BLOG PIECE: Nexus moderation system overhaul, etiquette and ethos

[Thandal]

Did I read correctly? Private messages will now get people banned for having private conversations using a public site? That's interesting.

 

How does this work? Are private messages no longer private, or does it take a person involved in a private conversation simply to get a moderater's attention about inappropriate private messages on a public site? I don't get it 100%. :)

a) The term "Private Messages" simply means that the contents are not immediately public in the way that forum posts and file comments are. (The Nexus is not the Royal Mail or the USPS.)

 

b) The contents of a PM that is reported to/shared with the Staff may be used as part of the evidence to support Staff actions. (We don't go looking at them, but when one party to a convo brings it to our attention... it comes to our attention.)

[gerryedson]

'tonicmole' I don't make many comments on Nexus, but just for info, what I do before I download and use any Mod I read the comments on the Mod from other Mod Authors, it has saved my game a few times

[Pokegami]

If only Smogon University could adopt this policy.

[EnaiSiaion]

I liked it better before. Black and white, one strike you're out. The trouble with shades of grey and moderator discretion is that it always ends up as an argument.

 

I got banned early this year for requesting the original contents of a quest script I accidentally modified, which constitutes "soliciting piracy". Thankfully I managed to appeal this ban but now I'm stuck with two black marks on my account. All because I didn't know there is a button in Steam to fix corrupted files.

 

:(

 

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The ban reason "file troll" always confused me. It seems negative comments about a mod are bannable, whether or not they are maliciously negative.

 

As a mod developer, I want negative comments on my mod. If people don't post what they dislike about the mod, I won't know there is a problem with the mod and therefore I can't fix it. Even a stupid comment like "doesn't work, uninstalled" is useful because it tells you there is a situation where the mod doesn't work and perhaps I should figure out what causes it and mention this somewhere on the mod page.

 

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A note regarding IP based watching/banning: Generally, a good thing to get rid of such cheaters. But: This might not always work.

 

It depends on the country. I believe static IPs are more common in the US, but here in Belgium 98% of the DSL users have a dynamic IP that resets every 36 hours or when you turn off your router.

 

I think we need a warning system for dangerous mods. Anyone remember Sounds of Skyrim? No one expected that it could harm save files. It was a wildly popular mod. If a system was in place to post warnings on the front page it could have helped reduce how many people's games were wrecked, and with the help of moderators an official course of action could have been laid out preventing unintended damage from poor uninstalls.

 

No thanks. I don't want some idiot to come along, post "I installed your mod and my video card burned out and my cat died, DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS" and ruin me.

[TheRomans]

Comments about flaws and mods breaking games are vital to the users, even with an approximate ratio of 2 erroneous comments about a mod breaking something to correct ones. With a little bit of experience it is relatively easy to pick out the true and false ones. Edited November 21, 2012 by TheRomans

[Chesko]

The ban reason file troll always confused me. It seems negative comments about a mod are bannable, whether or not they are maliciously negative.

 

I get tons of negative feedback all the time, and none of my users are getting banned. I think the difference lies in whether or not the mod author reports the post.

[rekuli]

Chesko: Bans usually are only done when the banned user is malicious, severely personally insulting or generally abusive and/or rude in some manner. As such, bans don't apply to simple opinions or statements, positive or negative, and can't be justified by saying „I don't like that opinion” or „most of the comments I get are negative”. I thought this didn't need explanation. Feedback and comments exist for exactly this, giving opinions from the users and causing the appropriate changes in the mod (or forum or tone or whatever).

Or did I misunderstand and you meant that the uploaders/maintainers of mods as well as other users should report severe impoliteness far more thoroughly?

 

Edited November 21, 2012 by rekuli

[MuhOo]

Still interesting that certain moderators tend to ban far quicker than the rest..

 

[dogtown1]

sometimes its hard to contact a moderator, when you have a question you just pick one out of a hat and hope they reply back

 

I would like to see a "ask a moderator" forum thread, or button, hell I dont know..someplace you can go and leave a personal question and its available to any moderator and they can read your question and reply back in a "pm"

 

I know you can do the same in the forums, but some questions you just want to ask a moderator and the response time in the forums is a crapshoot, you have to hope a moderator surfs by your thread and decides to check out your comment

[gastovski]

Moderators thinks that they are Gods.