Modders should not be allowed to lock bug reports/community feedback

[IC1N525iMML5H1DJojyT]

There is a specific modder who only allows users to report bugs and give feedback for a few months before locking everything down. Example: https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/412/?tab=description

 

This prevents - in the mod page itself - any discussion about issues, conflicts, requests for community support, bug reports, etc.

 

Their solution is to run their own forum (even though Nexus already has a forum) which may provide a way to log bugs (even though Nexus has that too).

 

 

I've been helped many times by reading the comments section for a mod to find out that a mod I was interested in was out-of-date/buggy/conflicted with other mods, and what the solution was. Disabling that for what appears to be petty reasons doesn't make much sense.

[Reneer]

A mod author is doing something you don't like and your 'solution' is to call out the author and go so far as to petition Nexus Mods to remove modpage moderation features? Yeah, that's not going to have the outcome you think it will.

 

If Nexus Mods takes away moderation tools from mod authors then the mod authors will very likely leave Nexus Mods and find a new hosting provider. Or perhaps they might simply throw in the towel and stop making mods altogether.

[Deleted92948618User]

I am with the author on this one. And given that the Author is in control of their property, they get to make the rules. They get to dictate to their users how the users will interface with them and under what terms. If the users are dissatisfied with the authors position and actions, tough. Users are in no position to demand anything.

 

The other side of having the users go to another site is they cannot be banned from an authors content. That can only happen if the user post in the mods Comment or Bugs sections. So abusive users are at an advantage being forced to another site to post.

 

Me, I would rather the rude, demanding and abusive users post in my comments section, so I can ban them from my content and maybe get them banned from Nexus.

 

Go MOHO!

[Ethreon]

Sure thing, as soon as people "reporting" and "discussing" bugs actually verify that they know how to do QA on their own game and provide a detailed description of their issue(s) they're having instead of the constant stream of "dis mod sux" or "DiS BrEaK mAh GaeM".

 

....oh wait, most people commenting about bugs are absolutely smoohtbrains and have no idea what happens in their games and just lash out like a bunch of feral dongs.

 

 

Nobody needs your "discussions" or "feedback" . Shut up and use the mod or don't - you don't get to dictate what goes on a modder's pages.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Ethreon

[Guest deleted34304850]

There is a specific modder who only allows users to report bugs and give feedback for a few months before locking everything down. Example: https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/412/?tab=description

 

This prevents - in the mod page itself - any discussion about issues, conflicts, requests for community support, bug reports, etc.

 

Their solution is to run their own forum (even though Nexus already has a forum) which may provide a way to log bugs (even though Nexus has that too).

 

 

I've been helped many times by reading the comments section for a mod to find out that a mod I was interested in was out-of-date/buggy/conflicted with other mods, and what the solution was. Disabling that for what appears to be petty reasons doesn't make much sense.

if a mod page is closed to bug reports and/or further comments - why not simply make a post in the respective game forum and seek help there?

the mod page basically belongs to the mod author to manage how they see fit. its not for users.

Edited April 28, 2021 by 1ae0bfb8

[damanding]

Sim Settlements has an external forum dedicated to answering user questions and managing "bug reports". This was necessary due to the sheer popularity of the mod and the hundreds of thousands of comments, questions, and duplicate bug reports. When you're trying to manage literally *hundreds* of bug reports on a new release, 98% of which have already been reported, are due to user misunderstanding of how something in the mod works, or other issues then having a more sophisticated system for management is required. It's not about the author trying to hide anything, it's just about having a more sophisticated option than Nexus provides when necessary, including more fine grained layers of moderation control. On nexus each moderator would be required to be listed as the mod author and any one of them could maliciously delete the entire mod or cause other problems either intentionally or unintentionally. By having more control over the forum software you have more control over moderation with less risk, you have more control over organization of the content, and more control over particularly unruly users who as previously pointed out are actually at an advantage in some ways with an external forum because their misbehavior doesn't necessarily result in being banned from the mod.

[damanding]

On Bethesda.net I block the mod page comments section but post a link to the forum thread for support as the first thing in the description (generally) which is something I've been mocked for on reddit by people who couldn't even be bothered to read the first line of the mod description and see that there is an alternative. Why do I do this? It's easier to provide support in a normal forum thread on Bethnet where there's more editing, formatting, direct reply capabilities, etc. It's better for both me and the users all around. Sometimes alternatives are just better. It's not some always some nefarious conspiracy designed to "hide" anything from you.

[Arthmoor]

The way I see it is it's the mod author's page. They aren't obligated to have comments at all. They aren't obligated to enable the bugs tab (I don't on any of mine). If they choose not to enable these features, you should just learn to live with it instead of demanding that a site feature be removed for everyone because YOU don't like the end result.

 

Some people prefer to offer support elsewhere so that they can have even more control over things than what Nexus allows, and there's nothing wrong with that either.

[moho25]

There is a specific modder who only allows users to report bugs and give feedback for a few months before locking everything down. Example: https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/412/?tab=description

 

This prevents - in the mod page itself - any discussion about issues, conflicts, requests for community support, bug reports, etc.

 

Their solution is to run their own forum (even though Nexus already has a forum) which may provide a way to log bugs (even though Nexus has that too).

 

 

I've been helped many times by reading the comments section for a mod to find out that a mod I was interested in was out-of-date/buggy/conflicted with other mods, and what the solution was. Disabling that for what appears to be petty reasons doesn't make much sense.

"A specific modder..." You think I'm the only modder who has ever locked their comment and/or bug threads? Boy are you in for a rude awakening. Lol.

 

My comment policy is well explained here and here. I provide a grand total of 14 separate references in that article for a player with questions to use, none of which involve my forum. Note that I didn't have to explain the recent change to my comment policy. I chose to. I also made the change in policy only after providing continuous support to BackOff and my other mods for several years. If spending literally hundreds of hours of my time answering questions, providing technical support, and fielding (mostly bogus) bug reports is your definition of "petty," frankly, I don't care.

 

Don't like my policies? Don't use my mods.

[HadToRegister]

My only wish is, there is one modder, who turned off their comment sections on all their mods, and has everything on their own website (Which I don't care/mind, as I'm registered there as well), but there was a WEALTH of Troubleshooting and Bug Fixing comments that are completely gone now on their mod page, because instead of LOCKING the Comment section, he turned it completely off.
It contained a wealth of answers to regular troubleshooting/bug fixing questions, that now need to be asked all over again on his forum, which unfortunately seem to go unanswered now.
If they had just left the comment section turned on and LOCKED, it would've been perfect and super helpful.

Basically a ton of very useful information, completely gone now.

Whenever I had a problem with the mod, I could quickly find the answer in the comment section, I used to just go to the forum view, and search for a term, and quickly solve my problem on my own, but now that's unavailable.
It was ideal, because all the answers were there and I didn't have to bug the mod author for answers