A couple indirect responses to the previous posts; they've hit upon
some of my biggest quizbowl pet peeves:
-The relative number of points given to boni is not *a priori* as
important as it is sometimes made out to be. Between the (Strong)
Law of Large Numbers and fact that the difference between a "lucky"
or "unlucky" bonus is often much less than 30 points, it isn't as
influential as it's often made out to be.
-It's an annoying fallacy to presuppose that tossup ability is
somehow more important than conversion ability. If this were the
case, we'd just play tossups.
-Making 30's impossible and 10's giveaway is exactly, in my opinion,
the *wrong* way to remedy problems with bonus fluctuation. If it
were, we'd just give 10 points automatically, ask the second part,
and not bother reading the third. It would save time. Furthermore,
substantiative difference in knowledge then only garners a team 10
extra points; boni should differentiate knowledge much more finely
than that.
None of this is a personal or even direct attack on any individual
statement or person; they're just my opinions on what I perceive to
be common misperceptions.
--Nate