Jump to content

Add-on releases categories


Recommended Posts

As Geonovast notes, that's an awful lot of threads to move, guys, and people tend to get angry when we move their threads and want to protest and argue that they should actually belong somewhere else. So we only move them when there's a clear need, and to be honest, the workload implied here is just not feasible. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

As Geonovast notes, that's an awful lot of threads to move, guys, and people tend to get angry when we move their threads and want to protest and argue that they should actually belong somewhere else. So we only move them when there's a clear need, and to be honest, the workload implied here is just not feasible. 

 

I second your nomination.  ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I agree the mods section needs something, I don't think sub forums will help too much.  Good ole Space Port (The first KSP mod hosting site, I believe it was Squad run too) had sub sections, and it was hell trying to sort through search results.   Too many mods cover too many types.  Some parts mods also have gameplay mechanics, etc. 

You may not want to use Ckan to do the installs, but it has an indexed catalog of all the mods it handles.  It does have some nice features for sorting and searching, with easy links to the forum threads.  Spacedock's search capabilities also help. 

One of the problems the problem with the mods forum (and I don't have a solution nor even an inkling of an idea for a solution), is the volume.  I have been on a lot of forums over the years, even moderated a couple big ones (similar size to these, minus the mods section), and I have never seen traffic/turnover like the mod release section has.   I can post something in a thread there, and twelve hours later it's on page 7.  It's a testament to how awesome our modders and players are, but it's also like trying count lug nuts on a highway during rush hour. 

Perhaps requiring a mod thread to select from a list of tags, similar to the sub catergories we're thinking of, at the time of posting (or editing!), and then revising the search engine for that sub forum to list by tags, would be a good solution, if it ever got implemented.  But since this is an off the shelf forum engine, I doubt the moderators/maneTi have the will to tackle that revision. 

 

But I did get a chuckle out of this thread a bit, with @Vanamonde mentioning how some threads should be moved, and this one is a clear winner for the network sub forum, yet it's still in S&DD.  :)

@Katten, it's an excellent suggestion to a problem with, IMO, no real good solution.  There's too many old threads to move. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well why move the old threads?  Leave 'em be or let the authors create new ones (they can put a link at the end of the old one).  But going forward it would help a bit.  I've seen this done on other forums, after a time things start to look more organized.  This certainly seems to be a case where KSP's popularity is hurting...who'd ever have guessed so many mods five years ago?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/12/2018 at 3:17 AM, Gargamel said:

You may not want to use Ckan to do the installs, but it has an indexed catalog of all the mods it handles.

There are many mods that are not on CKAN and CKAN also has it's problems

A revamp of the addons section would be nice but the enormous amount of work that would entail isn't something I'd want to do let alone the moderators are volunteers and it would end up being a make work program for a job that doesnt pay :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

There are many mods that are not on CKAN and CKAN also has it's problems

True, but between that and spacedock, it's the best way I've found to search for a mod, seeing as there really isn't another choice....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/11/2018 at 10:20 PM, Vanamonde said:

As Geonovast notes, that's an awful lot of threads to move, guys, and people tend to get angry when we move their threads and want to protest and argue that they should actually belong somewhere else. So we only move them when there's a clear need, and to be honest, the workload implied here is just not feasible. 

I could help if you want. Also, they could go in the category of their MAIN FEATURE. Example: KSS, even though it adds parts as well, it’s main feature is LOTS AND LOTS of planets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Due to the technical nature of this board such a move would result in hundreds of thousands of dead links and hundreds of bitter mod creators. The mods are already nicely sorted by websites like SpaceDock with the KSP forums providing feed-back and support.

Not ideal but unless you're willing to pour about 150.000 USD per year just to pay the modding staff such a move would result in an underfunded disaster.

 

Edited by General Apocalypse
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about tagging?  Threads can have tags, can they not?  Also, if I'm not mistaken, you can search by tag?

What if we requested that mod authors add tags to their threads based on a standard set for search-ability?

i.e.:

  • modParts
  • modPlanets
  • modFunctions
  • modContracts

No moving needed, and the authors could just completely ignore it if they choose to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Requesting that mod authors use a standardized set of tags, and that was already attempted when tags were first added, is kind of like using standardized thread titles (ie [KSP version] Mod Name [Mod Version] [Date]) or a standardized folder layout for zip files, or even a standardized system of writing a date. None of them will ever happen.

I don't think there is any getting around the fact that a forum is a terrible place for browsing or searching for mods. It's great for mod support and discussion, but not much else. Threads with the most activity will always stay in the top few pages, but thread activity has little to do with popularity or usefulness, MechJeb probably gets 1 post a week, but it gets 100,000s of downloads for each version.

A dedicated mod site is what we need, and for months was what Squad talked about providing, but instead we have the sort-of useful Curse, which got a bad rap from the start and has never really recovered (Space Dock has hundreds more mods available despite being around for a year or two less than Curse), and Space Dock, which is great, but mostly amounts to be a download hosting site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder why the community never adopted putting mods on something like NexusMods?  Its one of the most popular repositories for other game's mod content and has all the tags and categories you could hope for.  It also lets you endorse mods, as well as track them so you'll be informed when the author makes an update.  Its probably one of the best examples of a super popular mod site you're going to find.

It looks like KSP does have a subsection there, but there are literally only 5 mods present.  1 from 2013, 3 from 2014, and one from 2015.  Of those 5, only one has been updated in 2018.

https://www.nexusmods.com/kerbalspaceprogram/mods/

 

Edit #2:  Here is a discussion from awhile back where the guy from Nexus seems pretty interested in working with the KSP community.  Seems it didnt go very far:

 

Edited by klesh
for some reson the link to NexusMods didn't auto-post as an actual link. Fixed that.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/6/2018 at 11:36 AM, klesh said:

I wonder why the community never adopted putting mods on something like NexusMods?

Probably because we had SpacePort.  I believe that was run by Squad too.  But they shut that down and ended up with a commercial deal with Curse, as in Curse would be named the official mod hosting site for KSP, and Curse might (supposition on my part) have paid Squad a small fee to do so.  The ad revenue generated by the extra hits would drive the profit from the deal for Curse, and Squad would no longer have to maintain what turned out to be a fairly broken mod hosting site.  Curse, IIRC, also made some promises about a mod client like Ckan, but it never came about.  Until that deal expires, then we are stuck with curse.  So in the mean time, we end up with community driven assets like Ckan and SpaceDock.  (Kudos to both those teams!). 

I don't think the SpaceDock team would be opposed to some official recognition by Squad, and perhaps some logistics support, as I know they need it. 

But as to the OP, the only solution we have is the tags.  Moving and reorganizing all those threads is a helluva lot of work, and the forum software really isn't cut out for that sort of organization.  If a modder places their mod in forum X, but it could actually apply to A & B also, then people are going to miss it in the searches, which already wonky enough as they are. 

If we would come together and work out a community defined tag list, and the modders can voluntarily add those tags to their threads if they wish, then there is a chance of this working, but I don't see it happening unless one or more in the community get the ball rolling to create the standard. 

Until then, the best place to search for a mod by name is CKAN, and by type is Spacedock, as they both are the largest compendium of mods and they link back to the forum thread. 

Edited by Gargamel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Should we try to brainstorm some tag name suggestions? After some refinement, we can make a suggestion in a separate thread to see if there is support from the modders and then possibly pin a post?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/11/2018 at 9:10 AM, Katten said:

Should we try to brainstorm some tag name suggestions? After some refinement, we can make a suggestion in a separate thread to see if there is support from the modders and then possibly pin a post?

Take the reins and run! 

Make a thread, take suggestions, establish the community standard, ask modders to tag their threads. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...