How to ask for beta testers?

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eliotsmyrl
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How to ask for beta testers?

Post by eliotsmyrl » Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:12 pm

I recently posted a request for some beta testers for a Joomla component we're developing. My post was taken down with no note about why, so I am left guessing.

Maybe it's because of the rule about not posting stuff that's not listed on the JED? It's not listed on the JED because it's not ready for release yet, that's why I was asking for beta testing.

If that's the reason, then how / where can I ask for beta testers? Is that somehow against the rules?

From further investigation into this, I can tell I'm not the only one confused about this.

Eliot Smyrl
Last edited by imanickam on Wed Aug 07, 2019 3:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Per the Forum Rules, removed the company name used as a manual signature. Please do not repeat this in the future.

sozzled
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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by sozzled » Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:20 pm

See viewtopic.php?f=7&t=969148 for some discussion on the subject. It looks like a Catch-22:
  1. You can't use the forum to ask for beta testers for a product(s) that are not listed on the JED;
  2. You can't get your product listed on the JED until you've finished your testing.
I don't know the answer, sorry.

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toivo
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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by toivo » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:39 am

sozzled wrote:
Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:20 pm
See viewtopic.php?f=7&t=969148 for some discussion on the subject. It looks like a Catch-22:
  1. You can't use the forum to ask for beta testers for a product(s) that are not listed on the JED;
That is not correct. The link to the short discussion is therefore misleading.

eliotsmyrl wrote:Maybe it's because of the rule about not posting stuff that's not listed on the JED? It's not listed on the JED because it's not ready for release yet, that's why I was asking for beta testing.

If that's the reason, then how / where can I ask for beta testers? Is that somehow against the rules?
The forum Open Source Products for Joomla! at viewforum.php?f=46 has special rules that need to be followed also when asking for beta testers. The moderator who quarantined your topic referred to the actual license grant, I believe in the software itself, which may have been in breach of the rule for "Open Source, free, GPL products".
Toivo Talikka, Global Moderator

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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by sozzled » Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:25 am

OK! I think I understand now:
  1. You can post (or "advertise") information about an extension for Joomla if it is currently lsted on the JED in the Open Source Products for Joomla! forum category. There's a "fair usage" policy as far as advertising is concerned; in other words, you can't "bump" your topic or create multiple topics about the same thing.
  2. if your product is not listed on the JED then you may use the forum category in (a) if your product cannot be listed on the JED (because it is a template, for example) as long as the product is licensed under the GPL and and it is not being offered for sale.
  3. If your product is not yet listed on the JED (but it is the hope that it will be listed there in future assuming that it meets the JED listing requirements), you may use the forum category in (a) as long as you state somewhere that it is licensed under the GPL (even if you may change the licensing policy to something else in future), it is not being offered for sale but only for the purposes of asking for people to test it.
Does that seem to cover everything?

eliotsmyrl
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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by eliotsmyrl » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:33 am

toivo wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:39 am
The forum Open Source Products for Joomla! at viewforum.php?f=46 has special rules that need to be followed also when asking for beta testers. The moderator who quarantined your topic referred to the actual license grant, I believe in the software itself, which may have been in breach of the rule for "Open Source, free, GPL products".
Ah, I see - we want to have a beta testing agreement so testers agree to provide feedback, but the agreement we posted is more restrictive of the actual software licensing than the GPL. So we'll revise it to be GPL-compliant and then I'll post the request for beta testers in that Open Source Products forum. Thanks!

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Webdongle
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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by Webdongle » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:58 am

Simply post in viewforum.php?f=177 . Explain you are looking for testers but you are not paying anything. If your extension will be a paid for extension then you offer the testers the final version free. There is nothing in the rules to prevent requesting testers just follow the guide lines viewtopic.php?f=177&t=163981
http://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/
https://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/updating-joomla.html
"When I'm right no one remembers but when I'm wrong no one forgets".

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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by eliotsmyrl » Sat Aug 24, 2019 5:54 am

OK I posted a request for beta testers in the Open Source Products forum viewforum.php?f=46 a couple of weeks ago and we had a number of page visits, but haven't gotten any response. We are speculating it's because we tried to interpose a Beta Testing Agreement before people could actually download, so now we've decided to scrap that idea and let people just download it with just the usual GPL attached. So I'd like to post some sort of notification to that effect, but I can't respond to my post in that forum, and the rules say I'm not supposed to post more than once in that forum about a particular product.
So should I
a) remove my original post and create a new post about this?
b) just go ahead and post again since this is new information
c) post elsewhere, perhaps in Professional Development Services viewforum.php?f=177 as suggested by Webdongle

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Webdongle
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Re: How to ask for beta testers?

Post by Webdongle » Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:17 am

Report your post and explain the edit that you require.
http://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/
https://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/updating-joomla.html
"When I'm right no one remembers but when I'm wrong no one forgets".


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