Ask HN: Where do you find good testers?

#1

Post by drewcrawford » Mon, Jan 12, 2009, 1:52 AM UTC

We've been working on a new webapp targeted at news junkies and smart(er) people. We're at the phase where we're using it internally and it seems (relatively) stable. Not quite ready for an HN launch, but we need 30-40 quality testers so we can look at some performance data and get some feedback.

How do you round up testers for your apps? We've got CS undergrad profs handing out invite codes at the local college, and we've enlisted several IRC hangouts we frequent, but so far results have been underwhelming. We've got a few really promising testers, but social apps tend to require a 'critical mass' to get things rolling. Where are all the testers hiding?

(If you want to sign up, http://tinyurl.com/newsbeta). More interested in stories about finding testers for your webapp.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find good testers?

#2

Post by cperciva » Mon, Jan 12, 2009, 2:18 AM UTC

I mentioned that I was working on secure online backups on my blog back in 2006, and by the time I was ready for beta testers I had a long list of people who had emailed me to express interest. Once I had all of those people testing tarsnap and still wanted more testers, I posted again to my blog and submitted that post here and to reddit, which brought me many more testers. Recently it seems that every time I've posted to my (personal) blog there has been a spike in signups; presumably people come to my blog, see my earlier posts about tarsnap, and then get interested.

I don't know how useful my experience is to you, since the sort of experienced *nix users who appreciate tarsnap are generally far more cliquey than "news junkies" -- but you asked for my experience, so here it is. :-)

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find good testers?

#3

Post by thomatas » Mon, Jan 12, 2009, 4:10 AM UTC

You could setup a project on Amazon Mechanical Turk or use some service that offers a management layer on top of it like UserTesting.com.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you find good testers?

#4

Post by trapper » Mon, Jan 12, 2009, 9:03 AM UTC

I've always thought an exclusive, invite only beta testing site where the company throws up 500$ or so, and everyone who tests and nitpicks gets a share would be awesome.