Subj : Web hosting
To   : Al
From : McDoob
Date : Fri Mar 18 2022 01:59:44


 Al> > I never did like this new-fangled versioning scheme that seems so common
 Al> > many coders and devs are using 'alphas' and 'betas' as a shield. Hiding
 Al> > behind 'pre-alpha' or 'early access' shows a lack of courage in my opini
 Al> > "Of course there's mistakes, paying customer #31415927! THIS! IS! ALPHAA
 Al> > (>_<)
 Al> 
 Al> Don't use it if you don't like it. Every software that is in development
 Al> needs to be tested before release. These versions are clearly marked as
 Al> alpha or prealpha. I see no reason to criticize g00r00 or his software
 Al> for this.

Bring it down a notch, big guy. I never said I didn't like Mystic.

I *did* say that the portion of my message you're quoting was not related to
Mystic specifically. And there was a very clear separator between this and the
portion specific to Mystic. Everything below the dotted line was a comment on
the misuse of 'alpha' and 'pre-alpha' designations in the broader coding
universe.

In my experience, *nobody* sees pre-alpha builds but the coder. This applies
to many alpha builds, too. There's a reason bug hunters are also called 'beta
testers'. After beta testing completes,  the product version is updated, and
the build is released to the general public. 

 Al> > And don't even get me started on the idea of charging money to be 'early
 Al> > access' beta testers! Bad enough I gotta do it for free nowadays, when i
 Al> > used to be a paid position! Asking me to pay for the 'privilege' of
 Al> > correcting all your mistakes is just insulting. And being dismissive whe
 Al> > try to do so feels a lot like getting kicked off a cliff.
 Al> 
 Al> Money doesn't come into it with mystic. Even if it did he is just telling
 Al> people that the software is not released, it is in development.

Once again, this was not about Mystic specifically. This particular paragraph
was aimed at the plethora of Steam-released 'early access' and 'pre-alpha'
games that are being sold. One should not expect to make money with software
that is unfinished any more than with a house or car in the same condition.

 Al> The idea of alpha/beta software is to report issues you find so they can
 Al> be fixed before release, not to make you pay for some privilege. 

My point exactly! I know this, because I used to be paid to do such reports!
It really helps to read (and understand) a message before trying to dispute
anything in it. (o_O)

Bringing it back to Mystic for a second, my only gripe there is the sheer
number of alpha-but-actually-beta and pre-alpha-but-actually-just-alpha builds
since the version number was last updated. I'm pretty sure neither of us have
seen a *real* pre-alpha build of Mystic, typos, errors, and all.

The professional bug hunter in me finds this to be...sloppy, that's all. At no
time did I say that I was dissatisfied with Mystic, or with g00r00. There is
no need to get defensive for his sake; I wasn't attacking him or his works. I
was merely griping about an annoyance, until I got sidetracked.

Rest easy, warrior; there is no social injustice here. (o_-)

McDoob
SysOp, PiBBS
pibbs.sytes.net

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: PiBBS (21:4/135)

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