Looking for additional beta testers!
As you'll see in news very shortly, we're looking to add a few new people to our beta testing environment. As a beta tester, you'll be able to test new features in the beta stage and give your opinions on how to make them better before they are released out to the site.
If you're interested in being considered as a new beta tester, please comment to this entry with a bit of info about yourself:
1) Your general age range. (No need to be super specific unless you want to be -- "in my 30s" is fine.)
2) What experience you have in software testing. (We want to add people who have tested before as well as people who haven't!)
3) How long you've used LiveJournal. (Again, we're excited to add people from the whole spectrum of LJ experience, whether you've been here a few months or many years!)
4) And whatever other information you might like to tell us that you feel is relevant.
Note that all comments to this entry are screened, so you don't have to worry about giving information to the world at large. After a few days, we'll pick 20 or so people that represent a wide variety of all these factors and contact you about being added to our testing process.
The remainder of this post is some FAQ-style questions and answers, which will be updated as questions come up in the comments, so please check back if you want to see what new information has been added. We thank you for your interest in helping make LiveJournal better!
Do I need to be a technical-type person to participate?
No, in fact we'd love it if some of you weren't! We want people of all technical skill levels.
Do I need to spend a bunch of time on this?
We'd like to know that you can spend an hour or two every few weeks testing things when we have something new to try out. It doesn't mean you have to test every feature every time, but you should try to commit to trying out at least some of the features as they become available for testing.
Why wasn't I chosen this time?
Having too many testers is almost as bad not having enough! We're only going to add about 20 new testers this time around, and we want to make sure they're as diverse as possible -- all ages, technical ability levels, people who have been on LJ for a long time, and people who have been on LJ a very short time. If you weren't picked this time, it's okay! We'll call out for new testers from time to time as the need arises. We'd love to hear from you again, if you're interested!
Am I signing up for life here?
If you find in the future that you no longer have time to participate in testing, that's perfectly fine. All you have to do is leave the lj_releases community and you'll automatically be removed from the testing group.
Will you listen to every single thing I say?
No feature for any software or site can please all the people all the time. There will always be cases where one person thinks something should work This Way and someone else thinks it should work That Way. Only one way can be chosen, of course, so there will of course be times when your suggestions aren't implemented. What we're hoping to achieve is a way to make sure that more voices are heard before a feature is released, so that we have the most opportunity to ensure that a feature is likely to be usable and enjoyed by the maximum number of people possible.
What else do I need to know?
Once we've selected the 20 or so people, we'll give those individuals a more thorough run-down of how the process works, how you will be able to activate beta features, and how you'll be able to give feedback on them.
If you're interested in being considered as a new beta tester, please comment to this entry with a bit of info about yourself:
1) Your general age range. (No need to be super specific unless you want to be -- "in my 30s" is fine.)
2) What experience you have in software testing. (We want to add people who have tested before as well as people who haven't!)
3) How long you've used LiveJournal. (Again, we're excited to add people from the whole spectrum of LJ experience, whether you've been here a few months or many years!)
4) And whatever other information you might like to tell us that you feel is relevant.
Note that all comments to this entry are screened, so you don't have to worry about giving information to the world at large. After a few days, we'll pick 20 or so people that represent a wide variety of all these factors and contact you about being added to our testing process.
The remainder of this post is some FAQ-style questions and answers, which will be updated as questions come up in the comments, so please check back if you want to see what new information has been added. We thank you for your interest in helping make LiveJournal better!
Do I need to be a technical-type person to participate?
No, in fact we'd love it if some of you weren't! We want people of all technical skill levels.
Do I need to spend a bunch of time on this?
We'd like to know that you can spend an hour or two every few weeks testing things when we have something new to try out. It doesn't mean you have to test every feature every time, but you should try to commit to trying out at least some of the features as they become available for testing.
Why wasn't I chosen this time?
Having too many testers is almost as bad not having enough! We're only going to add about 20 new testers this time around, and we want to make sure they're as diverse as possible -- all ages, technical ability levels, people who have been on LJ for a long time, and people who have been on LJ a very short time. If you weren't picked this time, it's okay! We'll call out for new testers from time to time as the need arises. We'd love to hear from you again, if you're interested!
Am I signing up for life here?
If you find in the future that you no longer have time to participate in testing, that's perfectly fine. All you have to do is leave the lj_releases community and you'll automatically be removed from the testing group.
Will you listen to every single thing I say?
No feature for any software or site can please all the people all the time. There will always be cases where one person thinks something should work This Way and someone else thinks it should work That Way. Only one way can be chosen, of course, so there will of course be times when your suggestions aren't implemented. What we're hoping to achieve is a way to make sure that more voices are heard before a feature is released, so that we have the most opportunity to ensure that a feature is likely to be usable and enjoyed by the maximum number of people possible.
What else do I need to know?
Once we've selected the 20 or so people, we'll give those individuals a more thorough run-down of how the process works, how you will be able to activate beta features, and how you'll be able to give feedback on them.