Author: Eddie
Date: 10:57:55 09/05/00
Go up one level in this thread
On September 05, 2000 at 13:53:43, Uri Blass wrote: >On September 05, 2000 at 13:46:53, Enrique Irazoqui wrote: > >>On September 05, 2000 at 13:31:56, Eddie wrote: >> >>>On September 05, 2000 at 12:04:50, Enrique Irazoqui wrote: >>> >>>>One day someone may write a book about the sociology of computer chess. Well, >>>>maybe the topic is not interesting enough for a book, but at least an article >>>>could be fascinating. A few paragraphs should relate to beta-testing and the >>>>relationship between CC freaks and programmers. Fernando: are you interested? >>>> >>>>Months ago, Uri posted that he expected to be paid for his collaboration with >>>>the development of chess programs. It made me smile, because beta-testing is >>>>supposed to be a privilege for the tester, although I never quite understood why >>>>it works this way. But it does. From one day to the next, a freak may be >>>>promoted to the "in" circle, improve his status to the imaginary rank of expert >>>>and get the ensuing ego-booster, but he has to pay a price. I have seen private >>>>emails from beta-testers published without permission when it was commercially >>>>convenient; beta-testers demoted as no-team members; beta-testers forced to >>>>write commercially useful stuff for the honor of spending X (when X tends to >>>>very many) hours hunting for bugs and checking the engine. Etc. It would seem a >>>>matter of common sense to assume, as Uri did, that collaborating in the >>>>improvement of a commercial product is a paid job, but in computer chess it is >>>>the other way round, even if the tester doesn't pay with money but in species. >>>> >>>>I have received over the years quite a few betas, but I always made clear that I >>>>would play with them for my own fun and in the way I was interested in, at my >>>>own whimsical pace, and that I was thoroughly incompetent as a tester (I am). A >>>>few times I declined, shame on me, the honor of beta-testing. Certainly the idea >>>>of getting paid for what in my case was a no-job didn't cross my mind, but the >>>>hierarchical relationship programmer-tester didn't either. Still, this kind of >>>>relationship seems to be quite common. >>>> >>>>Why would that be this way, why a person feels promoted and agrees to pay for >>>>the promotion. Strange, isn't it? >>>> >>>>Enrique >>> >>>I think it would be an "honor" to be a tester for these great programs! :)) >> >>You blew it. Instead of using quotation marks you should have wrote Honor. Nah, >>you'll never make it to the top... :) > >I think that Eddie used the quotation marks to express the opinion that it is >not an honor. > >Uri No Uri, it was written with quotation marks, to signify that it would be an "honor" ...... :))
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