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Please stop asking for extensions on beta / complaints

 
author and jackaroo
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Hi everybody.

From this time onwards, I am going to close and/or delete any topics asking for Sun to extend the number of free beta exams or any topics complaining about Sun's unfairness in closing the beta exams. JavaRanch is meant to be a friendly place, and most of these topics seem darn unfriendly to me.

Many businesses and/or government and/or organisations find that demand exceeds supply where something is being given away for free, and they must stop supplying the goods for free. The organisers make assumptions based on what they believe demand will be, and then get swamped with requests. When they run out of whatever is free, they have no choice but to stop.

It is a mistake to think that Sun are giving away something for which there is a never ending supply. The beta exam costs Sun money. I believe Sun must pay Prometric for each candidate who sits for free. Sun must supply certificates, badges etc. to those who pass. And Sun must employ staff to read through every single answer and every single comment that comes back from those who sit the beta exam. Those who are taking the exam have 3 hours to answer all 122 questions and make comments. If we assume that it will take 4 hours for an examiner to validate the answers, consider the comments, and modify the exam accordingly (while other modifications to the exam are also happening concurrently), then an examiner will only get through 2 submissions a day if they are lucky. Assume that 500 candidates sit for the Beta exam, and you are looking at 250 man days for validating the exam - effectively one years salary must be paid for. Double the number of candidates and you double the cost to Sun.

I suspect Sun did not expect to get so many candidates interested in this exam. As Bert and Mark have indicated, this is an exam that was specifically requested by Japan, and it is not targeted at people who currently hold Java certifications (in fact, Bert even made a request for those who currently hold Java Certifications to avoid the Beta exam).

Regardless, Sun have been generous in allowing candidates to take the Beta exam for free. We should be grateful that they did this, even if only a limited number of candidates can take the free exam. We should certainly not complain about missing out - if Sun believes we are all a bunch of complainers, they may decide not to give away free Beta exams in the future.

Regards, Andrew
 
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Very well said!
 
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As SUN has already made the decision, it is meaningless to continue discussing on the registration-related issues.

Let's focus on the beta exam.

Nick
 
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[Andrew: Removed complaints]
[ June 17, 2005: Message edited by: Andrew Monkhouse ]
 
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I think the behaviour of people for asking extension is NORMAL. SUN did not announce the beta registration period in right way. She did not disclose that the quota of the beta test is limited. Just let's people express their feelings.
 
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the 20th is the date of the start of the beta test starting to be administered at the prometric sites. It was never the dealine to register. That is why it is pointless for people to complain. The announcement was exactly the same as Sun announces things all the time and it states everything clearly.

Mark
 
Peter Sin
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Maybe we need to stop discuss this issue now. Otherwise, Andrew will also destroy this thread. Let's people concentrate to prepare for the exam.
 
Andrew Monkhouse
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Hi Peter,

Originally posted by Peter Sin:
I think the behaviour of people for asking extension is NORMAL. SUN did not announce the beta registration period in right way. She did not disclose that the quota of the beta test is limited. Just let's people express their feelings.



As you yourself noted in your later post, this forum is for people preparing for the exam.

There is no value in people "expressing their feelings" in this forum, and this forum was not created for people to express their feelings.

As I mentioned at the start of this topic, some of the posts are very unfriendly. This goes against the number one rule of JavaRanch, namely "Be Nice".

If you read through the posts in this forum, you will also note that there have been numerous requests by forum members for these complaints to stop, and for people to start discussing the exam.

I will leave this thread open so people can discuss the policy I have set here if they wish. But that is the only reason this thread remains open - complaints will be deleted from this topic as from any other topic.

Regards, Andrew
 
Jas Oberai
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Sorry to say..but that was UNFAIR and BIASED.
[ June 19, 2005: Message edited by: jas oberai ]
 
Nicholas Cheung
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Sorry Andrew, please feel free to remove this post, as I just wanna make a reply.

Soory to say..but that was UNFAIR.


Honestly, when you saw the information registration which was starting at 1 June 2005, why dont you register that immediately?

For whatever reasons, SUN reserved the rights to make any changes to their promotions without any notices (I guess all promotions by any companies MUST reserve this right). Hence, there is NO unfairness issue as SUN rules the game.

Every time when SUN announced beta exams, there were always voices for unfairness. If the beta test period was too short, people complain that there was not enough time to prepare; when SUN decided to extend the beta period, people complain that it was unfair to those who took the exam before the original deadline.

When there were too many people took free beta tests which some of them did not prepare well (affecting the passing rate), SUN did not offer free beta test (e.g. SCJP Tiger) but then people complain why beta tests required fee!

Complaints never ends!!!

So far, I took 4 beta exams and there were complaints from every beta test. I would say, for this case, why others can register on time while some did not? It is the responsibility for the candidates to register on time, NOT SUN. It is also UNFAIR that people always push the responsibility to SUN.

Nick
 
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To echo the sentiment here... there's always going to be someone unhappy with any decision made by a business. I'll admit that I've often been on the side of "it's unfair when they extend the deadline for the test" because I fret that folks with more preparation are going to force up the passing score. But in the end, it is still Sun's decision on the matter.

And let's face a fact - it's nice of them to offer a positive benefit (the certification packet) to anyone who passes. They could, just as easily, go with the idea that folks who pass the Beta test get a free voucher for the real thing, or something of that scale. It's a bonus to get to take a beta - free or paid - not a requirement on their part to offer the chance to us.

Just my $0.02.
 
Andrew Monkhouse
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I have moved this topic to the JavaRanch forum, so that anybody who wants to discuss the policy can do so there.

Note that the JavaRanch forum is not an appropriate place for complaints about Sun's policy regarding beta exams either.

Regards, Andrew
 
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