I agree it wasn't kind. I apologize for that. But the OP hangs their whole argument on the fact that they can't play Monday-Friday at all and then infers that it is probably like that for at least enough people that TFP should swap the schedule. So, while not kind, it is a relevant line of debate and I maintain that even if the OP is being 100% accurate about not having 30 minutes of time here or there for leisure time, that is not necessarily the case for the majority of people.
I suppose the kinder approach would have been to say that I sympathize with their tough work schedule but that their work schedule isn't indicative of most players.
To be completely honest, I don't get offended by someone disagreeing with me on the internet. Words are just words.
However I'm not basing that on just my schedule. I'm basing it on a plain and observable fact, that there is
less people playing over the week than over the weekend. And this is the case for almost every game, this is nothing that needs to be discussed or argued with. It's plain fact that most people do work and when they do, they tend to have mo-fr work week. Some of those people can make some time for playing, some can't - it could be because they have just enough time for family but not for gaming, but the real reason is also not really important. And while some people do play over the week, quite a lot more play over the weekend (again, easily seen on all steam graphs where you have a big spike in gaming
during weekend)
There is no public poll but I'm also not pulling feelings out my ears.
I'm sorry, but if you are not part of the dev team or someone that runs and coordinates the program, you are pulling feelings out of somewhere. You can't really say there is no data but you are basing what you are saying on data - that's just contradiction in itself
They wouldn't do this unless the event was bringing them value.
There is no question that the event engenders bad will among certain members of the community and good will among certain members of the community. If the bad will was growing and the good will shrinking then TFP would abandon the events. But all signs point to the opposite being true.
You just said there is no data. How can you state these things without any data? This is just bias on your part - just because people don't get angry enough to create an account here & write a forum post does not mean that it bothers them.
I also would not have wrote this if I did not already have an account since it's something that I don't like but not really enough to do that much because of it.
What you are saying is not true and demonstrably so. Companies do things that actively harm them all the time and they use the very same logic: our customers did not say it matters so we did it like that. And in order to prevent that, here I am. To put my finger on the scale so to speak.
Just look at the numbers: there are 10 people in the thread arguing that things should not change - but there are 35k players out there. So these people here are how much? 0.0003% of the player base? Is it good enough that 0.0003% of vocal forum posters keep company doing something that makes no sense? I'm not too sure - hence the post here.
As for your own schedule, sorry I doubted you. I won't say you're lying about it since you are doubling down on the claim. But I do maintain that that is your life and it doesn't translate to most people. In fact, from out of my ears, I have to say that I believe the large majority can squeeze a bit of hobby and entertainment and leisure into the weekdays of their lives. The schedule should not be swapped simply based on your schedule.
No worries - as I said, words on the internet don't hurt me. I live my life and I'm in my own personal bubble. You are in your own. People around me don't have too much time to play around during the work week, because they tend to have family and they spend the little free time they have with a family rather than playing games.
It may be very well different for you, but that does not invalidate my life and lives of people around me.
And I don't even think you are lying about you having time - you could be living on the other side of the world for all I know and things are different all around.
You started the discussion by doing exactly that. You're screaming that it should be changed because reasons. Your reasons are your unique situation of not being able to play Monday - Friday. The reasons for keeping it as it is have been explained to you but obviously you don't accept them or choose to ignore them:
1) The weekend works better for TFP work schedules and opening the experimental to everyone on the first day of their workweek is best for quickly handling issues that my come up.
2) The weekend works better for streamers who often have weekday jobs and can do marathon streams only on the weekends
Where am I screaming? I don't think I did that
And no, reasons were not explained - only personal feelings and anectodal evidence and stuff like "it has always been like that". Honestly I feel that if we would allow this kind of thinking to define our behavior as a species, we would be wiping our bums with pinecones and running around butt naked with stone spears. I mean that's how our ancestors did it and it must've worked out for them so it's good enoug for us, right?
I also explained why I think that these two reasons you said are invalid. The latter is addressed by my latest post here - you are blocking 30-35k players just for a select few to stream while the streaming numbers don't really support the claim that this is a hugely important think that brings attention to less known streamers.
A problem worth discussing in a forum but not necessarily a problem that needs changing when it is working.
Exactly - that was the whole point, to have a discussion about weighing abovementioned numbers & trends. Because argument "it's always been done like this" is a dumb one and does not even deserve the space in the database - and I think we can probably agree on that
So to reiterate my position:
Many people (most in my social bubble) can't really play during the week due to circumstances like work, family etc and prefer gaming during the weekend. That can be shown by the fact that there is a big spike in concurrent gamers during the weekend - it spikes from ~20k to 30-35k.
I can understand that there could be a reason for giving some group a heads up (even if it would be just for "beta testing"). Okay, so let's keep the "streamers first" approach, but how about we move the start of this time period to (let's say) tuesday? That way we could get most of both worlds - people who don't have time/energy to play can watch someone play the new version before the weekend when they can get to the computer and spend whole day gaming. And as a bonus, it would enable devs to catch bugs that streamers run into during work days.
The underlying argument is, that given how (arguably not too) many people stream 7DTD, it does not really make sense to block the vast majority (30-35k) from playing the latest version during the weekend.
I notice, we're also thinking about this game in quite different terms; you say "30 mins here and there", but I won't even start the game unless I have at least 2 hours for a sesh. I might not play past 1h, but I tend to get carried away and I like to have ample time for that. 2h gaps even with a basic 9-5 + commute or maybe kids - might not be all that easy to come by.
I completely agree with you, I have the same mindset/problem - and since I play mostly cooperative multiplayer, it is especially time consuming. There really is no option to play "30 mins here and there" since all/most of us have to join etc.
Even if I just play with my girlfriend, it is not automatic that both of us will have the exact same time window during work week unfortunately. On the weekends, however, we usually do
I mean people are really strangle online, but I did not really think it was this bad. I mean... wtf? 
But even if I was a part of the creator program and a creator, I'd be quite sure that 10 years old game will not catapult my channel from potential obscurity to peak viewship on any platform. Let's be real for a moment. That's why I said we are not talking about GTA6 or other games that are several orders of magnitude bigger.
