- The invitations to join the Beta-test of Take180 were sent through a mass-PM (I didn't save it to my computer, so I don't have it anymore, sorry), that I seem to recall targeted very active FanLib members (probably members the creators felt they could trust not to leak the information if they asked them not to, which they did). Basically they let us know that this site was not public information yet and that they would like it to stay that way until it was ready to be opened.
"Considering how many FanLib members were angered by the abrupt closure, it's surprising there was no leak."
- I actually seem to recall Take180 to be mentioned maybe once or twice. Of course this can just be a fabricated memory of mine, possibly it was not mentioned by name. At least no one thought too much of it. I still don't think there can be made *that* much comparison between FanLib and Take180. Sure they have similar design and software, but FanLib was a fanfiction community with some added official contests that you could choose whether or not to participate in, while Take180 is purely contest based. It is impossible to submit anything there unless it's through a contest submission form.
Also the anger was more about the lack of information, the short time limit we had before the site would close (but thankfully the tech people made a few last-minute features to help us not only save all our stories in one go, but also the feedback we had received for it as well).
"I wonder if the members knew they were testing a product that was going to be sold to Disney."
- We didn't. But the beta-test process on Take180 was very similar to the one that had occurred on FanLib over a year earlier (which I had also been part of). Basically we just joined a new site, which we could only access by password (like we had on FanLib), checked out the site, gave our feedback on it on the forum, and those of us who could participated in the first few contests that they had launched (since I was non-US I was not eligible to do any of the contests, so I saw really early on that the site had nothing to offer me. However, I did make a strong suggestion for them to be upfront with whoever else they invite to join the site that it is US-only (as an apology for having forgotten that I was non-US when they chose to invite me, I was sent an ipod as a consolation... lol. Hey, it's better than nothing, right?)
"It's also mind boggling that FanLib would ask FanLib members to test a product they would later deny producing."
- It would be incredibly stupid of FanLib to deny they were behind/involved in Take180, as there are many members of Take180 who can contradict their statement, some of them are still active (meaning participating) members today.
"FanLib refused to confirm the Disney buyout, and yet they STILL sought free labor to test the converted product? Wow. What assholes."
- The lack of information as to *why* the site was being shut down bugged me at the time. They did offer to phone me if I wanted to talk about it. I saw no point in it, however. But now I just don't care if it was Disney or not behind it. Those of us who wished to conserve the community we had built on that site moved on to our own self-created fan community (no corporation involved there) and that's where we are now.
And like I mentioned above, the beta test on Take180 was very similar to the one on FanLib. The people invited to join the beta testing basically just signed up to a private test-launch of a site. We basically just participated on the site (those of us who could, in the competitions) and voiced our opinions on the Forum. What we liked, what we didn't like. What we wanted of new features and so on. The same was done at FanLib almost two years ago. I see no problem in inviting people to join a beta-test that way, and no reason to label them as assholes simply from choosing people they were already familiar with. I do still object to the fact that they never gave us any real information behind why FanLib was shutting down (but like I said above, I don't really care anymore... the site is gone and the former FanLib-ers have made our own).
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-01-17 01:30 pm (UTC)- The invitations to join the Beta-test of Take180 were sent through a mass-PM (I didn't save it to my computer, so I don't have it anymore, sorry), that I seem to recall targeted very active FanLib members (probably members the creators felt they could trust not to leak the information if they asked them not to, which they did). Basically they let us know that this site was not public information yet and that they would like it to stay that way until it was ready to be opened.
"Considering how many FanLib members were angered by the abrupt closure, it's surprising there was no leak."
- I actually seem to recall Take180 to be mentioned maybe once or twice. Of course this can just be a fabricated memory of mine, possibly it was not mentioned by name. At least no one thought too much of it. I still don't think there can be made *that* much comparison between FanLib and Take180. Sure they have similar design and software, but FanLib was a fanfiction community with some added official contests that you could choose whether or not to participate in, while Take180 is purely contest based. It is impossible to submit anything there unless it's through a contest submission form.
Also the anger was more about the lack of information, the short time limit we had before the site would close (but thankfully the tech people made a few last-minute features to help us not only save all our stories in one go, but also the feedback we had received for it as well).
"I wonder if the members knew they were testing a product that was going to be sold to Disney."
- We didn't. But the beta-test process on Take180 was very similar to the one that had occurred on FanLib over a year earlier (which I had also been part of). Basically we just joined a new site, which we could only access by password (like we had on FanLib), checked out the site, gave our feedback on it on the forum, and those of us who could participated in the first few contests that they had launched (since I was non-US I was not eligible to do any of the contests, so I saw really early on that the site had nothing to offer me. However, I did make a strong suggestion for them to be upfront with whoever else they invite to join the site that it is US-only (as an apology for having forgotten that I was non-US when they chose to invite me, I was sent an ipod as a consolation... lol. Hey, it's better than nothing, right?)
"It's also mind boggling that FanLib would ask FanLib members to test a product they would later deny producing."
- It would be incredibly stupid of FanLib to deny they were behind/involved in Take180, as there are many members of Take180 who can contradict their statement, some of them are still active (meaning participating) members today.
"FanLib refused to confirm the Disney buyout, and yet they STILL sought free labor to test the converted product? Wow. What assholes."
- The lack of information as to *why* the site was being shut down bugged me at the time. They did offer to phone me if I wanted to talk about it. I saw no point in it, however. But now I just don't care if it was Disney or not behind it. Those of us who wished to conserve the community we had built on that site moved on to our own self-created fan community (no corporation involved there) and that's where we are now.
And like I mentioned above, the beta test on Take180 was very similar to the one on FanLib. The people invited to join the beta testing basically just signed up to a private test-launch of a site. We basically just participated on the site (those of us who could, in the competitions) and voiced our opinions on the Forum. What we liked, what we didn't like. What we wanted of new features and so on. The same was done at FanLib almost two years ago. I see no problem in inviting people to join a beta-test that way, and no reason to label them as assholes simply from choosing people they were already familiar with. I do still object to the fact that they never gave us any real information behind why FanLib was shutting down (but like I said above, I don't really care anymore... the site is gone and the former FanLib-ers have made our own).