Rules

Eligibility

You are eligible to participate in the uTest Bug Battle if you fulfill the following requirements:

  1. You are a member of the uTest community of professional testers.
  2. You are 13 years old or older.
  3. You are not an employee of uTest.
  4. You are not an immediate family member or living in the same household as an employee of uTest.
  5. You are not also a judge for this contest, or an immediate family member or living in the same household as a judge of this contest.
  6. You are not an employee, contractor, or otherwise affiliated with TweetDeck, Seesmic, or Twhirl, Tweetr, Twitterific, or Twitteroo.

How to Enter

You can enter the uTest Bug Battle by registering as a uTest community member. Once you have joined our community, the software to be tested will be available within the uTest platform. Simply access the relevant sections and begin testing.

When is the Contest?

The contest opens on midnight (Eastern Time, USA) May 28, 2009 and lasts until 11:59 PM June 3, 2009 (Eastern Time, USA).

Bugs must be submitted within that timeframe, however you may begin software testing at any time.

What Software Do I Need?

To test each of the websites, you will need to download the relevant Twitter applications and test them: The apps are:

Keep in mind that you do not need to test every app to be eligible. You may test one or all of these.

How Do I Report Bugs for the Contest?

Bugs must be reported through the uTest platform. All bugs will be shared with the vendor at the conclusion of the contest. The tester who submitted the bug will receive appropriate credit when we communicate with the vendor.

How Do I Participate in the Feedback Survey?

Once the competition has ended, all contestants who submitted bugs will be sent a link to a feedback survey. Contestants may also request a feedback survey on the uTest Tester Forums. Contestants will have three days - until June 6 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time, USA) to complete the feedback survey. Submissions for this portion are optional, however we strongly encourage those interested in Top Tester to complete the survey. Prizes will be awarded for the best feedback survey submission for each application.

What are the Prizes?

There are 13 prizes total - 5 prizes for the best bugs, 5 for the best feedback, and one each for Top Tester, Top Novice, and Top US Tester. The prizes for best bugs and feedback will be given for the top submissions across all applications.

A tester need not submit a bug for each application to win the Top Prizes – just one is enough.

The Novice award will be available to any tester that is listed as having less than 1 year of experience in software testing.

The prizes are as follows:

Top Bugs and Feedbacks

Prize Bug Feedback
1st $500 $500
2nd $300 $300
3rd $200 $200
4th $100 $100
5th $50 $50

Top Testers

  • Top Tester – $500 – the best tester in the competition, showing consistent ability to report the highest quality and most interesting bugs and feedback
  • Top Novice – $250 – the beginner tester who showed the most promise in software testing
  • Top US Tester - $250 - the top tester from the USA

How are Participants Judged?

The uTest team will judge the contest, involving outside judges as needed. The contest will be judged blindly, and participants will be evaluated on several metrics, including:

  • Clarity of the bug report
  • Innovativeness of the bug
  • Depth of understanding of the problem

For the usability survey, contestants will be judged based on clarity of their survey, thoughtfulness of their comments, and general insightfulness.

The Top Tester and Top Novice awards will be given for overall performance within the contest. This includes both bug reports and the usability survey portion of the contest.

What Bugs are Eligible?

A bug must be new and unknown (or unknown to anyone who is not an employee of the company owning the software) to be eligible. Unknown indicates that information about the bug was not previously available using searches with Google, Bugzilla, or any other common bug searching and reporting mechanism.

To be eligible, a bug about a particular subject must be the first one submitted. Repeat bugs about the same topic will be excluded. The only exception will be if a repeat bug represents a broader and more inclusive bug within a program, or provides substantially better information over previous bugs.