Life In 19x19

I thought Kaya Beta was supposed to be open for everyone.

However, trying to register today it seems that the only way to get an account is to pay money.

I think it is sad that Kaya reneged on its free policy.

it's not yet an open beta, they are in a closed beta stage. 200 free accounts were open last week, I had one.
It was so laggy that it's good they didn't open completely right now. It's really nice and shiny, but they still have some work to do before being able to open it I think.

But you can't say they changed their mind about the free policy. At least not yet

Like lorill said, there were a limited number of free accounts released last week, since the Gabriel and Patricio wanted to test the server stability with the sudden influx of new accounts, not just kill it. They've also said that, as the server becomes more stable, and they optimize its performance, that they are likely to add more free beta accounts. Also, with the first beta update on Friday, the server was running significantly more smoothly, so it may be (PURE SPECULATION!) that more accounts will be open soon.

Hey, I just met you
And this is crazy
But here's my money
So release maybe?

lorill wrote:it's not yet an open beta, they are in a closed beta stage. 200 free accounts were open last week, I had one.
It was so laggy that it's good they didn't open completely right now. It's really nice and shiny, but they still have some work to do before being able to open it I think.

But you can't say they changed their mind about the free policy. At least not yet

Ok, that's cool, but when you go to the beta login, the only place to register demands money for an account. There is no information presented about only 200 accounts or that they are all gone. Even the front page only has a link to beta sign in. It's quite confusing when a friend calls you about free beta but it is not and there is no other information.

You can find the information at their blog at http://kayags.blogspot.com/

or you could have read either of the threads here about the beta.

speedchase wrote:or you could have read either of the threads here about the beta.

Which were hidden inside other unrelated threads...

badukJr wrote:

lorill wrote:it's not yet an open beta, they are in a closed beta stage. 200 free accounts were open last week, I had one.
It was so laggy that it's good they didn't open completely right now. It's really nice and shiny, but they still have some work to do before being able to open it I think.

But you can't say they changed their mind about the free policy. At least not yet

Ok, that's cool, but when you go to the beta login, the only place to register demands money for an account. There is no information presented about only 200 accounts or that they are all gone. Even the front page only has a link to beta sign in. It's quite confusing when a friend calls you about free beta but it is not and there is no other information.

I think this criticism is valid and helpful. The current status and options are not explained clearly enough for people starting at the server login. This should be improved. The portal should not be designed assuming that everyone arriving at beta.kaya.gs is familiar with L19, the project (hence the blog), etc. It should be informative and simple enough that a Go player coming from anywhere, with minimal knowledge of the project, can sort it out.

sefo wrote:Which were hidden inside other unrelated threads...

what part of the thread title "Preperations for Beta" would make you think that that thread is unrelated to the Beta?

@ez4u

If they haven't stumbled across L19 or the blog how would they know about the server at all?

speedchase wrote:

sefo wrote:Which were hidden inside other unrelated threads...

what part of the thread title "Preperations for Beta" would make you think that that thread is unrelated to the Beta?

@ez4u

If they haven't stumbled across L19 or the blog how would they know about the server at all?

Through friends, Facebook, other game forums, almost any way. The point is that relying on unlinked information is unnecessary and poor design for a web site.

speedchase wrote:

sefo wrote:Which were hidden inside other unrelated threads...

what part of the thread title "Preperations for Beta" would make you think that that thread is unrelated to the Beta?

Specifically? "Preparation".
It also seems that you haven't read the thread yourself. I'll resume it for you:

First page:
kaya.gs: "We thought we would start beta this week but we're changing the design so it will take more time. We have no idea when it will be released to the public."

(Reading this, a random visitor will think: "This is not the thread I'm looking for. They don't talk about how to register a free account and beta is not even launched. I'll check somewhere else")

other users with a non-free account: "There's a problem here, there's a probleme there. Is kaya compatible with X and Y?"

(Still completely unrelated to kaya beta accounts)

Second page:
Random user: "It looks like it's possible to register"

(wonderful. Where? how? Maybe I should have put this unrelated thread in my favorites and check everyday to see someone could register. Thanks for the official announcement)

Now to find some official release info we need to go to a rant post "Boy, kaya is taking a long time..."

Somewhere in the middle of the first page:
"Maybe we will announce the opening of beta, some time this week"

A little lower:
"Meanwhile you can take a look at candy.php to see how you can get a non-free account."

Lower still we finally discover there is a blog on blogspot (that excludes everyone from China) saying it will be open on a precise date.

Pheeew... that was well hidden.

So yeah, speedchase, to read about the extremely short, unannounced, limited and very localized free beta registration, you need to spend a lot of time inspecting every single unrelated thread in these forums.

Put the announcements on the main kaya.gs page for Christ's sake.

There is no link to the main page on the beta login. The point of the beta is not to explain why problems are not so serious. Rather it is to flush out problems and fix them.

The question is: What is a supporter blog?

I haven't bought an alpha account, so I'm defenitely not a supporter. (an blogspot is inaccessible for me so I cannot check what's in there)

The other question is: Why a blogspot blog when they already have a domain name?

Information should be available when I open kaya. Not by asking on a forum or digging somewhere.

If it's not available, then you cannot blame people like the OP who don't understand what's going on.

Personally I knew 200 accounts were going to be released on the 3rd and I was there first hour in the morning and couldn't even register.