New Policy for Hosted Mod Forums

[Aradan]

Fellow TWCers


In order to assist the TW modding community in its endeavours, and further facilitate the development of modifications, TWC is pleased to announce the implementation of a new policy regarding Hosted Mod Forums.

In contrast to the previous policy, wherein promising mods with insufficient progress or manpower -that were however close to our standards- were not deemed worthy of their own forum and had to make do with a single development thread, there will now be available a Trial Mod Development Forum.

A Trial Mod Development Forum is a forum located in the Hosted Mods section, accessible and viewable only to administrators and mod team members. Its purpose is to provide the mod dev team with space to organise itself and develop the mod unhindered, instead of having everything in a cluttered thread, thus increasing development speed and quality. Public announcements and discussion can still be done in the mod's thread in the WIP Minor Mods subforum, a copy of which will be added in the Trial forum for the mod team’s convenience.

However, maintaining a non-public forum means higher memory, bandwidth and space usage for the site and earns it nothing in return, apart from the prospect of a quality and popular released mod. So what we do expect from the mods that are granted such a forum is regular activity and progress. If a mod team is inactive or has no progress for a period of one week, then their privilege will be revoked, the forum will be deactivated and the team will continue development in the original mod-thread.

Teams with a Trial Development Forum are free to request a proper Hosted Mod Forum at any time; the same criteria will apply there that have always applied for all teams. In the case of approval, the hidden forum will be moved inside the Hosted Mods Forum and will continue functioning as a hidden dev forum; in case of disapproval, the team will continue development in their Trial forum.

TWC Administration

[Augustus Lucifer]

Hogwash. Poppycock. Shenanigans.

Wait... I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.

I think the new policy does all the right things and none of the wrong things that can happen with policy changes. The old policy which worked remains in place, but a new provisional middle ground now exists that is beneficial to both TWC and Development teams. To be honest, any dev team who is in it for the public forum doesn't have their priorities straight, the real reason for the Hosted Mods forum is for the Dev Area. The public fora is just a publicity bonus, but with every mod that gets one, it becomes less so.

[S-te-Fan]

A... very good! I'm gonna request one I think .

[alpaca]

A week? What if the mod is developed by three people and all of them are on holidays

What does "close to your standards" mean?

And some more criticism: I'd have wished for a clause for active mod threads with more than, say, 8 posts per day by non-mod-members to get a public forum.

Anyways, this is a step in the right direction

[Aradan]

Well, if people have serious real-life commitments that happen to coincide (so that all team members are absent for more than 1 week), we will always make an exception, of course. We won't shut down a mod because members are ill or on holidays or have exams etc, though it should be rare to have all mod members absent at the same time.

Close to our standards means that this new forum type won't be granted to just anyone with insufficient progress, but to those that were almost good enough for a full forum.

I'd disagree with that clause, because popularity doesn't equal progress; there are lots of mods that might have 300 posts per day during the first weeks/months of conception/announcement, but will never make a significant release. Popularity is just 1 of the factors involved in getting a forum, and we are already taking it into consideration.

[AnthoniusII]

A week is small timeframe i think...How about 15 days?
A question...Will moderators that already are responsible in the "Wips,Ideas and Proposals" section,receive the requests about that trial dev forum?

[S-te-Fan]

Yeah... 14 days is a bit short. But is this new policy already available?

[Aradan]

Yes, the policy is active.

No, admins will continue to receive forum requests as usual.

Things are tight regarding time, because we are talking about mods that already have produced work and require a thread just to organise themselves, so we will naturally expect a steady workflow. 2 weeks without a sign of activity from any of the team's members doesn't bode well. If such a case comes up, we will review it on an individual base, so rest assured no mod will lose its forum just because sth serious happened.

[alpaca]

I'd disagree with that clause, because popularity doesn't equal progress; there are lots of mods that might have 300 posts per day during the first weeks/months of conception/announcement, but will never make a significant release. Popularity is just 1 of the factors involved in getting a forum, and we are already taking it into consideration.

Yeah, I was thinking more about practical considerations because large, active threads become very unwiedly very quickly.

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

Nice, After a bit more development I will request one

[AnthoniusII]

Nice, After a bit more development I will request one

I will request one later too becaouse i am ussing CBUR's dev forum and things are getting a bit comfusing..

[Aradan]

I should note that our standards for granting forums have not gone down one bit, and that all applicants should submit the filled out request forms they can find in the "Want a forum for your mod?" announcements in the Minor Mods sections.

[Userpro]

Hello Aradan -
it seems you've (re-)think about teams and their worries to organize the team and the work on their valuables projects.
This seems to be the right way to helping out serious works on serious "mods in development".
Thanks for the idea and new possibility - where could i request one of those Trial Mod Development Forums?

[Augustus Lucifer]

Hello Aradan -
it seems you've (re-)think about teams and their worries to organize the team and the work on their valuables projects.
This seems to be the right way to helping out serious works on serious "mods in development".
Thanks for the idea and new possibility - where could i request one of those Trial Mod Development Forums?

Same way you request a mod forum. Read this thread and submit the form to a member of Hex. Aradan and Trajan are the main liaisons for this, the others who are "TW Admins" have other main jobs.

[Userpro]

Thanks A.L. Will make a request as soon as the others team members will according with doing so!

[Amorphos]

I think a week is too short and that mod developers should be informed about possible closure first.

How about a rule where your mod has to be different to others, there are so many mods all doing a similar thing, surely they should be encouraged to work together.

Too many ego’s are the main problem ~ or am I the only commie around here.

[Augustus Lucifer]

I think a week is too short and that mod developers should be informed about possible closure first.

How about a rule where your mod has to be different to others, there are so many mods all doing a similar thing, surely they should be encouraged to work together.

Too many ego’s are the main problem ~ or am I the only commie around here.

Well I agree with you. For a variety of reasons. The most obvious of which is that with the Empire packs system and even in M2 with a good installer program, you could have multiple versions of the same files and let the end user choose. Team conflicts on minor things don't need to cause two entirely different teams anymore, just one team that deviates into sub-divisions in certain areas. But sadly it seems the modding community in this respect is a "If it isn't exactly how I like it I'll do it myself" kind of grouping.

[Amorphos]

sadly it seems the modding community in this respect is a "If it isn't exactly how I like it I'll do it myself" kind of grouping.

Indeed, we are lucky there are not so many of us, if there were many thousands all wanting their own variations of the same theme, then this site nor any other could cope with it.

Maybe modders should be told to join other mods of type unless their mod is quite a bit different. Otherwise don’t give them a forum.

Hmm now I am being a fascist

[Aradan]

Unfortunately one cannot *force* modders to realise the benefits of working together. Most people want to do "their own thing", exactly the way they want it. With ETW modding being significantly more complicated than M2 and especially RTW, hopefully some people will reconsider.

As for the time limit: A mod requesting a forum is a mod bursting with activity, having a sufficiently large team and sufficient progress, so 7 days without a simple new post or at least a notice of absence does not really bode well.

[Theodotos I]

This new policy does not reflect already hosted mods in any way, does it?