I've been asked this question for the 10th time, so I better post a public answer. Yes, I moved Vanilla UI Plus to ModDB during the Fall of 2017 for the following reasons:
- It was difficult for me to use Nexus Mods after they changed fonts at the comments section. Their new fonts were thin, gray, and on top of some graphite background. Considering the popularity of VUI+, I had to constantly visit the comments pages to support users. This started to literally give me headaches, probably due to my partial color blindness.
There were other readability and usability issues, many users including myself tried to point them out, but we were ignored. What a contrast to ModDB, where I filed an issue related to my partial color blindness, and Scott Reismanis, the ModDB owner fixed in within a few hours! - During that time Nexus Mods blocked unregistered users from downloading files, even small ones. ModDB on the other hand allows public access to files of any size, and I want my mod to be freely downloadable. (This is something that I enforce in my license, which means that VUI+ forks cannot be hosted at Nexus Mods.)
ModDB also allows guest comments, so people are entirely free to both download my mod and request my support without being forced to agree to some weird terms. Which brings us to... - ...again during that time, Nexus Mods had silently changed their terms of service to demand an INFINITE license to a very broad set of rights. When I first read it I thought it was a mistake, but Robin Scott, the Nexus Mods owner, confirmed its validity by stating that “You give us every right short of outright ownership of your work”.
This is most serious. I can understand why a modding site would request rights pertaining to its function, but I would never surrender such rights for an infinite duration. ModDB has no such “infinite” clause.
[Added in June 2021] Unfortunately my suspicions for this change have been confirmed. Mod authors can no longer delete their own creations from Nexusmods.
My first consideration for relocation was Arthmoor’s site, AFKmods. It would provide a more sensible TOS than ModDB, but it didn’t have a New Vegas category. I didn’t realize that I could contact Arthmoor and ask him to create one. It’s actually a great option, despite being relatively unknown, and definitely great for pluralism and competition.
In the end, this is what is about: competition is the only way to prevent behaviors that benefit the site owners but harm the modding scene in general.
Hey Axonis thanks for sharing this. We care massively about all creators so it's always very motivating to hear. Always available anytime you need anything from us. Cheers Scott