'Community Beta' has lost its way

[Bernard Devlin]

Hi Heather,

I emailed Bill (bill.marriott at runrev.com) about this on 28th April,  
specifically in response to him asking for our top 5 outstanding bug  
issues in 2.8.1.  A few days later someone pointed out on the list  
that their email to Bill bounced.  Mine had not bounced, and I was  
not specifically expecting a reply from him (unless of course my  
outstanding issues were not going to be addressed, and I would hope  
that he would have the courtesy in that situation to inform me why).   
However, to make sure that he got my email, I forwarded that email to  
him again on 1st May.  In neither case did I receive any message  
saying my email had bounced, nor did I hear that this bug would not  
be addressed.

As there had been no response from Bill, I posted to the Beta Forum  
(http://forums.runrev.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php? 
t=733&sid=a27c044d3a76fc1f95dd22bafe1868f5), which is supposedly  
monitored by Bill and by Robin Miller.  But no response from either.

I subsequently added my comments to that bug in Bugzilla, to make  
sure that there was some obvious sign of activity with that bug  
report.  I also wrote to the user list about this outstanding bug  
(29th April), and got several other users to add votes for it, in an  
attempt to get Runrev to pay some attention to it.

On 5th May I had still seen no response from anyone at Runrev.  So I  
asked once again in the Beta forum (http://forums.runrev.com/phpBB2/ 
viewtopic.php?t=748).  This was the last posting in that beta forum.   
But still no response from anyone at Runrev.  It's quite clear that  
no-one at Runrev is even monitoring the Community Beta forum.

You might well say that 'there is every likelihood' that it will be  
fixed for 2.9', yet there is no explanation as to why this bug was  
not included in 2.8.1 (Marcus accepted it as a 'blocker' level bug  
almost 14 months ago).  Going off the time from 2.7.4-2.8.1, it looks  
like this bug will not be fixed for another 6 months, if ever.

Since I've tried over several weeks to draw attention to this bug via  
4 different routes involving *.runrev.com, with no response until my  
desperate post to the list today, what else am I to conclude but that  
the 'Community Beta' has lost its way?  I've done everything asked of  
me by Runrev in this process, and until today Runrev has chosen to  
ignore me.

It's pathetic that the bug that most affects me is being ignored,  
given the times I've defended Runrev in public when people have  
railed against the bugginess of Revolution.  Instead I receive weekly  
emails from Runrev's 'Quality Manager' asking me to let him know what  
outstanding bugs are issues for me.

Bernard

> Dear Bernard,
>
> I'm sorry you are experiencing frustration.
>
> We are fully committed to the path outlined for the 2.7.5/2.8.1/2.9
> release series.
>
> I've looked at the bug you are referring to, and see that it has been
> seen and confirmed by Marcus. Evidently it could not be fixed for
> 2.8.1, there is every likelihood it will be fixed for 2.9.
>
> I'm puzzled that you say you have emailed Bill and not received a
> reply. In my experience Bill is extremely punctilious about
> responding to email, and my first reaction would be to ask whether
> there could be an email issue, maybe somebody's email is getting
> stuck somewhere?
>
> Lets take this offlist while we try to determine what is going on
> with that - email me in support at runrev.com.
>
> Regards,
>
> Heather