@lehigh And this jingle STILL haunts my subconscious

You don’t understand! I coulda had a $5 meh gift certificate…I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.

@slipperyp I may need to cool it a bit. But when I can recognize everything on sight based on my cereal-eating days a latchkey kid, then bachelor, and now proud parent, plus recall the haunting jingle of Frui-ty Marsh-mallow Kris-pies, well, I had to do it.

@slipperyp Yep, I don’t want to be THAT person, but I’ll go ahead and say it anyway. There’s too many of the same people winning all of the time. Maybe it should be set up to allow only a monthly win instead of a weekly win.

Come on, let some of us sloooow people (or those of us who can’t hang out on this thread the minute it drops) win once in a while.

@Barney @slipperyp I’d be good with monthly – or even start with biweekly and see what happens. Not sure what’s more or less easy for @jasontoon to administer

@JasonToon @lehigh The people who hang out on this thread are pretty honest and can probably self-administer when they have won or not. And thanks @lehigh for not wanting to lynch me.

@Barney @JasonToon I think the goal of this is for it to be fun, and to get more people to participate. If I’m eligible and my lunch hour is open, I tend to be ‘on it’. Agree about self-administering (provided it’s enforced in some way – ironic, I know). I also like how Jason varies the posting times, which (I think) helps get more visitors.

@Barney Oh, thar’ll bee plentee time fer a hangin’ latr.

@lehigh I’m not entering because you’ve got this for sure!

@lehigh #2 is the only one I couldn’t identify, and I’ve never heard of it.
I googled it wondering if it was only sold somewhere outside the U.S., but nope… it’s an American cereal.
Weird, especially with that actual, non-cartoon man on the box.

BTW, you made a mistake on #2.
I won’t tell you what it is, just in case some crafty mehtizen wants to swoop in for the steal.

@lehigh You might want to double-check yourself on number 2…

@Limewater Thx.

1. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
2. King VitamAn
3. Crispix
4. Fruity Marshmallow Krisipes
5. Kix

@Barney This one’s still up for grabs if you’re willing to go for the steal.
There’s a spelling error which, since we’re talking brand names, I think should be taken into consideration.

edit: oops, too late. Lehigh ftw.

@DennisG2014 I’ve actually had it – like a less sweet Cap’n Crunch, as I recall (and less likely to cut the roof of your mouth!). Pretty good! Never realized until now that it wasn’t “Vitamin”.

@lehigh Weirdest cereal mascot I’ve ever seen.
Reminds me of The Wiz of Seinfeld fame.

@Barney I definitely understand what you’re saying, but not all of these have been as easy and quick to answer as today’s. It took me over 2 1/2 hours to answer yesterday’s.

@cinoclav I know some of them have been pretty hard and I don’t want to seem like a bad sport. I’m just trying to get it to where more people can/will participate.

On the other hand, I think 30 days may be too long to set for eligibility – Are there even that many people who play this?

I think I’ll vote for the 14 day limit.

@Barney @cinoclav Right, and I’m not sure if you didn’t do the research, if anybody would have gotten all five (though we’ve had people win for less than 5 correct). Limiting winning means you have to choose your spot, as it were – do you go for an easy one, or wait and strut your stuff on a more challenging one? Another idea would be something like: for one week after you win, you’re ineligible. For the second (and 3rd and 4th?) week after you win, you can only win if you’re the first to post the correct answer after midnight.

I do worry that if the frequency of ‘winning’ is once a month, we’ll lose some interest from the daily visitor side. On the other hand, since this started we’ve been playing with house money, because this thing is awesome and there’s no reason for it to exist except some folks being cool.

MEALS! DEALS! EELS! AWESOME!

@cinoclav @lehigh Hmm, now it’s getting complicated.

@DennisG2014 Funny, we were just talking about the Wiz from Seinfeld last night. Nobody beats the Wiz! That was Toby Huss, he’s a phenomenal actor.

@lehigh Funny thing is, when I saw today’s I said to my coworker that the day after I win one, it always seems to be an easier day. I knew all of today’s immediately. Had I actually been in the position to post my answers, it would have taken me longer to type the answers than it did to look at and name each one. Then again, I believe I mentioned before how much satisfaction I get in figuring out the really tough ones. Even if I’m not the first to do it, I try to answer them without looking at anyone else’s answers. I almost always whisper my answers to myself for posterity as I’m figuring them out. As for how often we can win, I don’t really want to change it. I’d just like to see more people get involved. It’s rather surprising that we don’t have more since so many people here go absolutely bonkers for a coupon code. I guess most don’t want to work for it.

@cinoclav The thing is, not everybody can get on the site at around 11-12 every day. And while it’s ‘only’ a $5 coupon, if people routinely come and see the answers posted, they may not come back. I think we had at least one new-ish winner this week, which is nice. But in the time I’ve been paying attention to this thread (2-3 months?) I think we’re much more likely to get repeat winners vs new ones. I could try to figure out how to scrape and post if I was really ambitious…

@cinoclav @lehigh @JasonToon should know to whom he has doled out “LOOKSMART” coupons. I usually have scant chance of guessing the answers so most of the time I don’t even try.

@slipperyp methinks someone doth protest too much. And may I say, I’m glad I never knew Fruity Marshmallow Krispies existed until now.

@cinoclav @lehigh I hit this thread everyday, and often try to work them out before reading the comments, but post time is 8 am here out west, and I’m usually at or just getting to work at that point, so have NEVER had the chance to try to win. I think there are others with the same situation which might contribute to the low participation. Also, as I often do field work, even if I’m at work I don’t have the logistics or time to plop down in the mud and grass with my iPad and figure out the day’s offering.

Maybe an evening trivia? Say, 9 EST/6PST?

@stolicat Don’t forget that @JasonToon is in Australia.

@cinoclav @JasonToon Thanks, I did not know that. So it would be about 1 in the afternoon in Australia - I see, if he has like a real job, it might be inconvenient.
Goodness, does that mean he posts these things at 3 am Aussie time?

@stolicat I’m assuming somewhere around 1 am for the most part. Such dedication to our ungratefulness!

@Mairsil I’m more than a little disappointed they didn’t use this one

@lehigh Once every 7 days (current rule)

@lehigh Once every 14 days

@lehigh Once per month

@lehigh Well, I’ve won twice and have stopped trying to win since it’ll probably take me a few years to find two items to buy…
So I’ll vote once per lifetime.

j/k I’ll go with the fortnight.

@lehigh
Four days, but every time you win beyond your first win, you get three days added to your wait time.
For example: A player who has won five times would have a wait time of 16 days, and a player who has won twice would have a wait time of seven days.

@eonfifty @lehigh

Four days, but every time you win beyond your first win, you get three days added to your wait time.
For example: A player who has won five times would have a wait time of 16 days, and a player who has won twice would have a wait time of seven days.

Except in “R” months, then the winner shall wait thricely. If the mean value of the winning post time shall exceed +/- 20 minutes, then the wait time shall be increased by a multiplier of the meh face button clicks as opposed to the altruism score of the lowest denominator. To achieve complete equilibrium, however, one must also factor in the join dates of the participants, bearing in mind that those who love the color purple and are named @Barney shall be the final arbitrator.

…yeah…pretty easy!

@eonfifty @lehigh @therealjrn

bearing in mind that those who love the color purple and are named @Barney shall be the final arbitrator.

And excluding those months @Barney turns into a werewolf.
/giphy I feel the power

@Barney @eonfifty @lehigh @therealjrn

OBEY

@therealjrn
My idea was for players to calculate their waiting periods themselves and participate in the quiz on the honor system, but your additions complicate the calculation sufficiently to justify implementing an official record keeping system.

@eonfifty Re: Honor System. I believe that idea is great in theory, but what about some that lack the restraint to post the answer even though they are not eligible?

We had that happen recently (I don’t remember who it was) but isn’t that like picking up your crosswords and finding somebody already wrote the answers?

If the idea is to increase participation, then poor @JasonToon should accept whispered answers, but no “system” is perfect…

@therealjrn
“@eonfifty Re: Honor System. I believe that idea is great in theory, but what about some that lack the restraint to post the answer even though they are not eligible?”

They’ll eventually get bored.

“We had that happen recently (I don’t remember who it was) but isn’t that like picking up your crosswords and finding somebody already wrote the answers?”

No?

“If the idea is to increase participation, then poor @JasonToon should accept whispered answers, but no “system” is perfect…”

That is a simple and effective solution.

/giphy simple effective solution

@eonfifty @JasonToon @therealjrn I think the community interaction to get the right answers is more fun than winning. It would be fine with me if there wasn’t a prize. I would still play but I’m not sure everyone would

@therealjrn I posted my answers (not necessarily guaranteeing THE answers) even though I wasn’t eligible to win. I did so after waiting for all the usual people to post their own answers. The nice thing was that it actually gave someone new the opportunity to win the coupon. Tbh, I’m not going to start calculating quantity and time of any wins here and wait to post answers based on that. In general I haven’t posted answers when I know them if I know I’m not eligible to win. There aren’t any rules about not posting if you’re not eligible. The problem here isn’t about the same people winning all the time, it’s about not having enough people getting involved. Hell, I’m sure there are plenty of people who have nothing better to do than hang out on meh, waiting for the new trivia. In the meantime, I’m actually at work and hopping on here in between patients and other work I’m doing. I don’t expect this whole Look Smart Trivia to go on forever. I’d actually be surprised if it’s around much longer. It’s obviously time consuming for @JasonToon to put together and it’s not fair to ask him to start dealing with whispers and calculating eligibility. If people want to win, they’ll simply have to check more often and try harder. This thread in itself has proven that quite a few people have plenty of time to waste, so it appears they also have the time to play along.

@cinoclav I don’t participate enough to really have a vote anyway–but boo on people that feel the need to show off by posting the answer when they aren’t eligible. In my view, the one that does that is not “helping” they are just showing off.

Agreed that making more work for @JasonToon is an untenable solution.

@therealjrn Regardless of eligibility, posting answers is everyone’s attempt to show off. It doesn’t mean any of us are actually correct.

@cinoclav The extra showing off bothers me more than it should…carry on.

@eonfifty Could you make the system more complicated please? Oh wait, you just did.

@cinoclav @JasonToon @therealjrn
That true. Even I won once

@Gypsigirl213
You’re welcome

@cinoclav @JasonToon Yeah, we know @eonfifty, you’re very special.

@jsh139 and that was because they renamed it from Super Sugar Crisp. What was wrong with the name saying what it was? Frosted Flakes-Corn Flakes made edible! Lucky Cha-yeah, not even going there. Super Golden Crisp and it’s partner, Sugar Smacks, renamed Golden Snacks lost both of their mascots in a horrible 'ludes incident.I

It was a really tough time as a cereal mascot unless you were the tiger, the leprechaun or the Cap’n, and even for the Cap’n, it was a rough decade. Well talk about Smedley after the break.

@jsh139 Would you feel right if you won because of a spelling error?

@Barney Absolutely

@jsh139 I’m glad I’m not you.

@Barney @jsh139 If it’s Vitamin vs Vitaman it’s not really a spelling mistake, more like a missed pun, but @lehigh fixed it first.

@jsh139 @lehigh @sammydog01 No, there is another spelling error.

@Barney Wow, that was a little harsh, no? Guess you missed my sarcasm.

@jsh139 But you placed an entry because of the error, didn’t you.

@Barney More of a question. And aren’t you one of the ones above complaining that the same people are winning all of the time? Time to take a step back, maybe. Come on. It’s a $5 coupon.

@Barney @jsh139 @lehigh I see- maybe even a typo. Jason won’t count that against lehigh.

@lehigh You spelled “Krispies” wrong. If they give me the $5 coupon because of an erroneous spelling error, I’ll gladly give it to you. I was just being a smartass.

@jsh139 @lehigh @sammydog01 I hope not.

@jsh139

I was just being a smartass.

And doing a damn fine job of it.

@Barney @jsh139 @lehigh @sammydog01 Alls fair in trivia. But the other guy had his correction in earlier anyway.

@Barney

@Barney Krisipes are my favorite!

Seriously though, minor spelling errors really don’t count here. If it was an error that spelled out a viable alternative answer, that’s a different story.

@cinoclav I’m not arguing against lehigh, but if it was a legit competition, I’d seriously argue that vitamin and vitaman are significantly different for a specific answer like that.

@Barney @cinoclav I had to re-read it like 5 times before catching my error. I was just trying to make sure I spelled Cinnamon correctly!

@jrwofuga Are you saying that vying for a $5 meh coupon isn’t a legit competition?! How dare you!

@cinoclav Yeah, I like the thrill of it, but the reward isn’t the main thing. I had a couple hundred dollars riding on whether “garcia” was the same as “beary garcia” before. There was much gnashing of teeth on that one.

@Barney @jrwofuga @jsh139 @lehigh @sammydog01 @cinoclav
IMUO (in my unsolicited opinion), King Vitamin would be a wrong answer, as the brand is VitamAn, Rice Krisipes is clearly a typo, if I were King TriviaMan, I’d allow it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@cinoclav I rest my case.

@Barney I’m really not meaning to toot my own horn here, but this is something I’m simply pretty good at. I have a strong ability to research and find answers. Friends and family always ask me to research prices, trips, products, etc. for them. I probably should have been some sort of detective. Of the few things in life I excel in, it just so happens one has landed me some mehpons.

@Barney @cinoclav What case is being rested? That cinoclav is really good at this?

@mehcuda67 You forgot the marshmallows.

@sammydog01 Good point. But Synthetic Fruit Styrofoam with Kardboard is a mouthful!

@jrwofuga So that would basically stop people from trying to win in the first 7 days in order to be able to win 3 times later that month.

@cinoclav Yep. I’d hold out of the first 7 days for sure. But there are going to be those who happily take a first-week win.

@jrwofuga I’d certainly like to see more people give it a go. Of course not at the expense of limiting the wins to once a month or something silly.

@cinoclav Well, with the first week thing, you’d guarantee you have at least 10 winners a month, but with possible low clicks for one week. If you go bi-weekly, you once again have a minimum of 10 winners, but now with two possible weeks of low clicks. . . idk.