File endorsements in their own discussion topic

[Dark0ne]

Some of you might have noticed that all of the endorsement posts have been moved out of the "Comments" tab on file pages. These posts have not been lost, or deleted, but have instead been moved to a new pinned topic in the "Discussions" tab under the topic listed as the "Official endorsement topic".

 

The aim of this change is to reduce the amount of clutter in the Comments tab and separate normal comments and questions from the standard endorsement messages.

 

To help mod authors manage the comments and topics related to their file pages I'll also be rolling out a new page for each site, hopefully tomorrow, that will give a forum style view of all the threads related to your files. The page will list every thread in order of their last post date taken straight from the forums. The result will be something similar to filtering your uploaded files by "last comment DESC" but will cover every single one of your files, and make it easier to manage your comments.

 

At this time TESNexus and New Vegas Nexus have had their endorsement/comment system changed over and I'll be tackling Dragon Age Nexus and Fallout 3 Nexus tomorrow.

[AndalayBay]

This is unfortunate. It might seem like a good idea, but I find that users also ask questions or submit problem reports as part of their endorsement. This is going to make it very awkward to respond to these.

 

I wish you had asked our opinion before doing this :)

[Dark0ne]

It was mentioned in the most recent blog post I put up.

 

Users are just going to have to learn to either not ask questions in endorsements, or to read the endorsement thread to get their answer (you can still reply to questions asked in endorsement posts). It's a change and as with all change it'll just take a little time for user's to adapt.

[AndalayBay]

Ah, that's what that meant. I did read that blog post but didn't realize the reprecussions of some of those changes.

 

We can't shut off comments on an existing mod entry, right?

[CheeseyBall]

Oh good. :)

[Pronam]

It's an extra piece of thought process every user needs to adapt to as being normal. Cluttering happened even more as both endorsements were mixed, this should give some more space to have a better overview what's going on.

Putting a note on your page that people should address problems in the comments or whenever at endorsements pointing towards comments to elaborate their issue with this transition, shouldn't be too much of a trouble. Neither just quoting their post from the endorsments and answering on it. There are a lot more easy ways to address this with the new system and it should allow a more efficient use of the discussion area. Endorsements cluttered any questions before and in the end there'll always be a certain manner of mixing as you it's not a topic for each user.

 

Hehe, there ain't a true change unless there's some resistance :D. I'm looking forward to the global file comment view changes.

[Satanabusjones]

This is a little off subject but...

How about adding a moderator evaluation grace period on negative endorsements to make sure that negatives are warranted and not baseless...the old system required a justification on negative and positive endorsements...now people can say whatever they want about a mod true or false and the authors must simply live with it...

 

...let's face it, most people don't endorse, and those who give thumbs up are typically genuine...but I've seen a lot of negative endorsements that seem to show that people either aren't reading descriptions and are posting negative endorsements pertaining to items addressed in said descriptions or they are just simply trolling...

 

...I feel that the below types of endorsement should especially be reviewed, and the person endorsing should be required to justify their thumbs down...

 

"the file caused conflicts with the game or other popular files"

 

...as I was informed by a moderator just recently that all mods are conflicts with the original game, this shouldn't be worded this way...and who is to say that the file it conflicts with is popular or not?

 

"after playing the file it doesn't fit in to my personal tastes or beliefs, etc."

 

This is somewhat silly since most files (definitely not all) adequately describe what a mod is about or what it contains...people should be able to discern if the file is going to offend them by these descriptions and at the very least the images section...if it doesn't adequately describe what the mod does I move on and don't download it so then this is a non-issue...I realize that not everyone has this sort of self control, but the authors shouldn't be the ones penalized for the ignorance or impatience of others, as they spend their free time working on mods for which they receive nothing aside from the feedback users provide...I can't and won't even try to speak for everyone, but I would at least like to know that the feedback I am receiving is actually constructive, and not simply a subjective pre-written statement that may not actually reflect the user's experience so much as their expectations...

Edited April 12, 2011 by Satanabusjones

[xporc]

Good, I was wondering my half of my comments disappeared ><

[stars2heaven]

My first reaction to this was the same as what AdalyBay pointed out. I'm open to change though, I can see the benefits of this change as well.

 

It would be so nice to be able to look through a "bug reporting" section while looking for bugs or help to fix those bugs. It would also be nice just to look at the endorsements and see what people like and not have to rumage through a bunch of other stuff. I say this from the perspective of a modder and a user, it benefits me in both regards.

[Emma]

Thank you for your constant effort to improve an already good site :smile:

 

That said, I must admit I'm not thoroughly happy with what you are doing now, as it has severe effect *backwards*.

I notice that now the replies are in one thread and the questions in another (as people generally ask their questions while endorsing). It gets a bit... complicated... when we are talking threads that originally had +3000 posts... !!

 

Most people do post their questions and suggestions while endorsing, i.e. in the same post, maybe you can make them change this habit over time, but it is what they have done in the past. Therefore questions and answers are now split in an unfortunate way. (On a side-note, if people are not doing questions and suggestions when endorsing, what is the purpose in at all posting while endorsing? I mean, it would basically mean that the only relevant thing to put in the endorsement-post is generic stuff like "great mod, keep up the good work".)