As much as I love MTS I feel like the moderation is way too strict to the point it hurts the growth of the website. The way things are now I understand why many creators avoid uploading here.
I wanted to share my creations and had a very unpleasant experience. My submission got rejected many times over some very silly and unnecessary requests.
For example if I was to share a packaged sim they require a fully written personal backstory (which is quite odd, not everyone wants to write a whole bunch of unnecessary stuff, I'm not a writer I just enjoy making sims) I ended up using chat GPT to create a story and they finally approved it- I feel some these requests seem redundant and should be optional.

My biggest issue is that all CC must be sourced. For The Sims 4 I think that’s understandable but TS2 and TS3 have are 10+ year old games now making it impossible to source many items.
So many blogs and creators have dropped off of the internet, it’s just not a realistic expectation. And legally MTS wouldn’t even get in trouble if we didn’t source CC from such an old game.
Those who have deleted their blogs and content likely wouldn't care someone was to upload a sim here using some of their content.
I hope MTS can be a bit more relaxed in regards to mod uploads, some of these rules are outdated and unnecessary. I can go upload my mods anywhere else with less moderation (even nexus an extremely popular mod website has way less stricter rules) but I love MTS and I’d like to upload my stuff here.

This is a part of Electronic Arts EULA:
“In exchange for the right to use content contributed by other users through the Software, when you contribute content through the Software, you expressly grant to other users of the Software the non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, worldwide, irrevocable right to access and use, copy, modify, display, perform, and create and distribute derivative works from, your contributed content in connection with the Software, and to distribute and otherwise communicate your contributed content as a component of works that they create using the Software, for example, The Sims lots or The Sims videos, without further notice, attribution or compensation to you. You hereby waive any moral rights of paternity, publication, reputation, or attribution under applicable law with respect to EA.s and other players. use and enjoyment of such content contributions in connection with the Software.“

Isn't there a point when content enters the public domain?

Hi there,

Thanks for the feedback. We don't actually require a "fully written backstory" for every Sim upload. In fact, the message was "It'd also be more helpful for the downloader to know a bit more about the characters themselves, what traits, favorite foods, music, color they have etc." This is not to say you need all of those things, but more that it's good for downloaders to know *why* they should download a Sim. Think of it like a downloader - if you came across "Yet Another Sim" with no description or title other than "Oldie" - would you be incentivized to download it?

Regarding CC links - yes, while some older games do have lots of sites/creators who have left, it's still nice to know and to credit people whose content you used. A creator may not have a website but they can (and have done) come back years later, so it's always nice to see credits and links.

However, with that said, we do have an exclusion for specific "dead sites". This is taken directly from the guidelines: https://modthesims.info/rubrics/4139

"With TS2 in particular, many creators' sites and old forums have ceased to exist. This is a sad loss for the community, but also makes crediting CC from these dead sites a problem. In these cases, we do not require a functional link to the download (since this is obviously not possible) and the item may be included with your files, however, the items must still be credited with the name of the creator and the name of the item (or a short description of it). In these cases, you must also clearly state that the original site is dead."

So you still need to know who made it and what it is.

Lastly, I have no idea why you are pasting part of the EULA, since our guidelines and rules are about what is posted here.

Yes, MTS can seem a bit strict on rules, and we are constantly tying to make it easier to upload. If you have a specific issue with certain uploads, though, it's best to keep those to the Moderation Queue threads pertaining to those uploads.

Sure, but I don't think anyone wants to wait 100 years. :P

100 years? Woah! I would have thought it would happen sooner than that, especially with digital items. New computers don't always support older software, for example.

Unfortunately that isn't the experience I had while trying to get my submission accepted, perhaps the person moderating my uploads didn't uphold the same values as MTS.
If I was told it was optional I simply wouldn't have spent my time adding detailed backstories.
Personally as someone who's been downloading mods since 2009 I don't think this adds an incentive like you mentioned. The only information I care to know is the gender and age- any personalized information is irrelevant to me although not unwelcomed! I simply pick the sims I want to download by looking at the pictures like most others.

I am glad to hear there is some sort of leniency in regards to dead CC but often file names don't give much information on who the creator is or the items official name which makes lots of old content completely unsourceable. Half of my .package files are just gibberish of random letters and numbers since many creators do not organize their files in a way that could be easily sourced back to them, this is especially common amongst many Asian CC creators.
Not to mention it is unfortunate the same rule doesn't apply to The Sims 3 considering it's a 14 year old game that suffers from the same issue TS2 has (many dead sites)

I only mentioned EA's EULA because it is relevant in understanding their principles. Even if MTS has its own rules and is a separate entity you guys are still somewhat aligned in having similar values. I provided quotations to further back up my argument, sharing unsourced CC wouldn't legally hurt MTS in any way which is why I think a relaxation in regards to moderation would be appreciated by many who use this platform and would likely encourage more people to upload their mods here.
Also apologies if this wasn't the right forum to discuss in, since it was labeled Site Questions/Issues I thought my post would be relevant here.

Anyways I appreciate you hearing me out! Happy holidays

The guidelines do apply for all games, btw, not just TS2. It's just that you used TS2 as an example, and it's older, so there's more dead sites. But it still counts.

With regards to weird package names, thats why it's good to use a tool like the DDO or the TS3 Dashboard that can display information from inside the package file itself, or to try search the https://packagedb.modthesims.info/ site for a match.

I'm sorry you feel like you didn't get a good moderation process - but this is something that could be handled on each individual case within the structure (aka the moderation queue thread) that we made just for this purpose.

Personally I think that allowing totally uncredited CC to be included, unlinked, without an author, is a disservice to the many hundreds or thousands of creators who put time and effort into the community in the past, and having their work shared with zero credits or links is not particularly nice for them. Like I said, we do already have exclusions for dead sites. To be honest, the entire CC linking thing can indeed be a pain - not only for uploaders, but also for staff too, since often we have to recognise peoples content and figure out if it's linked properly or not, which in itself can be laborious. But this is partially why the package database exists - to try and make a resource that no matter what you have, it "knows" who made it and where it came from. Unfortunately it's limited only to MTS, but as people actually fill in the data, the next person who uses that package doesn't have to, so it makes it easier for everyone to share *and* to credit and link.

Finally, regarding incentive - this is something that is very personal. Some people like reading a backstory. Others, like yourself, look at the pictures only. Others do both. It really depends on the downloader, but in order to made sure that we cater for the widest possible audience, and to have good content on all mods uploaded, we require at least some description of the Sim even if it's a small sentence or two about why you made them.

Have a great holiday yourself!

I do want to add, if the cc site is absolutely dead, and there aren’t any other places it can be downloaded (such as a folder of the creator’s stuff that people reuploaded). Then, you can upload it alongside your sim/lot just make sure it’s a separate zip file for ease of downloading.