<…>
I’m conflicted here at this stage, simply because I don’t know the real status of the project and it’s road map (yes I’ve seen the Github repository). I obviously tried out Epochtalk and reported
what I saw back then, but there was a whole range of functionality that was not there to test, that is key to the current ecosystem on this forum (i.e. merits, trust, etc.). Granted that some of this functionality will not be necessary in many forums that would be instanced from Epochtalk, but I figure that the "ready to use" flag should be raised when Bitcointalk is conceptually viably implementable on Epochtalk. After all, that is one of the key goals.
Even if the software is allegedly substantially ready, I know, by experience, that that phase of being substantially ready can last for a pretty long time. I don´t think it is ready to be functionally deployed yet, and if testing is what it needs, then
perhaps a forum banner and/or ad slots inviting forum members to test it further would be a better approach at this point. Ideally though, a testing strategy and checklist should be depicted and published, so everybody knows what to focus on, and what to skip or expect at a later phase. Otherwise, the inputs would be potentially large, chaotic, and not always aligned to testing objectives.
The media campaign is a good suggestion, but I’d make sure that the product is completely ready to go on to that phase. Advertise to the world a software once it’s considered fully ready, but if it’s not, advertising to test it (specially to people outside this forum) may not be best approach yet.
<…>
I did take a look at the roadmap you referenced a week ago or so, but being not tied to dates, I cannot tell how key features on the roadmap are planned in accordance to time. Reviewing it again, some of the planned features are important to enable Bitcointalk to migrate to Epochtalk (perhaps not for other forums that would like to use Epochtalk as their software), and the ongoing currently in development is a neat heavy set of features that, when completed, should drive the software another step closer.
I just don’t believe it is just there yet to be announce to the world (so as to say), but then again I do not have inner information to that effect, nor know if and how many forums have been implemented on the current version (other than those created for testing).