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Man, this is really going out on a limb. You really think this is a big problem? It isn't. If people can't install mods correctly, they certainly aren't going to be able to interpret a warning message telling them that "The shared library |cFF00FF00%s|r is out-dated, revision |cFF0077FF%s|r at least is required".

You copy pasted a little too fast, the following string is also included in the error message:

 local GenericErrorMessage2 = "Try to re-install Decursive from its original archive or use the |cFF00FF00Curse client|r (Curse.com) to update |cFFFF0000ALL|r your add-ons properly.\nIf that doesn't work, install the add-ons BugGrabber and BugSack in order to detect other errors preventing Decursive to load.";

If they can't install mods correctly, then this message automatically points it out to them and they can do something about it immediately on their own without getting back to me.

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But there was a misunderstanding of the point I was making with "say to them "use release versions"". Not just in the docs (that people may or may not read). But when someone comes to you through one of the sources for this mod with an outdated alpha bug, etc., just _tell_ them to "Use release versions for a bug-free experience..." in a reply. Heck, just create a fast form letter reply that can be endlessly copied..

Most people don't tell what version they are using when they are reporting an issue...
having to use a pre-written reply is also annoying and clearly points out that something is wrong somewhere.
This is inefficient and annoying both for the user and the author:
- The author have to loose his time telling the same thing over and over again.
- The user needs to wait for feedback and is unable to use the program in the meanwhile...

Why not just make an automatic system that will fix the most common issues instead??????

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You want to get the free benefit of unqualified users trying out alpha versions of apps/programs in the dim hope you'll get useful feedback, but then get annoyed when they come back to you later with an issue with them that has since been fixed. And then try to implement various mechanical social engineering ways to avoid them coming back to you and/or "improve their experience" (using up CPU/memory/bandwidth/etc. and being annoying) instead of providing regular support. Or instead of using a cheap form letter reply as I suggest above, etc..

I do get useful feedback this way. Users don't need to be qualified to report issues with something they're used to.
Now I just want my users to get the best experience possible with my work making sure they're using the right version. Not an alpha version not meant for production nor a six months old one...
All my users seems to be happy, except for one it seems...

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If you include the version of Ace3 you want people to use with release versions of this mod, there won't be any problems. And due to the backward-compatible nature of Ace3, there won't be problems with older mods either. Bump the version of this to repackage if a new release version of Ace3 comes out.

That's the theory yes, but in the real world some people don't know how to install mods correctly and may not replace the whole directory thus leaving old library versions... Checking that all library versions are the same than the one used during developments eliminates a great deal of potential issues I won't have to consider when someone is reporting a problem, it also validates Decursive's installation.

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Just tell people to use release versions if they want to have a "problem free" experience. Its that simple.

That's exactly what the warning does when you install a non-release version of Decursive.

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Average users don't go looking for alphas of mods (i.e. come to WowAce to download them). People who like testing and/or more "advanced" users do. Unless, that is, you put up alphas on Curse and/or tag alphas as releases (or put up alphas as "betas" on Curse, which you have done).

There are not enough people using alpha versions, this is why I have to publish beta on curse and sometimes publish Release Candidates versions as release because some bugs are very difficult to reproduce! Without non-release version automatically expiring I couldn't do that.
Some of the bugs I fixed this way had one chance over ten thousands to happen...
Despite its simplicity of use, Decursive is a very complex program

Just take WoW as an example, before each major patch Blizzard spends several months in beta test with users on the test realms but it's never enough... each time they release the patch to the public (to their 11 millions users) they immediately find bugs they had NO CHANCE to find during the beta test phase and they have to make an emergency patch two days after the release...

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Then again, just noticed in the in the mod description that you do say that...heh. So its really an issue of wanting to nag/engineer people through the mod, instead of just saying "use release versions".

As a developer yourself, you should know that less than 1/100th (if not 1/1000th) of users are reading descriptions and documentations...
And no it's not just wanting to nag/engineer people through the mod. This 'nagging' system revealed to be clearly necessary because writing "use release versions" in the doc revealed do be completely useless.

You know that absolutely no one (except you) ever complained about those warning/alerts self-diagnostics... Decursive has more than 400,000 users...
That's simply because this system is a direct, immediate and pertinent help to the user!
As a user myself I prefer guidance instead of an obscure error message no one but the developer can understand.

Did you ever notice how few complaints or bug reports Decursive gets compared to other popular mods? (Curse comments, or WoWAce tickets)
Decursive is probably one of the most stable add-ons available today, this is certainly not by accident and this automatic support to the user plays a big role in that.