So You’re Now a Question Workshop (QW) Contributor…
Welcome to Question Workshop! Whether you are a recognized Question Workshop contributor (i.e. Voiced in the QW sub-room), or you’re still working on your 12-question audition to become a contributor, here’s what you need to know about making good questions for Trivia!
What do we look for in questions?
Here are some guidelines to ensure you make an acceptable question. Click on each tab to understand our guidelines in detail!
Be objective.
Wrong: This is the worst Mega Evolution.
Some people may think the worst Mega is Audino because it’s the least used, some people may think the answer is Mega Sableye, because it has the lowest BST.
Write using proper grammar.
The standard for Trivia is American English, which is slightly different from British English. Refer to this link for spelling: http://www.tysto.com/uk-us-spelling-list.html
Punctuation goes before quotation marks.
Wrong: This person said, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”.
Correct: This person said, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
(If you make a spelling or grammar mistake when submitting a question, don’t sweat it! Just resubmit the question with the appropriate fix(es). Staff will see both submissions and will only accept the correct one.)
Be clear and concise.
Long questions are difficult to read quickly, and in turn answer quickly. Questions should not be more than 1 line long.
Format your question as a statement.
Do not use question marks.
Write in complete sentences.
Wrong: Fastest Fire-type Pokemon.
Correct: This is the fastest Fire-type Pokemon.
Pokemon question wording…
For Pokemon questions, word your question according to Smogon’s spelling and grammar standards. Please refer to this link if you are unsure: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spelling-and-grammar-standards.3588427/
Give context.
Make sure the topic you are asking about is specified in the question!
Wrong: This character killed Tamao in the first chapter.
First chapter of what? Which book / game / show is this referring to? Just because you include a character name does not mean the context is clear!
Correct: This character killed Tamao in the first chapter of Keikei’s Magical Dream Paradise.
Do not insert flavor text.
Flavor text is unnecessary, and will only hinder players’ reading of the question.
Wrong: This very powerful fire-type attack has been TM50 ever since Ruby and Sapphire, and is handed to players skilled enough to defeat Flannery.
Correct: This fire-type attack has been TM50 since Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, and is awarded to those who defeat Flannery.
Do not refer to PS! users in the question.
Some people may not know the user the question refers to, giving an unfair advantage to those who do.
Do not submit ridiculous questions.
A player should not need to know multiple parameters to the question to be able to answer.
Wrong: This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards.
The player has to know Academy Awards, has to know which year the 64th Academy Awards took place in and the movies that came out that year.
Do not submit vague or ambiguous questions.
There must be as little misunderstanding or misinterpretation as possible.
Wrong: This was the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh.
Birthplace is not specific enough. Zundert, The Netherlands, or even the hospital he was born in could all be accepted! Be specific.
Correct: Vincent van Gogh was born in this country.
Do not submit obscure questions.
Not everyone is an expert in every topic, so try to submit questions that are simple enough for most people to get. While it is okay for some questions to be slightly more difficult than others, they should still be answerable by someone with basic knowledge of the topic.
Wrong: This champion in League of Legends has an attack growth per level stat of pi.
While it is not expected that every person will know about every topic, even players of League of Legends are highly unlikely to commit specific stat growth numbers to memory.
Try: This League of Legends champion is a purple-haired girl with an enchanted teddy bear.
Anybody who plays League of Legends would know the answer to this, and even those who do not play may be familiar with such an iconic character.
Wrong: This regulatory sphingolipid synthesis effector protein is hypophosphorylated in the presence of excess amounts of ceramide.
This is a tremendously obscure question, only likely to be known by a small subset of post-graduate level biochemists.
Try: This structure, present in all cells, serves as the barrier between the inside and outside of the cell.
Essentially anybody who remembers basic high school biology will be able to answer this!
Before submitting a question…
Before submitting a question, please use /trivia search qs to check if similar questions are already in the database. Note that this is NOT case sensitive! The example below will return the same results:
/trivia search qs, State
vs
/trivia search qs, state
If you want your search to be case sensitive, use the /trivia casesensitivesearch command.
Do not format titles.
This includes quotation marks, italics, etc.
Wrong: This person directed “Star Wars.”
Correct: This person directed Star Wars.
Submit your question in the correct category.
Arts & Entertainment: Pop culture, fine arts, sports, movies, literature, video games, theatre
Science & Geography: Biology, cities, capitals, chemistry, space/astronomy, bodies of water, physics, other scientific fields
Society & Humanities: History, politics, religion, social sciences, economics, business, government, philosophy, food/drink
Note: If you doubt the correct category questions should be in, please post in chat. Feel free to highlight a staff member.
Okay, but which answers are appropriate?
Now that you’ve formed your question, you have to know which answers to accept. Here’s a guide as to which answers you should accept and which ones you shouldn’t:
1. Answers must not be/contain…
Articles (a, an, the) before an answer, except when the article in question is part of the answer (A Raisin In The Sun; The Philippines).
Obscure middle/formal names that nobody will actually use, although it’s permissible if people do use it commonly.
2. Even though American English is used in questions, both American and British spellings of answers should be accepted.
3. Other requirements/tips/reminders:
Do not accent the e in Pokemon; leave it unaccented.
Do not submit joke or troll questions; these will certainly be rejected.
We aim for a balance of easy, medium, and hard in all four categories. We don’t want the deck stacked in any particular direction.
The ROs have the final say in what is obscure.
Formatting doesn’t matter in answers. Spaces, punctuation, and capitalization aren’t considered for answers.
To see which answers should be accepted for questions asking for countries, see this document.
Alright, I got voice. What now?
First off, congratulations. Now onto the important stuff.
The first step is to categorize your questions into our four utilized categories if you haven’t already. These four categories are Pokemon, Arts and Entertainment (abbreviated as ae when submitting), Science and Geography (sg), and Society and Humanities (sh). If you’re unsure which category your question fits into feel free to ask for opinions from staff or other contributors.
Now that you have done that, you can finally submit questions using the command **/trivia submit [category] | [question] | [answer1], [answer2] ... [answer]**.
Banned Question Types:
Capital City questions.
Pokemon category name questions.
Questions asking for an answer that changes predictably and often.
Copied questions from an external website. DO NOT EVER DO THIS.
Question Workshop Submission Contest:
This special Question Workshop event is a competition to see who can submit the most questions in a specified amount of time. These contests will often have a theme associated with them giving emphasis to certain categories or types of questions. Winning a contest will give you many prizes, such as a nomination for Question Workshop Driver and a permanent record here on the website.
Question Workshop Submission Contest Winners:
QWSC #1 (SG/SH): Conics
QWSC #2 (SG/SH): Beedrill-Mega
QWSC #3 (AE/SG/SH): Magic ☭ Communist
QWSC #4 (Topics): Monoples
If you have any questions about questions, contact any of the staff in the Question Workshop. We’re happy to help!