Interesting feedback

Arantor

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Interesting feedback
« on May 7th, 2013, 01:40 AM »
So, today I hear that one of the beta testers who did actually bother to install Wedge commented to the effect that, for the most part, Wedge isn't that different from SMF. (Well, DUH. Oh, the same person also said that we need a "LOT of work"... well, DUH, it's an alpha. Alpha has unfinished stuff. That's why it's alpha and not 'beta' or 'release candidate')

Hmm. How far do we have to go to not look like SMF? How far should we go? How much more do we need to do?
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xrunner

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #1, on May 7th, 2013, 01:57 AM »
Well I don't have an install but I've looked around a lot here, and I don't think you need to do a lot more to look different. From what I've been researching you are adding enough new useful features so that it will be very appealing to any SMF forum owner who can see the advantages to the new features.

Of course it needs a lot more work (not that I know this objectively but because it's called Alpha for a good reason). Whoever is testing it doesn't need to state that explicitly, but contribute their findings to the software engineers working on it so they can improve it.

Arantor

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #2, on May 7th, 2013, 02:08 AM »
I have to confess, I was a bit surprised when hearing it because Wedge stopped feeling like SMF some time ago. Yes, of course there's the heritage, but we came from SMF, it's hardly surprising that there's some heritage there!

Yes, I'm not disputing that more work is needed, but I know full well what is coming up and how in time it will be very different.

xrunner

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #3, on May 7th, 2013, 02:24 AM »
I worked in an electronics testing lab for many years. When there was a unit to test, there would be a test plan, and the plan would be carried out and the results reported. I don't know how rigorous you want forum software tested, but I'd think at least (if I was doing it) I'd get an Admin and a user to test certain things, like for example if the Admin did certain actions to a user such as a ban, a warning, or whatever else you guys have designed in, I'd report whether it worked or not after consultation with the test user's experience of the action from their point of view.

Arantor

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #4, on May 7th, 2013, 02:32 AM »
Well, I do try to test for the big stuff in that respect (my test installation has a dozen or so users with various combinations of group) but that's something that did irk me about some of the beta testers we had: while we didn't set out a test plan, we sort of hoped they would at least be methodical about it, trying out different things, but there was surprisingly little of that :( In fact, only a fraction of the beta testers actually responded at all in terms of feedback :(

xrunner

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #5, on May 7th, 2013, 02:39 AM »
Quote from Arantor on May 7th, 2013, 02:32 AM
... while we didn't set out a test plan, we sort of hoped they would at least be methodical about it, trying out different things, but there was surprisingly little of that :( In fact, only a fraction of the beta testers actually responded at all in terms of feedback :(
Sounds like it was just a novelty experience they desired?

I do see you got the color/url bb code thing fixed :)

Yay team.

Arantor

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #6, on May 7th, 2013, 02:41 AM »
I get that some of them just wanted the latest shiny. I just wish they'd have been honest about it.

As for the person that sparked this conversation off, I don't think they know what they want. Though they talk tough, I'd love to see them actually finish *any* of the things they're working on. Might be interesting to see them walk in my shoes for a bit.

godboko71

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #7, on May 7th, 2013, 03:50 AM »
People are weird. I personal cant wait (as in excited not as literally can't wait) for the next alpha so I am able to provide more useful feed back and bug reports than I was on the first alphas.
Thank you,
Boko

Arantor

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #8, on May 7th, 2013, 04:00 AM »
The next alpha should be interesting, as the new warning system is complete.

I'd personally like to finish up overhauling the moderation centre before it's out but I'm not picky about that.

spoogs

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #9, on May 7th, 2013, 04:46 AM »
Hmmmmm
Can't please them all comes to mind. I like what I've seen of Wedge so far. I've dug as deep as I could with the time I have available and I just love it. Being based of SMF and having some heredity is a good thing, it means I'm not learning  all over again like I did coming from vB.

I admittedly did not really try to break Wedge like I've done with the likes of SD ;) but thats because most of what I came across were already reported. I've also taken to keeping up as best I can with the mountain of changes being made. I'm about as eager as one can be to dig into the infraction system and moderation boards.

I'd much rather make the switch to Wedge with some familiarity of SMF and deal with the heritage being phased out over time.
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Kindred

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #10, on May 7th, 2013, 06:01 AM »
lol....  Wedge looks like SMF the same way that almost ALL forums have the same sort of feel. (because function leads to form, after all)

Although, being rather familiar with SMF, I can definitely tell that Wedge is NOT SMF.

Arantor

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #11, on May 7th, 2013, 06:05 AM »
Quote
(because function leads to form, after all)
Yeah, that's a lesson some devs have yet to learn.
Quote
I can definitely tell that Wedge is NOT SMF.
And you haven't even seen the things we have changed in the non-public places ;) In some ways they've actually had larger treatments than the public stuff, as odd as that might sound - because while the user side is definitely more polished, the admin side has had a much larger set of changes (e.g. overhauling the mod centre, overhauling the entire warning system etc.)

:edit: Seriously tempted to set up a sandbox for people to see the admin panel and other magicalness that's going on.

Kindred

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #12, on May 7th, 2013, 06:23 AM »
I am tempted to ask for an alpha test copy to install side-by side with my modded out SMF test site for a full comparison. :)

Alanthar

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #13, on May 7th, 2013, 09:09 AM »
Even the alpha does not feel a lot like SMF. Here and there you discover where Wedge is coming from. But that stops once you move the mouse. ^^

ziycon

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Re: Interesting feedback
« Reply #14, on May 7th, 2013, 09:19 AM »
Of course Wedge will have a fair bit in common with SMF, its a fork after all.
If you started from the ground up people would still find something to complain about, there will always be people that give out and complain, just ignore this minority and keep doing what you're doing.

Wedge is shaping up nicely.
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