Arthmoor moved to pull many of his mods off Nexus Mods in 2021, in protest against a Nexus policy change that would stop authors from permanently deleting files they had uploaded. Nexus said the change was needed to keep its curated Collections working. Arthmoor said it took away an author’s ability to remove his own work. The exit was partial, not total: the reporting describes individual mods being requested for removal, while group unofficial-patch projects stayed on the site.
What the policy change was
The trigger was an announcement covered by PC Gamer on July 2, 2021. Under the change, authors could archive uploaded files, which hides them from ordinary access, but could not permanently delete them. Archived files would stay available through collections. The change was due to begin in August 2021.
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PC Gamer’s coverage the following month identified August 5, 2021 as the deadline for authors to apply for deletion under the transition period. Any date-specific detail in this article comes from that 2021 reporting, not from a current Nexus Mods policy page.
Nexus Mods’ reason: keeping collections intact
Nexus tied the restriction to its Collections feature, a way for a curator to bundle many mods into one tested list. The problem it described is simple: if one file in a collection disappears, the rest of the collection can stop working. PC Gamer quoted the site’s explanation:
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“For our collections system this means that no matter how much care and effort has been put into curating a collection of dozens or hundreds of mods, as soon as one or several files in that collection are deleted by a mod author—for whatever reason—the collection is essentially and immediately ‘dead in the water’ until the curator can replace or remove the particular file.”
The quoted text is attributed to a Nexus Mods post. The coverage does not name an individual speaker.
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Arthmoor’s objection: author control
Arthmoor, a prolific mod author whose Skyrim work is widely used, objected to losing the ability to remove his own files. PC Gamer attributes the following statement to him, written in his response on Nexus Mods:
“Here’s to hoping that current efforts by several parties to launch sites that honor a mod author’s legal right to delete their content take hold and provide some badly needed competition in this space”
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That sentence states his position that authors have a legal right to delete their content. The reporting records that position; it does not show that a court or regulator has ruled on it, and this article does not make that claim.
The two positions side by side
| Question | Nexus Mods’ stated position | Arthmoor’s stated position |
|---|---|---|
| Can an author permanently delete a file? | Not under the new policy; files can be archived and hidden instead. | Authors should keep the right to delete their own content. |
| What is the core concern? | Collection continuity: a curated list breaks when a file it depends on disappears. | Author control over work the author created. |
| What happens to archived files? | Hidden from ordinary access but still available through collections. | Not addressed as a fix; his objection is to the loss of removal. |
| Legal framing | Not framed in legal terms in the reporting. | Described as a legal right to delete content, as his stated view. |
What was removed and what stayed
PC Gamer’s August 6, 2021 report said Arthmoor was requesting removal of many of his works from Nexus Mods in protest. It named these Skyrim mods: Alternate Start – Live Another Life, Cutting Room Floor, Run For Your Lives, The Paarthurnax Dilemma, Open Cities, and Ars Metallica. The same report said he also had works for Oblivion and Morrowind on the site.
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Two categories stayed on Nexus Mods at the time:
- Group unofficial-patch projects for Skyrim, Skyrim Special Edition, and Fallout 4, which involve multiple contributors.
- Nothing else from the author is reported as remaining; the reporting describes the requests as covering many individual mods, not a single blanket removal.
The report said Arthmoor’s mods would remain available on AFK Mods. That was the reported alternative location in August 2021. It is not a current availability check.
PC Gamer also reported that Alternate Start – Live Another Life had more than eight million downloads. That is a 2021 figure from that article, not a current count.
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Is this still the situation in 2026?
Not necessarily. The reporting is more than five years old, and this article does not verify the present status of any individual file. Before saying where a particular mod can be downloaded or whether it is maintained, check the following:
- Search the mod’s title on Nexus Mods and open its page. If the file has been archived, it may not appear in ordinary listings; it may still be reachable through a collection.
- Check the mod’s page for an update date and author notes, since maintenance status changes over time.
- Check AFK Mods directly for the author’s work, rather than relying on the 2021 report.
- Treat a Nexus Mods profile snapshot as a profile-level signal only. A profile crawl reporting last activity on June 21, 2025 does not confirm the status of any individual file in 2026.
The mods themselves are for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and related titles, so the game is the context for the mod list, not a purchase recommendation in this article.
Timeline
- July 2, 2021: PC Gamer reports Nexus Mods’ policy change, due to begin in August, restricting permanent deletion.
- August 5, 2021: Reported deadline to apply for deletion under the transition period.
- August 6, 2021: PC Gamer reports Arthmoor requesting removal of many of his works from Nexus Mods in protest.
How to cite this episode accurately
When you refer to the dispute, separate three things: the policy (permanent deletion restricted, archiving allowed), Nexus’s collection-continuity rationale, and Arthmoor’s author-control objection. Describe the exit as a removal of many individual mods, not a total departure, and attribute the legal-right claim to Arthmoor as his position.
The reporting that anchors this account is PC Gamer’s coverage from July and August 2021, which is the most dated and specific source available for these events.
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