Can we PLEASE sort mods by number of endorsements to unique downloads ratio?

[Semley]

This would definitely be the best way to find the top quality mods in a category.

 

Sorting by most popular downloads or by most endorsed you are biased towards the mods released early, as that's how people find mods. Early mods get more downloads and more endorsements and so show at the top of the list for people who come looking for mods later and so run ahead of other mods that are perhaps even better.

 

Sorting by most endorsed or downloaded in a recent time period you are missing out on the good mods released prior to that that weren't released early, and you still have the same problem where the mods released at the start of that recent time period are downloaded and endorsed more often than the ones released more recently.

 

You should probably also require a minimum number of downloads before showing in this list to keep mods that have only 4 or 5 downloads and lots of endorsements (or 100 or whatever the user wants) from showing at the top.

 

thanks!

Semley

Edited January 6, 2021 by Semley

[Oblivionaddicted]

I agree.

[Zorkaz]

That's what "Trending" does

[Semley]

That's what "Trending" does

No it's not.

As an example, top trending in the Skyrim Player Home category of all time is Elianoras Breezehome.

Endorsements / Unique Downloads is 0.059

Her more recent mod Skaal You Need is on page 3 of trending.

It has an Endorsements / Unique Downloads ratio of 0.062

 

Elis mods are excellent, top quality, but their ratios are perhaps surprisingly low, and this is actually a useful example of what I'm talking about. I'm actually surprised Skaal You Need has such a low ratio - I attribute it to Elianora being personally famous for making such excellent mods and so she personally attracts casual modders to the site that don't give out endorsements.

 

This new method of sorting I'm proposing (and I'm certain I'm not the first to propose it) could help popularise and help people discover those top quality mods that aren't widely known, as once mods are downloaded in bulk by casual modders who don't give out endorsements as often then their endorsement ratio starts to fall.

 

I know I'm probably missing some great mods on page 24 or so of the download list that I could do with getting recommended to me.

 

Having people able to sort both by most popular and also by those endorsed the most often by their users gives two seperate and very useful ways of finding quality mods.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Semley

[Pickysaurus]

While I do understand where you're coming from. The ratio you're suggesting isn't a good representation, especially if you look at games outside the Bethesda titles.

 

Within Skyrim Special Edition, you're in the top percentage if you get 10% unique download to endorsement ratio.

 

The other thing to consider is that if a mod has 100 downloads and 70 endorsements, why should that rank higher than a mod with 1million downloads and 600,000 endorsements?

 

We're looking at ways to encourage/reward regular users who take the time to rate files they've downloaded more often to try and push the percentages up. At that point it may be more feasible to use this metric.

 

The other thing to remember, there's 3 states of endorsement: "Endorsed", "Abstained" and "Not yet rated". The majority of users currently fall into the last one.

 

Better mod discovery tools are something we definitely want to explore, but we've got a few big projects that we need to finish to clear the way for anything like that. We're working as fast as we can, but with Nexus Mods being 20 years old this year, we have a fair bit of "Technical Debt".

[7531Leonidas]

Re: Not yet rated - I D/L a LOT of mods that look cool, but await a new start, or a new start w/a specific focus or theme, or the mods are in various stages of development. I don't endorse mods that I haven't yet installed. I track most of them.

 

1) Is this cool?

 

2) Is there a better way to do things?

 

Thanks!

[Semley]

 

 

We're looking at ways to encourage/reward regular users who take the time to rate files they've downloaded more often to try and push the percentages up. At that point it may be more feasible to use this metric.

 

Thanks for giving your perspective. Here's an idea for you to encourage this so: how about for every X mods you've downloaded and rated (2, 5, 10, 50, whatever is affordable), you allow one mod to be downloaded at premium rates.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Semley

[Pickysaurus]

Re: Not yet rated - I D/L a LOT of mods that look cool, but await a new start, or a new start w/a specific focus or theme, or the mods are in various stages of development. I don't endorse mods that I haven't yet installed. I track most of them.

 

1) Is this cool?

 

2) Is there a better way to do things?

 

Thanks!

 

If you haven't yet played the mod, then your endorsement isn't "real" so waiting until you've actually played with it is the perfect way to endorse :)

 

 

 

 

 

We're looking at ways to encourage/reward regular users who take the time to rate files they've downloaded more often to try and push the percentages up. At that point it may be more feasible to use this metric.

 

Thanks for giving your perspective. Here's an idea for you to encourage this so: how about for every X mods you've downloaded and rated (2, 5, 10, 50, whatever is affordable), you allow one mod to be downloaded at premium rates.

 

 

Not a bad idea. There are some technically challenges with things like that, but it's a decent suggestion nonetheless.

[HadToRegister]

The problem is, DOWNLOADS take place and are recorded, so that's a trustable number.

Since Endorsements are Voluntary, the Endorsements never truly represent a valid number.

I would sort by Number of Downloads over Endorsements because the Number of Downloads is far more accurate.

[showler]

I wonder if there would be any merit in tracking how many users re-download a mod for every new playthrough? I'm not sure how you'd track that though. Maybe if you re-download the mod after six months?

 

There are mods I download for a playthrough and I like them, but on my next build I try something else.

 

And there are mods that have to be installed every single time I go back to a game.