I get a lot of requests from volunteers who wish to do beta testing for me. I also see quite a few posts to the forums on occasion from those who seem to resent beta testers, and wish they were doing beta testing themselves, and feel a bit left out perhaps. Today, I was thinking over the qualities that I personally feel make up a good beta tester, both from the perspective of a developer, but also from my experiences doing beta testing for others on occasion. I decided to jot some of them down, so as to perhaps enable those who wish to do beta testing either for me, or someone else to get a sense of what some of us, at least myself, consider ideal traits in a beta tester. A good beta tester should be honest, willing to criticize when necessary, and even when they feel fondness for the person they are testing for. An honest critique is essential since without it, the person you are testing for may miss something that could be done better, or not think of an excellent idea you could give that person. Do not assume your developer has noticed the things that you have noticed. Write them down, render, screen capture, convey in any way you have the means to do so, the problems you see. You are her eyes when she is too tired to see straight anymore. A good beta tester has a deep sense of loyalty and integrity toward his or her developer. Trust is essential, and it must go both ways. I must trust my testers to not redistribute my work, and to turn in timely and helpful reports. They must then in turn trust me to not grow impatient or angry at them if their reports find flaws in my work that I need to fix, and to set about fixing these issues with a good sense of humor on it all. A good beta tester actually tests! This should be a given, but so often it is not. Testing means looking for flaws in the product, using it, trying to find ways to break it, imagining things that could be added to it, or done differently to improve it, or fixed. Testing does not usually mean rendering something and placing a "Coming Soon" render to the galleries, though those too are appreciated so long as they are done very late in a project just before release. A good beta tester is patient with his or her developer. Oftimes the beta tester may send out long and cheerful letters, full of chatter and VERY welcome encouragement, only to find that the poor developer is so overwhelmed and overworked in the last days of a project that all they get back is a very short response. This is when the beta tester must fall back on their own sense of self-worth and remind him or herself that the developer more than likely cares quite deeply for the tester, or at the very least has a great deal of respect for that tester, but is just overwhelmed and too tired to function anymore. A good beta tester is part of a development team effort. When communicating with beta testers, it is common to many times send out a "form letter", or "mass mailing" to all the testers at once. This saves the developer, who is already overworked at this stage, valuable time and energy. Sometimes, it requires patience on the part of the beta tester to realize that he or she uniquely matters a great deal to his or her developer, even though the developer is handling the testing in a team environment as far as the major portion of communications. A good beta tester mentions whom he or she is also testing for currently. This can avoid a lot of confusion, and sometimes accusations of divided loyalties and conflicting interests down the road. Though it would be ideal in a perfect world if there were no competition between developers, the unfortunate facts are that there is. Far better to know up front of your tester is also testing for your competition, than to later learn that they are, and worry that your new projects may be being leaked to the other person by accident or on purpose. This simple disclosure, though not required necessarily, gives both the tester and the developer a chance to talk things out if need be, and both come away feeling confident and good about the future, instead possible accidental misunderstandings that can occur later. I hope some of these thoughts have helped some of you who might already be beta testers, or wish to become beta testers in the future. Mehndi Studios

Attached Link: http://www.bjshaven.com/

I have only beta tested two products so far, both of them very near to completion when I received the products. People who say "beta testers get things for free" are so wrong. I install the product using the readme as if I were a clueless Poser user. Then I spend hours rendering, rotating, posing, and scrutinizing, taking notes the whole time. I have several sets of lights that I render each POV from that makes it easier to find seams or flaws. I then spend an hour or two doing clean renders of any problems I find and then writing up a 2-5 page critique. Then I upload the renders to my web server and mail the feedback. THEN, when the product is pretty complete, I do at least one piece, sometimes two, of the product in question for the gallery/product showcase as a courtesy. (I am not an outstanding artist or anything, but I have been pretty pleased with the beta test images I have done in the sense that they really show the character in question in a good light). This usually takes another couple of hours at the minimum. So far I have gone through this process twice for each product I have tested, but they were "small" in the sense that they were characters, not clothing or scenes. I would say on the average that I have spent 8-15 hours with each product. This is not "for free." =)

I am new to testing, but I like doing it. I hope to sell things in the marketplace myself someday, and testing for merchants gives me a great inside view of the product creation process.

Thanks for this post, Mendhi. Hopefully it clears up some confusion about the beta testing process for people under the impression that it's just a matter of getting free product and doing a render. =)

Perfect way of putting it Mehndi! There is nothing worse than getting no feedback at all. Or having testers all say it's great - and then finding a flaw yourself after you go back and look at it with fresh eyes. lol I think too often they are afraid to hurt the feelings of the creator. As for those who complain about beta testers - without them the products that you buy may be flawed and then require updates. Creator's look at an item over and over again until they are so used to it they don't always see what they should - or they can't test on a MAC or PPP. So a tester gives a product a fresh eye and should be appreciated by the public. Unfortunately there are those who will always be upset that someone else "got something for nothing" but it isn't for nothing, a good beta tester takes a great deal of time on a product and really runs it through the wringer; bad lights - good lights, extreme posing - back and side views....

Good point about the bad lights, LadySilverMage. Oh yeah, I use some nice global/ambient settings to get a good look, but crappy lights are a must to see how well a texture withstands harsh treatment. =)

My best testers spend MANY hours on getting our development projects out to market. If only I could afford to pay them in actual money, instead of just a product that is not worth even a fraction of those hours at minimum wage. My best testers have lost sleep, set aside their own personal pleasures, and sometimes literally sat up with me through thick and thin, in the last few hours before a pre-scheduled release, sending me emails of enouragement, testing each iteration as it comes down the pipe, one version after another in short succession... never losing patience with me, and not even sending me their coffee bill. God bless them one and all, they are my lifeline.

I beat for a few people around here, and it's always an interesting experience, to say the least. I recently had the pleasure of testing a relatively small clothing item designed by someone who wanted to make sure it would work on a Mac, and it took no less than four versions to get the thing to work at all, let alone be in shape for testing of any kind. I think the poor creator was getting more and more frustrated than I was =). But, as someone learning modelling, I enjoy it, as it allows me to see first hand the process. And I try to be as ruthless as possible for the people I beta for, even when they really don't want me to be. =)

Ah, that brings me to something I should have added above: A good developer takes responsibility for the education and training and future success of his testers if they choose to begin to develop. After all, again, this is a team effort. When my testers eventually go to market and succeed, it reflects well upon me personally, not to mention it makes me so proud of them I could just shout from the rooftops :)

I'm a beta tester for Steve's work for soo long Mehndi.. that I've lost track! :o) However.. although ALL your thoughts do apply in our relationship and many more... there have been times that we've fought like cats and dogs over hard and honest critique! A very deep friendship and trust is always required before either party can accept that - the way you describe it, while in the beta testing procedure! VL grin Personally, I've always chosen my own beta testers among my closest friends exactly for the reasons you mention and because I know that from them I'll find out for sure what's wrong or right ,without any of them being afraid my feelings might be hurt.. It's a very limited, close circle I'm afraid, if you really wish for ideal beta testers! :o) Rena

This is a great topic and one that I'm glad to see broken down so well here. I agree wholeheartedly. The pickier my beta testers are, the happier I am with my finished product. You're right, Mehndi. It does not seem appropriate to compensate testers with only a copy of the finished product as payment when the feedback they give can at times be priceless. Lisa

I have tested for a lot of people here and at other places, large companies and small. Most times I do a deep test, I've been know to stay up all night to help someone get something to market in time. I love doing it, especially if I make a suggestion and it is incorporated into the product, the spikes in the Daz crewcut for example. One of the reasons I love to test is just to be the first to see what's coming. You can't know how hard it is to have something amazing on your computer and you can't tell anyone but your husband and he's like...oh, nice...lol One thing people need to realize though is if someone isn't getting results to you right away is that they may have been pulled away from it by something happening in their household that they may need to deal with. Can you believe my daughter actually thought her wedding should come first?? Just kidding..lol I will continue to try to help people out, and I will continue to be delighted every time I see a product used and know that I had some small part in its completion. Marque

I agree, Mehndi. It is a tough job for little compensation. And, I would like to thank all the testers who have helped me. You're all great. :) Beth

Proper beta-testing takes a LOT of time. I just had to turn down beta-testing a couple of things I'd dearly love to have because I don't have the time to test them properly right now. But I'd rather do that than take advantage of the people who I test for. And as a merchant, I too appreciate conscientious beta-testers. People who give me useful feed back stay on my beta-tester list and people who volunteer to test and never send me any feedback get dropped.

Mehndi is 100% correct about the honesty factor though... as other's have mentioned... please, if something isn't right, or could be better, let us know... you can get so attached to a project when you're working on it, that you'll never realize that something is missing, or could have been done differently/better... trust me I know. :) I'm actually get more and more requests to test products out for people, partially based on recommendations from the people I already test for, and if anyone out there things that the only reason to test is to "get something for nothing", then you have no idea what it means to be a good beta tester... there are a few people around these parts that know what it means to me when I'm testing a product, I've actually gotten up in the middle of the night when I realized something that I needed to check, on a night when I had to get up for work the next day, and spent hours working on something, JUST to find out that it was fine, and that I didn't need to test it for that anyway... lol

I also found this VERY informative..thanks to you all. I might add as a new thought that you might include in your test group someone who maybe isn't as knowledgeable as all of you. Just to see how newbies like myself will find the product from an ease-of-use perspective. I'd find the comments of someone like myself interesting when I think about a new purchase. Oh..and NOT me...because I couldn't begin to do what you all do...:) Beav

You forgot to mention that there are a (few) modelers here that use beta to market there items. Receintly I beta test a prop here and it had quite a few seam problems. I did everything you said including the screen shot with arrows. Total write up ect.... Well I don't think I was even log out before he had it posted for downloading. When ever I design a site I allways, allways get inexperianced users to use it- It's guareented to crash. lol But its better in the end.

I always test as if I know nothing about Poser to start with... if I can't figure it out just by using the information in the readme file and the manual, then it's too complicated, and I make a note of it to the person who's item I'm testing... if it doesn't come with everything that you need to use it, then I make sure to point that out as well if the readme file isn't clear about what all you need to use the item. It's hard to find a 'newbie' to test items for you... you really don't know what you're getting when you ask them to test for you... it could be someone great, or it could be someone that will just use you to get a free copy of your project without giving you the feedback that you need. Most experienced users who also beta test remember what it was like when they were just starting out, and take a look at the project through those eyes... at least that's what I do... for instance... if there's a hair object, and it's not in the hair folder, but in the props folder instead, I question it... I know now that it's because Poser won't let you have two hair objects for the same figure, but I didn't know that when I first started out... so mentioning that helps the person creating the project remember to make a note of it in the documentation. :)

So reorganize your folders Ron, you CAN move things around you know. Tidyness is the key to a happy Poser user ;)

Hey guys, is there an uptodate beta testers database we can pick from or add ourselves to? I know most of the good ones are always busy, I don't know how I managed to sneak onto the dance cards of a couple of them recently grin

Hair can be all three, figure, prop, or 'hair'... the hair folder really is a prop folder, but it's a 'special' prop folder... Basically, if the hair is conforming, or a posable figure, it'll be in the "Figure" folder. If the hair is static, or a 'morphing' hair style, made up of only 1 part, then it'll be in the "Hair" folder. If the hair is actually made up of parts that can be taken away, or added to give it more looks, it'll be in the "Props" folder. Poser will only let you load one hair prop, per figure at a time... so if you have a hair style that is for instance, a Bun, and Bangs, you can't load the bun first, and then add the bangs if the files are in the "Hair" folder... Poser will replace the bun with the bangs... but if the files are in the "Props" folder, Poser will just add as many props as you want it to. But Mehndi is right... reoganize your files if you're having trouble locating things... that's another big point to being a beta tester. You will ge multiple instances of the same thing, and sometimes they files may be in different locations... so you have to be very familiar with your folder hierachy so that you can find the new files that need to be tested... I have multple instances of the same folders from having tested different stages of items... I periodically go through and reorganize so that I can find things in an efficient way. I often rename the folders for products I'm working on so that I can find them more easily... adding a ! or a - to the beginning of a folder name will move it to the top of your list inside poser... one of the people I test for always adds a ! to her folders so that it's easy for me to find what I need... when I'm done testing it I rename the folder with the person's name at the beginning so that I know who did what, and I'm ready for the next item that will have a ! at the beginning and plop itself at the top of my list again. :)

Laughs alot and winks at Cin- Actually April, as far as a central database, like a phone book of who is available for testing, how many stars they rate, all that? ;) You must be joking. Our best beta testers are our best kept secrets, guarded jealously, coveted, kept chained to our computer labs wearing chastity belts, treasured and placed in high towers, pampered and coddled ;) The last thing on earth I need is for my well trained beta testers to suddenly be too busy testing everyone elses stuff to find time for mine ;) But seriously... when people I know and respect ask me for a recommendation of who is good at beta testing, I tell them quite honestly... and so by word of mouth is how this stuff is passed on.

oooh 8) hangs around watching for the secret handshake dies of old age

I've Beta tested a couple items. I really enjoyed the experience. It's very interesting to be in on the formulative phase of a program or utility, or whatever. I consider it a privilege to be a beta tester.

Ron, If you'll reread my message you'll see that there are different types of hair in the different folders. The only ones you could really move from one folder to another and still have them function properly would be hair props in the "Hair" folder to the "Props" folder. Poser won't let you add Figures into the Hair folder... you could move them manually and change the extension, but I don't know what Poser would do in that case, and it might freak it out.

Poser WILL go on and open a figure file that is hair if he renames it with an hr2 extension and moves it into the hair folders. However, what happens then is if he wishes to save a custom version, Poser still knows this is NOT hair, and refuses to save a custom version to the hr2 folders.

And Ron, not that I am not guilty of it my own self quite a bit in the past, but you are derailing my thread where I was attempting to open a discussion on what it means to be a good beta tester, for all these folks who have aspirations to beta test ;) Though good organizational skills I guess is something every beta tester needs.

We are being quite light and humourous on it all Ron ;) And as far as doing us a favour, I think that has already been acknowledged in the above posts. What some though do not realize here, is why when they volunteer to beta test, we do not just rush out arrange a ticker tape parade, and roll out the red carpet. There are actually skills involved in this sort of work, and certain needs must be met or it is no favour at all to the developer.

A great point, Mehndi and the reason why I have on several occasions stated that I was "honored" to have been chosen to beta test a product. Lisa

I have experienced it from both sides of the railroad track. Not only do I constantly struggle to find honest, and skillful beta testers, ones who actually know what beta testing means, and then will actually do it, but I beta test pretty much every product that has come down the pike for one of the major developers here, products that the larger majority of the Poser community then purchase. Talk about a heavy weight of responsibility! ;) As a beta tester for that larger developer, I tend to get my beta's late in the evening, along with a note asking for a report first thing in the morning, or at the least within 24 hours. And I dare not fail them or let them down, since if I miss something I could have caught, and that they were too tired to see, it could affect thousands of you here. And so I brew up a BIG pot of coffee, and cancel any plans for sleep, and set aside my own projects for the duration! Marque knows what I'm talkin' 'bout! ;) She shares this joy with me ;p But in the end, though I am only technically recompensed with a product worth a few dollars, not nearly what my time was worth in man hours, the joy, and satisfaction, and serving a higher purpose for the community are payment also. And... I learn new things! And sometimes... whispsers softly I even get to teach them new things... ;) There is joy in it, but when the joy wears thin, and the night is long, and the zip files keep coming in corrupted, so you must work with what PKzip can manage to extract and patch back together rather than slow down the production effort... then one must fall back on some higher virtue and committment and not make excuses. I think that personally, my most frustrating experiences with beta testers are excuses that make no sense to me, who is also a beta tester. To say, "I am going to my daughters wedding" is a GOOD excuse. To say, "I am very sick... can't get out of bed" is a GOOD excuse. Good excuses are no problem :) To say, "I don't know... I never did understand faeries very much...", or, "I just didn't like this character alot, so I haven't done much with it I am afraid", is a BAD excuse. It is not aesthetic judgements that the beta tester is hired to make, but ability to check things out technically. The same tests run on any character can be run on a faerie, a ghoul, a gremlin, a goblin, or a Big Boobed Vicki with a Helmet ;) And then sadly, what the beta testers may not realize, is if they fail based on an excuse like this in a project just cause that character or work is not their personal cup of tea, what it tells me is all they are really in it for is to get a character they want for free, and have no other interest perhaps. So... I tend to then take them off my list for my next project... and who knows, the next one may have been not only their cup of tea, but their dream project, something they have always wanted. The best beta testers I have ever met, treat it like some higher calling...

lol Some of us test out things for products we don't even have yet... My poor Vicy was neck deep in baby stuff long before I had the Mil Baby... And as far as Beta Testers working for free... true I don't get paid in cash for what I do, but I do get paid in information, and experience. I've learned a lot about poser and what it can do by testing out products and trying to 'break' them.