ATTENTION ALL MOD MAKERS!

[Staind716]

While I agree about the descriptions completely it could have been put in a less classless way. You would get a lot further by asking in a more reasonable way instead of being demanding and insulting about it. It shows a lot more professionalism to name the mods appropriately and include a description. If the mod looks like it was done half-a** and the modder couldn't be bothered to include what by now is considered a basic part of their work then I just don't bother downloading it. Why do all the work to make the actual mod and then be too lazy to make it user-friendly?

[tekhead001]

Not every mod author uses NMM so we that dont have no idea on how to add a description NMM will show, and quite frankly demanding mod authors to accommodate you and use NMM is quite rude and almost insulting. I name my ESP files the same as the mods name, if thats not good enough for you to know which mod it is then I am not going to accommodate you.

 

 

It doesn't even have to be an NMM description. Just NAME YOUR FILES. This really isn't a hard thing to ask.

 

I don't care whether you use NMM or not. But if your filename is just an unhelpful acronym, or a string of numbers, or "{name}'s ultimate awesome super-mod that I'm not going to tell you what it does" then trying to decide whether or not to keep your file is an easy choice when troubleshooting. I'm not asking anyone to use NMM. I'm asking mod makers to take an extra 30 seconds to not encourage us to discard their work. IF you don't want to take an extra 30 seconds to think up an appropriate filename, then I'm sorry, but I'll not be using your work.

[SkjoldBjorn]

I was under the impression that having a plugin name that matches what the mod actually is an unwritten rule, though have in mind that modding is supposed to be fun for the modders as well, not just the users. I can understand the frustration a illogical plugin name can cause, but modders are just another community doing this work for free, so maybe you should'nt rage about this like an angry customer?

Yes im aware that some modders take it to the next levels and almost delivers a product that looks like something you could buy in an online store, but some of us still do this for fun, you could have been abit more polite when you chose to write this post for starters.

[Urwy]

While i agree modders could give the file a name that atleast resembles the mods name, Demanding that they do so is just plain rude.

If a file is named "111111.esp" and you personally dislike that name, just rename it. Saves the forum topics with complaints and also enables you to name them in such a way that you recognise it.

 

Modding is done voluntarily. requests and questions are welcome. Demands are not.

[Galacticat42]

@tekhead

 

As mentioned above, proper documentation is a good practice to do, but to demand it of a community - not a professional, mature company mind you - is wrong. You as a consumer do not pay for any of this content that is delivered to you for free. This means that you do not hold a stock option, an influence of gross income, nor any minute weight of precedence over anything equivalent to a hate letter that a satirical show receives on a cold, rainy, Saturday night. No, instead you read about and download a packet of data that you find might be entertaining, completely free. Mod developers create mods not for downloads nor fame, but to make something that they feel to be missing from the vanilla game and think that the general public would like it.

 

What I'm trying to get across to you is that you are like a pedestrian walking down the street and find a little girl selling lemonade at a small table with some friends. Instead of simply complimenting the girl and buying a 25 cent cup of lemonade, you criticize the girl for not putting the word 'lemonade' on the stand, make her feel like crap, then start a small boycott against her because of it. Now, did the little girl have to sell lemonade? No, she thought that going out to try and share something of hers to complete strangers would be a good deed and instead ends up with a strike riot in front of her table. Now please, tell me how starting a strike against a little girl and her lemonade stand is morally right in any way, because that is exactly what you're doing.

 

Now if you were to complain to - say a bagel shop - because a cinnamon raisin bagel was instead named serial no. 158628135, then you'd have ample reason to complain. You're a paying customer of a thriving business and your simple suggestion would cause the owner of the shop to rename the bagels properly to try and boost their capital.

 

Point is to choose your battles and to fight the mod developers is not a good thing to do. Mod developing is a starting stage for young programmers still learning the basics of a piece of software - and trust me, documentation is the last thing on the minds of developers that have started not a few years prior. I've been there, done that, and I've learned, and so will the other developers, but in time. Even then don't expect a change in mod development because the older that have learned go on to companies and the younger inexperienced come into the scene.

[myrmaad]

^An interesting analogy that.

 

So Little Girl is down the street giving away Lemonade, and Little Boy is down the street giving away Lemonade. He carefully makes his sign so that everyone can read it, and even documents his ingredients "pure spring water, Lemons, sugar" at his table, and leaves signs down the street so people find it. Pretty soon people everywhere are so impressed with his Lemonade that they are leaving him tips and offering him opportunities. Meanwhile whatever happened to that Little Girl? No one knows.

[chaospearl]

The little girl is now back inside her house crying into her pillow because of the unnecessary rudeness and hatred that was directed towards her simply because she made a mistake. THAT is what's wrong with the OP's post. No one's arguing that he isn't 100% correct in what he says; it's the fact that he somehow felt he couldn't get the point across without shouting, demanding, putting people down, calling their work useless junk and garbage, etc.

 

If someone doesn't like how I name my mods - or how I do any other thing - and that person comes to me and tells me I'm doing something that is causing problems for the very people I intended to help - then I may well listen to the advice and change my ways. However if someone stands on a box with a megaphone pointed at my ear and screams that everything I've worked so hard on is absolute crap and fit for the trash bin, I'm inclined to keep doing it my way purely out of spite. (shrugs)

 

All I'm saying is that it isn't necessary to insult and namecall while you're offering advice. Particularly when it's GOOD advice. It makes people not want to listen simply because who wants to be told that they're worthless?

[myrmaad]

It's true. I agree. You're absolutely right.

[jet4571]

Not every mod author uses NMM so we that dont have no idea on how to add a description NMM will show, and quite frankly demanding mod authors to accommodate you and use NMM is quite rude and almost insulting. I name my ESP files the same as the mods name, if thats not good enough for you to know which mod it is then I am not going to accommodate you.

 

 

It doesn't even have to be an NMM description. Just NAME YOUR FILES. This really isn't a hard thing to ask.

 

I don't care whether you use NMM or not. But if your filename is just an unhelpful acronym, or a string of numbers, or "{name}'s ultimate awesome super-mod that I'm not going to tell you what it does" then trying to decide whether or not to keep your file is an easy choice when troubleshooting. I'm not asking anyone to use NMM. I'm asking mod makers to take an extra 30 seconds to not encourage us to discard their work. IF you don't want to take an extra 30 seconds to think up an appropriate filename, then I'm sorry, but I'll not be using your work.

 

 

Do I really need to repeat myself?

 

I name my ESP files the same as the mods name,

[myrmaad]

I think his beef is with those who don't.