wanted Donate Button/Link for Mods in MO?

[z929669]

Does anyone know if there is an existing feature request to add a Donate button for mods in MO (similar functionality as the Endorse button)?

 

If not, I'd like to make such a request and add it to the appropriate queue.

 

Rationale

The late, failed, aborted pay-for mod Steam Workshop "marketplace" fiasco really brought mod-author donations to the forefront as a 'better' means for providing MAs with opportunity to earn some compensation, freely given, for their work, freely given away. Making the option to donate more prominent would be a boon for mod authors, which would reinforce the health of the community overall and provide some potential added modding 'fuel'.

 

More importantly for MO, including a donation feature would set MO apart from the competition. It would be a great selling point to MAs as the only mod manager that provides this feature. Let's face it, attracting MAs increases MO's exposure and thus attracts MUs. It may well positively affect MO's rather diverse reputation in the modding community.

 

Thanks,

z

[Neovalen]

You can add feature requests on the MO bug tracker. Don't think one exists yet, but not 100% on that.

[z929669]

OK, I wasn't sure if that was the best place to do it. thanks

[Octopuss]

Hm, the question is whether there's any way to pull the existance of donate button on someone's profile on Nexus. Very nice idea though.

[z929669]

Yes, that is the question, but I assume it is in the Nexus API along with all of the other mod page data.

[TechAngel85]

I doubt it is in the API. Robin has said they don't ever touch donations. I doubt this is possible.

[Razorsedge877]

MO is a mod organizer only. I hate the fact that it even asks for endorsements. Now I feel obligated to just endorse every mod when before I just did it on the Nexus. Than you have people like me who have wanted to donate to mods and SRLE way before the paywall (Skyrim is my first adventure into modding and gaming on computers and I have realized the hours you guys and gals put into the community a long time ago and having morals I feel like I take advantage of it) but haven't done it because I put my info over the internet as little as possible. I've been wandering if there are PayPal cards

[GrantSP]

The code needed to check for the 'Donate' button would be minimal to say the least. That button is merely another UI element on the Nexus web page and it can be queried in exactly the same way as the 'Endorse' button.

The only difference being it is only added IF the mod author sets that option, thus needing a bit more code to check for its existence before querying its status.

 

A small icon added to the 'Flags' column, in the same way as the 'Endorsement status', would not be intrusive.

[TechAngel85]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that those donate buttons have nothing to do with Nexus beside presenting the image on the page. Once you click on the donate link, you're taken to a donation page for that author. From there you click the donate button which is 100% Paypal. I think at most, Tannin might be able to provide this feature which would simply open a page to the author's Nexus donation page since this is a predicable link ( NexusWebUrlHere/GameHere/users/donate/?id=UserIDHere ). If you want it to take you directly to Paypal to donate, then MO would somehow have to scrape the Paypal code from the author's donation page which looks like this:

<form method="post" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" name="_xclick">
    <input type="hidden" value="_xclick" name="cmd"></input>
    <input type="hidden" value="UserEmailHere" name="business"></input>
    <input type="hidden" value="Donation to UserNameHere" name="item_name"></input>
    <input type="hidden" value="USD" name="currency_code"></input>
    <input type="image" border="0" alt="Donate to UserNameHere" name="submit" src="http://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" style="width: 92px; height: 26px;"></input>
</form>

Clicking the button takes you to an encrypted web address so the address is different every time. I could be wrong, but don't think this is possible. So at most, the feature could take you to the author's page to donate from there. I seriously doubt you could donate directly from MO unless Paypal has some sort of API that Tannin can use can write directly into the program so that a donation window pops up or something. However, that would lead to having to encrypt data directly in MO for payments so that your payment info isn't sent insecurely.

[DoubleYou]

Why don't we add a donate button to the wiki mod pages then?

[EssArrBee]

The main problem is that mod authors turn it on themselves, so doing for everypage on the wiki would be tedious at best.

[GrantSP]

SRB has hit the nail on the head, accepting donations is an 'opt-in' affair. Nothing outside parties, like MO or STEP, want to do can work unless the author has first initiated the system.

 

I'm fine though with MO taking me to a PayPal page if I click an icon next to an installed mod. I actually think that is better than MO handling the payment code itself. It is a vastly different matter to an endorsement change and the less intermediary code the better.

[DoubleYou]

I was thinking more or less just linking the author's name to their Nexus Profile. If their Nexus Profile is set up to allow donations, you can simply click the donate button there.

[hishutup]

Why don't we add a donate button to the wiki mod pages then?

 

The main problem is that mod authors turn it on themselves, so doing for everypage on the wiki would be tedious at best.

Thats one of those "Not my job" scenarios

[GrantSP]

I was thinking more or less just linking the author's name to their Nexus Profile. If their Nexus Profile is set up to allow donations, you can simply click the donate button there.

Yeah, that'd do it.

[Tannin]

The code needed to check for the 'Donate' button would be minimal to say the least. That button is merely another UI element on the Nexus web page and it can be queried in exactly the same way as the 'Endorse' button.

The only difference being it is only added IF the mod author sets that option, thus needing a bit more code to check for its existence before querying its status.

 

A small icon added to the 'Flags' column, in the same way as the 'Endorsement status', would not be intrusive.

MO doesn't parse the nexus website because the structure of the page might change at any time. It uses a separate API intended for applications (primarily NMM). I'll see if that api provides a way to take users to the donate page.