To submit a temporary userquestion type:

/msg m-x !userquest (category) question::answer e.g. /msg m-x !userquest (General) How many months in ayear::12

More advanced people in #quiz can use regexp as well, type:

/msg m-x !userquest (category) question::answer::regexp e.g. /msg m-x !userquest (General) How many months in a year::12::(12|Twelve)

To cancel a temporary userquestion, type:

/msg m-x !usercancel If the userquestions have not been asked yet, but is in the queue of M-x, it will simply be dropped. If it has already been asked, it will be solved. Note that if the user has more than one question in the queue, the question that would be asked next will be cancelled (insert at the back, delete from the head).

To solve in case you make a mistake, type:

/msg m-x !usersolve

To give a tip to your userquestion, type:

/msg m-x !usertip <tip> The user can safely omit <tip> in which case a standard tip will be given

You do not have to add (Category) you could just type: /msg m-x !userquest question::answer, but it makes the question look a lot neater and its much better for the editors when it comes to adding them to permanent questions.

Note: When you write questions to submit the case does not matter as M-x is case insensitive.

A maximum of five userquestions can be asked at one time. Any more questions submitted and You will get a message asking you to try later when some of the questions have been asked.

The questions must be sensible and clean questions, any question that is submitted which is a ridiculous or lewd question will cause the person who submitted it to be warned/kicked/ignored and any further abuse of the !userquest will result in a ban.

All the questions submitted via the !userquest command are added to a file. The op's regularly read the !userquest file and if there are any really good questions submitted to the !userquest file they will be added to the Permanent Questions with the name of the user that provided them.

You can also submit permanent questions to a #quiz op, which will be checked and if they are approved will be included in M-x's database of questions and will be asked by M-x at a random time.

You need to know the layout before you submit any permanent questions. The layout is described below:

Compulsory Fields.

Question:

The question you would like to ask, e.g. Question: What group had a hit with…?

Answer:

The answer to your question. This is normally written as e.g., Answer: Bucks Fizz but if you enclose the answer in # you can add a comment which will be seen when M-x displays the solution but not seen during the hints, e.g. Answer: #Bucks Fizz#, A British Pop Group. Bucks Fizz will be seen in the hints and Bucks Fizz, A British Pop Group will be seen when M-x displays the solution.

Optional Fields

Category:

The category of the question e.g. Category: Music, this will be put in brackets when the question is asked by M-x).

Even though this is an optional field the editors urge users to add the Category: field to their questions as it make the question look a lot neater and helps the editors when it comes to adding the questions.

Regexp:

This is an advanced command and should not be attempted unless you fully understand the use of the command, A detailed description is down below.

Author:

Your nick that you are known as on #quiz, If you add this field you will get no points for that particular question if you should answer it in #quiz)

Level:

Here you would put either baby, easy, normal, hard or extreme, M-x will change its point value correspondingly, e.g. Level: baby)

Note: The Level: field is planned for future updates of M-x and is not yet implemented.

Comment:

A comment you would like to add about the question. This field is just for editors and the comments will not be seen in any game.

Score:

A point value you would like for that question, M-x will award that instead of the normal 1 point.

Tip:

M-x normally makes hints from the Answer: field but you can add your own if you want, e.g.:

Tip: Bu... Fi..
Tip: ..c.s ..zz
Tip: ...k. ....

M-x will add each hint to the next as they are given out e.g.:

Hine 1 - Bu... Fi..
Hine 2 - ..c.s ..zz
etc.

TipCycle:

This tell M-x the number of tips you want to give out, e.g. in the above tip example there are 5 hits so you would enter TipCycle: 5

The value of Tipcycle is taken for computation of automatic tips. If it's value is n, n tips will be generated. Whenever a user gives a usertip, it will be posted and inserted into the internal list of tips for the open question. The question will be solved automatically, if there are no more tips left in the internal tip list. So with tipcycle of 5 and 3 usertips, M-x will solve after the 8th tip.

Example Question

      Category: History
      Question: Chinese philosopher (um 500 v. Chr.) ?
      Answer: Konfuzius
      Regexp: [ck]onfu(ts|z)ius
      Author: anonymous
      Level: hard
      Comment: demo-entry
      Score: 5
      Tip: Kon......
      Tip: ...fuz...
      Tip: ......ius
      TipCycle: 3
        

Note: There must always be a space between the ':' and the entry e.g.:

Category: History

Category:History

    
      Category: Architecture
      Question: Which famous building was built by Shah Jehan ?
      Answer: Taj Mahal
      

    
      Category: Architecture
      Question: Which famous building was built by Shih Huang Ti ?
      Answer: Great Wall of China
      

    
      Category: Arts
      Question: Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel ?
      Answer: Michelangelo
      

    
      Category: Astronomy
      Question: What is the meaning of the name of the constellation Aquila ?
      Answer: Eagle
      

You do not really need to use any of the optional commands unless you really need to. If you are still unsure about any command please ask an op, they are there to help you.

Together we can make #quiz the best :)

This is a command that is exclusive to M-x :)

DO NOT use this command unless you fully understand it as it could ruin your question and cause high embarrassment in #quiz if you get it wrong.

RegExp should only be used on questions that need it and only if you have got to grips with it.

It is used on questions that have more than one answer or have an answer that can be written in several ways.

Here are the main ways of using regexp, there are more advanced formulas but just the main basic ones will be described here.

Brackets And Line ( | )

Brackets in the regexp entry with a |, is to allow M-x to choose between several answers, this is used mostly for numerical answers that can also be worded. Answers that contain several solutions can also be used with this regexp command.

e.g.

Answer: Four

Regexp: (Four|4)

e.g.

Answer: Saint Cecilia

Regexp: (Saint|St.|St) Cecila

In case of answer's like this then you could add a regexp line so that if someone types in a number instead of The word, M-x will still understand it. This will tell M-x to accept 4 or four as the answer. The brackets are needed around the 4|four in this case otherwise M-x will ignore the regexp.

In the answer containing Saint Cecilia, M-x will recognise all versions of saint entered in the regexp.

Brackets With A Question Mark ()?

This is used for an optional answer and not an answer with multiple solutions e.g.

Answer: John Lennon

Regexp: John (Winston )?Lennon

In this case you might want someone to be correct if they enter John Winston Lennon or just John Lennon. Enclose the Optional answer in () followed by ?.

Notice no space in between ? and Lennon. This is why I said you need to know what you are doing. If you was to put

Regexp: John (Winston )? Lennon,

It would be wrong as M-x would only then accept John Winston Lennon with two spaces in between Winston and Lennon as the answer. In the correct Regexp there is already a space in the brackets after Winston and before the close bracket so that if someone typed John Lennon or John Winston Lennon it would be correct.

Question Mark On Its Own ?

This is used for an optional letter in an answer e.g.

Answer: Dog's

Regexp: Dog'?s

M-x would accept both dogs and dog's as the answer. ? tells M-x that the character to the left of it is an optional character.

Square Brackets []

If you have an answer that can be spelled two ways you can use regexp to accept both spellings e.g.

Answer: Konfucius

Regexp: [KC]onfucius

This would accept both Konfucius and Confucius. Ok I know there are other spellings of Confucius But this is just an example.

It should be stated that case is not significant, so there is no need for a [kKcC]onfuzius. In fact in regexp and in the answer all letters can safely be lowercase (though a 'cased' answer will look much better).

One thing. You do not need to add Regexp: to the !userquest command when asking temporary questions only the regexp itself e.g.

/msg m-x !userquest (General) How many months in a year::12::(12|Twelve)