--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, matt979 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> 0. The more recent your content is, the more you have to worry about
> shelf life. A well-written pack (either trash or academic) should
> still be about as playable two years from now as now.
Isn't this just a matter of taste? Using your own metaphor of "shelf
life", it makes as much sense to say that a well-prepared meal should
still be about as edible a week from now as now. Your zeroth point
may be good advice for an NAQT writer, since NAQT recycles its
questions, or for an ACF writer, since the ACF philosophy (I think) is
that questions should be about things of value proven by the test of
time, and should be equally playable 20 years from now. But for other
formats, if _Friends_, for example, is a legitimate topic, then why
not ask about some minor thing that happened in the previous week's
episode? It'll be fresh in the minds of those players who are regular
viewers. I've always thought it would be impressive if, in the finals
of a tournament, there was a question about some big news event of the
same day that occurred after the tournament began -- thus rewarding
the serious news junkie who had taken a break to listen to the radio
or check the Web.