bigcat

In my case, the 'cathedral' system of modding was wonderful.

Just FYI, 'Cathedral' is the opposite of what you mean (it refers to "all rights reserved, you can't touch my mod"), whereas "you can pick up my mod and improve it if you want" is called Bazaar.
http://catb.org/~esr...thedral-bazaar/

Whoops thanks. My reference was parlor versus cathedral, with cathedral being the broader view. So I'm coming out in favor of Bazaar, which fits me well I've been called bizarre often enough!

Sorry if I'm necroposting, but I just wanted to make a clarification.

Wrye was upset that someone removed a mod that he referenced in LGNPC Seyda Neen. He was never censored for his work on the mod. I bring this up because I wrote the original LGNPC Seyda Neen, which was the first LGNPC project and 'inspired' the other LGNPC mods. Therefore it would be logical to assume that I was the censorer when in fact I am a strong proponent of the 'Bazaar' view of modding. I'm grateful that Wrye improved my mod, and he did, and I'm grateful that after I dropped the ball on LGNPC others took over and created an amazing set of mods.
I believe that mods are gifts to the community of that particular game and should not be considered to be held in copy write nor should anyone charge for them. After all a mod is by definition a derivative work since it is changing an already published game and it is only through the graciousness of the game's copy write owner that we are allowed to change the game in the first place. In my opinion it would be like claiming copy write on fan fiction.
In my case, the 'Bazaar' system of modding was wonderful. I created a little mod in a couple of days and then wandered off to try other things. Normally this would have doomed my mod to obscurity, but some nice chap wanted more less generic NPCs, revived the project and, with a dedicated team, created lots of mods. Instead of dying away my little mod lived on as part of this now famous project until Wrye noticed it needed a facelift. He reworked it to stand as a durn solid part of the LGNPC family, but I'm biased of course.
I could have come out yelling when I saw the LGNPC project was being resurrected without my consent, but what purpose would it have served. For the record I did make a slightly snide comment on the new project's message boards about making sure the new mods had depth as well as width, but generally I wasn't too grumpy.     If I had screamed about my rights, the Morrowind community might have lost a great set of mods and it would have been my fault. I would have been the villain. Instead I get the pleasure of knowing that my little mod and all the other LGNPC mods have given joy to lots of people. On the other hand the 'Cathedral' view of modding benefits only one person, the author, to the detriment of all the folks who play the game. It hardly seems worth it to me. Let folks enjoy your mod no matter how it gets to them.
One last note in this diatribe, Wrye and the LGNPC folks gave me attribution beyond the call of duty and I appreciate that. Please if you do use someone's mod as part of a larger mod or in some other way give them credit where it is due.
Cheers and keep modding. I love you alls work.

Joe Stevens

Thanks to the bigg in the post below for pointing out that I was using the wrong terminology, calling 'cathedral' 'parlor' and 'bazaar' 'cathedral'. I modified this post using the correct terms to hopefully make it easier to read which is why the bigg's post now makes less sense, but hopefully he forgives me.