Due to the recent manifestations of good will and appreciation towards mod authors and the Nexus community in general, I thought it might be a good opportunity to address one thing in particular: endorsements.
Did you ever notice how even the most popular, and widely used mods on the Nexus have terrible download-to-endorsement rates? Here's some examples:
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#1 Mod of all times - SkyUI
4,5 Million unique downloads - 274.500 endorsements ~ 6% endorsement rate
popular Spell mod - Apocalypse
1,2 Millon unique downloads - 45.000 endorsements ~ 3% endorsement rate
DLC sized mod - Falskaar
888,000 unique downloads - 59.000 endorsements ~ 6,6% endorsement rate
player home by the "go-to-girl" for house mods - Elianora - Serenity
34,000 unique downloads - 1.900 endorsements ~ 6,8% endorsement rate
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Don't tell me only 5% of people ended up liking those mods.
Now, before you go all "modding shouldn't be about the endorsements" speech, realize that I agree, I do. But with all the talk of showing more support and appreciation towards authors going around, I have to address this issue.
Unlike donations, endorsements don't cost money, you do not need a bank account, you do not need a paypal account, you do not need to enter your personal information. All you need to do is to take out one second of your time and click the like button.
I have been told that endorsement rates have risen since the button is more "in your face" with the reminder. I know they did. They have risen to and underwhelming 6% for outstanding uber mods.
I think the endorsements are as "in your face" as they could be and this should not change. I think this is more on the side of the individual people to start changing their ways.
I started making mods for personal use back in Morrowind, long before I knew about the Nexus. I have made many mods for Morrowind and Skyrim. Yet I have only released two so far. And when I did release my first one here on the Nexus in February of this year, I realized how much effort it takes from having a perfectly functioning mod for yourself to making it ready for shipment. There are numerous steps involved in getting the mod ready for the enjoyment of others. The testing, packaging, designing the mod page, the description, walkthroughs, different versions, compatibility patches, and then the support of the mod. All this, all those mod authors out there do solely for your/our benefit. They could keep the mod for themselves but instead put in days/weeks/months for the benefit of the community.
I do not want to add the "they do it for free" part, and keep the money out of it. But they do put in all this extra effort yet only five percent of people put in the time to give their "thumbs up". The 5% rate is the average for outstanding mods btw.
If you want to be all "look at this guy begging for endorsements", then ok. Go ahead, and unendorse my mods if you endorsed before and I offended you. But please take the time in the future and give a thumbs up to other mods you like. Yeah, people do not mod for endorsements but people also do not live to receive appreciation from others, yet still it feels good when you do.
I for one also enjoy reading comments a lot.
TL;DR:
- Even the most popular mods have an average 5% endorsements rate though definately more people actually like the mods
- I know modding is not about endorsements
- Endorsement reminders should not be even more in your face
- the community voiced the will to show more support/appreciation, clicking a button to have an author know you like their work should not be too much to ask for