The obvious Traveller triva contest

[aramis]

Not if you do something like this: "If Joe had an apple and was given one more, how may does he now have?"

Sorry, a bot can't solve that.

If you have developed one that can, you will be rich.

Actually, some can. Most of the ones the spammers are using can't, but we can't afford the versions of the software for that kind of thing.

The Jeopardy challenge showed that heuristic algorithms are much further along than many realized at understanding natural speech/writing.. Siri is pretty good, too.

 

[HG_B]

Actually, some can.

Really? Which ones? . . .

 

[tjoneslo]

G
OTU related questions:

How many Major Races are in OTU? (7)

Name them, because I only know six: Aslan, Vargr, Humaniti, Droyne, K'Kree, Hiver

 

[rancke]

Name them, because I only know six: Aslan, Vargr, Humaniti, Droyne, K'Kree, Hiver

Or eight, counting Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani as separate races.

Or either five or seven, dropping Aslans from the list on formal grounds ("They don't fit the formal definition").


Hans

 

[tjoneslo]

Or eight, counting Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani as separate races.

If you're going to split them this way, we should include the Geonee in the list.

 

[rancke]

If you're going to split them this way, we should include the Geonee in the list.

Why? IIRC they didn't invent the jump drive, they copied it. And they don't have the redeeming feature of being powerful (Which suggests yet another controversy, namely dropping Droyne from the list because while they fulfil the formal definition, they're not actually of major importance).


Hans

 

[Vladika]

If you're going to split them this way, we should include the Geonee in the list.

I've no personal axe to grind but canon sources indicate that the Geonee did not independently invent jump drive.

Now the Geonee claim they did (copying their own prior invention) but they also claim to BE the Ancients! We know this isn't true, whatever they may honestly believe, so it naturally follows that if they did "copy" ANY other created drive they are NOT a major race.

(Kind of interesting that, whatever CotI board rules say, we have official canon racism in Traveller...)

 

[Frankymole]

Q. Traveller was created by Marc W....


A. Miller.



Doesn't come more obvious!

 

[PFVA63]

Hi,

As others have kind of noted, I think that trying to use "trivia' as a spam filter can potentially be dangerous because a) some of this trivia is not necessarily all that clear cut, b) some might not be known by all players (especially new ones just starting to play, or those only familiar with a single rules set), and c) there could potentially be more than one 'correct' answer depending on your interpretation.

To me, I'd hope that any spam filter put in place wouldn't be so cumbersome or difficult that it might drive off new and/or casual players who might not be experts to the level of knowing things like "when were the psionic suppressions" etc.

 

[rancke]

If the purpose is to discourage frivolous spams by unserious posters, I suggest that restricting editing to those who are logged in would serve better. I've occasionally wondered why anonymous people are allowed to edit.


Hans

 

[tjoneslo]

If the purpose is to discourage frivolous spams by unserious posters, I suggest that restricting editing to those who are logged in would serve better. I've occasionally wondered why anonymous people are allowed to edit.

The current problem isn't anonymous users or unserious ones. It is the serious spammers creating random accounts, then logging in and inserting their spam. So part of the purpose of the Captcha is to slow or prevent the spammers from creating these junk accounts. I have an Abuse Filter to stop inserting of the spam, but I need something to stop the account creation without annoying real users.

 

[CosmicGamer]

The current problem isn't anonymous users or unserious ones. It is the serious spammers creating random accounts, then logging in and inserting their spam. So part of the purpose of the Captcha is to slow or prevent the spammers from creating these junk accounts. I have an Abuse Filter to stop inserting of the spam, but I need something to stop the account creation without annoying real users.

Can you turn editing of the wiki on and off for users? Turned on only by request? Only provide it after so many forum posts and/or only after an account has been "authenticated", and/or after the account has been active for a certain length of time? The premise being to have time for spam accounts to be caught and dealt with before the wiki could get spammed.

I don't think new users would be too put off if they can't edit the wiki immediately as long as they can read it.

 

[Vladika]

The current problem isn't anonymous users or unserious ones. It is the serious spammers creating random accounts, then logging in and inserting their spam. So part of the purpose of the Captcha is to slow or prevent the spammers from creating these junk accounts. I have an Abuse Filter to stop inserting of the spam, but I need something to stop the account creation without annoying real users.

Captcha is fine when it works. Lately, and I have no idea why, I have not been able to respond to any Captcha boxes on any site. It's plying havoc with sites like eBay.

I'm sure that problem is my computer but I have no idea how to resolve it. Computers are not my field of expertise and I both applaud any envy those of you who manage to utilize them so effectively.

 

[tjoneslo]

Since this topic has drifted from my original, I'll post the set of questions (and answers) I currently am thinking of using.

• What year was Traveller first published? (1977)
• How many parsecs can the jump drive normally go? (six or 6)
• How long does a jump take? (1 week, one week or 168 hours)
• What size is a Type S Scout ship? (100 tons)
• What is the minimum tonnage needed for jump ships? (100)
• Which is the safe jump distance from a space body? (100 diameters)
• How many subsectors are in a Sector? (16 or sixteen)
• What was the capital of the First Imperium? (Vland)
• Which metal gives name to the Imperial Throne? (Iridium)
• What is the unit of money in Imperium (credit or crimp)
• Name one of the Major races (aslan, vargr, vilani, hiver, k'kree, zhodani, solomani, humaniti, dryone)

The last one got me thinking a little, but I'll need to review all the versions to see if this is correct, or if, like the major races question above there is more "correct" answers.

Name one of the six basic character careers (army, navy, marines, scouts, merchants, other)

 

[robject]

If providing the answer IN the question is permitted (of course NLP could detect this and randomly guess at an answer):

• Was Traveller first published in 1977 or 2007? (1977)
• How many parsecs can the jump-1 drive go? (one or 1)
• How many parsecs can the jump-2 drive go? (etc)
• How many parsecs can the jump-3 drive go? (etc)
• How many parsecs can the jump-4 drive go? (etc)
• How many parsecs can the jump-5 drive go? (etc)
• How many parsecs can the jump-6 drive go? (etc)
• Does Traveller have magic spells or psionics? (psionics)
• Does Traveller have vargr or orcs? (vargr)
• Does Traveller use hexmaps or venn diagrams? (hexmaps)

 

[Frankymole]

You could also ask to the Tech Level at which jump drive is available.

 

[tjoneslo]

If providing the answer IN the question is permitted (of course NLP could detect this and randomly guess at an answer):

It's against the recommended practices to include the answer in the question. Though it makes it easier to come up with the questions.

What is the distance jump drive jumps are measured in? (Parsecs)
What is the name of the ship issuing the mayday call on the cover of Traveller? (Beowulf)