I am visiting the mods portal frequently to see what modders create and I created 2 minor mods of my own. And I observed things I do and do not agree with on the mod portal. Without you guys asking me I now give you my opinion on your argument:

@Kingdud: In general, if you want to implement a mod that replicates another mod but changes its behavior slightly/adds a feature, then the way to go is to create a mod, include the original mod as prequesite and put your changes into your own mod. That is how it is done. There is no discussion needed about that. Ask any of the big and experienced modders, ask the devs and they will agree unanimously. And when you do that, - as a convention, for clarity and out of respect - the way to name your addition mod would be something like:

"King's visual markers for Bucket Wheel Excavators"
"King's visual markers for Laserzwei's Bucket Wheel Excavators"
"Visual markers for Laserzwei's Bucket Wheel Excavators"
"Visual markers for Bucket Wheel Excavators"

Also you put a link to the prequesite mod into your mods description, so users can read the full documentation on both the mods. This is for a big part to aid clarity about what the mod does (your copied mod is a good example for bad documentation - a link to laserzwei's mod would lighten that fact - if it would be a prequesite to your mod) and to a smaller part to give some credit ot the author of the prequesite.

You not acting along the lines of these common sense rules is incomprehensible to me, if I assume that you are an intelligent and respectful person. It only makes sense if you are missing at least one of these properties.

And I think Laserzwei is very patient not ot contact the admins and demand the complete removal of your mod until you fulfill the license requirements to its full extent.

@Laserzwei: Seasoned mod authors like bob write their own licenses by now (it is possible on the mod portal) that define exactly to the dot of each sentence, what is allowed and what is not and what requirements have to be met to use code/assets of the mod it is attached to.

You make the same mistake in thinking I'm a much better modder than I actually am. I only ever wanted one thing: to be able to see the boundary of a physically massive object and place a bunch of them easily. I've since made my own mod irrelevant by always surrounding the miner with beacons, which serve the same purpose the black lines did. And as for the black lines themselves, I took the only path I knew to implementing the change I wanted to see. I'm not going to go back and change my work now that it's done just because someone has a better idea for how it 'should' be done. I can use that going forward, but I was only ever invested enough to do one thing.

I understand that you do not want to make another iteration on your work. I really do. But imo publishing comes with a certain set of written (as in a license) and unwritten (as respectful behavior) responsibilities. The least you could do is change the title of your mod and add a link to it's description. Both title and description should indicate that it is a copy of Laserzwei's mod and that it adds a certain feature.

eg title:
"Visual markers fork of Bucket Wheel Excavators"
"Visual markers fork of Laserzwei's Bucket Wheel Excavators"
"King's visual markers fork of Laserzwei's Bucket Wheel Excavators"

eg description:
"This mod is a fork of Laserzwei's mod 'Bucket Wheel Excavators' Version xyz. (See https://mods.factorio.com/mod/BigDrills ).

It adds <and then you describe what feature you added to it>.
"

And on Laserzwei's demand you already changed the picture, which is a good thing.

(These are just some recommendations to lighten the problems with your mod if you want to stick to the code, like it is now. This does not mean that Laserzwei would be satisfied with them. I don't know. I don't speak on behalf of him/her.)

"Fork" indicates the fact that it is a full copy of a certain version of the original, on top of which is built something else/additional. Also stating the version of the original mod, you forked it from is crucial. If I was a user of your mod, I would not know which features and bugfixes from the original mod are included in your copy. From what version of the original did you fork it from? No clue. The original mod may get new features and bigfixes. A user might then assume these changes are also included in your mod.

There really is a lot wrong with your mod. In the way you created an addition to another mod, in the way you respect the license and your behave to the modder of the original and in the way you are (not) documenting your mod. All these things are substandard in your mod. And now you say "Ahhh, but I do not want to make the effort to change stuff."

Don't you feel ashamed? :-D
I know you have a quarrel with Laserzwei and to you it may seem Laserzwei and now me are picking on you. But that is not the case. You published something that is substandard in several places. My recommendations regarding the documentation is merely a wish, but in regard to the license Laserzwie has the right to demand changes. Laserzwei should not even need to demand them, you should have done them before publishing. Hughely exagerating, if this was commercial software, you would get a letter of an attorny.

Take a look at these mods:
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/CoppermineBobModuleRebalancing
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Noxys_Deep_Core_Mining_Tweak

These meet all the standards. They do not copy but build on top of the original, they document what they do, they link to the prequesite mod, they created their own pictures and they mention the original modder in title, short and/or long description - at this point solely for reasons of clarity and documentation or out of respect for the modder of the prequesite. All their assets belong to them and no license can force them to link to or mention any name then. See? And everything is clear to the users and everything is fine to all the modders involved. Luckily the majority of these extension/tweak mods here on the portal do it right.

So please take a breath take a little time and think about this. Make the changes I suggested, swallow your pride and ask Laserzwei if they meet his/her demands. Laserzwei might say yes or no and you take it from there knowing that by implementing Laserzwei's demands you adhere to the license requirements. By doing all thisyou will also follow the best practices for good modding. Which will give you a good feeling.

lol

^^