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I'm sure… I think… there was a ban on beta release questions - but I can no longer find it in the Help section, only this link in Meta - Update to FAQ regarding beta and pre-release software

Do we have a current stance? Is it delineated at private vs public beta, or does it remain at all betas

This is my prompt - Time Capsule backup consistently fails

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TLDR: questions should not be closed only because beta software is involved.

  • You must be specific about beta versions and builds as “the first beta” is not enough. Try Ventura Beta 2 (22A5286j) or posting the sw_vers or equivalent for other platforms is appreciated.

Bonus tip: Try to detail exactly why you need help here rather than the NDA-friendly options most companies establish for beta feedback and developer / seed bug reporting.

Be aware, that many people here don’t wish to see beta problems since it dilutes the long term usefulness of the site since many wait for bugs and documentation to be complete before running software. Use the beta tag if in doubt, please.

The general beta software ban was lifted in August of 2015 after discussing it in chat and on beta. The FAQ is up to date:

Developer betas, seeding betas, other odd builds from Apple shouldn't be the only reason to close a post on Ask Different. Beta should no longer a reason to close any question on the site.

See the blog post:

Meta has lots of answers and discussions, but in general we aren't closing anything due to beta status of hardware, software or services. We are asking for more details on beta releases. For instance - saying El Capitan wasn't enough when it was in beta - we asked for build versions and where you got the beta in the cases where it mattered if you were a seed participant or open beta participant or paid developer. Some things changed based on how you got the beta and were germane to the question meeting quality standards.

Please note, this also doesn't mean any question about beta should remain open. Since it's beta, knowing the exact build version is imperative - we should be a little more strict about closing vague beta questions if they fail the other guidelines about being clear, practical, and have some research done on the problem to be solved.

We should vote to hold and close subjective, opinionated, excessively broad bad questions because of those specific flaws and not because they are running a beta build of an App or an OS.

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  • Note that the person who knows the answer might consider themselves under NDA and so feels they cannot answer. i.e. don't expect an answer in all cases for private beta when it would be answered in production
    – mmmmmm
    Jan 3, 2016 at 17:59
  • For real? I think that has a sick irony to it. Literally one month before... Oh well, I was being a jerk. Consider this my formal apology for the unreasonable tornado of stupid that came flying from my keyboard in the unfortunate series of events that I just linked to. Reading it now, it just makes me sick that I got so worked up.
    – General Nuisance
    Jan 4, 2016 at 22:29
  • @oboy Double-audience type irony or incongruous type irony?
    – bmike Mod
    Jan 4, 2016 at 22:32
  • @bmike Well, after a quick Google search, I suppose I incorrectly used the term "irony." But, uh, both. :-)
    – General Nuisance
    Jan 4, 2016 at 22:39
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The latest meta question on beta is here

The most upvoted answer (although not very many votes) says

NDA is just one of several reasons why questions about non-public beta software don't work well on Ask Different, Can I ask about not-yet-publicly released OS? lists the others. So even with the NDA partially lifted, I still think that questions about iOS 9/OS X El Capitan need to wait until at least public betas are available.

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    pls uproot all me answars kthx
    – bjb568
    Jan 3, 2016 at 15:35

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