The Honesty Quiz

[3iff]

I was thinking of this over the break. A quiz is hard to set in internet land as anyone can look up the answer in 15 seconds...

However, the Honesty quiz is different as it does not allow any research to discover the answers. Participants agree to use only the information they currently know and may not ask other people nor seek out the answer via internet, books or any other methods.

If there are sufficient players interested, I would set 10 general knowledge questions each month and run it for a year (12 quizzes). As long as players make entries for at least 6 quizzes then I'd score success as a percentage of maximum possible score so you wouldn't need to enter each quiz.

Any takers?

[Courk]

/in

[JDTAY]

/in, just as long as you don't ask me any questions about my wangus. Which, incidentally, is 10 inches long, black, and shoots out hollandaise sauce.

[lexprod]

/indeed
_________________
I'll have a P please...

[jesternl]

/in as well

[milkshake]

General knowledge questions... would there be alot of pop culture? I'm fairly doomed in the world of pop culture... :/

[3iff]

Hopefully not. A general mixture of questions without a focus on one particular area.

As there's no research permitted, I'm looking to questions/subjects where the average person would have a reasonable chance of knowing the answer or be able to make an educated guess.

After the first set of questions I'll be hoping for feedback to ensure the questions are reasonable...and I'll be gauging difficulty from the number of 9's and 10's scored by entrants.

In any case, you can have a go at the first set of questions and see if you like them...

[Duke Gnome]

I'll be in

[Zag]

I'm sure I'll end up joining in ... unless I see your first set of questions and don't know any of them, in which case, pretend you never saw this.

[Undercover Monk]

Why not I'll /in
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[MNOWAX]

/in
_________________
The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[3iff]

Ok, seems to be a few people willing to have a look. I'll write up the Jan2010 questions and publish them soon...then you'll have a couple of weeks or so to submit answers.

[referee]

Are you aware that the average person may not necessary be from the USA?
_________________
Jan 21st, 2008: The pillaging continues.
Mar 4th, 2008: Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax. May your dice always roll a natural 20 wherever you are.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[3iff]

Honesty Quiz - Jan 2010

No research is allowed after seeing the questions, not even to ask a friend. No internet, books or computer programs. They must be answered solely with the information currently in your head.
One point per correct answer with no penalty for incorrect or unanswered questions. If you don't know an answer, it's worth guessing. I will accept ONLY your first answer list (send it to me via PM) so make sure you have 10 answers. Spelling accuracy is not required. I may ask you for clarification if I don't understand an answer By submitting an entry you agree to the above conditions.

Please don't discuss the answers here until this round has closed. I'll provide the answers then. You have 2-3 weeks to get entries in.

Please PM me if you have a query about a question. Let me know what you think of the question spread and was it just right, too hard or too easy?

If successful, we will have a round every month until the end of the year. The overall champion will be the one with the greatest percentage of correct answers so you won't have to participate every month.

Highlight below to see the questions.
1. Which three countries border Paraguay.

2. What was signed on the 28th of June 1919.

3. What is 1793 expressed in binary.

4. By what name is Camille Javal better known.

5. Which 1990 film sequel was based on the novel "58 minutes" by Walter Wager.

6. Isaac Asimov, AC Clarke, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham. List these 4 science fiction writers in order of birth, first born first. (must have all 4 in the correct order to score the point)

7. What is the aborginal name for Ayers Rock.

8. Who was responsible for the 1952 musical composition 4'33".

9. What is the melting point of gold. (I'll allow plus/minus 40 degrees C. Give your answer in degrees centigrade. Regardless of accuracy, the closest answer will get a point.)

10. Which year saw the first sub four minute mile.

Good Luck.

[3iff]

[Cordelia]

Okay, I was about to send my entry, but I'm not sure that I like the scoring system. See, given that I was only able to absolutely answer about half of the questions, I assume that the difficulty of the quiz will change. Regardless, there's no reason for me to send my answers in, since I believe that there will be 6 rounds where I will be able to do better...

Having me NOT send in my answers does not produce a desired result for the game. I assume that 3iff wants as many people to submit a set of answers each round as possible.

I propose that, rather than taking an average, you take a person's top 6 months. This way you reward diligence, but don't exclude. It's a win-win, right?

Until I hear more on the scoring system, I'm not sending my answers in...

[3iff]

Cordelia.

Fair enough. I didn't think it through properly did I! I do want people to make an entry every month and there should not be a disincentive to do that.

Ok, how about 3 competitions? Highest score, Best 6 entries and highest percentage score?

Highest score means there's an incentive to participate in every round and answer every question possible. This will be the main aim of participants.

Best of 6. The top 6 monthly scores are counted. Another main aim.

Highest percentage score gives those who miss out on the occasional month (or join later in the year). Essentially a runners-up prize.

Anyone submitting answers obviously participate in all competitions.

Does this sound more acceptable? Questions will be of variable difficulty. It's hard to gauge a suitable level at the moment...but I'm trying to set questions that allow an educated guess even if you don't know the answer.

Any other opinions?

[Cordelia]

sounds great :D

thanks, and here's my entry

[3iff]

Owing to the quiz being harder that I had thought, I'm going to be lenient with answers, especially 6, 7 and 10 which are particularly obscure.

I've also sent entrants their score...however after being more lenient these scores may have increased so ignore what score I said you have.

7 entries so far. Thanks.

[Duke Gnome]

I did the binary one in my head, but for the future does using pen and paper count against using only what is in your head?

[3iff]

Duke Gnome...you're excessively honest.

You can freely use pen and paper. I also allow a simple (non-programmable) calculator.

The overriding limitation is that you cannot consult reference works (or other people) once you've seen the questions.

[3iff]

Nine entries so far. Thanks for that. Due to the difficulty of some of the questions I'm marking leniently, so don't be put off from having a go.

I'm back on Wednesday so don't expect any replies from me until then.

[jesternl]

Answers sent... I had to look up Ayers rock afterward, since I knew I knew it, but couldn't come up with it.
In general I sucked

[3iff]

jesternl - Yeah, unfortunately I couldn't accept the answer you sent (for obvious reasons).

[jesternl]

I can provide the safe-for-work version

[3iff]

Thanks...
Ok, couldn't accept it for two reasons, the other being it was wrong!

[jesternl]

Stickler

[Zag]

Going to post results any time soon?

[3iff]

Yes. I want to give latecomers a chance to enter...

Results will be published on Friday morning (UK time).

[PuzzleScot]

I'm glad you waited! I didn't spot this thread until now. My pathetic answers are in. Now to go check how far off I was...

[3iff]

Honesty Quiz - Jan 2010 - Answers

As already explained, I appear to have set the bar way too high and so I've been kind on marking. For future quizzes, I'll be more careful with questions and less generous with marking.

Complaints to me via PM please.

The bracketed numbers after the answers show how many got the question right.

1. Which three countries border Paraguay.
BOLIVIA, BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA (6/12)
I allowed a mark if you got 2 of these. Two clever people got all three!

2. What was signed on the 28th of June 1919.
TREATY OF VERSAILLES (8/12)

3. What is 1793 expressed in binary.
11100000001 (12/12)
The only question everyone got right...too many computer geeks?

4. By what name is Camille Javal better known.
BRIGITTE BARDOT (0/12)
I suspect I'm a victim of internet misinformation. Bardot played a character with the name Camille Javal but I
now suspect she was born Brigitte Bardot after all. The internet is unclear on the real situation.
As no-one got this right the question can stand as nobody is affected.

5. Which 1990 film sequel was based on the novel "58 minutes" by Walter Wager.
DIE HARD 2 (2/12)
I didn't expect many players to get this...but a couple did, well done.

6. Isaac Asimov, AC Clarke, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham. List these 4 science fiction writers in order of birth, first born first.
WYNDHAM (03) HEINLEIN (07) CLARKE (17) ASIMOV (20) (3/12)
I awarded a point to anyone who got 3 in the correct order.
Heinlein wrote Starship Troopers, Stranger in a strange land and many others.
Wyndham wrote Day of the Triffids

7. What is the aborginal name for Ayers Rock.
ULURU (4/12)
It's a big orangy rock in the middle of Australia. I would have thought most people would have heard of this but I
was wrong. I did accept some answers that were close to the correct spelling.

8. Who was responsible for the 1952 musical composition 4'33".
JOHN CAGE (6/12)
The composition was 4'33" of silence! I accepted answers that said this. One player even thanked me for asking this
(as it was one of the few answers they knew).

9. What is the melting point of gold. Give your answer in degrees centigrade.
1064.58C (3/12)
I accepted a slightly wider margin that I originally said...There were many answers in the 350C range and an
interesting one that said 32C.
Thanks to the one entrant who gave an answer in fahrenheit and then converted it for me!
In future I will accept centigrade or fahrenheit answers.

10. Which year saw the first sub four minute mile.
1954 (4/12)
Roger Bannister in 1954. I accepted answers within 2 years.
Of course I meant a human sub 4 minute mile achieved by running. Sorry for not making it clear.
Again an answer I thought was widely known but apparently not.

Score after one round
Scurra 8
Cordelia 7
Puzzlescot 6
Lepton 5
Zag 4
Duke Gnome 4
Lexprod 3
Undercover Monk 3
Milkshake 3
AZu 3
Courk 2
Jesternl 2
JDTAY 1

Remember there are multiple ways of winning, best overall score, best 6 results and highest percentage of correct answers. You don't have to participate in each quiz if you don't want to. So, don't be disheartened if you didn't score well this time.

[edit] A late entry from AZu, sent before I posted the answers. They got the first 3 correct for 3 points.

The Feb-2010 quiz will appear as a new topic at the start of February.

[JDTAY]

Oh man, I'd really hate to do this, but since this is the Honesty Quiz...

Check my answer for #3 again.
_________________
Prohibit nothing. Disclose everything.

[Courk]

Can I petition to get credit for #2? I said the Charter for the League of Nations was signed on that day, and indeed that is the day when the Covenant of the League of Nations was signed.

[Duke Gnome]

It's your quiz so run it how you like, but I would say that moving the goalposts mid-round is something that should be avoided. Especially question 8, where people get points for providing extraneous information, that I expect several other people knew but didn't bother providing, as that was not what was being asked.

[Lepton*]

I agree with DG, and was one of those who benefited from the "it's just silence, but I forget his name!" generosity. Incidentally, I was discussing music about 3 hours after submitting my results, and John Cage came up again.

Which brings me to a Point of Order: Is this quiz intended to be a "think of the answers for a week" or a "open it, take a couple minutes, and reply" affair? I took the approach of the latter, but would have had two additional answers if I'd let the questions stew. I think some consistency in expectations would be nice.

Question 1 made me miss the Aga-era GeoQuizzes.

[3iff]

Courk: Seems you are right. I'll add a point.

JDTAY: Oh, you're right. I carefully counted entries for Q3 but got to the point where everyone was getting it right. You deserve a point for honesty but I don't think I can do that.

Duke Gnome: I realise that would upset some players. Apologies and it won't be happening again. For one thing I'll be rephrasing questions so they have a definitive answer (I hope!).

Lepton: Once someone has read the questions, it's up to that person to answer whenever they choose before the deadline. I guess most people jotted down their answers and sent them off. As long as people don't actively seek out the correct answers then they can think about them for a week or two if they wish.

Thanks for the feedback. The remaining quizzes will be conducted more strictly.

Updated scores

8 Scurra
7 Cordelia
6 Puzzlescot
5 Lepton
4 Zag
4 Duke Gnome
3 Lexprod
3 Undercover Monk
3 Milkshake
3 Azu
3 Courk
2 Jesternl
0 JDTAY

[milkshake*]

Well let's hear the next one! ^^

[Zag]

Yes, but let's say that Scurra, Cordelia, and PuzzleScot get some sort of disadvantage to in order to counteract the obvious unfair advantage that they have.*



_{* That is, that they are smarter than the rest of us.}

[Lepton*]

Agreed. I don't mind missing the "smart" cutoff.

[PuzzleScot]

Whoa, hang on there guys, I'm calling a time out!

I had 3/10 until the 'generous marking' kicked in. Assuming a x2 factor in operation here, that's only 2 more than Jersternl. That's not exactly superbrain...

However, I'm happy to accept the title in the meantime