J! in the Media

[alietr]

I wonder what percentage of viewers even know who Yogesh and Troy are in the “quizzing community”. If I didn’t post here I wouldn’t.

Quite minimal at best.

[sarisson]

What exactly did Amy say that upset him?

I wouldn't say it upset him so much as he disagreed with some things she wrote here:
https://defector.com/how-i-got-smart
Anyway, the world needs more people like Yogesh. Here is someone who worked extremely hard to gain a level of knowledge even beyond Ken, James, or Brad, yet has undeservedly been banned from quiz events and denied countless other opportunities, including a PhD. This is someone you should want on your team, running your quizzing (don't call it "trivia") event, or teaching in your department. He knows just about everything about everything because he's worked at it, not because he has a "photographic memory" or was "privileged." Anyone who's been denied as many opportunities as he has is not privileged, to say the least.
TL;DR: I'm a fan, and everyone here should be, too. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you do have to listen to what he has to say.

[yclept]

I wonder what percentage of viewers even know who Yogesh and Troy are in the “quizzing community”. If I didn’t post here I wouldn’t.

The percentage is in the single digits - perhaps the low single digits. I don’t know any of the “quizzing community” contestants until they reveal they are (if they do)

[yclept]

Yogesh taking some heat in the press and social media:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/je ... -rcna67013
https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/7 ... -behavior/

Some pretty sour grapes level stuff by Yogesh, I must say.

He had dreams of a huge run and became humbled by a competition he thinks is beneath him.

[bengland]

...denied countless other opportunities, including a PhD.

How was he denied a PhD? I saw Yogesh mention this but he didn't go into details. I came very close to being denied a PhD from Berkeley, but that was entirely due to my shortcomings.

[Golf]

I wonder what percentage of viewers even know who Yogesh and Troy are in the “quizzing community”. If I didn’t post here I wouldn’t.

The percentage is in the single digits - perhaps the low single digits. I don’t know any of the “quizzing community” contestants until they reveal they are (if they do)

The percentage is well less than 1. Remember, the vast majority of viewers aren't quiz people, rather just regular folks who have no clue quizzing leagues are a thing. We here are the outliers, 99%+ watch just to watch.

Quizzing knowledge is just one component of a successful Jeopardy contestant. Also need buzzer timing, wagering theory, the ability to parse information quickly, being able to compete under the lights, etc. One can be a great quizzer and have none of these attributes.

[danspartan]

When did the “quizzing community” become a thing? Was Ken the first publicized?

[zakharov]

What exactly did Amy say that upset him?

I wouldn't say it upset him so much as he disagreed with some things she wrote here:
https://defector.com/how-i-got-smart
Anyway, the world needs more people like Yogesh. Here is someone who worked extremely hard to gain a level of knowledge even beyond Ken, James, or Brad, yet has undeservedly been banned from quiz events and denied countless other opportunities, including a PhD. This is someone you should want on your team, running your quizzing (don't call it "trivia") event, or teaching in your department. He knows just about everything about everything because he's worked at it, not because he has a "photographic memory" or was "privileged." Anyone who's been denied as many opportunities as he has is not privileged, to say the least.
TL;DR: I'm a fan, and everyone here should be, too. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you do have to listen to what he has to say.

If someone gets banned from "countless quiz events" I'm going to posit the theory that they might be the problem.

[Robert K S]

When did the “quizzing community” become a thing?

That's a bit akin to asking when the "internet" became a thing. Pretty hard to pin an exact year. More of an evolution than a revolution. Depends on what you define as the "community" and how you want to distinguish competition that was limited to entertainment (quiz shows on radio and TV) and extracurricular academia (quiz bowl) from the competition's evolution into various non-academic-affiliated circuits, leagues, pub quizzes, online competitions, convention-type gatherings, etc., that made it possible for connections and relationships to be made across different formats and for exceptional players to gain national (or international) reputations even if they had never appeared on a quiz show. Could be anywhere from the mid-1950s to the late 1990s or even the early to mid 2000s.

The famed Agnes Scott vs. Princeton College Bowl match was in 1966.
Testing Recall About Strange Happenings began in 1997.
LearnedLeague also started in 1997 but didn't have more than a handful of participants the first few years.

[jeff6286]

The Trivia Championships of North America began in 2011, and Learned League Live took place there, LL membership starts exploding from that point, and that may be the thing I would most pin to the growth of the current "quizzing community". Certainly there was the Jeopardy board before that and similarly WWTBAM board, hsquizbowl forums, and other various communities but LL kind of acts as an umbrella, I would say, bringing in Jeopardy fans, quiz bowl players, pub quiz players, etc.

The pandemic bringing formalized online quizzing to North America in fall 2020 is maybe a secondary jump point, opening up a bunch more ways to play for people who are unable or choose not to travel to any regional/national gatherings.

[OrchidEntity]

When did the “quizzing community” become a thing? Was Ken the first publicized?

Funnily enough, Ken wrote a book called Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs in 2006, and it's just as much about the history of trivia stuff as it is a memoir about his Jeopardy! run. There is some quiz bowl stuff as well. If you have time, I highly recommend giving the book a chance.

[Golf]

In the mid to late 1990's NTN/Buzztime trivia had 20k players during the big Tuesday night games. We had a huge yahoogroups that included members of at least 90% of the top teams. Also had various other groups for some of the other games. This served as a great conduit when players would travel they could plan meet ups with teams at other sites throughout the country.

[GaryG]

I wouldn't say it upset him so much as he disagreed with some things she wrote here:
https://defector.com/how-i-got-smart
Anyway, the world needs more people like Yogesh. Here is someone who worked extremely hard to gain a level of knowledge even beyond Ken, James, or Brad, yet has undeservedly been banned from quiz events and denied countless other opportunities, including a PhD. This is someone you should want on your team, running your quizzing (don't call it "trivia") event, or teaching in your department. He knows just about everything about everything because he's worked at it, not because he has a "photographic memory" or was "privileged." Anyone who's been denied as many opportunities as he has is not privileged, to say the least.
TL;DR: I'm a fan, and everyone here should be, too. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you do have to listen to what he has to say.

I literally can't tell if this is satire or a sincere comment.

[trainman]

[Robert K S]

A Friday challenger says he's put in the prep:

https://news.yahoo.com/mentally-visuali ... 20638.html

[threearruda]

A Friday challenger says he's put in the prep:

https://news.yahoo.com/mentally-visuali ... 20638.html

Never heard of him.

[MinnesotaMyron]

A Friday challenger says he's put in the prep:

https://news.yahoo.com/mentally-visuali ... 20638.html

Never heard of him.

What a world it would be if all Jeopardy Journalism was as relentlessly positive as this paragraph:

It’s been a good month for "Jeopardy!" and Vermont-connected contestants. Claire Theoret of Essex, a registrar at Burlington High School, finished in a strong third place in an episode that aired Jan. 3.

Retro good luck, Jake. I look forward to checking out your blog.

[morbeedo]

A Friday challenger says he's put in the prep:

https://news.yahoo.com/mentally-visuali ... 20638.html

Never heard of him.

!!ꓘƆU⅃ ᗡOOວ OЯTƎЯ¡¡

[OntarioQuizzer]

What a world it would be if all Jeopardy Journalism was as relentlessly positive as this paragraph:

It’s been a good month for "Jeopardy!" and Vermont-connected contestants. Claire Theoret of Essex, a registrar at Burlington High School, finished in a strong third place in an episode that aired Jan. 3.

To be fair, I would say $11k going into Final very much counts as "strong third place".

[squarekara]

Echoing the good luck wishes, threearruda!