Commenting Public Bug Tracker with Comment-Only Access

[Seb263]

Hello,

I’d like to propose a small but potentially very impactful addition to the current bug report system for mod pages.

At the moment, mod authors can either open, close, or hide the bug report tab entirely. Unfortunately, this creates a tough compromise: either keep it open and deal with a flood of often irrelevant or duplicate reports, or close it and prevent users from contributing even to valid, existing reports.

In practice, many of the so-called "bug reports" are simply the result of user error, load order issues, missing requirements, conflicts, or general lack of modding knowledge. These are not actual bugs, and yet they clutter the section and create extra workload for mod authors, especially for popular mods.

My suggestion:
Add a new option under the "Bug tracker options" in the mod management page: "Public, but limited to existing reports"
This would keep the bug tracker publicly visible, while allowing users to comment only on existing reports, without the ability to create new ones.

This would help in several ways:

• Reduce duplicate tickets and keep reports centralized.
• Allow users to confirm or contribute to known issues without flooding the system.
• Help authors track real issues more efficiently, without needing to sift through dozens of unrelated reports.
• Maintain transparency for users who want to check if a problem is already known.

It strikes a better balance between user participation and author workload, and I believe it would be widely appreciated by both sides.

Thanks for your time.