Business Standard and Jaspreet Bindra are at it again. The latest strategist biz quiz (posted on August 30) is again a rip off of questions posted earlier in the quizzing groups. 9 out of 10 questions are verbatim copied from Quinkie this time. This happens after Quinkie moderator had already informed the Strategist Editor about the shameless copying. Yesterday Quinkie moderator and founder Murali posted a message to the Quinkie group, informing us all about what has happened and also asking for ideas.
Its sad to notice that a highly intellectual activity like quizzing is subjected to such treatment. The incompetence of many quiz masters and people like Mr. Bindra are the reason why people can not differentiate between a good quiz and a trivia test. People come back and say you are being elitist; quizzing is only about memory and cramming. And you know there are reasons for such thinking when a quiz master asks a question like “what was the stock price of fill-in-sponsors-name-here on fill-in-a-date”.
Unfortunately business quizzing (which is my favorite section) has been the biggest victim of sum of all of the above. It has been reduced to knowing NASDAQ tickers, expanding abbreviations, names of drinks, and recollection of lingerie and playboy center-spreads. Ditto with the entertainment sections of quizzes, at best you need to cram up the list of Academy Award winners or Filmfare winners of last few years. Gladly some sanity still remains in the Sports sections. Only the hardcore quizzers survive those sections. Music related quizzes have also maintained some dignity if you see the previous posts at Quiznet. The reasons as I see are that Sports and music still lie in domain of passion. Only the ultimate fanatics dare to ask questions, and only the real knowledgeable people respond to them. Any thing below standards is torn apart. While in business quizzing, every one who watches CNBC-TV18 or NDTV Profit believes he is good at business quizzing and has the right to be a quizmaster. Sheer incompetence and mediocrity is the reason why you see so many business quizzes and why you rarely hear about a music quiz, or a sports quiz.
It’s a fault on part of us quizzers also. We rarely raise our voice against the trash served in the name of quiz. There were times when quizzing used to be a test of a persons leaning ability, and logic. One was respected in quizzing circles because his current position in the circles was because of his assimilated knowledge and intelligence throughout his life. Above all else, it also used to be fun irrespective of the points you gather.
Here’s a link to a good post in two parts by Tadatmya Vaishnav- In defence of quizzing- I and In defence of quizzing- II