Participating in the Spelling Bee Forum

  • The Spelling Bee Forum is a lively community of Bee solvers who enjoy discussing the day’s Bee puzzle, exchanging information and insights about Bee words, and sharing creative writing inspired by the words in the Spelling Bee puzzle. This article offers a guide to the landscape, conventions, and traditions of the Spelling Bee Forum, with posting tips and insights for getting the most out of this rich resource.

  • UNDERSTAND THE FORUM LANDSCAPE

  • Before diving in to post comments in the Spelling Bee forum, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the digital landscape. Because the Forum is integrated with the Spelling Bee puzzle, it can sometimes be a challenge to find the Forum and navigate its unique structure. If you’re new to the New York Times comment platform, review this article for an overview of what the Spelling Bee Forum is, how to find it, and how to navigate through the hundreds of comments that typically accumulate there each day.

  • Even after you’ve mastered the navigation, spend a day or two just lurking, observing how people discuss the puzzle, share resources, post questions, and interact with each other. In the years since the Spelling Bee forum was first created, The New York Times and the Spelling Bee community (often referred to as “the Hivemind”) have established norms and traditions specific to this corner of the online world.

  • KNOW THE RULES OF THE FORUM

  • Because it exists in the comment section of a published article, the Spelling Bee forum is subject to the conditions of the New York Times’ general comment guidelines, which may be reviewed HERE. That article provides detailed guidance on the technical aspects of posting comments, as well as the NYTimes guidelines for comment moderation, both of which are important for any Bee player who plans to participate in the Spelling Bee forum.

  • There is also one important rule that is specific to the Spelling Bee Forum, and which differentiates the Forum from the NYTimes’ other game forums: Spoilers are not allowed. A fuller discussion of spoilers and spoiler prevention in the Spelling Bee forum is given below.

  • KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO

  • The Forum is Frequented by Bee Players, not Staff

  • When a Bee player posts a comment to the Spelling Bee forum, that player is communicating and sharing information with other players, not directly with the NYTimes games staff.

  • While NYTimes games staff may occasionally visit and comment in the Spelling Bee Forum, they are not actively monitoring every comment to glean information from the comments or to respond to complaints, concerns, or ideas about the Bee or other puzzles. On rare occasions they may solicit questions or comments, but those occasions are the exception.

  • Players’ best option for communicating with the games staff is via the email addresses provided for that purpose.

  • For assistance with technical issues related to the Spelling Bee puzzle, or to provide general feedback, write to nytgames@nytimes.com.

  • For assistance with or inquires about the Spelling Bee puzzle, or especially with issues in the Spelling Bee forum, write to NYT Games Care at nytcrossword@nytimes.com. Be sure to include “Spelling Bee Forum” in the subject line, as that address receives inquires about the entire game suite. A Customer Care representative will respond, usually within 24 hours.

  • To suggest that specific words be added to the Spelling Bee lexicon, or to inquire about specific words in the Spelling Bee, the NYTimes says “Is there a word you want to see in the hive? Email us: buzzwords@nytimes.com.” You will receive a pro forma response; this is to be expected, as it’s likely that thousands of messages are sent to that email address every day.

  • Expect and Acknowledge Responses from Other Players

  • When a Bee player posts a request for assistance or a query about the game or a word, other Forum participants will interpret the post as an actual question, and will almost always provide an answer, offer an explanation and guidance, sometimes a link to a relevant resource. It’s a courtesy to check back to see if and how other players responded to the request, and to acknowledge and engage as appropriate.

  • CHECK BEFORE YOU POST

  • Before posting a query or comment on a puzzle related issue, take a few moments to scan through the Forum; especially with regards to “missing” words, it’s likely that another reader has already posted a similar query or comment, and you can just “recommend” that reader’s comment or add a response in that thread without starting a new thread on the same topic. And reading this informative content is one of the quickest, easiest ways to gain understanding of all the nuances and subtleties of the Spelling Bee puzzle, including solving tips and tricks.

  • Skilled solvers have also taken time to…
  • • Read and understand the puzzle rules
  • • Explore the Spelling Bee puzzle page and all its resources
  • • Master the Hints page and all its resources
  • • Learn about pangrams and BINGO
  • • Learn how to navigate the Spelling Bee forum
  • • Read published interviews with the Spelling Bee editor included in the LexiConnexxions Big Bee Bibliography

  • That last item – reading interviews with the Spelling Bee editor – is important, because it is in those interviews that a Bee player will learn that the Spelling Bee is designed and produced by a person (not a machine) who selects a limited list of puzzle words from among all possible words that can be derived from the day’s letter set, and that words can come and go from the Spelling Bee lexicon.

  • UNDERSTAND AND AVOID SPOILERS

  • Among all the player communities that are integrated with the New York Times games and puzzles, the Spelling Bee Forum is unique in that it does not allow spoilers.*

  • In the context of the Spelling Bee forum, a player violates the “spoiler” rule when they include in a comment words from the current day’s Spelling Bee, or words that include the game words.

  • Follow these tips to minimize the risk of including spoilers in your comments:
  • 1 Remember that each puzzle period begins and ends at 3:00AM ET, and that Bee words for a given day are “in play” until the next Bee drops at 3:00AM ET. The Spelling Bee attracts players from around the world, and there is active play going on during every minute of that 24-hour period.

  • 2 When proofing your comment prior to submitting, check for spoilers along with reviewing spelling, grammar, and formatting.

  • 3 Before posting about what you might think might be a “missing” word, check that you know the correct spelling and that you’ve entered this correct spelling in the puzzle page. Words with tricky spellings – such as the infamous GINKGO – generate many “missing” word comments in the forum, and these come across as spoilers. “Why is GINGKO not included today?” is a spoiler for GINKGO (the spelling preferred by the Bee editor).

  • 4 To safely discuss a word from the day’s puzzle, use any of the traditional coding protocols to conceal the word, by combining the first two letters of the word with a number representing the total number of letters in the word. For example, the word FORMAT would be coded as FO(6), FO6, 6FO, 6)FO, etc. Most players seem to prefer FO(6) but there is no rule; the important thing is not to reveal the word.

  • 5 The New York Times recently ruled that “embedded” spoilers are also prohibited. Some of these are obvious; if the word KNOW is in the day’s Bee, then asking about KNOWN reveals KNOW, and is thus prohibited. It’s less clear, however, how to treat identical character strings in otherwise-unrelated words; for example, some players and moderators would consider CACHET to be a spoiler for ACHE, and would flag and remove a post that uses the word CACHET on a day when ACHE is a puzzle word.

  • 6 When you are posting a comment about any word(s) from the day's SB and you want provide URLs to relevant sources, check the URL before you post to see if it contains the word itself, because that could be construed as a spoiler. For example, the URL for Merriam-Webster’s entry for "lexicon" shows the entire word: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lexicon, and this would be considered to be a spoiler.

  • *As of 2024-08-31, the discussion thread for the relatively new Strands puzzle resides within the Spelling Bee forum, and spoilers are discouraged there, as well.
Except where noted, all content ©2023-2024 and in perpetuity by LexiConnexxions. All rights reserved. Dissemination, re-use, or duplication by any means is prohibited except by express permission of the publisher. This site is not affiliated with The New York Times. Contact LexiConnexxions at info // @ // lexiconnexxions.com.