Re: Fixing some of these question problems

• From: thefool75 <no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com>
• Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 22:05:58 -0000
• Message-ID: <b77e86+7pom_at_...>

ahhhhh....but we all know that our understanding of his reagants 
would be immensely impaired if we didn't know that Grignard was the 
son of a sailmaker...and I'm still waiting to get a Davy tossup 
someday off of "born in Penzance"....  :)

--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, fbush555 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> So let's stop bitching and set some standards. Right? I mean, there
> are no variable value bonuses, FAQTP questions, and spelling tossups
> in the circuit today because we all agreed not to permit them into 
the
> tournaments we edited. No one is defending some of these usages, so 
I
> think we should just agree to wipe them out.
> 
> The first sentence of a tossup should never be or contain one of the
> following:
> 
> 1) The main characters of a piece of fiction, identified by name or 
by
> description
> 2) The opening line of a piece of fiction, or a description of the
> opening scene
> 3) This  _COUNTRY OF BIRTH_ _PROFESSION_
> 4) This son of a _PROFESSION_
> 5) This person, who won the _NOBEL, PULITZER_ in _YEAR_
> 6) Born in _CITY/COUNTRY_ in _YEAR_
> 
> (Any that I forgot?)
> 
> Every editor of every question set should take heed and just get rid
> of these leadins. Any editor who does not should be mercilessly
> lambasted on this forum until the problem is gone. This should be
> incorporated into question guidelines. New teams who submit 
questions
> like these should be instructed that it's not appropriate for
> college-level play.
> 
> There's a place for these clues, it's just further into the tossup.
> (Except possibly for the "son of a PROFESSION" clue, which is just
> lame IMO since it probably has little to do with the person being
> asked about.)