Site updates and content filtering

[Dark0ne]

We are in the final stages of rolling out our new codebase on all the Nexus sites and the only site left to be converted is Skyrim Nexus. We’ve been converting each Nexus site one at a time and then tweaking and updating the code to reflect any performance issues that have occurred. Due to the sheer amount of traffic that Skyrim Nexus still receives we’re being extra careful and ensuring we’ve optimised all the code as much as possible (based on our observations from the sites we’ve already converted) before doing the final conversion. So stay tuned on that one.

 

Back when I did my State of the Union video at the end of February I mentioned that the three priority features we’d be working on at the Nexus after the conversion would be:

 

• Content filtering that enabled you to hide any content that you’re not interested in. If you have absolutely no interest in anime, skimpy outfits, nudity, unbalanced content or mods that aren’t lore-friendly (to name but a few of the regular dislikes) then you should be able to remove these mods from view on the sites as much as feasibly possible.
  
• Improving the visibility of mods and ensuring that mods can still be found among all the clutter after the first few days of release.
  
• Improved and enhanced moderation features so we don’t have to have such a black (you’re banned) and white (you’re not banned) method of moderation.
  

 

I’m happy to report that the first of those features, the content filtering, has been completed for all sites except Skyrim (which will be supported once we convert Skyrim Nexus!).

 

The new Blocked Tags page will list a number of tags that you can use to filter content out on the site. Unlike past attempts at doing this, this newest version will filter mods out across all the features on the site including the hot files, category view, search results, top 100 lists and so on. Because we don’t want you to completely debilitate yourself using the new blocking features, we’ve added in the ability to see exactly what it is you’re blocking when browsing categories and search results. The easiest way to test this functionality is to block the “English” language tag and then do a blank search. You’ll see that a new information box displays above your results:

 

Your search has produced 20503 results. 6702 results have been omitted due to content filtering. You can repeat the search including those results.

 

So the content filtering will let you know exactly how many files have been filtered by your filtering preferences and even allow you to repeat your search (or browsing) showing all the previously omitted results, without changing your preferences.

 

Obviously, because the content filtering system is using our tag system then content filtering is only as good as the tags that have been applied to files in the first place. The site can’t filter out an anime mod if the anime tag isn’t being used. To that end I’ve worked on rearranging a lot of the current tags so they’re more accessible while adding some more content classification tags on some of the more regularly complained about content, including: anime, lore-friendly, not safe for work, nudity, sexy/skimpy, translation and saved games. As some of these tags are new it’s up to us, you, and mod authors to begin adding these new tags to these files.

 

To further help in this process we’ve added a new page to the “Files” drop-down menu on all converted sites labelled Files without tags. This page will list every file that has absolutely no tags at all.

 

To remind people of the tagging procedure, anyone and everyone can tag files on the site as long as they’re logged in. You can tag files by going to a file page and clicking the “Tags” tab (it’s the pencil icon) and using the green up or red down arrows next to each tag label. If you’re a mod author you can instantly tag your files. If you’re not the author of the file then you can recommend tags in the same way, using the green and red arrows, but it will take 3 recommendations from 3 separate users for the tag to become “confirmed” for the file. A “confirmed” tag will mean that mod can be searched for or blocked based on the tag. Mod authors automatically confirm their tags without the need for any other users to recommend the tag.

 

If everyone browsing the sites spent 10 minutes of their time to go through the Files without tags page and tagged a few files then all the features that rely on the tagging system would be a lot more powerful. I don’t want anyone coming to me complaining that the tag system isn’t powerful enough if they have “Files tagged: 0” in their profile. We’re all in this together, folks!

 

My hope is that this new content filtering is going to alleviate a lot of the complaints about seeing content that you’re not interested in. If you don’t like anime mods, block the content and you’ll never ever have to see it again. If you see an anime mod that hasn’t been tagged as such, do the right thing and tag it yourself, ensuring that you don’t go off on a crusade in the comments section while you’re at it.

 

We’ll continue to tweak the content filtering and tagging system as necessary, and if you have any recommendations or bug reports then feel free to air them.

 

We’ve got lots of really cool stuff in the works at the moment for both the sites and for NMM but I think I’ve said enough for now, so check up on the news soon as I provide an update on the other stuff.

[Jackal326]

Nice feature, that I have long thought to be lacking. Can't wait for future updates.

[mawarm]

Awesome! It's going to be interesting to see what else you have in mind for the site as well.

[Raestloz]

Just wanna say that my page had a bug so I (the author myself) can't even tag it. I simply said "No" at "can normal users tag your files?"

 

By the way, I see that there can be negative values for tags. How is that sorted?

[Dark0ne]

Just wanna say that my page had a bug so I (the author myself) can't even tag it. I simply said "No" at "can normal users tag your files?"

 

What file?

 

By the way, I see that there can be negative values for tags. How is that sorted?

 

What do you mean by "How is it sorted"? A negative value means it's much less likely to ever be confirmed!

[mannygt]

Hello,

I would suggest a thecnical purpose for this great website:

There are tons of double post in the comments area in every mod due to impatience of some users or just due to the lag of the servers. I suggest to disable the submit button when is clicked. This tip will prevents all the double posts here.

 

Regards :)

[kibblesticks]

Excellent! Looking forward to the new tagging feature.

[yafi]

THANK YOU!! Thank you for the filtering feature, this is impressive stuff.

[SmashedControllers]

Can't wait for the filtering tools.

[scottmack]

This is awesome! I got tired of wading through the CBBE and UNP outfits to find a nice looking armor.