As title says. :)

That is because I don't populate a text file with a changelog. If people want a changelog they can check the source as this is entirely open source from the start. Not to mention that I already link to it on the main page:

https://github.com/NoxyNixie/Noxys_Trees/commits/master

That is a git commit list. It does have a nice advantage in that it displays the date of each change, something i welcome when dealing with changelogs, but it has the massive disadvantage of not including any versioning information whatsoever.

The disadvantage of a manually written list is that ... its manual. Meaning that I'd have to maintain it or it'll just lie dormant and be out of date or inaccurate. The git commit list is always up to date and accurate.

That is because I don't populate a text file with a changelog.

Isn't it possible to generate changelog.txt automatically? (I know it won't be easy, if it is possible at all.)

If people want a changelog they can check the source as this is entirely open source from the start. Not to mention that I already link to it on the main page:

Your main page is only visible to people who go to the mod portal. The nice thing about the ingame changelog parser is that I don't have to go to the modportal for every new or updated mod that appears in the list when I start Factorio. It is very convenient to be able to get just that crucial bit of info (what did change in this update, and should I dare downloading it or will it break something I've got used to?). You know, there are people who use a lot of mods (>100, even >150 mods isn't that rare, apparently). Going to the modportal for each update is quite a chore.

By the way, my personal policy is not to use any mods that don't have a changelog which can be parsed by the game. I make exceptions for mods that tried but failed (as author of the changelog tutorial, I know very well how easy it is to confuse the parser), and I may make an exception if the mod is very intriguing otherwise. There are too many mods around anyway, can't install all, so this is the line I draw. :-)

Isn't it possible to generate changelog.txt automatically? (I know it won't be easy, if it is possible at all.)

You can to an extent automate it but you'd have to make sure your commit messages and tags are in such a way it can be used to generate the changelogs. None of my mods repositories and commit history are set up in such a way.

Your main page is only visible to people who go to the mod portal.

To be honest this is not a problem for me and I bet not for many as most modders provide most their information on their mod portal page. I'm kinda surprised that Wube hasn't made the mod portal main page available in game since their formatting is already super restrictive (very dumbed down variant of markdown).

By the way, my personal policy is not to use any mods that don't have a changelog which can be parsed by the game.

I guess you won't be using most of my mods. I may actually not update the changelog of this mod with the next update (as I may forget).
I think you are misguided if you use that policy as your gauge to determine if you will use a mod or not, shouldn't you be looking at what the mod actually does?

Here is another thought ... what about translations? Wube does not have any way to make translations of changelogs available as far as I know and most of my mods (that have any stuff to be translated) are covered by https://crowdin.com/project/factorio-mods-localization (except the changelog).

If you also payed attention to the one changelog I did make ... its actually not accurate ... it lacks all updates from before the 0.18 release.

It is a lot of work for pretty much no gain on my part, the odd user may choose to not use my mod because it lacks a changelog ... but most will use it either way.

If by chance you really feel like my mods should have a changelog ... than I present you with the option to create a pull request ;)

All my mods are open source and on github so for most it should be trivial to create a fork and a PR.

Anyway you do you and I'll do what I find fun ;)

Isn't it possible to generate changelog.txt automatically? (I know it won't be easy, if it is possible at all.)

You can to an extent automate it but you'd have to make sure your commit messages and tags are in such a way it can be used to generate the changelogs. None of my mods repositories and commit history are set up in such a way.

Yes, I guess that's not trivial to implement.

Your main page is only visible to people who go to the mod portal.

I'm kinda surprised that Wube hasn't made the mod portal main page available in game since their formatting is already super restrictive (very dumbed down variant of markdown).

Why don't you suggest that to the devs? That may be a good idea -- at least for mods that haven't closed down their discussion page.

By the way, my personal policy is not to use any mods that don't have a changelog which can be parsed by the game.

I guess you won't be using most of my mods. I may actually not update the changelog of this mod with the next update (as I may forget).

I haven't had time for playing since … February? But in my last game, I actually used your "Deep core mining tweaks" and "Swimming mod". About forgetting to update the changelog: That happens to me as well, sometimes. If I notice that, I usually fill in the missing entries with the next update. It still serves as a reminder of what changed in which version, so if necessary, I can pinpoint the version where I've changed something that needs fixing.

I think you are misguided if you use that policy as your gauge to determine if you will use a mod or not, shouldn't you be looking at what the mod actually does?

Yes, and if a mod adds something that no other mod has, I will cringe but may still use it. But if another mod with a working in-game changelog appears, the working changelog is a strong incentive to use it instead of the other mod. Also, there's one particular modder (not calling any names here) whose mods I try to replace because he doesn't accept bug reports anywhere but on Github. It's not that the mods are bad (they're quite good, actually), but not being able to communicate with the author is a serious drawback. Well, once I can play again myself, I'll get serious about finding alternatives. :-D

Here is another thought ... what about translations? Wube does not have any way to make translations of changelogs available as far as I know and most of my mods (that have any stuff to be translated) are covered by https://crowdin.com/project/factorio-mods-localization (except the changelog).

Localizing changelogs -- nice idea! But that isn't realistic. People already have to struggle to keep a changelog parsable in even one version, I'm already happy if they get it right at all and wouldn't expect anybody to translate their changelog.

If you also payed attention to the one changelog I did make ... its actually not accurate ... it lacks all updates from before the 0.18 release.

That happens. I've inherited some mods that didn't have a working changelog. For some, I've tried to reconstruct what changed; but in some cases I also just added a notice that ownership has changed, and started the changelog with the version where I've taken over. While it would be nice if really the complete development of a mod was documented, sometimes it's just more important that users of the current version can get at the info that's really important to them: What is the current state, and what will change if I update to the latest release?

It is a lot of work for pretty much no gain on my part, the odd user may choose to not use my mod because it lacks a changelog ... but most will use it either way.

Sorry, didn't want to offend you or anybody else, this really isn't nothing personal or about the quality of your mods.

If by chance you really feel like my mods should have a changelog ... than I present you with the option to create a pull request ;)

There we go again -- no Github account, and no experience with using that. But if you'd accept them as PM on the forum, I'd be willing to contribute! :-)