The chat group's often been using google as an offhand measure of obscurity. Obscurity has its place in qb, at the beginning of a pyramidal question. However, I believe that answers, particularly answers to *tossups*, should not be overly obscure. I spent some time combing through old packets, entering obscurish things into google. Here are my obscurity results, for about seven fairly easy packets. When I list something that's simply an answer, that means that the name itself was obscure. When I list a work followed by an answer, that means the work was obscure, and was the only clue for the answer that followed. This is sorted by number of hits on google. I use google because it's a good gauge of what the rest of the world thinks is important. I don't think a lot of hits on google means that it's something we should ask a lot about, only that few hits on google means it's probably not worth knowing. Looking down the list below, I really enjoyed _The Broom of the System_, but in hindsight it's a little obscure to be an answer on its own. Google inflates things like pop culture and technical science terminology. So any general guidelines would have to be pumped up for this. But on more academic subjects, I'll claim that: -> anything with less than 500 hits on google is inappropriate for a *tossup* answer (easier tournaments might set the bar at 1000) -> anything with less than 250 hits on google is inappropriate for *any* sort of answer, and shouldn't be the sole clue for another answer (pair it with another work) -> anything with less than 100 hits on google, and you should contact the team that submitted the question. Most likely it's a misspelling, but otherwise, someone is on crack. It should be easy for editors to implement this. When an editor hits something that they've never heard of, just pop the name into google, and if it has too few hits, throw it away. Some of these might just be searching errors on my part, in which case I apologize. Here's my list of things too obscure to be tossups. Flame away, but remember to flame the methodology as well as the specifics. <500 Answer: Stanislao _Cannizzaro_ Answer: Henry Martyn Robert (do not accept _Roberts_) <400 B. _The Mark on the Wall_ Answer: _Virginia Woolf_ ANSWER: The Broom of the System <300 ANSWER: Sister _NIRMALA _ Joshi 10: Darest thou now, O Soul/Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region? Answer: Walt Whitman (5) Moses and Aaron Answer: Arnold _SCHONBERG_ Answer: _STOLYPIN REFORM(s)_ 3. Vernon Hines _THE PAJAMA GAME_ >200 Answer: _THE SINATRA DOCTRINE_ Answer: G. Harold _CARSWELL_ C. Hello Out There Answer: William _Saroyan_ Answer: _Garcia_ Effect C. _Akhenaton_ Answer: Philip _Glass_ C. (10) Pollock v. Farmer's Loan and Trust Company >100 Answer: _SIR GARLON_ 15: Rise heart, thy Lord is risen! Answer: George Herbert 15- _The Butterfly Hunt_ Answer: Berthe _Morisot_ Answer: _The Girl of Cadiz_ ans: Alceo _DOSSENA_ C. F15P, _For Ethel Rosenberg_ Answer: Adrienne _Rich_ B. (10)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:46 AM EST EST