CBLong

I disagree with you about as vehemently as I am able. I think your attitude an unfortunate one. It states that, because I do not upload mods on to this site, I am a worthless peasant unfit for any scraps you deign, in your benevolence, to leave me, and that I should be thankful for every bit of effluence that trickles down to my lips, no matter how vile it may be. I exaggerate, of course, but you seem to imply that all mods are, by their very nature, good, and that no criticism is valid. You wish to insulate the mod-maker from criticism completely. Yes, you may well get some frivolous down-votes. Yes, some people may even use the system to troll. But it should be easy for you to disregard frivolous down-voters and trolls, and I feel that, even with the flaws inherent in the design, it is a worthy one because it alerts the casual browser that not all may be well, and it alerts the mod-maker that there may be something flawed with his creation. Why do you mod, if not out of love? For the game itself, for the joy of creation? As you mention, you make no money from this. Yet you choose to use your time in modding, and then to upload your creation to share it with the world. And if you mod from love, wouldn't it be ideal to strive ever closer to perfection, to ferret out any flaws and remove them? Criticism is necessary in all endeavors, unpleasant as it is. It is a bitter drink, there's no denying that. But to remove criticism promote complacence and encourages mediocrity.

I'm inclined to agree. Given that you had to download and, presumably, test out the mod first before giving it any rating, there would be remarkably few frivolous negative votes. Each one would be a sign that a mod was tested and found wanting in some capacity. If there are a bunch of negatives, it gives the casual viewer a clear sign that something is amiss with the mod, and encourages him to look at the comments to find out exactly what the trouble is when he might have otherwise not. The positive and negative system is a big help to those who wish to mod carefully, because it gives the viewer an immediate sense of how many people were so satisfied that they came back to give the mod a positive rating, as well as those who were so dissatisfied that they felt the need to warn others off.