Template talk:Beta

Proposed Rewording

I never have quite liked the wording of this beta warning, mainly the "use for testing only" part. I propose changing it to the following:

Beta Function

This function is still under development. It may still contain bugs, its syntax or functionality may be altered, or it may simply be removed. It should not be used in a released mod until the author of the function finalizes it, and you should understand that you may need to recompile or update scripts which use it once the stable version is released.

Last updated 8 April 2008

(BTW, I could've sworn there was something out there like {{REVISIONMONTHNAME}}... did I miss it somewhere?) --Speedo 03:18, 8 April 2008 (EDT)

Different people mean different things by it - the OBSE team has been very clear that when they say Beta, they don't want to see any public mods (unless it's clearly marked as a Test and Beta version). For Elys, here Alpha stage is more like a Beta, and the Beta all but a release. I think removing the tag upon her Beta release has been sufficient, so I see no reason to change it.--Haama 03:50, 8 April 2008 (EDT)

"Use for testing only", though, all but discourages people from using it, and I think is actually more harmful than good. Not many people will go to the trouble of writing test mods solely to test a function, however many people will go ahead and start developing with ideas they may have had even if they don't plan to release to the public - discouraging them from using a function means that you lose their input and bug reports. Anyway, I don't think that OBSE is all that relevant to the discussion, since AFAIK their betas are entirely closed so by the time Joe Average modder gets his hands on a new function the tag won't apply. The new version covers the same bases without as much scaring people off.--Speedo 11:44, 8 April 2008 (EDT)