Welcome to Gaia! ::

they are so lucky

What do I think of the concept? It's a good idea because developers have this pre-set idea of how something is going to be used, and real users generally do something completely different and unexpected. Or expect things that aren't there.

In fact, I wish they'd do more because many of their ideas just don't scale to 125,000 people pounding on the servers at the same time. The servers tend to barf when they're that overloaded.

What do I think of choosing beta testers rather than picking randomly? It's a wise idea. I used to manage those who ran the beta test program for a large networking company, and I've seen that if you don't choose your beta testers wisely, you get no valuable feedback out of them.

What do I think of them as people? Hell, I don't know them. I'd guess they're a lot like everyone else - some smarter, some nicer, some not so nice. Are they lording this over others? Am I missing something here? (Not that that would surprise anyone.)

Lol, we're lucky?
It's hell to keep secrets from thousands of people.

What's scas? I see the logo everywhere in the GCD.

BUGS eek

I think its an interesting idea. Everyone I've seen from SCAS seem to be really nice people, of course that's not to say that there are bad ones too. I know a lot of people in the GCD seem to think they are elietist, but they really dont seem themselves that way. They had just as much chance to get chosen as anyone else, so it's not that their special or anything, just happened to be in the right place at the right time xD

What do I expect out of them? To pound the livin' bejeezus out of anything new. To think of the absolute least likely way to use or equip or pound on something and try it out - and then when things do not work as expected to pound that same livin' bejeezus out of the developers to ensure the bugs GET FIXED before the software is rolled out.

In fact, what I would expect is these folks to be the advocates of the general Gaian population with respect to code changes. To give the developers a viewpoint from the trenches - not only technically, but also socially if at all possible. (Having worked with developers in my professional life and having been one at one point I can say that there is often a disconnect with what is being created and what the users want or need, let alone how the users will react.)

And as people, I expect absolutely NO "neener neener, I'm so cool because I know something YOU don't" whatsoever. That is unprofessional at best and juvenile at worst. Actually, at worst it can lead to community divisiveness and flame wars of epic proportions which can make a site completely miserable to be on and drive away people which would seem to be counter to Gaia's drive to get more players and revenue. Especially revenue.

(And if you would like to pound said livin' bejeezus out of whoever was monkeying with the PM system this afternoon (no, you do NOT test code changes on the live system, that's what testbeds are for, I'd be happy to explain the concept if someone is unclear with my trusty clue by four), I'd be most appreciative, thenkyeweverso.)