Since our beta release today fixed a lot of minor issues, we decided to wait until January 10th to name our next 'sword' release: Flamberge.
Our standard timeline generally looks like this. All times are in Pacific Standard Time, relative to our office. These times aren't set in stone, by any means, I only write it up here to give everyone some idea of what our typical day looks like for a beta release.
8:30am, we're all in the office, getting coffee or Diet Dr Pepper, and coordinating our morning events, squishing last-minute bugs. We furiously test our code internally on several operating systems and browsers to see if there are any specific layout/render bugs we need to fix. 9:00am, I flip a switch on the database to increment the next beta phase, and migrate new users to our mailing list software. Any users signing up after that will have to wait until the NEXT beta release to get an invite code. 11:30am, lunch time. BLT's all around. 12:30pm, we reconvene to do a final status check on our code, see how everything looks on our test server, and work furiously to fix last-second problems. 1:00pm, I generally start tweeting our status, what we're working on, and issues we see.
Between 1pm and 5:30pm, we get all of our code checked in, deployed to our production servers, start preparing our newsletter and get ready to queue up any invite codes.
The newsletter will explain more about what we've been working on, what's in the new release, that sort of thing, but does NOT include beta invite codes. Invite codes are always sent in a separate Email to users.
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Our last beta invite code cut off was about 1pm today, December 28, so any new beta signups after that time should get an invite code on January 10th when we release our next software update.
Larry and I talked briefly yesterday about when we want to just send beta invite codes as soon as you sign up for the beta. No time line for it yet, but at some point, we won't make you wait for a beta code any more. Or we might just take down that spiffy blue "front door" and just let you access the beta site directly if you want.
It's important to note up front that several things will seem "missing" from the site, such as the forums, etc. This is to be expected, because we're rolling out the beta in phases where we add new features every two weeks or so.
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Found a bug? Found something you absolutely love-omg-squee-happybacondance? Please post it on GetSatisfaction for us. The rest of the webdev team is deathly allergic to lurking in the forums, but posting a message on GS will send an Email update to everyone, which usually gets priority over other things we're doing.
Remember the last time someone said "I'll test/post bugs but I'm too lazy to do it"? Cormyn totally gave him a nice long talk about "I'll happily remove you from the beta program if you do not want to help out" (paraphrased) If you got bugs or ideas, go turn them in! The sooner, the better and easier!
yeah... think how you would feel if you were in cormyn's position, and someone said, "hey! i got a bunch of bugs in your thingy that you took so long to build, and they might be really bad, but don't worry, if i feel like it i'll tell you..." but the way you said it, it seems that these bugs are very minor... i hope.
Dang it... the stupid GetSatisfaction site still isn't working properly for me... the post topic just freezes on the loady wheel.
Lemme post my bug here since it's seriously annoying me and I won't make an effort if I wait. @
Cormyn delete this post after you copy down the bug or somethin if you want.
The sushi cat loader glitches on statuses without comments when I clic the comment button thingie and then again after i post the first comment, im using safari.
After i post the first comment it puts this NaN thingie appears on the little comment button (speech bubble)?:
They have release dates so we can take Beta nice and easy, instead of throwing everything out at once. This is so all the testers can submit problems in that area and the AG team can know exactly where the problem is. This is also so the testers and team can make sure the features will work with satisfactory results. With everything they got thrown at us, it would be hard finding everything that is wrong without bumping into other problems that go with it. It would be too complex.
thaboss, we don't have this planned (public messages on someone else's profile) for any point in the beta or initial launch. If you want to leave a message for someone, you'll send them a private message to their Inbox. If enough users ask for it, we'll consider it for a post-launch idea.
Hey folks, the next release will change how we store and retrieve activity stream messages, meaning we will be doing a FULL WIPE of all activity stream data.
*** You will lose your old messages and replies ***
This is a necessary (though, frankly, annoying) aspect of beta testing, and is unavoidable.
We're on track for today. All users who are signed up will get a newsletter later today. All new beta sign-ups since the last beta release will get a second Email with their invite code.
