MonTemplar's Journal: When Did 'Beta' Become A Dirty Word On /. ?

Just spotted that people are stuffing comments into various stories here for the sole purpose of complaining about the /. Beta.

Maybe it's because I only occasionally visit here, but are people really that hung up on the current design?

Hell, I can remember when /. didn't even bother with any testing, period, just shoved changes straight onto the production servers. Fun times. (Not)

Having looked at the Beta, it seems to me a damn sight cleaner that some news sites I can think of*. Ok, the comment view controls could use some refining, but that's the whole point of beta-testing, right?

(*I still have nightmares about pre-2000s ZDNet. Makes the current design look almost pleasant by comparison.)

Rational acceptance of change?!

[insanecarbonbasedlif]

On the internet?! Never! Oh, and we need more interrobangs.

Re:

[MonTemplar]

There can only be one Interrobang [slashdot.org]. :)

I'm cool with it...

[jawtheshark]

Except... Well, I have quite some suggestions as there definitely is no feature parity.

Would it be so hard to have a page called "report bugs" where you can, call me crazy... report bugs?

There is simply no clear way to give feedback. At least, I haven't seen it.

Re:

[MonTemplar]

Good point. Over at deviantART, they have an official development / Beta-testing group (#devBUG) with bug-tracking database and a line to the development team (Devious Technology). Also, if you're a paying user, you can join the Beta Test program at any time in order to test out new features before they're put into general use.

Re:

[jawtheshark]

For all I care, they could limit it to people with Excellent Karma or a certain amount of years active user. I couldn't care, but a beta without feedback is no beta.