Hey guys, just a quick shout out to the goons...
We're going to be needing some beta testers for some new software probably within a month or two. Right now, the time frame is a little iffy since it depends on how much progress I can make on the underlying framework, but you should expect to see some kind of announcement very shortly. I know I have Turus and Sno secured for beta testing, but I'm going to need to fill about 2-5 more slots open depending on feature implementations and the likes. This is some pretty big stuff! Likewise, you're also going to see an increase the number of services Turus will be able to offer to guildmates once we get everything squared away. So if you're not in the 'goons yet, the SGA, or have any other affiliation with us, this might be a good time to start thinking about it. Of course, whether Turus offers this to SGA members is entirely up to his discretion, and he will very likely change his mind for no apparent reason depending on how charitable he felt (or whether I talked him in to/out of something).
The software is currently being developed under a 2-clause BSD license. That means it's free. Furthermore, you won't have to sign anything stupid like a non-disclosure agreement, but since it'll be in beta very soon (and hot off the presses), expect a lot of bugs. You should also expect things to disappear in part or in whole. If it goes well, we might go live with some new features by the end of May. If you like it enough, you'll be able to use it on your own site, too, if you happen to have one. So, if you like it and you want a copy, just let me know. I'll probably be moving some of the source files to SourceForge within a few months, registering another site for it, and generally making some effort to document things.
Your obligations as a beta tester will be minimal as you won't need to do too much (just break things). However, you might need to periodically submit bug reports (instructions will be provided) and be willing to provide some details about what you were doing at the time things horribly blew up. You also need to have at least some basic familiarity with your browser, but since the forums already present a strong selection bias, I don't think that's going to be a problem. Also, if you have at least some technical prowess and familiarity with SQL (specifically MySQL or PostgreSQL) and/or PHP, please indicate that somewhere, particularly if you'd like to test out the sources yourself. (If you want to muck about with the sources, you also need to have some familiarity with ORMs and the MVC design pattern--but ONLY if you want to actually get your hands dirty and download a copy to play with.)
When the time comes, I'll be sending some PMs to the lucky winners via the forums. You won't get any e-mail alerts, so you'll need to check your PMs. There'll be more updates posted here in the coming weeks. I expect this weekend to be a wild coding marathon for me, so you might even get something sooner!