Your feedback on the MOD Database and Validation process

[DavidIQ]

as mentioned earlier. The "All you'd have to do is PM one of us" isnt stated that cleary, i dont think that many are aware of this option.

It's not really something we want to overly advertise but those that are experienced enough know the option is available

As far as sending a PM to the original author it's really just a formality. Authors that haven't been around for a while aren't expected to reply. As a personal rule I give them a week to respond. After that it's fair game.

[DoYouSpeakWak]

as mentioned earlier. The "All you'd have to do is PM one of us" isnt stated that cleary, i dont think that many are aware of this option.

It's not really something we want to overly advertise but those that are experienced enough know the option is available

As far as sending a PM to the original author it's really just a formality. Authors that haven't been around for a while aren't expected to reply. As a personal rule I give them a week to respond. After that it's fair game.

It also seems like a good way to avoid unexperienced users to take over mods they cant handle. Not 2 bad and its great to hear there is a bit flexibility.

[ravikum]

[*] How much experience do you have using the MOD Database?
3 years

[*] Do you like the MOD Database?
yes

[*] What do you like about the MOD Database?
organized by category

[*] What do you not like about the MOD Database?
nothing

[*] Is the MOD Database easy to browse, download MODs from and find the support topics?
yes

[*] Is the MOD Database easy to submit and manage your MODs in?
yes

[*] Do you like the MOD Database Validation process and see it as valuable?
Don't know. I am not a mod author

[*] What do you like about the Validation process for the MOD Database?
Don't know

[*] What do you not like about the Validation process for the MOD Database?
Don't know

[*] Do you prefer downloading MODs from the MOD Database, from the MOD Development forum or from an alternate (other sites) source?
I like to download from the [3.0.x] MOD Database Releases forum

[*] How do you think the MOD Team could improve the MOD Database to be better and easier to use?
I think it is good already


Thanks.

[igorw]

[*] Do you like the MOD Database Validation process and see it as valuable?
Don't know. I am not a mod author

There are several posts on the blog explaining the validation process: one, two, three.

[edgar davids]

WHY WHY WHY Gentlemen? I think it should be mandatory before any MOD gets validated to have some sort of version control. This can be either included with the installation instructions or in a seperate .txt file (i.e; History.txt, Version.txt etc). In my experience, before I update a MOD, I find myself sifting through pages of posts looking for differences in the code from an older version to a newer one and reasons WHY I want/need to upgrade it.

[igorw]

EDIT: Decide where to post your posts.

[MichaelC]

1. How much experience do you have using the MOD Database? - As a User and MOD Author (not yet validated)
2. Do you like the MOD Database? Its a bit buggy at the moment for obvious reasons but i like the features ect., of the new one
3. What do you like about the MOD Database? the support and FAQ
4. What do you not like about the MOD Database? the lack of stats
5. Is the MOD Database easy to browse, download MODs from and find the support topics? yes
6. Is the MOD Database easy to submit and manage your MODs in? yes
7. Do you like the MOD Database Validation process and see it as valuable? extremely
8. What do you like about the Validation process for the MOD Database? the detail of testing
9. What do you not like about the Validation process for the MOD Database? the time it takes
10. Do you prefer downloading MODs from the MOD Database, from the MOD Development forum or from an alternate (other sites) source? Development and elsewhere mainly because there are more mods in dev and else where than in the mod db and as a coder i can troubleshoot myself.
11. How do you think the MOD Team could improve the MOD Database to be better and easier to use? have better navigation rather than by type (tools, anti-spam ect.,)
12. How do you think the MOD Team could improve the Validation process to the MOD Database?
13. If you could change one thing in the MOD Validation process, what would it be?
14. If you could change one thing in the MOD Database, what would it be? Navigation and the way its organised
15. If the MOD Validation were performed faster, would it encourage you to submit more MODs to the phpBB.com MOD Database? yes
16. What do you think keeps MOD Authors from submitting MODs to the MOD Database? Time and amount of time testing ect.,

[pjessop]

I think not approving a MOD unless they supply some screenshots should be a requirement for approval. It isn't particularly user friendly to have to download a MOD and install it to see if it is what you were suspecting.

Thanks.

[Martin Truckenbrodt]

Hello,
there are some MODs there are no screenshots cause you don't see any visible change by the MOD. I have published one of these MODs, too.

Bye Martin

[Dugi]

1. How much experience do you have using the MOD Database? Quite some experience, submitted 2 mods.
2. Do you like the MOD Database? Yes.
3. What do you like about the MOD Database? Everything is good.
4. What do you not like about the MOD Database? Lack of categories.
5. Is the MOD Database easy to browse, download MODs from and find the support topics? Yes.
6. Is the MOD Database easy to submit and manage your MODs in? Yes.
7. Do you like the MOD Database Validation process and see it as valuable? It's average.
8. What do you like about the Validation process for the MOD Database? The corrections.
9. What do you not like about the Validation process for the MOD Database? IT takes too long to validate a MOD.
10. Do you prefer downloading MODs from the MOD Database, from the MOD Development forum or from an alternate (other sites) source? I prefer the MODDB
11. How do you think the MOD Team could improve the MOD Database to be better and easier to use?
12. How do you think the MOD Team could improve the Validation process to the MOD Database? Increase the speed of validations.
13. If you could change one thing in the MOD Validation process, what would it be?
14. If you could change one thing in the MOD Database, what would it be?
15. If the MOD Validation were performed faster, would it encourage you to submit more MODs to the phpBB.com MOD Database? Yes.
16. What do you think keeps MOD Authors from submitting MODs to the MOD Database? Sometimes minor fails such as MPV fail should be corrected by the MOD Team and not get insta-denied. It results with loss of motivation.

[Paul]

16. What do you think keeps MOD Authors from submitting MODs to the MOD Database? Sometimes minor fails such as MPV fail should be corrected by the MOD Team and not get insta-denied. It results with loss of motivation.

The same is the other way around. You can check your MOD very easy with MPV yourself, and fix it before you actually submit your MOD. If you get your MOD insta-denied it is your own fault really.

[Dugi]

16. What do you think keeps MOD Authors from submitting MODs to the MOD Database? Sometimes minor fails such as MPV fail should be corrected by the MOD Team and not get insta-denied. It results with loss of motivation.

The same is the other way around. You can check your MOD very easy with MPV yourself, and fix it before you actually submit your MOD. If you get your MOD insta-denied it is your own fault really.

Well, most of the newbie submitters don't have an idea of MPV and stuff, and it's quite problematic to make newbies read all the documentation that phpBB has - we cannot expect that from them. This is just what I think after all.

[RMcGirr83]

But it seems, sometimes, that mod authors just choose to ignore the errors, sometimes the most blatant of errors ,even though MPV picks up these errors and displays them within the response of the submit.

[Paul]

All things mentioned by MPV are basic issues, that users really should know if they want to developt their MOD.

[imkingdavid]

16. What do you think keeps MOD Authors from submitting MODs to the MOD Database? Sometimes minor fails such as MPV fail should be corrected by the MOD Team and not get insta-denied. It results with loss of motivation.

The same is the other way around. You can check your MOD very easy with MPV yourself, and fix it before you actually submit your MOD. If you get your MOD insta-denied it is your own fault really.

Well, most of the newbie submitters don't have an idea of MPV and stuff, and it's quite problematic to make newbies read all the documentation that phpBB has - we cannot expect that from them. This is just what I think after all.

Everyone, "newbies" included, have to follow the MOD Database Rules and Policies if they plan on submitting to the MOD Database. It is clearly stated that MODs should be run through MPV before being submitted so that the more common errors can be fixed prior to validation. Also, the fact that the MPV results are shown when the MOD is submitted removes any excuse, as you can cancel the submission process when the MPV results are shown by just not continuing.

The MOD Team's job is to do a code review on user-submitted code. We are not responsible for fixing errors in MODs. If we did that, that would only make the validation process longer, which I'll note was one of your least favorite parts of the process.

If you have any suggestions on making the process faster, we'd love to hear them, though.