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So the question is, what is a suitable bribe?

May 5, 2012, 10:14 PM

So I’m currently working on restoring Journal entries from August 2011 for Falcon. The end of the main conversion is near, though there’s other work to be done before any launch happens. The plan from here to launch is to finish the main conversion, fix all of the flagged content issues (connections that I couldn’t make right away for whatever reason), do a whole bunch of scanning and restoring for a few Odds and Ends areas, do all new photos for the Fire Alarm Collection pages, and then work on a number of new photo sets.

Once I get to that last part, where I’m working on new material, I will begin doing beta testing on Falcon. That’s where I get other people to go in and start using the site like normal users would. The idea is to get other sets of eyes on things, in order to hopefully identify and correct any issues or errors that I may have missed. I fixed a lot of weirdness and old errors with the conversion, but as always, I am not above inadvertently introducing brand new flies into the ointment. And with nearly 1,500 Journal entries and a bunch of photo sets and other pages, mistakes are inevitable. I was showing Falcon on my cell phone to a coworker on Friday, and discovered a mistake in the theme, getting Falcon’s 404 error message instead of the page that I was expecting on a certain link (that issue is now fixed).

My current plan is to get a few folks to come over to my house with their laptops and take the site for a spin. It is my intention to fix any problems that get identified on the spot. Why my house rather than a coffee shop or something, you may ask? Because if we’re looking for bugs, I want to be at my real computer where the site is made just in case I need to fix problems on the theme or dig through an archive to find an image or something.

Of course, the question now is, what do I need to offer to get certain people without cars that live in the District to come out of the District and out to the suburbs where I live? Recall that I live in Montgomery County approximately five miles north of the Beltway, and also a mile and a half beyond the end of the Red Line. And I have found it difficult to get those friends of mine that live in the District to come out to the suburbs for anything, even just to go to downtown Silver Spring, which is inside the Beltway and adjacent to the District line.

So the question is, what do I need to offer as a bribe to get people to come out? Yes, beta testing a site is not the most interesting of things to do in the world, so I have to make it worthwhile. Would adult beverages be sufficient? Do I need to feed ’em? Do I need to take them out somewhere? This is the dilemma. Add to that the cheapskate in me that doesn’t like to spend money and it’s an interesting situation. Help?

Web site: Beta Testing Your Website

Song: Theme to Double Dare, as I have been listening to and sort of watching old episodes of Super Sloppy Double Dare as I work on Falcon.

Quote: So any suggestions would be appreciated!

Categories: Friends, Schumin Web meta