Excalibur Zero wrote:My idea was to use a python script to create a database file of sorts to store some basic info on mods, and then categorize them by the type of mod they were. Then another script would generate an html file out of the database file. While the project it's self may not be of much use, the conecpts behind it may help.
It boils down to that, yes: A script that scans all posts, extracts whatever information it gains, and stores it for internal use. Categories would have to be assigned manually anyway. Mods with broken download links and deprecated mods would also have to be removed manually. With that data, a second script can create the entries for the wiki. I'm still hoping that sfan5 gets around to modernize his script that scans the posts in mod releases anyway.
Excalibur Zero wrote:Second, exact guidelines for the categorization of mods became a bit difficult to get straightened out, but bellow are the guidelines that were created for the project. The guidelines sytem the project used allowed mods to be classified under multiple categories, thus all that were applicable to the mod. While the individual guidelines could likely use some tweaking, I'd reccomend loking over them to see if it can help with the creation of a better categorization system.
I'm afraid your approach is too technical for now. New players have certain things in mind they want to be done by a mod - very commonly mobs, but also other things. My categorization system is based rather on usage of a mod than on technical aspects. The list may need extensions when more mods are analyzed and entered into the wiki, and I've started subcategories where that seems appropriate.
Excalibur Zero wrote:hile many mods depend on "default", not all of the mods that do so list such in the "depeds.txt" file, which could make determining the exact dependiencies of a mod a little more time consuming, as one would need to make sure that the mod in question doesn't truely depend on "default".
There was no need to depend on default for some time, and it wasn't required as a listed dependency on the forum in the past. Thus, many mods may miss that dependency. But that doesn't matter - dependencies are outright irrelevant at this stage. The goal of the cateogrization system is to give people a hint which mods may do what they're looking for - not to duplicate the forum as such. Further information on any mod can be found in the thread on the forum.
Excalibur Zero wrote:Fourth, for mods, when it comes to licensing it can get a bit complicated.
As I mentioned earlier, that's not a problem either. All liscenses allowed in this forum are permissive enough so that people can at least use the mods. If they want to tweak a mod or do something else with it, taking a look at the forum post is the least one might expect.
What I want do do is really only add categories and subcategories to fascilitate finding of mods.
For example, currently I'm looking for all mods that add trees in one way or another. Sure, there's moretrees, there's mg, there's tinytrees, bfd, Realtest....but there may be far more. And people looking for mob mods will never get a list of all mobs mods to select from if they ask on the forum - simply because nobody can remember them all.
Apart from the categorization as such, I also added short quotes explaining what mods do. These descriptions have to be searched manually in the text. A better way of linking them so that it becomes immediately obvious that it's a quote would be great. Perhaps with a "Read more" and a link to the entire posting might be nice.