now defunct. It was created by Rohit Lalchandani and was later maintained by Jacob Reed. As with other question databases, Quinterest stored a variety of question sets which could be accessed by users. It also allow users to search by keyword in either the answerline or the question text and filter the results by difficulty (middle school, high school, college, open) or by subject.