Yesterday someone pointed out that we weren't responding to his bug report. In e-mail, I told him that we don't always do that, but that we do always read the posts. We do pay close attention to what you're saying, but it is sometimes hard to sort out wheat from chaff.
It also doesn't help at all when people get frustrated with the process and decide to take a swing at us. I'm pretty proud of the work our team does and the resulting products we've produced. Some days more than others, during beta, but still, if someone takes a swing, they are likely to be asked to cool off or be edited.
We've gone through almost two development cycles a year for a while and it's always messy. Some days we think we're winning. Some days we think we're not.
It's like a baseball game and there are a lot of innings. Sometimes we fail completely and miss every pitch. Sometimes we hit homeruns. The fans are cheering, they're booing, and we're not always sure why.
It can be a big mess.
Some people who test have been goldmines of information and it makes our job much easier (and more pleasant). Zrocker did it for V7. Doof for V8. Remy started strong for V9, and then returned to his day job again. Through it all guys like KingSparta, Charlemagne8, Cmagic, and a ton of others whose names belong here have made it fun.
There is a point when the clouds lift and the sun shines. I hope it's this week, but if not, it will be next week or the one after. Most everything will be working and we'll be down to picking nits.
We're about to lift off here. Thanks for all of your hard work, your patience, and your friendship when we needed it.
V9! V9! V9!