How should we handle dead mods?

I suggested a clean-up a while back, so it's nice to see you guys getting round to this.

Dead mods clutter the site, but that doesn't mean they're not of any worth to anyone. There are a lot of good ideas that never get made (there are a few here and there that I'd consider making myself). Dead mods should not appear in a default search, but there should be an extra option on the "Development Stage" part of the mod search that allows you to search dead mods.

However, there is some discrepancy between ideas that get put on hold indefinitely for lack of time and mods that simply die for lack of interest or from uninspired design. Therefore I'd suggest that a name be used that would encompass both these ideas, these mods should be listed as "Discontinued". Mod leaders and ModDB staff should be in charge of marking mods as discontinued, and there should be a clear contact for members to use to report discontinued mods.

So, the proposal (which seems to have some support judging by comments made in this thread) is as follows:

If development ceases on a mod for whatever reason, mod leaders (or ModDB staff, if necessary) should mark them as "Discontinued".
Discontinued mods would be marked as "Discontinued" on the Mod Listing page, and have their 'Status' marked as "Inactive" and their 'Build Stage' as "Discontinued" in their mod profile.
There should be an additional option in the 'Development Stage' section of the mod listing search, named "Discontinued". Discontinued mods could then be added or removed from searches as required.
There should be a clearly publicised point of contact for members wishing to report dead mods. This will help staff keep the service the ModDB provides its users accurate and efficient.

One other possible point is to have unreleased mods that aren't updated for a 12 month period automatically brought to the staff's attention so their status can be investigated.

If you support any of the suggestions made here make it known in this thread so the staff can gauge the opinions of its users.

Resurrection... get new teams to work on them... badger team members endlessly until they give up some of the stuff, and pick it back up.

I think that there should be a filter system... so like by default the dead ones are hidden but you can choose to search through them.

opps didn't see your comment Crispy, well not so my idea but i support you opinion

I'm all for archive, view some fallen dreams or something along those lines, also it be nice to search through a list without seeing a dead mod :)

archive ftw...

They might as well be left there or archived. An option to classify them as "dead" as the owner would be nice though.

There's a part of every dev in every mod, they should really be kept someplace for nostalga

Archive them only have a check box to include them in the search or not. I agree with both ambershee and BigBird but, (and i feel very strongly about this but) any changes can still be made to the mod's profile. Example: The owner can change the mods status from "dead", at which point the mod will be moved off of the "dead" list and back to the "live" list. Maybe after a 1/2 year without any update mods are automaticaly placed there.

I don't want to have to browse through them, but they do need to kept accessible somewhere.

Archived ftw. Whoever voted deleted is an idiot xD

Archived ftw. Whoever voted deleted is an idiot

Why thankyou. I'm just a mean, stodgy old bastard :devious: . Whenever I'm not dreaming about deleting mods, I like yelling at children and trying to squash ants with my walking frame.

ones that are unreleased/internal only shouldn't even be listed unless you specify IMHO. It's annoying to search for a mod for game X & there's 30 from 6 years ago that are unreleased. But nothing hsould be deleted. there's more old "dead" mods then newer "live" ones. :)

Along with archiving the dead mods I think We should Archive the released mods also. Sometimes I just want to see all the mods that are released for play on a specific game and not have to deal with using the search everytime. the reason why I want a section of all the released mods is because there are mods in beta and alpha that can be ready for download or not released. Just a section for all the mods I can download and play right now. HL2 is a good example, there are like 5-10 pages of mods to look through and most are not released. It would be cool for the released games area to have an expanded view of the mod with a pics and a short description of the mod along with reviews. For dead mods it really doesn't matter how they are stored as long as their ideas are preserved.

Make them hidden so only the team can see it. If the return, they can make it appear to the public again. Lame idea?

Make a graveyard...

archive them so that the owner may revive them later if they want to

Yes that would be best.

have them release all of the models, textures, sounds, and code :D

I say, archive them. But leave it so that they can be revived, if ever someone gets around to it. Dont just delete them. The idea of ModDB is to be able to see any mod that was ever submitted, thats what makes it so great. Makes a "Dead Mods" section of search and make them Revivable, that is all I ask.

Keep doing what we have always done, archive them, but if they are known played mods (sven coop) what not that dont update anymore, leave them there cause someone might want something.

Whats the point of archiving unreleased mods?

Delete them all..

That you should put a big DEAD in the titles of the dead mods. So that way when you see them you know before you look at it.

just have a section for dead mods that people can put there mods into. the one thing im sick of is coming across an interesting mod that is suppossively "active" and then realizing that it hasnt been updated in 52 months. i think that mods that havent been updated in over a year and mods that are marked as inactive should get their own section.

If they're downloadable, leave them as they are.

If they've not been released, hide or delete them.

I think that the media from dead mods should be left available for others in case if someone wants to make something similar...

I think they should basically be archived, so they don't appear, but still be allowed to be reactivated by the owner should they wish to continue it. Also, we should have an option to set our mods as dead.

Archived, in case they rise from the dead!

Hey, how ironic. I just marked a bunch of my mods dead.

Take them outback and shoot em!

there should be a "dead" mod search, just like released unreleased, and so on and so forth. This would really help out the general "noobie" population of moddber's. Because most of them have no idea what off limits or incoming source is. It was frustrating to me until i really got to know all of the well made mods (insurgency, perfect dark source, nuclear fallout etc...) because i would click on the mod and the profile said

dead (just imagine all caps and rows and rows of them)

and then my brain would do this :flame:

Make a warning note after half a year of complete deadness (no news no comments no nothing), delete them after half a year, store the name in a archive.

If there is no download, get archive.

Leave the code for other people,
delete the rest

just like classify them and if people need a good idea for a mod the can watch through the "dead" mods and they might really finish one of those

Alright, here's my idea. To give the mod devs a bit of leeway.

If a mod has not had any updates of any sort in the past 6 months, an automated message should give a warning to whomever posted the mod on moddb (hopefully the head of the mod team) that their mod is in danger of being considered "dead". Preferably, this would be a moddb PM and an e-mail.

They get 2 weeks to post an update or some evidence that they are working on the mod. If they can put this up, the mod stays where it is. If not, it is deleted entirely.

Thus, a mod where the creators are working, just not giving updates, can be given a chance to show the mod is not dead; if the mod devs still care about the mod, they can keep it alive this way. Obviously what counts as a sufficient update and what doesn't would be at the discretion of a moderator.

Also, while this may be a bit more complicated to organize and implement, some sort of server monitor could help monitor released dead mods. A possibility would be requiring the modmakers to track the highest-traffic server...just an update on number of players every couple weeks or something like that. If this update is not given, a similar message to the above message will be sent to the head of the mod.

If a mod does not give this update, or posts a low enough number of players for a long enough span of time (I would think less than a player a day for 3 uninterrupted months), the mod would be archived into an "inactive" folder. This would show that, while these mods are not "dead" and are playable, there are few players on them. This would eliminate the too-often-found disappointment of booting up a mod to find all empty servers.

The reason for the separate sorting into "inactive" lies in the fact that these mods are still concievably playable, just not often available for play.

A setup like this is lenient enough that a good mod is not accidentally blacklisted for a bad month or something like that, while still separating the good mods from the bad ones. I'm not 100% sure of the exact schematics of the traffic tracker or anything like that, so I'm not sure how possible that would be, but it would sure be awesome if it could be done.

I have to agree with what Wickedtoaster said on Mon 14th Augest 2006.

It seems that people want to have an option on mod profiles to say: "DEAD." Well, "Presently Inactive" is just nice talk for dead, so the option is really there. I think the current system works really well.

Released mods that are dying due to lack of players or servers should have a tag added on front page, and in searches, so that people are warned.

Dead-before-release mods should be left out of searches by default, with an option to include them or search specificly for dead mods.
And of cause also have a "dead" tag on the front page.
The reason they should not be deleted is that modders can seek inspiration in them, and ask the former team members to share models, maps and code.

The moddb team should have the power to change status of mods to dead, since many teams are unwilling to do that, or forget to mark their mods as inactive. This would require less work if there was a place for the moddb public to report on dead mods.
And when a mod is decleared dead, the team leader should automaticly be asked whether he would like to share models, maps etc. with the community.

migb wrote: Released mods that are dying due to lack of players or servers should have a tag added on front page, and in searches, so that people are warned.

To help exterminate them, you mean? That's hardly in the spirit of modding to stamp out the little guy. ?_?

meth wrote: It seems that people want to have an option on mod profiles to say: "DEAD." Well, "Presently Inactive" is just nice talk for dead, so the option is really there. I think the current system works really well.

The labelling system does not work, at the moment you cannot search by status for inactive or active mods, only by development stage.

In addition to this there's nothing in place to allow and encourage normal members to inform staff of dead/discontinued/inactive (whatever) mods and from where I'm sitting it doesn't look like the staff are doing anything to enforce stricter labelling.

Yes, this poll is a start to finding a solution, but if this website is to be truly successful the basic faults need fixing before any frills are added.

To quote, "if it is mods you are after, a great feature to get you started is our unique ModWatch (mw). Simply find mods which capture your attention, click the 'Watch' button". Most people are not interested with reading about dead mods, they want to find out about released mods and mods still currently in development. Because at the moment there is no way to filter out dead mods from searches, the ModDB is not living up to its promise that its users can "simply find mods".

Put them into one category - dead, or just set development stage as "dead" or some think like that so it will be easy to notice that mod is dead...

do you mean .... uncomepleted and not running or old old mods.... if old mods then they should get a new folder: classic mods

There should be like a DEAD thing UP AT TOP like a moddb image, and when u search and find it next to it it says dead.

Archive them somewhere, and people that's intressted can look at them

Leave them alone, someone loves them.

^ yup

i feel deeply connected to all the dead mods ;_;

i agree with wickedtoaster they should just have thier own section.anyway i need to know a name of a mod for gta sa could someone help me with that

Archived, giving them the option to upload unfinished work onto ModDB servers, for other mods to use.