Prompt - Revision history

Matt Weiner: /* Examples */

2025-12-05T15:00:45Z

Examples

Kevin Wang: /* Practical */

2025-08-04T15:26:21Z

Practical

Kevin Wang: /* History */

2025-08-04T15:24:21Z

History

Kevin Wang: /* History */

2023-07-18T04:08:10Z

History

Kevin Wang: /* History */

2023-07-18T04:07:25Z

History

Kevin Wang: /* History */

2022-08-18T13:46:20Z

History

Matt Weiner at 02:30, 18 August 2022

2022-08-18T02:30:11Z

Matt Weiner: /* History */

2022-08-18T02:24:00Z

History

Kevin Wang: /* History */

2022-08-17T21:58:32Z

History

Kevin Wang: /* Examples */

2022-08-17T21:57:59Z

Examples

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 {{qq|ANSWER: <u>'''polar bear'''</u>s [or <u>'''''Ursus maritimus'''''</u>; prompt on <u>bear</u>s]}}
-The standard formatting for answers which can be prompted is underlining, though in older sets it is possible to find alternative formats.
+NAQT sets use quotation marks around complete promptable answers, with the non-required part of the promptable answer set off in parentheses.  Around 2016, it became standard in ACF and housewrite sets to use non-bold underlining to indicate the minimum part of a promptable answer necessary to trigger a prompt.  Prior to 2016, prompts had no standard format in non-NAQT sets and often did nothing at all to indicate which part of the "prompt on" answer actually needed to be said in order to be promptable as opposed to just wrong.
 Answers which are insufficiently specific to uniquely identify a single person are typically prompted on - for instance, if multiple people in a field share a [[surname]] or if it is a monarch with a regnal number. Many of these cases are explicitly included in acceptability guidelines (like [[ACF]] gameplay rule G.3A regarding regnal numbers) and do not often receive instructions in the answerline.

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 |A moderator may prompt for a clarified response in three cases:
 :a. If a player gives an answer that {{highlight|could be interpreted as compatible with the clues that have been read (in the case of a tossup) or with the entire part (in the case of a bonus), but which is ambiguous}}, the moderator will prompt by saying something like “more information, please” (e.g., a player says '''Roosevelt''', and the answer sought is '''<u>E</u>leanor <u>Roosevelt</u>''').
-:b. If a player gives an answer that is compatible with the clues that have been read (in the case of a tossup) or with the entire part (in the case of a bonus), but which is too general or too specific to be considered precise, the moderator may also prompt. For example, a question beginning, “During World War II, the primary target of the Blitz was…” may have the moderator prompt on responses of '''United Kingdom''' or '''England''' if it is looking for '''London'''. Some responses may be too general to warrant prompting (e.g., a response of <span style="color:red">'''Northern Hemisphere'''</span> for a question beginning, “This region is home to the Yenets people, and it…”).
+:b. If a player gives an answer that {{highlight|is compatible with the clues that have been read (in the case of a tossup) or with the entire part (in the case of a bonus), but which is too general or too specific to be considered precise,}} the moderator may also prompt. For example, a question beginning, “During World War II, the primary target of the Blitz was…” may have the moderator prompt on responses of '''United Kingdom''' or '''England''' if it is looking for '''London'''. Some responses may be too general to warrant prompting (e.g., a response of <span style="color:red">'''Northern Hemisphere'''</span> for a question beginning, “This region is home to the Yenets people, and it…”).
 :-rule I.3a/b
 |}

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 The '''antiprompt''' is a development which supposedly indicates that an answer was ''too specific'', rather than not specific enough. This was introduced in 2011 and peaked in popularity in 2015. The notion that a prompt is equivalent to "asking for a more specific answer" in all cases is no longer current, and "prompts" in 2022 effectively just mean "ask the player who gave a particular answer that's somewhere between right and wrong to give the actual correct answer." Therefore, there is no meaningful distinction between "prompt" and "antiprompt" as both reduce to just asking for a different, related answer. Combined with the fact that "prompt" is a universal and intuitive instruction (e.g., even once-a-year moderators at local high school leagues understand what it means) whereas "antiprompts" have to effectively be "directed prompts" to be used, the use of "antiprompt" has almost entirely fallen out of favor.
-The '''directed prompt''' was introduced recently<sup>[when?]</sup> and embeds an instructions to be provided to the prompted player.
+The '''directed prompt''' was introduced recently<sup>[when?]</sup> and embeds an instruction to be provided to the prompted player.
 {{-}}

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 {{Left quote box|{{qq|ANSWER: '''<u>2022</u>''' FIFA '''<u>World Cup</u>''' stadia in '''<u>Qatar</u>''' [prompt on soccer stadium, accept any answer line which includes both "world cup" and any other underlined portion, prompt for “world cup” unless an answer mentioned all three of '''<u>FIFA 2022 Qatar</u>''' stadia]|cite=[[2015 Chicago Open]] - Round 2, Tossup 17}}}}
-In the intervening decades, there was relatively little change in how prompts looked. Technological shifts around the turn of the century eventually allowed the use of bold text, which are now featured prominently in [[power]]s and in answerlines. The choice to use boldface for prompts, however, remained inconsistent - while it was now accepted that they ''could'' be bolded, whether they were was up to the editor a particular set.
+In the intervening decades, there was relatively little change in how prompts looked. Technological shifts around the turn of the century eventually allowed the use of bold text, which are now featured prominently in [[power]]s and in answerlines. The choice to use boldface for prompts, however, remained inconsistent - while it was now accepted that they ''could'' be bolded, whether they were was up to the editors of a particular set.
 There have been no comprehensive surveys on the frequency of prompt instructions over time, but a cursory glance at packets from the turn of the century indicates a near complete absence - compare this with modern questions, where they appear in maybe a quarter of answerlines. Usage varies significantly between subjects, with particular topics much denser in prompts than others.

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 ==History==
 {{Right quote box|{{qq|Answer: Spirit of Ecstasy (accept Spirit of Speed; prompt on "flying lady")|cite=1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open - Tennessee}}}}
-Prompts have existed for a very long time, but not forever. The concept began to appear in packets by at least the end of the 80's, with the University of Tennessee leading the way: the first usage of the phrase "prompt" in an answerline on the [[archive]] comes in the Tennessee packet of the 1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open and the 1989 [[Tennessee]] Masters tournament features the equivalent construction "(if national banks given, ask for more information)" in a question on <u>Banks of the United States</u>. During this time period, prompts were often given the same underlining as the answer (if they were formatted at all) - bolding was not used there (or anywhere) because packets were written on typewriters which incapable of embedding bolded text.<ref>Bold and italic fonts are different typefaces - though the character shapes are reminiscent of those of the regular font, they are still different. Though invisible on modern text editors, the process of switching between boldface and regular text on a typewriter involved switching the typewheel or typeball, as well as owning a typewriter capable of such a change.</ref> As with other formatting decisions during the period before widespread adoption of Microsoft Word, many of the specifics vary wildly from year to year, tournament to tournament, and even packet to packet based on who was writing.
+Prompts have existed for a very long time, but not forever. The concept began to appear in packets by at least the end of the 80's, with the University of Tennessee leading the way: the first usage of the phrase "prompt" in an answerline on the [[archive]] comes in the Tennessee packet of the 1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open and the 1989 [[Tennessee]] Masters tournament features the equivalent construction {{q|(if national banks given, ask for more information)}} in a question on {{q|<u>Banks of the United States</u>}}. During this time period, prompts were often given the same underlining as the answer (if they were formatted at all) - bolding was not used there (or anywhere) because packets were written on typewriters which were incapable of embedding bolded text.<ref>Bold and italic fonts are different typefaces - though the character shapes are reminiscent of those of the regular font, they are still different. Though invisible on modern text editors, the process of switching between boldface and regular text on a typewriter involved switching the typewheel or typeball, as well as owning a typewriter capable of such a change.</ref> As with other formatting decisions during the period before widespread adoption of Microsoft Word, many of the specifics vary wildly from year to year, tournament to tournament, and even packet to packet based on who was writing.
 {{Left quote box|{{qq|ANSWER: '''<u>2022</u>''' FIFA '''<u>World Cup</u>''' stadia in '''<u>Qatar</u>''' [prompt on soccer stadium, accept any answer line which includes both "world cup" and any other underlined portion, prompt for “world cup” unless an answer mentioned all three of '''<u>FIFA 2022 Qatar</u>''' stadia]|cite=[[2015 Chicago Open]] - Round 2, Tossup 17}}}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:30, 18 August 2022
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	The set of answers which warrant a prompt is enumerated in the [[answerline]] alongside the acceptable answers. Under strict readings of the rules, no answers other than those written down should be prompted on; moderators will occasionally use their [[moderator discretion\|discretion]] to determine that an answer should be prompted on or accepted, but this is to be avoided.		The set of answers which warrant a prompt is enumerated in the [[answerline]] alongside the acceptable answers. Under strict readings of the rules, no answers other than those written down should be prompted on; moderators will occasionally use their [[moderator discretion\|discretion]] to determine that an answer should be prompted on or accepted, but this is to be avoided.
		+
		+	The general use of "prompt" to mean "ask a player for a different, related answer instead of ruling them right or wrong" is common in ''Jeopardy!'' discourse and may exist in other non-quizbowl trivia formats as well. As a result of this universal understanding of its meaning, even packets designed for casual use by non "quizbowl insiders" will generally just use the term "prompt on" rather than spelling out "ask the player for a more specific answer" or similar.

	==Examples==		==Examples==

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 In recent sets, almost all prompts now use this format.
-The '''antiprompt''' is a recent<sup>[when?]</sup> development which indicates that an answer was ''too specific'', rather than not specific enough.
+The '''antiprompt''' is a development which supposedly indicates that an answer was ''too specific'', rather than not specific enough. This was introduced in 2011 and peaked in popularity in 2015. The notion that a prompt is equivalent to "asking for a more specific answer" in all cases is no longer current, and "prompts" in 2022 effectively just mean "ask the player who gave a particular answer that's somewhere between right and wrong to give the actual correct answer." Therefore, there is no meaningful distinction between "prompt" and "antiprompt" as both reduce to just asking for a different, related answer. Combined with the fact that "prompt" is a universal and intuitive instruction (e.g., even once-a-year moderators at local high school leagues understand what it means) whereas "antiprompts" have to effectively be "directed prompts" to be used, the use of "antiprompt" has almost entirely fallen out of favor.
 The '''directed prompt''' was introduced recently<sup>[when?]</sup> and embeds an instructions to be provided to the prompted player.

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 ==History==
 {{Right quote box|{{qq|Answer: Spirit of Ecstasy (accept Spirit of Speed; prompt on "flying lady")|cite=1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open - Tennessee}}}}
-Prompts have existed for a very long time, but not forever. By the end of the 80's the concept begins to appear in packets, with the University of Tennessee leading the way: the first usage of the phrase "prompt" in an answerline on the [[archive]] comes in the Tennessee packet of the 1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open and the 1989 [[Tennessee]] Masters tournament features the equivalent construction "(if national banks given, ask for more information)" in a question on <u>Banks of the United States</u>. During this time period, prompts were often given the same underlining as the answer (if they were formatted at all) - bolding was not used there (or anywhere) because packets were written on typewriters which incapable of embedding bolded text.<ref>Bold and italic fonts are different typefaces - though the character shapes are reminiscent of those of the regular font, they are still different. Though invisible on modern text editors, the process of switching between boldface and regular text on a typewriter involved switching the typewheel or typeball, as well as owning a typewriter capable of such a change.</ref> As with other formatting decisions during the period before widespread adoption of Microsoft Word, many of the specifics vary wildly from year to year, tournament to tournament, and even packet to packet based on who was writing.
+Prompts have existed for a very long time, but not forever. The concept began to appear in packets by at least the end of the 80's, with the University of Tennessee leading the way: the first usage of the phrase "prompt" in an answerline on the [[archive]] comes in the Tennessee packet of the 1989 [[Georgia Tech]] US Open and the 1989 [[Tennessee]] Masters tournament features the equivalent construction "(if national banks given, ask for more information)" in a question on <u>Banks of the United States</u>. During this time period, prompts were often given the same underlining as the answer (if they were formatted at all) - bolding was not used there (or anywhere) because packets were written on typewriters which incapable of embedding bolded text.<ref>Bold and italic fonts are different typefaces - though the character shapes are reminiscent of those of the regular font, they are still different. Though invisible on modern text editors, the process of switching between boldface and regular text on a typewriter involved switching the typewheel or typeball, as well as owning a typewriter capable of such a change.</ref> As with other formatting decisions during the period before widespread adoption of Microsoft Word, many of the specifics vary wildly from year to year, tournament to tournament, and even packet to packet based on who was writing.
 {{Left quote box|{{qq|ANSWER: '''<u>2022</u>''' FIFA '''<u>World Cup</u>''' stadia in '''<u>Qatar</u>''' [prompt on soccer stadium, accept any answer line which includes both "world cup" and any other underlined portion, prompt for “world cup” unless an answer mentioned all three of '''<u>FIFA 2022 Qatar</u>''' stadia]|cite=[[2015 Chicago Open]] - Round 2, Tossup 17}}}}
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 {{-}}
 ==Applications==
 ===Theoretical===