Wikipedia talk:WikiProject India/Quiz

Suggestions to increase participation

PINQ has seen some very slow activity these last few months.. I have two suggestions to speed up the action:

1. Each Question should be framed around an India-related red link.. (See exampleshere) This way, the question will be of interest to all Indian Wikipedians, hard enough (only obscure Indian topics are red-links now), and hopefully lead to creation of articles based on information presented in the questions..
2. Each guess should be accompanied by a {{PINQ-Y}} or {{PINQ-N}} next to the guesser's name, generating and , respectively, to indicate whether or not they would be available to post the next question if their guess turns out to be right.. That way, if the guesser has indicated upfront, the question-setter for that question asks the next question too, without delay..

What does everyone think? -- Longhairandabeard (talk) 09:28, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

I agree with your second suggestion, but I am not sure whether it speeds up things or not. Even now, the baton of posting a question passes to the previous question-setter after some prescribed amount of time. It may be the case that no one is using that chance. It would help if we can stick to the time limits. For your first suggestion, I feel that it might decrease participation. Your intentions are good that the red link articles may get created or some may get updated, but people who are really not much into article editing or creating may get disappointed. One thing I do after reading a question is to search relevant articles on wikipedia and then proceed to googling later on. The knowledge I gain from those articles, though they may not give answers to the question, is huge and that keeps me visiting this quiz again and again. Anyways, I have encountered questions here which are from wikipages with small amount of work going on or new facts researched by individuals. Such questions take time to get answered. These might get a few disinterested in them, but the easier questions help them to join back in the fun. So, I feel that, by restricting to red links and stubs, we might lose participation. Goutham787 (talk) 16:02, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

I welcome second suggestion. It's need of the hour. For the first suggestion, it can be explored and tried.--Su_hit (talk) 05:04, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, guys! Let's wait for a couple more days to hear from others, before putting the second suggestion into place.. As for the first suggestion, I suspect part of the problem is the time taken to find a suitable question to ask, which deters people from taking up the baton.. Looking into India-related stubs and redlinks can give some good ideas.. (Actually, the qs don't have to be difficult.. They could be made simple enough to get from a Google search, depending on the question-setter's inclination..) I suppose we could put this one more as a suggestion, than a rule.. After all, the quiz is using Wikipedia's resources, and should be contributing back in some manner.. -- Longhairandabeard (talk) 09:18, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Since Round 36

Dear friends, In addition to the existing 'Leader Board', I have added a new table named as "Score Board" from this round. The intention is to update the scores as each question gets answered so that the final tallying will be easier. Hope this is all right. Thanks ViswaPrabha വിശ്വപ്രഭ (talk) 12:08, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Restore the utilty of this quiz!

This Quiz was conceived to be about helping articles in India develop. It is not about finding esoteric facts and proving how intelligent we are. After #22, the red link system earlier in use has no longer been used. Wikipedia is not a social networking site. Unless the afficionados of this quiz can demonstrable show that this quiz fulfils its purpose, I shall be nominating this page for deletion. Please use this facility for constructive development of Indian articles on Wikipedia in addition to having fun. AshLin (talk) 05:39, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Deletion discussion

It is proposed to delete Portal India/Quiz from Wikipedia as it does not concern Wikipedia. Please participate in the discussion here. AshLin (talk) 10:00, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

I dont see why the quiz needs to be deleted. It in fact serves a very important function of bringing India related topics to attention. Wether or not they are red links does not really matter, because there's only so many red links you're going to have (especially given the vast number of Indian wikipedians) before you start accepting or actively seeking or promoting unencyclopaedic entries. What matters is that under developed articles can also recieve attention. I can specifically point to the article on Virendranath Chattopadhyaya which came up in the quiz as an already developed article but brought to my attention the topic of the Indian freedom movement abroad especially during World War I, from which I developed a large number of articles in the Category:India House, Category:Hindu-German Conspiracy, Category:Anushilan Samiti. Perhaps, what you are looking for are guidelines which refine the questions from pedantic trivialism, but I feel that effort should be aimed more at the users who pose such questions rather than a frustrated attempt at deleting the page altogether. rueben_lys (talk · contribs) 13:06, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Kindly participate where the discussion is taking place and read the discussion before you respond. You will see that the motive is primarily to reform the quiz, but except for indignant responses like yours, no one is willing to pledge to change things for the better and restore meaningfulness to the quiz. AshLin (talk) 14:37, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Forgive my indignant response to reading exactly what you have written. If the motives are certain something then have the commonsense to put it exactly as you wish to put it. And at every edit, do remember the five pillars of the website and not start the habit of preaching to others about what to read before whatever to write. rueben_lys (talk · contribs) 17:30, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

My apologies for being abrupt and not remembering the five pillars, especially since I was indignant myself. I should have been much more civil. My further response on the Noticeboard, below the discussion. AshLin (talk) 03:08, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

This quiz certainly improves the quality of articles on Wikipedia India; take this round for eg. out of 7 questions so far, 2 are sourced from Wikipedia itself (one is mine), both proved to be wrong, one is corrected, the second one needs to be corrected yet. 01:44, 23 March 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasadnsr (talk • contribs)

Spelling mistakes

I am a little Gnome who goes around correcting spellings and have found several spelling mistakes in the Portal:India/Quiz Archives
To give just one example, in this search today (12 May 2011) for "Refering", there are 10 mis-spellings. The three dated yesterday and today I have corrected, just leaving the 7 from the Portal:India/Quiz/Archives.
Whilst archives are not usually changed, would anyone object if I corrected these?
Arjayay (talk) 18:07, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

I don't think anyone would mind, but I really don't see the point, since these pages aren't in the article space. Yes Michael? •^Talk 18:14, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Proposal to add another small line to the rules

If a user has answered a question right, but is not in a position to submit a new question, and someone else has put up a new question on his behalf, the original user shall restrain from answering this particular subsequent question. However, he can rejoin the quiz immediately on the next (second subsequent) question. This will ensure equal chances for all users to be in the fair race. ViswaPrabha വിശ്വപ്രഭ (talk) 19:05, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Agree --Jairodz (talk) 15:34, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Good rule, but think of the questions unanswered/attended and open for days together and even the enthusiasm is seems to be low here now..Prasad (talk) 05:45, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Portal:India/Quiz 47 Critic

A = The patriarch of Mumbai, passed away in 2012. B = Leader of opposition of a Legislative Assembly in India. C = 1996: A mumbai-based very respected-trusted business conglomerate, 2001: D, 2009 = E. D had a special privilege of associated with Gandhi, Shastri & Nehru. E is headed by B. F is the common factor amongst A, B and C. The core question is to identify 'F'. Identification of 'A' to 'E' carries less weightage. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 04:57, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Answer : A = Bal Thackeray B = Vijay Kumar Malhotra C = Limba Ram D = Punjab National Bank E = Archery Association of India

      F = bow and arrow

If the clues are deleted and only the original question and the final answer is retained , how can anyone guess that F is a "symbol" (???) that requires to decodified as a common factor whereas the later can be anything like

Indians,Men,non-Pakistani or anything of that sort.

1996:------ ,2001:D ,2009 = E now why the " Equal" sign is being used for the last item if similar functional relation is meant to be signified ?

A question should be answerable with rational reasoning within given valid arguments without getting into a trap of logical fallacies and for which clues need not required to be awaited. For nowhere in the world , it is defined that this mark ':' means joining or working in a particular job or organisation and thereafter use of this sign '=' for the same implication can at best be termed as an attempt to hide the answer altogether. Critical About Anything (talk) 21:16, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

I agree. I must have used ':' sign instead of '=', it is oversight error on my part. Regarding asking to establish correlation, I will try to be little more specific, in a way, excitement, curiosity and simlicity are maintained. If you or anyone has any other suggestion or point of view, please feel free. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 03:47, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

Participation and visitors have decreased, action needed

The visitors statastics: 1589 in Dec-12, 1734 in Jan-13, 643 in Feb, 763 in Mar and just 465 in Apr-13. Action needed.. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 03:52, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Proposal for a coordinator

Hi! Although many of us voluntarily update scoreboard, points table etc, I think it will be better if one person oversees the procedure. The coordinator would update the boards. Any other can also update those, but coordinator will make sure the updates are fine, and timely. I propose User: Sureshpurohit as the coordinator. Oh and yes, the coordinator will remind when a question is due.--Dwaipayan (talk) 03:44, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Thanks User: Dwaipayanc for such a kind honour. I will do so. But other are also welcome to update boards and remind one another. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 15:50, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Excellent. Yes, others are welcome to do so as well; you will act as the class monitor :)--Dwaipayan (talk) 14:40, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Greater visibility

This discussion made me wonder how non-regulars ever find the WP:PINQ page in an obscure corner of wikipedia. Yes, there is a link on the WP:INB page, but do "normal" users read that page that closely to find it? Perhaps as a result of its obscure location and low visibility, while we have a enthusiastic core of (semi-)regulars, we rarely see drive by responders or new blood. So a couple of suggestions to gauge response:

• Is there any benefit to moving PINQ to a Wikiproject India sub-page instead of the Portal space? My guess: perhaps not by itself.
• Is there a (easy) way to transclude the current question to WP:INDIA, WT:INDIA, and/or similar places ? This I think will really help PINQ gain visibility, attract more drive-bys and expand the core base of involved editors.

Thought, suggestions? Abecedare (talk) 11:17, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Suggestion not concerning to above point;a Wiki add can be created;Say Participate in India Quiz or something like that; Lot of users display wiki adds KAS^(talk) 12:52, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't think such ads should be created. Somewhere sometime i have read objections about such quizes which serve more like orkut communities and chat forums. Although its fine to have some entertainment while doing the more serious job of writing history through encyclopedia, opposition does exist. The theoretical purpose is to get new stuff and then get articles edited/created likewise on them. But some editors factually come here just for the quiz and the purpose hardly is met. Better to not hit yourself with the axe by advertising. §§Dharmadhyaksha§§ {T/C} 18:09, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

Questions asked in Clues as a part of question

Ninney, you are right in stating that clues can not become formal part of the question. Otherwise, the question would become dynamic. Hence, answering to clues is optional and may be desirable but not mandatory. VasuVR, Some part of credits or points to be awarded to persons who make the ways for others. I treat it as a good sign, otherwise people will read the question and practically nobody would respond and at the end it would take significant time to crack. Which would result into less popularity and less interest of the WIPQ. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 03:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

I understand the point. I will go with whatever consensus is there between you and Ninney - or the bigger community, if additional comments are also received.

My viewpoint in this specific case is that I was expecting a "Connect" - which is primarily 7, but also I guess implied expectation of identifying what is the connect 7 with each of A, B, C, D and E. Also, as can be seen as my answer to Ninney, I had asked him complete F & G, only out of formality and in now way related to points (quote "Please go ahead and finish up F & G, though you get full points for finding the full connect" unquote). So, there is a misunderstanding on both Ninney's and your part, that I was expecting the connect for the clues to be answered correctly as well.

I also believe in bigger picture of contributing to Wikipedia, learning more about India and better participation over and above the points. I am leaving at that... VasuVR (talk, contribs) 04:18, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks VasuVR. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 06:45, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

No misunderstanding of any kind, my friend, Vasu VR. And thanks for clue no. 1, that clue helped to take a lead but before I could crack the quiz, Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) did it. The Q clearly asked for a CONNECT & with Clue no. 3 as Vasu suggested as a giveaway it all was crystal clear. I merely just provided the connections (Zero Efforts) & hence suggested that SuHit deserves full point & me none. Lets close these discussion now & Let SuHit proceed further. Thanks both of u. Cheers ! - Ninney (talk) 15:56, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

An Appeal

An appeal is made to all enthusiatic wiki quiz participants that pls always search and be ready with questions. Let it be continuous process. Hence, we will never observe the shortage of questions and keep alive the forum. --Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) (talk) 06:05, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Proposed changes in rules

Questions 18 and 20 have necessitated some changes to rules/guidelines. Quizzers who have been here long enough already know and follow the rules I propose to add. Nevertheless, it is necessary to make them explicit so that new participants have a better understanding of what PINQ is all about. I propose the following addition to Rules –

6. If a question remains unanswered for more than 10 days, any Wikipedian can replace the question with a simpler one.

This overlaps with Guideline 1. However, Guideline 1 isn't as forceful and doesn't give any wikipedian the right to replace the question.

And the following additions to Question guidelines –

2. Questioners should try to offer at least one hint every 2 days whether or not the question has been attempted.

This is in interest of keeping the quiz going. Most questioners usually give hints within a day; 2 days is only the outer limit.

3. Hints should not be tangential to the question asked, neither should they take the form of questions/riddles. The aim of giving a hint is to make it easier for participants to answer the question.

This is an obvious addition.

Please share your thoughts on the proposal. Regards. Amitrochates (talk) 22:35, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

Amitrochates if you are amending rules n regulations , its very gud, then plz also add that every day atleast 1 person should reply to the question or try to answer the question... That would make quiz very easy. This is my personal suggestion as I am observing that people reply or try the question after 3 days or 4 days....... Continuity should be there... -- Umesah86 Umesh 06:40, 4 May 2015 (UTC) .

Amitrochates one more thing to be added to rules n regulations that if somebody answers the question n if he's not asking next question, then he should have the right to answer the next question also. Bcz in the future i will answer the question but i wont ask the next question. -- Umesah86 Umesh 05:13, 5 May 2015 (UTC)..

"" Change is the law of nature"". I am feeling very privileged that bcz of my 2 questions old rules n regulations are being changed ..  :)Regards :) -- Umesah86Umesh 05:13, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Amitrochates , Jayaprakash.Samuel & Suresh Purohit (Su_hit) - Today is 7 may & still nobody changed the question or replied to the question or tried the question... Thats why I previously told " every day atleast 1 person should reply to the question or try to answer the question... ". rules should be neutral for both question asking person & answer seeking person.. This quiz should be a 2 way quiz not a one way. --- Umesah86Umesh 05:09, 7 May 2015 (UTC).

Amitrochates I agree with your suggestions. Probably we can expand the note on hints by saying , "hints or clues should narrow down the question or throw more light on the question rather than complicating it".--Jayaprakash.Samuel (talk) 07:48, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Umesah86 On your comment about mandating someone to attempt the answer everyday is not keeping up with the spirit of this QUIZ nor with that of Wikipedia. No one can be forced to answer or contribute here. The regulations on questions is to warrant more participation from everyone and to avoid stalemate as such in this case. Questioning is a duty but answering is a choice.Duties can be regulated , choices should not be.

If people lose interest in answering this quiz we can only think of ways to make it more interesting but not by mandating participation.

And your another remark that you will answer questions but not ask questions seems to again go against the spirit of this initiative. Please reconsider your decision.

--Jayaprakash.Samuel (talk) 07:48, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Umesah86 and Jayaprakash.Samuel, I have tried to incorporate both of your suggestions in this update to rules and guidelines. The only suggestion I left out was that everyday atleast one person should attempt the question because there was no consensus for its inclusion. Regards. Amitrochates (talk) 20:51, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

Proposal to suggest formatting of the questions

I request you all to add this clause to the Question_guidelines that

• If you are going to ask a question which involves stats and figures, then please don't quote exact numbers (say 36 chapters, 5660 verses, in the year 1987) as this will make it easy for Google to filter the answer. Instead give a close figure, like above 35 chapters, more than 5500 verses and in the late 80s. This is to prevent this Quiz forum to become a GoogleItOut forum.
• Try to use your own way of writing while asking a question and don't copy paste from other sites. This is to prevent this Quiz forum to become a GoogleItOut forum.

--Ritwik.m07 (talk) 15:56, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Ritwik.m0 your point is valid but it cannot be kept as a condition, it shall be left upto the user how he/she will ask the question. Because the core purpose of this portal is to keep the questions simpler in accordance with the view of general participates and to keep the quiz keep going on. One question which shall be easier for you shall be tough for some other person. (any way 36 chapters, 5660 verses are related to one of his work, and the answer was the author of that work but not the his work, so indirectly it was a hint to make the question easily solvable). We had faced some questions which were left unanswered almost for month and due to which most of the participants lost interest in answering quiz.

• May you point out the question which was exactly copy pasted.
• Are you saying that Google shall not be used to search the answer, if one does not know it ? :)--Omer123hussain (talk) 00:34, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

No it shouldn't be kept as a condition. That is why I wrote suggest formatting of the questions as the heading. My point is writing questions in your language will make people remember that fact/question longer than just merely copy pasting. But I never saw a copy pasted question (even in archived quizzes)so let this be a secondary point.
Primary concern is, the answer shouldn't be a click away. Googling is always allowed and nobody can forbid it, but if things come at an easy cost (like one simple search) it is less likely to be remembered for long time. We shouldn't transform it to an online treasure hunt, just give the googlers a tough time so that they understand the logic and story behind the question. In the meantime hints will be surely provided to make it a continuous process (even for googlers). --Ritwik.m07 (talk) 07:24, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Has this quiz ended!!

--Aryan ( है?) 12:08, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Seems just demoralized by a pathetic question.--Dwaipayan (talk) 15:50, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Let's start the next round

Akshay0327 (talk) 03:22, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

A suggestion

@Mjain11:@Ritwik.m07:@RegentsPark:@Umesah86:@Prasadnsr:@Aryan hindustan:@22sumit:@Dwaipayanc:@Rueben lys: Hi Greetings. I'm giving a suggestion to the quiz that before posting the answer the participants should ping the person who asked the question to trigger a notification to him. It will good for the smooth movement of the quiz.--PATH SLOPU ^(Talk) 02:57, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

@Path slopu: Okay --Ritwik.m07 (talk) 14:34, 7 August 2018 (UTC)

#24

Question 24

Akshay0327 (talk) 03:27, 21 November 2018 (UTC)