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Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 22 December 2022, 08:35
by HeathB
En-dashes (-) and slashes (/) no longer seem to be permitted(at least, I have encountered error messages when trying to use them)—was there an announcement about this?
Re: Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 24 February 2023, 22:31
by dhnyny
Well, this would make sense. Your clue is supposed to be one word. There are no words (in English at least) that include either an en dash or a slash.
Re: Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 25 February 2023, 00:36
by Yorgad
dhnyny wrote: ↑24 February 2023, 22:31
Your clue is supposed to be
one word.
That's incorrect. Compound nouns using hyphens (-) are allowed (according to the rules):
Code: Select all
A proper noun (Sherlock, Lego), compound word (merry-go-round), number (007),
onomatopoeia (Riiing), acronym (FBI), or special character ($) are all considered
to be valid clues.
Now, regarding en-dash (–) which are also used in English for some grammatical constructions (e.g. post-Modernism era, a pie–cake divide), they are not technically compound nouns and thus may not be considered as valid clues...
Regarding slashes (/) and (\), they can be used for abbreviations (e.g. I/O, N/A), but these aren't acronyms per se thus may not be considered as valid clues either...
Now I could also argue they are both special characters. But I believe they would have to be used as a standalone clue to be valid.
In the end, I wish they would remove any character restrictions, because it would allow for more creativity, but I understand it could also go too wild...
Cheers,
Y.
Re: Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 26 February 2023, 02:10
by GeraldineMerida
Why when the written rules specifically allow for special characters, and there is even an example given of a clue ending in an exclamation mark, are these not allowed in the BGA implementation?
Re: Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 27 February 2023, 14:51
by Joseph2302
GeraldineMerida wrote: ↑26 February 2023, 02:10
Why when the written rules specifically allow for special characters, and there is even an example given of a clue ending in an exclamation mark, are these not allowed in the BGA implementation?
Agree. Usually BGA is a stickler for following the rules to the letter, so don't get why these perfectly allowable clues are not allowed on BGA
Re: Dashes and slashes no longer allowed
Posted: 05 March 2023, 19:18
by dhnyny
I can't really see the rationale behind disallowing an en dash. But I also can't see why anyone would care. I can't imagine a situation in which you'd need an en dash for a valid clue and couldn't make do with a hyphen.
The slash is a different story. I can see the point about things like n/a and a/k/a (though I'm not sure any such examples would actually be clues for any of the words in this game). At the same time, you can usually make do with NA or AKA. But the slash does present a problem when it comes to people who want to use it for something like basking/hammerhead as a clue for shark. In my experience, this kind of compliance with the letter but not the spirit of the rules is pretty common among new players.