The trend for USELESS mod descriptions

[zanity]

A lot of good, popular modders love to be 'playful' and 'cryptic' in the descriptions of their mods- and this horrible unprofessional attitude seems to have infected a ton of new modders- meaning that judging whether a potentially interesting new mod is worth downloading has become harder than ever.

 

All GROWN-UP software resources have STANDARDS for documentation and description. Isn't it about time Nexus encouraged the same for mods hosted here.

 

What I suggest is TWO tabs- one where the mod is described formally and accurately- and one where the author can 'sell' his/her mod with 'youtube' playfulness. Frankly I'm getting fed up seeing promising new mods where even quite basic required information is purposely missing from the desc tab.

 

Some modders set excellent examples with plain descriptions of functionality, limitations, and compatibilities- but sadly it seems that foolish people find this 'boring'. The 'I'm not going to tell you jack ****", 'cool' 'youtube' type creator attitude seems to be taking over- and that just can't work for software products with so many potential impacts on the game.

 

Some 'playful' modders do use the 'changes' tab for proper information- but that is a poor place for frontline documentation.

 

I was inspired to write this after seeing a mod that 'created' two new settlements- but the first responding comment asked if the mod had activated any of the usual settlement features beyond the crafting bench. What excuse did this modder have for NOT making this clear in his/her description- but i've seen far too many established modders take the same laisez faire attitude, and frankly that is lazy beyond excuse.

[TeamBacon]

If you think that the author in question is lazy and unprofessional, then why would you want their mod in your game potentially breaking everything?

 

Reward the people who work hard and document everything and pass up the ones that make you guess.

[Calzien]

I agree on this. I hate the half-written explanations for some mods. Ok cool, you mod does... What again? So you have a mod that makes cats tap dance. Is there anything else required? So your mod adds clutter and moves stuff... okay? What does it move? You overhauled a perk. Cool, but how? A good mod description is one that shouldn't require a bunch of questions. You'll still get them but a well-written one should cover most of the main ones including possible incompatibilities.

[candymanXXL]

Give you absolutely right. Added to this is that many of the modders to inquiries or problems no answer. There are also abbreviations used where you do not often know what they are for.

[RustyXXL]

A lot of good, popular modders love to be 'playful' and 'cryptic' in the descriptions of their mods- and this horrible unprofessional attitude seems to have infected a ton of new modders- meaning that judging whether a potentially interesting new mod is worth downloading has become harder than ever.

 

All GROWN-UP software resources have STANDARDS for documentation and description. Isn't it about time Nexus encouraged the same for mods hosted here.

 

What I suggest is TWO tabs- one where the mod is described formally and accurately- and one where the author can 'sell' his/her mod with 'youtube' playfulness. Frankly I'm getting fed up seeing promising new mods where even quite basic required information is purposely missing from the desc tab.

 

Some modders set excellent examples with plain descriptions of functionality, limitations, and compatibilities- but sadly it seems that foolish people find this 'boring'. The 'I'm not going to tell you jack ****", 'cool' 'youtube' type creator attitude seems to be taking over- and that just can't work for software products with so many potential impacts on the game.

 

Some 'playful' modders do use the 'changes' tab for proper information- but that is a poor place for frontline documentation.

 

I was inspired to write this after seeing a mod that 'created' two new settlements- but the first responding comment asked if the mod had activated any of the usual settlement features beyond the crafting bench. What excuse did this modder have for NOT making this clear in his/her description- but i've seen far too many established modders take the same laisez faire attitude, and frankly that is lazy beyond excuse.

Meh, so much entitlement, so much attitude.

Guess what. You want grown-up software standards, you'll have to pay for grown-up software standards.

You pay nothing, you get to demand exactly as much as you paid for. Good old capitalism.

 

And for some modders it is fun to write a proper description, for others it's pure tedium and frustration. I for my part hate the interface you get when writing the desciption. It is hard to use, I always have to search everything, and have to try 20 times and then preview it to see how it looks on the final page.

So you are not happy that I don't have every last bitof detail in my description, go write a better one or don't use my mods. Easy at that. Because guess what. I made the mod to 80% for myself, because I felt like it and wanted to make itand to 19.99% to share with other modders, whose work I enjoyed in the past. So guess where this leaves you as a user.

You don't like that? Well guess what, go and create some incentives to care about users, other than meaningless virtual internet fame. Because I don't give a damn about that.

And just to be clear. I don't hate the users, and am gratefull about constructive criticism, thanks or bug reports alike, and in general try to be helpful, but in the end I don't care to much about how the users recieve my mods.

 

TL;DR: If you don't like the description, don't use the mod or provide a better one.

[Kesta]

 

What I suggest is TWO tabs- one where the mod is described formally and accurately- and one where the author can 'sell' his/her mod with 'youtube' playfulness. Frankly I'm getting fed up seeing promising new mods where even quite basic required information is purposely missing from the desc tab.

 

 

That's what the Readme tab (and the readme itself) are for. If the modder fill 95% (or even 100%) of his mod page with bullshit and don't upload a readme for actual informations, he won't bother with an information tab either.

 

Don't get me wrong, I understand you and fully agree that this is an issue. It's just that the only way to fix it is by posts like this one to get the word around.

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

You could always offer your services to these users that have poorly written info.

There are a few here on Nexus whose main contributions are to write descriptions for other peoples work (and get credited for their involvement, of course). Just like in sales/marketing, could always benefit from having a copy writer on hand.

If/when I start my own project, I'd surely have to involve said person(s).

 

Not to say you don't have the right to complain, we all do (I just did in an earlier thread about directional sound...OMG it's lame in this game!!! How? By the simple fact that it doesn't exist!).

As I said, why not be one of those contributors I've mentioned...helpful and actively trying to solve the problem (and getting some of their own much needed name/brand recognition/exposure/awareness in the process) by providing a description writing service to those people obviously in need of some guidance and assistance?

 

Just an idea...never know, could maybe even make a name for yourself.

Edited May 7, 2016 by BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah

[virsia]

most author already explain the basic but not all of the area of their mods however lacking still they provide information, but seems like the topic is about became a grown up and be decent, i don't take author sides but they're have the rights to do their playfulness, i think that's our contribution as user to test and try to find bugs or compatibility issue with other, most author is single person they don't have whole game studios. and they're bombarded with request, bug fixing, clippings problem and seek to further development of their project.

 

and yes there is user that new to modding but most author will reply in post section if they have question, but most just download and install without even posting in the post section.i think this need to put into consideration too, before pointing finger.

i think we need to take that in to consideration.

[Reneer]

All GROWN-UP software resources have STANDARDS for documentation and description. Isn't it about time Nexus encouraged the same for mods hosted here.

All those "grown-up" software developers have standards because they get paid to have standards. And if you don't like the description (or lack thereof) of a mod, the way it functions or anything else about it, no one is forcing you to use it. Go find another one that meets your requirements.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Reneer

[gamefever]

A lot of good, popular modders love to be 'playful' and 'cryptic' in the descriptions of their mods- and this horrible unprofessional attitude seems to have infected a ton of new modders- meaning that judging whether a potentially interesting new mod is worth downloading has become harder than ever.

 

All GROWN-UP software resources have STANDARDS for documentation and description. Isn't it about time Nexus encouraged the same for mods hosted here.

 

What I suggest is TWO tabs- one where the mod is described formally and accurately- and one where the author can 'sell' his/her mod with 'youtube' playfulness. Frankly I'm getting fed up seeing promising new mods where even quite basic required information is purposely missing from the desc tab.

 

Some modders set excellent examples with plain descriptions of functionality, limitations, and compatibilities- but sadly it seems that foolish people find this 'boring'. The 'I'm not going to tell you jack ****", 'cool' 'youtube' type creator attitude seems to be taking over- and that just can't work for software products with so many potential impacts on the game.

 

Some 'playful' modders do use the 'changes' tab for proper information- but that is a poor place for frontline documentation.

 

I was inspired to write this after seeing a mod that 'created' two new settlements- but the first responding comment asked if the mod had activated any of the usual settlement features beyond the crafting bench. What excuse did this modder have for NOT making this clear in his/her description- but i've seen far too many established modders take the same laisez faire attitude, and frankly that is lazy beyond excuse.

 

There was this series of Mods for Skyrim that were or rather in fact still ARE insanely popular given that rather than a description of what the mods do he just gives series of stupid meme's or whatever they are called by children.

 

The sad part is that his mods conflict quite often and lead to crash fests frequently.

 

So basically

 

I have to agree that if the author cant be bothered to go to great lengths of what the mod does than well it doesn't go in my load order.

 

In fact I have been basically very picky about my line up for Fallout 4.....Running with less than 20 mods over here....

 

I run about 300 mods on Skyrim....40 of which are mine or I had a part in its development.