Over the past 10+ years of game mods being increasingly more popular and prevalent - primarily with the explosion of the Skyrim modding community in the early 2010s - I have noticed some unfortunate mindsets develop within the community, both from Mod Authors and Mod Users. As someone who has recently become an 'official' Mod Author themselves, and been a Mod User for over a decade, I would like to go over the proper relationship and mindset to have from both sides of the aisle.

Mod Authors

As a Mod Author, you inherently possess a skill that others don't have. Not everyone understands Computer Science well enough to create new software or software modifications, both of which are what video game mods simply are. Likewise, not everyone comprehends the potential complexities that may be involved with modding your game of choice (Skyrim, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and so on). It is important to remember this and have patience with your users. An answer may seem trivial and "obvious" to you, but it simply is not for others.

Regardless of your skills, no matter how great they may or may not be, you must resist the temptation of arrogance and self-importance. However, do not misunderstand - take pride in your skills and revel in your accomplishments, but also remember to be gracious. You are not all-knowing, and - as contradictory as this may seem - you do NOT always "know best". You are not perfect, so do not pretend to be.

The only expectation from Mod Authors is to not create malicious mods, such as malware-injected mods or mods intentionally designed to break someone's game and/or gaming device.

Mod Users

As a Mod User, there are a number of things you MUST understand and accept:

1. The mod may have an unseen flaw which breaks your game in some capacity
   • This is NOT always the Mod Author's fault, and becomes increasingly unlikely to be any particular Mod Author's fault for each additional mod you decide to install on your game. Modding by its very nature is not and CAN NOT be perfectly curated. The logistics of this are simply impossible without ending up with monetized mods (ie Creation Club) as a rule. Modding your game comes with inherent risks, and you ultimately have nobody to blame except yourself if something breaks. Nobody forced you to use mods, you made that choice yourself. Even if someone convinces you to use mods, you're still ultimately the one who made the choice.
   • If you suspect that a mod is truly bugged - which in all honesty it probably is to some degree - then do your best to give the mod author useful information (crash logs, script logs, details of how you encountered your issue, and so on) about what is happening and work WITH them to solve the issue. Be patient with them as they ask you questions, even if you've heard the questions many times before. Make sure you have followed the author's instructions for installation and/or updating, if they have laid those out, and follow all further debugging instructions to the best of your ability. If you do not understand something, explain that you do not understand and politely ask for clarification.
   • It is never helpful to argue or complain about an issue with a mod, and do not pretend to know or understand something that you don't. Discussion is perfectly fine, but there's a fine line between discussion and argument. Do your best to understand the difference.
2. The author does not owe you ANYTHING (if the mod is free)
   • While many authors are open and receptive to suggestions for additional features and improvements to their mods, remember that they are ONLY suggestions. Regardless of if the author publicly accepts your suggestion, you have absolutely no justification to make ANY sort of demand or have ANY expectation.
   • Mod Authors are human beings and have lives outside of modding. Sometimes they get sick, a tragedy occurs, life takes an unexpected turn, or anything else which may affect the development of their mod in any number of ways. You have no reasonable justification to criticize a Mod Author for what ultimately boils down to your own lack of patience and understanding.
   • Obviously, there are exceptions to these things if you are paying for the mod in some capacity, but the nature of those exceptions change based on what it is you're actually paying for. You are well within justification to ask for some sort of refund if you feel it is warranted - again, depending on circumstance - but nothing more in most cases.
3. You are expected to read the mod's description, instructions, and change logs
   • If a Mod Author has posted a description of what their mod does, as well as instructions for installing and/or updating, and/or change logs, you have no room to complain or argue if you did not read them. The author has done their fair share, so you must do yours. If something goes wrong despite doing your fair share, I defer to point #1.
   • The reason Mod Authors can have an expectation like this from their users is due to the fact that - once again - like everyone else, they have a life outside of modding. They cannot sit down and answer the same question hundreds of times to every user. Therefore, the responsibility is on the user to see if their question has already been answered before asking it. (With reasonable exceptions if the answer exists in a buried comment or is otherwise genuinely difficult to find.)

Conclusion

Ultimately, the message of this post boils down to Mod Authors and Mod Users having respect for one another. One cannot exist without the other. Neither are "better" than the other. We are all here because we have a shared interest. Don't turn that into something divisive.