nglasser@yale-comix.UUCP (Nathan Glasser) (04/09/84)
I think the idea of the posting the Star Trek quiz questions has some good points and some bad points. A good point is that it could get people thinking more about Star Trek, and you can see how well people on the net really do at Trek trivia. The problems are basically in terms of where we get the answers from. Since the participants on the net are obviously not in an environment where they must think a few moments and then give an answer, this can lead to problems. For example, if you ask a question about whatever, I can go home and look it up in a book, or watch the episode on tv, or ask others, or other possibilities as well. Even if you assume that everybody would participate honestly, what if we've seen the book before? In fact a friend of mine was recently (1-2 weeks ago) asking me lots of questions from a couple of Star Trek trivia books he has, including the book you mentioned (The Star Trek Quiz Book). So even if I don't use any resources other than my own memory to try to answer your questions, I may have an unfair advantage over other people. And it is quite possible that others on the net have the book and have already gone through it. If you want to devise questions of your own to ask on the net, that would pose much less of a problem. I am not against your going ahead as you planned, but you can see why you might want to alter your plan somewhat. - Nathan Glasser ..decvax!yale-comix!nglasser