Buzzer
There is a weekly online buzzer quiz at 10 p.m. UK time on Thursdays. It has taken place since 14 June 2001. The regular question masters have been Rob Linham, Stephen Pearson and Will Jones (current), and occasional QMs have included Pat Gibson and Rob Hannah.
The location is a group chat on Skype. If you don't have the software, you can download it from:
http://www.skype.com/go/downloading
There is no need to have the speaker/microphone activated as we'll only be using the typed chat facility. Once installed, you will need to add the username will_jones to enable you to get to the room. To do this, click here. Send a chat message at about the time of the quiz, and you will be added to the room.
The quiz takes the form of buzzer questions that are read out a few words at a time. Buzz when you think you know the answer.
How it works
A reader will ask questions in chunks of a few words at a time. To buzz, have the text "/me buzz" (without the quotes) in the lower message box of the group chat and hit Enter/Return when you think you know the answer.
After this, wait to be called on to give your answer - due to server lag, the first name you see on your screen will not necessarily be the first name that the reader sees on his/her screen if several people buzz at once. Once called, you will need to give your answer promptly or you will be timed out.
If everybody has given an incorrect response to a question that is still in progress, the reader will normally say "all back in" or words to that effect, meaning that you can buzz as if nobody had buzzed previously.
A buzzagain occurs when somebody who has previously buzzed with a wrong answer wants to answer again. This happens a lot. Readers decide on how they deal with buzzagains as they make the rules, but it is generally considered unhelpful to a reader to buzzagain before the end of the question. Sometimes a reader will give priority to people for whom the buzz is their first buzz on the particular question over people buzzing again on a question. In these situations it is courteous to allow another player to answer before you if you have already had a go at the question and they have not.