New mod author comment moderation features and updated terms of servic

[seweryn]

In response to post #10324757.

I see this as a bad change because many people aka mod authors can abuse this so they can delete comments that are negative towards their mod/mods. It shouldn't be in their power to say who can or cannot download their file. I think it is about freedom and this is another thing that lower that. I am just defending the principle, that is all, nothing against blocking people who are toxic, i just feel that mod authors should be like judge dreed, aka judge, jury and executioner. My few cents here.

[CraftySentinel]

In response to post #10324757. #10327504, #10329098 are all replies on the same post.

I agree seweryn, authors being able to block users from their files concerns me. I can see that it could be abused or used in a.... threatening manner quite easily. I know majority of Authors wouldn't do either but it only takes one. I guess Mods would still step in, in extreme cases though.

Comment deleting or banning users from comment sections though I don't see a problem with (As long as that doesn't evolve into post editing.... as in what occurred on steam last year, would hate to see that again).

Overall looking forward these changes though.

Edited November 27, 2013 by CraftySentinel

[JimboUK]

In response to post #10324757. #10327504, #10328571 are all replies on the same post.

Why would an author block anyone who isn't a pain? there's no point in taking the time to upload something if you're then going to stop normal people from downloading. I'm sure if authors start threatening people with bans for no good reason they'll be jumped on by the staff, threatening people isn't looked on too kindly here.

[Lisnpuppy]

I have to say I am a bit shocked at what people seem to be saying here. We get very few complaints about mod authors. Now it sounds like they all will be some crazed villains, rubbing their hands together in evil glee and pushing the "block user" button over and over while cackling madly.

 

Of course someone will abuse this at some point....but do you all really think there is going to be some mass, forced exodus of members because mod authors ban them from their mods and they no longer can download them?

 

Just because you may have seen a mod author get a bit frustrated here doesn't mean they will all completely lose their minds. Most will probably never have to use this feature. Blocking comments will be sufficient.

 

These people are all members here and users of mods also. Just because a rare few may misuse something doesn't mean they all will do so. Stop for just a moment and think about what you are saying. If there are mod authors this bad and you all are this worried...why do we not hear about it regularly? This option has been out now for what...five days....and yet there are not tons of people being blocked. Gosh I would think some of these megalomaniacs would have all run joyfully to the block user buttons and started clicking on everyone that had pissed them off. Yet...*looks around*...nope...not all kinds of folks being pushed out of mods that I see. Maybe they are all just making their naughty and nice lists and are saving it all up for a Christmas present instead of the traditional lump of coal?

 

All right I am joking a bit. Yet all of this is speculation. There is, as yet, no hard evidence that any of this is going to go down this way. Do you think Robin...who has spent years and years and I know not how many thousands of dollars to build this place is going to hand over the keys to his own destruction? If we are truly any kind of community here....then trust people to do the right thing and trust that if someone does not...that they will be held accountable.

[QuantaStarfire]

In response to post #10330114.

It just seems unnecessary. I mean, as a user, it already seems like mod authors wield a great deal of power--after all, they have their own hidden forum where they can speak directly with staff and influence site policy, as this latest decision clearly demonstrates--and yet, for some reason, they need more. Why?

[TheThirdRace]

In response to post #10324757. #10327504, #10328571, #10329098 are all replies on the same post.

What I was saying is more like this:

If you really do what Dark0ne said and don't intervene when a mod author bans a user, moderators won't be necessary for those cases as the work will be done by mod authors.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think moderators will see their workload vanish. I know you will get your fair share of work elsewhere and the new tools are there to ease the growing number of reports.

[TheThirdRace]

In response to post #10330114. #10330682 is also a reply to the same post.

Don't worry, we all realize it won't be all mod authors doing this, we know it will be only a very few rotten apples. What we're debating about the process is the blank check written.

On one side you allow mod authors to ban users and on the other Dark0ne says there will be no intervention, no appeal. I'd be fine with mod authors banning users (even if it's only for their mods) if there were an appeal process, but there is none.

The problem with an appeal process is you won't reduce your workload. So it's not realistic to go that way. Thus you put yourselves in a dead-end.

I know some authors asked for this feature, but as a professional programmer I know that what is asked and what should be done for users are two completely different things. When a user ask me something, they're often blinded by their own problem, they don't see outside of it, they don't see how to make it work with the whole system. That's what they pay me for, to give them a solution to their problem, not necessarily their solution, but a solution.

In this case, authors that asked for this feature were probably about to "kill" some users. I don't think it's wise to give them banning power in this situation because they're too emotional, moderators are (or should be) impartial.

That's why I've been trying to explain how simply banning communication would be sufficient. Moderators would still get demands to ban users, but anything else not moderator "worthy" would be done by the mod author.

I also think it's better to talk about this right now and not in 3 months because you can't calculate the perception of people and how it will affect them. What you'll see is only the results. You won't see what I didn't post by fear of reprisal no matter how good were my intentions. As for the results you'll see, I think they will be skewed the same way you don't see changes about someone if you spend a lot of time with him/her. Because you're so close, you don't see the changes as they are tiny and irregular, but if you didn't see someone for 10 years, you'll see those changes immediately. What I'm saying is you won't see any difference after 3 months, not because there isn't any, but because you'll be comparing the results to a vague memory of what it was 3 months ago and you'll fill-in the blanks with your experiences from the last 3 months.

I'm not an alarmist, I know the Nexus will be there in a year and probably the next decade too. I'm just saying you're laying the foundations to something that has the potential of changing the community as a whole. That potential could be good, but it could be bad too. There are other ways to insure only good outcomes, banning user with no appeal isn't one of them. Edited November 27, 2013 by TheThirdRace

[greggorypeccary]

In response to post #10324378. #10324482 is also a reply to the same post.

In other words - they are people.

[MODinsane]

In response to post #10324378. #10324482, #10331249 are all replies on the same post.

Im an adult, so the easy way for me is if I like the MOD I use it, if not I dont.

[Nofsdad]

If this gets rid of the comments like "This mod sucks. Download mine or So & So's instead, it's better" or the nasty little comments obviously designed to attract attention to the commenter at the expense of any semblance of honest and meaningful critique, I'm for it.

 

If it becomes a means of eliminating any form of honest and meaningful critique by people unwilling or incapable of providing support and improvement to their brainchild, I'm agin it.

 

I generally come down on the side of authors in these disputes, figuring if a user doesn't like a particular mod that user is already free to NOT download or use that particular mod. That's the only "right" he or she has.

 

There is seldom any justification for going to someone's page and bitching and complaining about something that nobody forced you to download in the first place, now is there? The author is under no obligation whatever to the user to provide something to the users liking.

 

And the absolute worst are those that go to a mod author's page and slam his or her mod and then try to steer you to a different mod, either their own or by one of there buddies. Eliminate those kinds and I'll support it in a hot minute. (As a simple user of course, I totally lack the talent to create a mod myself and can only speak as a user.)

 

What I'm trying to say is, some... hell, MANY... of the users on the nexus seem to have gone to school to learn to be total rectal orifices and anything that keeps their kind of comments out of my face is more than welcome to at least a fair trial as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2013 by Nofsdad