Amend Service Request forum description

[Princeton]

THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION BETWEEN FREE AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS.

I hope you'll agree that vb.org is a good place to find "help" or "beta testers" for addons that are under "construction".

With that said, we (coders) need a place where we can invite the community to become "Beta Testers and/or Helpers", etc for upcoming addons.

Beta Testers / Helpers are good for...

• test product
• review code
• write FAQ/Manual
• marketing
• etc

Yes, this is ignoring the fact that a product can be released freely (posted here on vb.org) or released commercially.

Yes, I do believe that these requests should be allowed here. However, I don't believe it should be up for discussion -- such as it is here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=104043.

In the above thread (provided link), all Ron1n is asking for is help to improve his addons .. nothing more. Right away, we have a few people questioning his intentions. Can't we just have a place where we can post such requests without people discussing our "intentions"? Is there anything wrong with such a request?

NOT ASKING FOR A LOT
What I recommend is rephrasing the Service Request Forum description to allow such requests within this forum.

• Requests are not open for discussion.
• "Service providers" are usually the ones interested in this forum.
• "Service providers" are the best fit for such a request.

[Paul M]

:up:

[Corriewf]

Beta testing would bring a lot to the community. I love beta testing. GOOD IDEA!

Lemme know if you need a beta test btw.

[Regs]

2 days.

[Tony G]

With that thread you were referring to, it was perfectly fine for the intentions of the person requesting beta testers to be asked. Why on earth would we allow someone to use our community to get beta testers and then see them not release the hack here but somewhere else, for example?

In my opinion, General Mod Discussion is still a suitable place to post these requests. If the mod is going to be released on vB.org, we'd encourage discussion about the hack on our forum. That is, after all, what vB.org is for. With Service Requests where no discussion occurs, changes occur elsewhere, and it usually only involves 2 people. With beta tester requests, it involves a lot more people and its probably easier to have a public thread to use.

i'm ok with that myself, i never intended to attack Ron1n, as my post stated that IF it was supposed to be released here there was no trouble...

my point on that thread was that i've seen 2 or 3 times this year (2005) some guys asking for testers and never release the codes here for some reasons...

this site is not intended to the coders that need testers for their own purposes, but for a community that share ... there are so many people complaining about paid hacks, these questions have to be asked, that's all...

[Princeton]

With that thread you were referring to, it was perfectly fine for the intentions of the person requesting beta testers to be asked.

Could you explain what do you mean with the above ... and (here's the contradiction) below..

Why on earth would we allow someone to use our community to get beta testers.

Sorry but I don't see how this will hurt the community?

If the mod is going to be released on vB.org, we'd encourage discussion about the hack on our forum.

That's the point ... no one really "knows" if a mod will be released freely. This is why everyone is questioning the author's intentions.

That is, after all, what vB.org is for.

Can anyone tell me exactly what is the official description of vb.org?
Since there are so many (I hear everybody saying something different), I will add mine to the pot.

Nice and simple
vB.org is the premier place for vBulletin code-hackers to congregate.
vB.org is the place where vBulletin administrators can find or request addons to extend or add features found in vBulletin forum software.


In Summary
When someone makes a request for beta testers ... regardless of what the author says there is still no assurance that the product will be made freely available. This is why I recommend that the SERVICE REQUEST forum be amended. When posting such requests in a closed forum, such as the SERVICE REQUEST forum, it will limit the backlash that has been occuring; it will give the authors what they need while providing addons (free or otherwise) to the vBulletin community; and, it will decrease the staff workload on something that shouldn't have to be addressed.

[Lizard King]

I think this discussion started after vbseo. He claimed that he is going to release a beta version of his vbseo hack but he never did. What happened he used vb.org for free and targeted advertisement.

Of course noone can know if the coder will release the hack for free or not but therer can be a deadline for the coder to release the code. Even if it is not finished the coder can release it as a beta and if the coder will not release the hack within the allowed time limits then the thread can be removed. The time limit shall not be so quick but it also shall not be so long like 1-2 month.

[Ron1n]

Actually, Princeton started this discussion for me (view thread here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=104043%29).

We already have beta forums for 3.0 and 2.0... why not get one for 3.5?

I know you can checkmark a release in 3.5 as a "beta" but no one even looks at that and 90% of the users think that beta means "it works great - just dont +++++ if you havbe problems." The word beta has been bastardized by google who still has gmail in beta even though millions of people use it worldwide (same with maps, froogle, etc).

Coders can make hacks that work perfectly on their own boards but then run into trouble when installing on other peoples boards because of hack conflicts, styles, missing instructions, operating systems, mysql and PHP versions, etc. We need a place to post REAL betas or even post requests for beta testers.

In my opinion, General Mod Discussion is still a suitable place to post these requests.

Yea, except that the only people that look in General Mod Discussion are coders (for the most part). If we had a BETA or SERVICE section then there would be a much larger pool of peopl to whom your hack might appeal and by which it may be tested.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by princeton

Sorry but I don't see how this will hurt the community?

You don't, do you? vB.org is based around people contributing hacks to this forum. That's the purpose of vB.org after all. These hacks have brought quite a few people to this forum, as you can see. Now, if people USE (I don't use that term lightly) us to get beta testers and then release their work elsewhere, it ends up not contributing anything to vB.org after using its very valuable resources. This in turn harms our community. It is using our resources and not giving anything in return for them - like a nice, helpful, handy hack for the community to use. Oh, and I like how you completly cut out the next part of my sentence in that quote, did you perhaps not realise it was the most important part?

Originally Posted by princeton

Can anyone tell me exactly what is the official description of vb.org?

-Release modifications (hack and template)
-Talk about vB

Nice and simple.

Back to the purpose of this thread, I can't really tell you whether this idea will go ahead or not. I doubt it, as we hardly ever get beta tester requests and it wouldn't warrent a whole new forum, but the admins and other mods together can decide that.