Talk:QI

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the QI article.
Article policies
Good article QI has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.

Contents

[edit] Roy Cheats

On the BBC Four episode shown tonight (with Rory McGrath, Sean Lock and Jimmy Carr). Rory McGrath's performance was stunning. A great episode, but I'm reminded of that fact that Rory used to cheat on They Think It's All Over. Jooler 22:33, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

John Lloyd, the producer of QI, writes: "Whatever Rory's habit may or may not be on They Think It's All Over he wasn't cheating on that edition of QI, (or indeed on his second, subsequent appearance) and it is completely unfair to suggest that he was. The research team, the audience and Stephen Fry were all completely astounded by his erudition and powers of memory. No research had been done by anyone at QI that week on either the Latin names of birds (cormorants aside) or on atomic numbers, so there was nothing for Rory to cheat from, even had he been so minded, or had we wanted to allow him to". - anon

I'm sure the researchers (elves) for QI must consult Wikipedia. There seem to be a lot of references to things I've written/read about here. Jooler 23:38, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

Just do a search for "Wikipedia" on the QI forums, where the elves can be found. violet/riga (t) 23:05, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

(Spoilers) Related to cheating, in episode 1 of the E series (at the recording on Thursday 10th May) Alan correctly answered that termites are the world's largest natural source of methane (cows was a klaxon). He then revealed that John Lloyd (who he refered to as the "producer") had given him the answer when they were having a meal together (Jo Brand was also present) before the show. It was assumed that this was a mistake on behalf of John Lloyd. I don't know if this will make the final edit but his points were included in the final scores. Grizzlyqi 14:35, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Errors and stuff

One episode claimed that Corby is the biggest town in Europe without a railway station. But apparently it's actually Gosport. And I'm also told that Corby once had a station but it closed down. Does this mean that:

  • QI got something wrong?
  • Gosport still has a defunct station, whereas Corby's was demolished altogether?

And I guess there's method in the madness of penalising the answer of "two" for the number of moons Earth has - the point was to catch out those who remember that answer being given before, as well as those who think "one's too obvious, let's try the next number up". But we ought to have a reference on these other two moons. -- Smjg 15:34, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

They seem to have started penalising not only for "obvious but wrong" answers, but also for "obvious and correct" answers. Alan Davies was penalised for saying that the Ford Model T was black, which most of them were. Not all of them, true, but he was certainly not wrong in his answer. The QI researchers also seem to have assumed that because carrots don't particularly help you see in the dark, "Cats Eyes" Cunningham could not possibly have eaten them for his supper. This is a sub-schoolboy error. --Bonalaw 17:17, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
I believe that the second of Smjg's assertions is correct, thus making QI correct. As for the Ford Model T, I'm trying to remember the exact wording but I think it was along the lines of "In what colour was the first Ford Model T made?" as opposed to asking what colour they were available in. I can't recall the Cats Eyes discussion well enough to reply to that one. violet/riga (t) 19:21, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
I remember the exact words for this question (because i am very very sad) it is "What colour was the model t ford?" David Cat

Did they get something wrong again last week with what Cinderella's slippers are made of? -- Smjg 11:56, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Partly, yes. To quote http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/qi/abitmore/ (which will change shortly)
In this week's show Clive Anderson suggested that Cinderella's glass slipper is the result of a mistranslation from the French word 'vair', which means 'fur' (as opposed to 'verre', which is glass. Although Stephen accepts this answer, it isn't quite right.
You might be interested to note the fact that this page frequently refers links to Wikipedia. violet/riga (t) 12:01, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
I wonder if they read talk pages. In the event that they do: the "Lord Pembroke" business was wrong, chaps. Sorry. Proteus (Talk) 21:44, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I was watching a repeat on UKTV on the 13/07/06 and Stephen Fry stated that "Albania is the poorest country in Europe." This is incorrect, as Moldova is in fact, the poorest country in Europe in terms of GDP per capita. Credit goes to my good friend Paul "Slayer" Cunningham for that one. Colossus 86 20:05, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps Moldova is the poorest country in terms of GDP per capita but Albania is the poorest by other measures. It should've been more specific though, I agree. violet/riga (t) 20:10, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Cruithne cannot be counted as earth's second moon, as it in fact orbits the sun, just slightly behind the earth, not in orbit around earth as Fry and Davies describe.

On the main Wikipedia page, the text "Alan appeared to [break a glass with his voice], but Doon Mackichan revealed that he had used a wire, as it is impossible to do." This was actually achieved on the american show Mythbusters, where a singer broke a glass with his voice, without the use of any amplification.

I'm sorry, but fry actually stated that it's nearly impossible to do-GeorgeFormby1

I believe that Steven Fry stated that cats have a bone in their penis which I have ben told is incorrect and can find no evidence for. Shouldn't errors be included in the main article?

Ah, but they do have a bone in their penises. Fribbler (talk) 20:16, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] list of topics

Does anyone think it might be "quite interesting" to put a list of the topics covered in each episode with an link the approropritate Wikipedia article. I'm thinking of subjects like Douglas "wrong way" Corrigan, Mike the Headless Chicken etc.. Jooler

List of episodes of QI? Would be very good. violet/riga (t) 17:17, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Removal of Amazon link

I removed the link to the DVD QI game on Amazon.co.uk. This link can be taken as advertising as it contributes nothing of substance to the article nor is it listed as a reference. The link is included below if it is judged to have been appropriate for this article and needs to be reinserted.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BHZ1FG/qid=1130442443/

[edit] Criticisms?

Where are these criticisms from? They read like they are simply the opinion of an editor. If you actually have a read through of these, they pretty much comprise of the point of the show. --SnakeSeries 23:03, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I've requested sources. If it is one editor's opinion it falls under WP:NOR. I will check the page history and see who added it. Joe D (t) 23:07, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I put in the reference to the moons as a highlight of the show. I don't remember putting it under a "Criticisms" heading - this was done later. They aren't criticisms - I'd suggest renaming this "highlights" or linking to the QI website directly. --Ritchie333 20:19, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References

I've added a reference section, linking the major quotes of the show to the episodes in the list. Although the entry for episode 7 of series 2 is incomplete, Dara Ó Briain has only appeared in two episodes so far, one where he gave the triple point of water, and the other were he was corrected. ISD 12:46, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Oh, bravo. That was very helpful. You are a gem! Thumbs up! Minervamoon 02:39, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Media

QI's website has the theme tune (and other media) at the bottom of this page - they suggest that "...you can download, link to, or put whole onto your own website or favourite forum." I'm not sure on wikipedia's policy on media content, but it's avaliable for inclusion if wanted / needed. --H2g2bob 19:58, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, include it Minglex

D'oh! I think I mis-read the page -- it's freely avaliable for download, but probably not under terms compatible with wikipedia. --H2g2bob 23:52, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

I've updated the Stephen Fry picture to something a little more flattering (and slightly more current). :) Minervamoon 00:55, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Quite, that's one natty purple tie --H2g2bob 11:32, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
Thought so. Hence why I jumped right to that episode to search for a suitable cap, and spend about two hours gathering shots to choose among. That tie really lets you sass how much of a hoopy frood Stephen is. Check out that look, too: Indominable. And his hair is marvelous. Even that picture doesn't do it justice! I was stuck between the current one and this one, because aside from his holding up the QI cards, that strand of hair over his eye is just so enticing. He needs to show us more of that floppy-banged look [hypen necessary! Otherwise, ambiguity ensues, which offers a completely unintentional, however hilarious, mental image].
All of that you can file under "rationalization as to why the current pic is perfect". Ying tong iddle I po! Minervamoon 02:51, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Frequent Participants

Just so there's no confusion about why some people are listed in the article, whereas others are not, here's a breakdown of how many episodes (out of 49, including the as-yet unaired episodes of series 4) each "frequent" guest is in:

Frequent Participants

Rich Hall: 14
Jo Brand: 13
Phill Jupitus: 12
Bill Bailey: 11
Sean Lock: 10
Clive Anderson: 8
John Sessions: 8

Not-so-frequent Participants

Jimmy Carr: 5
Jeremy Hardy: 4
Jeremy Clarkson: 4

Minervamoon 18:16, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Desperate to Know

Why wasn't Alan on the last episode (24/11/06 on BBC4) of QI? His seat left empty. 194.145.135.69 19:56, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

See List of episodes of QI#Episode 10 "Divination" for the reason Foxhill 20:07, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Points

What about some info on the scoring system? I'm not sure what it is but i think its one point for a right answer and -10 for a wrong one. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jake95 (talk • contribs) 20:20, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

The points are "a number" of points for interesting answers (or even interesting talk in general), and -10 for obvious but wrong answers. The obvious but wrong answers are set by the tv people before the show, and mainly triggered by the misleading question in the general ignorance round. --h2g2bob 21:08, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Buzzers

"The first three buzzers were the electronic voice of a supermarket checkout ("Cashier number 1/2/3 please"); Davies' was someone announcing a train being delayed. However, Davies had the electronic voice ("Cashier number 4 please") in another episode."

I've never been to a supermarket where they've told me which 'cashier' to go to? I thought this was a Post Office reference? --Mister Macbeth 19:32, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Some branches of Tesco Metro use them for the basket only brigade. They use them in branches of Barclay's bank and train stations too, so I wouldn't say it was a supermarket only thing Foxhill 19:40, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fibonacci Background

The overlays for the screens in the background appear to be a graphical representation of Fibonacci's Numbers, worth a mention? 172.159.65.65 23:14, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clean Up

I think this article needs a clean up. For example, most articles do not have a list of trivia. Also, the extra tasks could be moved into the episode lists, each task referenced with its own episode. ISD 18:06, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seperate article for QI books?

I'm fairly new to wiki so please accept my apologies if I'm not following convention...

There will be two new books released this Autumn (The Book of Animal Ignorance and The QI Annual 2008). Would it be appropriate to merge the QI culture section that refers to the books and the section from the General Ignorance article about the books into a single article? Grizzlyqi 14:59, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

It could be a good idea to instead have an article about QI culture, and a seperate General Ignorance article. ISD 20:18, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Both these articles have now made. ISD 16:01, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Peer review?

I was think of giving this article a Peer review review to see how it can be improved. What does everyone else think? ISD 08:44, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Seeing as no-one had objected, I've decided to put the article up for a peer review to see how it can be inproved. ISD 15:05, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article for Guest List?

Should there be a new list article of guests in order of the number of appearences on QI? Or will it just be list overkill?

I think that might be going too far. ISD 08:02, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA Passed

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b (lack of images does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):
  7. Overall:
    a Pass/Fail:

I cleaned up a little redundant wording, but looks good overall. Congrats and thank you to everyone who worked on this article. shoy 20:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Note: per [1], I've removed the DVD cover [[2]] from the article, as it has no fair use rationales. shoy 20:19, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

A couple of links in the External Links have been repeatedly removed and replaced in this article. One of those being qi transcripts dot com and the other QI Talk. IMO, after reading the WP:EL both of these websites should be included. The former (which has been removed) should be included because of reason 3: "Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to... amount of detail (such as professional athlete statistics, movie or television credits, interview transcripts, or online textbooks)". Although the second link has been removed on several occasions because it is a blog it is officially recognised by the QI production staff and is therefore considered a "recognized authority". Grizzlyqi 18:05, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I concur - both links should be included. violet/riga (t) 20:26, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Disagree, especially about the blog. A blog is a blog, and therefore not a WP:RS. - fchd 20:39, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Official blogs are acceptable, and this one is fully sanctioned by the QI team. violet/riga (t) 20:49, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
The transcript site has also been lauded and even advertised by the QI production team (e.g., at this link, in a thread started by a QI researcher). And as for the blog, another of the QI researchers writes for it. While neither of the sites are, per se, official, they are officially recognised. Minervamoon 21:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm not concerned about the blog but full transcripts are copyright violations. Individual members of the production team do not hold the copyright to the programme -- the BBC does -- therefore whether or not they "recognise" it is irrelevant. See Wikipedia:Copyrights#Linking to copyrighted works. Brad 22:57, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
The BBC does not own the copyright to the programme. They have only purchased the right to show the programme a certain number of times (as has UKTV Gold). The copyright is owned by QI ltd and since John Lloyd the producer and creator of QI has given his permission for QI transcripts to be written, there is no copyright violation.Grizzlyqi 20:46, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, my mistake about the copyright ownership. Do you have a source for Lloyd giving explicit permission for the transcripts? I can't see anything on the site itself or that forum thread. Brad 11:36, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
I have spoken to the owner of the website and QI's commercial director Justin Gayner. Both say that the permission was given via a private message on the forum.Grizzlyqi 13:47, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
I should also add that there is a note at the bottom of the transcripts website with regards to copyright.Grizzlyqi 13:49, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Permission was initially given in person by Mr Lloyd, and later, corroborated in private message.Minervamoon 14:05, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
OK, I won't push this anymore. They're great transcripts, by the way! Brad 09:41, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "A peak in Darien"

This reference in the quote from Stephen Fry is an allusion to a line from Keats' On First Looking into Chapman's Homer: I've linked this to the appropriate Darien, in Panama. -- The Anome 12:02, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Covers & images

Is there a reason for all the images being aligned to the right..? It surely looks much better aesthetically to have them (well-spaced) on both sides. ntnon (talk) 19:55, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Normally, most articles tend to have all the images are set to one side so it looks more uniform and easier to read. ISD (talk) 20:11, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
Fair enough if it's standard. I prefer the more balanced, neater look, myself. ntnon (talk) 09:01, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Foreign language versions

I have noted that there is a significantly large article about the same topic in the Dutch wiki. Should there be an link between the two? I wouldn't be sure how to do one if there should be.Grizzlyqi (talk) 23:07, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

There already is a link. Under the tool box on the left hand size of the webpage is a language section. There is both a Dutch version and a Welsh version. ISD (talk) 07:02, 3 April 2008 (UTC)