The IITM Open Quiz and LTCM

Yesterday, I lamented about the fact that the IITM Open Quiz is no more, because the quizzers at IITM decided to default on their obligation to take the great tradition forward. I then called for volunteers to contribute questions so that we can hold the quiz at a different date.

I’m reminded of the collapse of Long Term Capital Management. There, when the company was about to default, different ibanks all (all except Bear Stearns) pitched in with a little bit of money each to resurect it. Similarly, this time we can expect us old quizmasters of the quiz to contribute a few questions each in order to bail it out.

However, we should remember that the LTCM bailout couldn’t have been done by the ibanks alone. The most important player back then was the US government. Similarly we need a  government-like player here who can facilitate the resurrection of the quiz, and assure all “creditors” (people who “lend” questions) that their efforts won’t go in vain (for the record, creditors to LTCM encashed their bailout money at a substantial profit a few years later).

I had also mentioned yesterday that there is no point if the IITM Open is held at a place other than IITM. The government, we thus think, should be IITM. However, it won’t be as easy to get buy-in from the IITM Student Community (who are critical to doing all the GA work, etc.) as it would be to get buy-in from the profs/admin (who have been sympathetic to this quiz throughout its existence). It’s like the US president agrees to orchestrate the bailout but the treasury department employees who have to actually do the work become hostile.

I wonder what steps we can take in order to turn this situation around, and get the people to organize the quiz. As I had mentioned earlier, getting volunteers on the quizmaster front won’t be fight.

2 thoughts on “The IITM Open Quiz and LTCM”

  1. Outstanding post, I conceive people should acquire a lot from this web site its real user genial . “My father always told me, ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.'” by Jim Fox.

Put Comment