Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

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DadofTwins
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Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by DadofTwins »

I couldn't get a Google cache of last year's rules, so I'm going to recreate them as best I can. Let me know if I miss something.

FORMAT: Each day there will be two categories of Jeopardy-style clues posted. A round consists of six days. The highest total score earned by a player not already eligible for the TOC wins the round and advances to the Tournament of Champions.

TIME LIMITS: Players are asked to post responses within 48 hours of the initial posting of that day's clues. The week will officially close for Weekly Winner purposes Sunday at 11:59 PM PDT after Day 6 is posted. Missed days can be made up later for total points purposes provided the player has not already seen the clues and correct responses. Players who are also members of the writing team receive full points if their material is used, but no writer will be used more than once per round.

NEW THING FOR THIS BOARD: Joke entries from non-player characters are encouraged. Please let the scorer know somewhere in your post or profile not to score that post in the game.

SCORING: Correct answers will be worth the stated point value of the clue. Incorrect answers will be penalized based on the clue's position in the category. "Single Jeopardy" clues will be worth 2-4-6-8-10, and "Double Jeopardy" clues will be worth 3-6-9-12-15. Incorrect answers are scored (-1, -2, -3, -4, -5) in both categories. Clues left unanswered (Clams) are worth 0.

RESPONSE FORMAT: Using question form is permissible, but not mandatory.

ACCEPTABLE RESPONSES: SHC policy is "I want to give you points." Give me a good reason I can justify, and you get points. Get close enough on spelling to convince me you know what you're talking about (the Vilnuis Rule). Re: first & last names/leading articles/country names & former names/etc., give me enough information so that I know you know what's going on in the clue.

REPLACEMENT CLUES: If you give an response I don't anticipate, feel free to make your case in the "Instant Replay" thread. I will review any responses ruled incorrect to make sure they are actually, objectively wrong. If there is a fatal flaw with a clue (including going unanswered by the entire field), a replacement clue will be offered to players who miss out on the points in the defective clue. What constitutes a "fatal flaw" is up to me to decide case-by-case, with the help of players who weigh in during the "Instant Replay."

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: Each week's winner advances to the Tournament of Champions, scheduled for the first week of the Jeopardy TV season. Also automatically advancing are past SHC Champions (TomKBaltimoreBoy, schliemann, OldSchoolChamp, and DJDaveMick) and Wild Card winners. The winner of the Tournament of Champions wins the SHC and receives a lifetime exemption into future SHC TOC's.

TOC WILD CARDS: Wild Card entries to the Tournament of Champions are based on total points earned during the SHC. One goes to the high-scoring College player (under age 23 AND not holding a bachelor's degree)*. One goes to the high-scoring Rookie (player who played fewer than 6 total SHC days on the old Sony boards). One goes to the high-scoring "About To Be" Jeopardy champion (person who has never appeared on the Show). Three additional Wild Card slots will be awarded to the highest-scoring players not already in the TOC.

Players should indicate ALL of the Wild Card categories for which they are eligible.

Critical Mass Rule -- In order to justify awarding a Wild Card, at least 5 players must compete for it for at least 30 SHC game days. If a Wild Card competition fails to reach critical mass, that category will be dropped and an additional Wild Card will be awarded base don Total Points.

*In the event that 5 or more College Wild Card players are under 18 and not holding a high school diploma, an additional Wild Card berth will be awarded for a Kids/Teens Champion.

CHEATING: Don't. Just don't. The only permissible resource is the mushy stuff between your ears. No google, no Phone-a-Friend (remember when WWTBAM had that? wasn't that cool? ah well . . . ), no collaborating with other players. Players caught cheating will be removed from the game and, if past precedent is any indication, shamed and ostracized by the community. Since the only prizes are your personal pride and the respect of your peers, cheating definitely costs you the latter and we have a hard time imagining you garnering much of the former. So don't.

I think that's everything. If I'm missing something, either PM me or post it below. I'll include posting instructions in the first game thread Monday afternoon.

Let the games begin!
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MarkBarrett
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by MarkBarrett »

DadofTwins wrote: RESPONSE FORMAT: Using question form is permissible, but not mandatory.
Yes, there is not a strict format for submitting responses. Some are better than others, though.

2.
4.
6.
8.
10.
3.
6.
9.
12.
15.

That's neat and short. It's not necessary to include the questions in your response. Quote them in or copy/paste, but delete them before posting your answers. It takes up space and is more for the scorers to sort through. This message board seems to go to another page based on space and not number of posts. Lower page counts make it easier to wade through the answers in a timely manner.

The SHC is not the real show, so save proper phrasing for the stage. Here it's fine to just give your answer.

Leaving a question number blank:
3.
works fine for showing you are not answering. It's also fine to CLAM it.

I like to make up my own trophies/medals like rewards on some video games such as:

First to respond to a set of questions
Perfecto on a day's set of questions
Wrong answer no one else has that at least has some logic behind it
At least one correct in each category
Not missing a Day

This is for fun. If you disagree with a judging call state your opinion, respect the final decision and move on. There is no prize for attempting to cause the most replacement questions.

That's my input from seeing this run since aught five. Thanks DoT for getting it going again and Andy, thanks againfor setting up the forum.
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alietr
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by alietr »

Can I suggest that all responses be put in using the spoiler tag? That way you're not accidentally seeing other people's responses, and for scorers (and anyone else) it's easy enough to display what people put in. Just a thought ...
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Bamaman »

I'll be hanging out near the bottom as usual, but looking forward to playing. Still looking for my first perfect day. Thanks again for running this game, DoT.
Peggles
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Peggles »

MarkBarrett wrote:
DadofTwins wrote: RESPONSE FORMAT: Using question form is permissible, but not mandatory.
Yes, there is not a strict format for submitting responses. Some are better than others, though.

2.
4.
6.
8.
10.
3.
6.
9.
12.
15.

That's neat and short. It's not necessary to include the questions in your response. Quote them in or copy/paste, but delete them before posting your answers. It takes up space and is more for the scorers to sort through. This message board seems to go to another page based on space and not number of posts. Lower page counts make it easier to wade through the answers in a timely manner.

.
As a scorer, I emphasize this. Please make it simple for us to score (and for yourself). 'nuff said.
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barandall800
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by barandall800 »

alietr wrote:Can I suggest that all responses be put in using the spoiler tag? That way you're not accidentally seeing other people's responses, and for scorers (and anyone else) it's easy enough to display what people put in. Just a thought ...
I second that motion. The spoiler tag here is much more streamlined than the one on the old board, so I'd say it would work really well with SHC responses (and wouldn't give any extra headaches to the scorers).
Peggles
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Peggles »

barandall800 wrote:
alietr wrote:Can I suggest that all responses be put in using the spoiler tag? That way you're not accidentally seeing other people's responses, and for scorers (and anyone else) it's easy enough to display what people put in. Just a thought ...
I second that motion. The spoiler tag here is much more streamlined than the one on the old board, so I'd say it would work really well with SHC responses (and wouldn't give any extra headaches to the scorers).

I agree. At first I groaned, both as a poster and scorer. But you're correct about how easy it is to do on this board. So I encourage players to use the spoiler option.
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econgator
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by econgator »

Peggles wrote:I agree. At first I groaned, both as a poster and scorer. But you're correct about how easy it is to do on this board. So I encourage players to use the spoiler option.
Apparently, I'm in the minority here, so I'll say this: either make them mandatory, or just don't use them at all. I personally find it a pain in the ass to continually click over to reveal them while scoring. We've survived many years without using them, so I'm not certain why we need them now.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Bamaman »

I agree with econgator. I'm not a scorer, but I like reading everyone else's answers and having to click on the spoiler tag makes it more trouble than its worth. I used it today because we were told to, but I'm not seeing the point, either.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by --Pete »

Hi,
Bamaman wrote: I agree with econgator. I'm not a scorer, but I like reading everyone else's answers and having to click on the spoiler tag makes it more trouble than its worth. I used it today because we were told to, but I'm not seeing the point, either.
I, too, agree. Especially since many are not using the spoiler, making the use by others pointless.

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jeff6286
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by jeff6286 »

Bamaman wrote:I agree with econgator. I'm not a scorer, but I like reading everyone else's answers and having to click on the spoiler tag makes it more trouble than its worth. I used it today because we were told to, but I'm not seeing the point, either.
The point is to make sure that players don't accidentally see others' submitted answers before they have a chance to submit their own answers. As soon as you hit reply, and are taken to the reply screen, if you accidentally scroll down to just slightly below the reply box, you can see the last post in the thread, and if that person failed to use the spoiler tag, you may read several of their answers without meaning to.

Also, if you write all of your answers and hit submit, but someone else has submitted a reply while you were composing yours, their reply will immediately pop up at the top of your screen, as the board asks you if you want to re-consider your reply after reading the most recent additions to the thread. If that person has not used the spoiler tag, then you will see their answers, and sometimes the eyes and the brain can work really fast, so even if you don't intend to read the responses, the damage is already done. Granted, if you've gotten to the point to hit "submit", then your answers should already be complete, so seeing someone else's shouldn't affect your answers, but it is possible that someone might have hit "submit", then realized that they accidentally skipped one of the questions and was planning to come back to it, but now they have lost the opportunity to try to come up with the answer because they have already seen someone else's response.
--Pete wrote:Hi,

I, too, agree. Especially since many are not using the spoiler, making the use by others pointless.
--Pete
How exactly does the use by others become pointless? Weren't you the one who had to only submit two answers to the first day's questions, because you were unintentionally spoiled by seeing someone else's answers to the rest of the questions? Let's say, for example, 55 people use spoiler tags, and 5 don't, thus 1 or 2 people may accidentally have the answers spoiled for them before they can figure out if they know them or not. You're saying that the 55 people who did protect their answers with spoiler tags shouldn't have bothered, just because 1 or 2 people saw the answers of one of the 5 people who didn't use spoiler tags. I'm sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense. If all 60 people left off the spoiler tags, then there could have been 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 people who accidentally saw someone else's answers and thus were unable to have a fair opportunity to play the round.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Turd Ferguson »

jeff6286 wrote: Also, if you write all of your answers and hit submit, but someone else has submitted a reply while you were composing yours, their reply will immediately pop up at the top of your screen, as the board asks you if you want to re-consider your reply after reading the most recent additions to the thread.
Sorry, I just find this quite amusing, given the context. (I don't remember this happening to me, though, perhaps because Chrome is blocking it from happening?)
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by jeff6286 »

Turd Ferguson wrote:
jeff6286 wrote: Also, if you write all of your answers and hit submit, but someone else has submitted a reply while you were composing yours, their reply will immediately pop up at the top of your screen, as the board asks you if you want to re-consider your reply after reading the most recent additions to the thread.
Sorry, I just find this quite amusing, given the context. (I don't remember this happening to me, though, perhaps because Chrome is blocking it from happening?)
I use Chrome too, so it can happen, you've probably just never seen it since you only have 9 posts here. It is much more likely to happen on a thread like the SHC, since many people will be submitting their responses in a fairly short time frame.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Turd Ferguson »

jeff6286 wrote:I use Chrome too, so it can happen, you've probably just never seen it since you only have 9 posts here. It is much more likely to happen on a thread like the SHC, since many people will be submitting their responses in a fairly short time frame.
Hmm... weird. In the two SHC posts I've done, I think I've hit reply right away, then thought about my responses while composing the reply, so I'm surprised it didn't happen either time. I guess it's a good idea to think about responses *before* hitting reply in the future, though, because of this "glitch"
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by --Pete »

Hi,
jeff6286 wrote: How exactly does the use by others become pointless?
If some people use the spoiler box and others don't, then a person about to post still stands a good chance of seeing someone else's replies. There is no sense hiding some unless we hide all.
jeff6286 wrote: Weren't you the one who had to only submit two answers to the first day's questions, because you were unintentionally spoiled by seeing someone else's answers to the rest of the questions?
Yes, but I didn't see those in the reply thread and they were in a spoiler box.

I suggest that people copy the questions to a text editor (Notepad in Windows), and work their answers out there. When they are ready to submit their entries, they should copy their replies and paste them. The same honesty which keeps players from looking up the clues will keep them from changing their replies.

--Pete
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by Peggles »

econgator wrote:
Peggles wrote:I agree. At first I groaned, both as a poster and scorer. But you're correct about how easy it is to do on this board. So I encourage players to use the spoiler option.
Apparently, I'm in the minority here, so I'll say this: either make them mandatory, or just don't use them at all. I personally find it a pain in the ass to continually click over to reveal them while scoring. We've survived many years without using them, so I'm not certain why we need them now.
Good point, econ. I'll reserve final judgment until after I've scored Thursday's game, and see how my ass is feeling.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by econgator »

Peggles wrote:As a scorer, I emphasize this. Please make it simple for us to score (and for yourself). 'nuff said.
I shall further emphasize this: Please, please, please, DO NOT put them in the form of a question. It takes me the better part of 75 minutes to score a day's entries, so I'd rather not add on any additional time. :)
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by dhkendall »

econgator wrote:
Peggles wrote:As a scorer, I emphasize this. Please make it simple for us to score (and for yourself). 'nuff said.
I shall further emphasize this: Please, please, please, DO NOT put them in the form of a question. It takes me the better part of 75 minutes to score a day's entries, so I'd rather not add on any additional time. :)
I'm sure that this is why the online test requests the same thing. (And now all you SHC scorers can empathize with those people who score your J! test)
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by alietr »

I have changed a setting so It should no longer show other people's post if they have posted since you started writing your post. I assume everyone agrees with this change, especially during the SHC. I may change it back after the SHC.
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Re: Summer Hiatus Challenge -- Rules

Post by BigDaddyJ »

alietr wrote:I have changed a setting so It should no longer show other people's post if they have posted since you started writing your post. I assume everyone agrees with this change, especially during the SHC. I may change it back after the SHC.
I actually sort of like that feature, but I agree it makes to leave it off during the SHC.
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