Ive read that other thread. I think you may be overreacting blazed, as much as most of those posters there do too.
Of course there will be people who perceive this in a very negative light, which is to be expected since the general culture mindset about modding is as it is. Yet they overreact and consider this idea in a form that is actually not suggested and much worse then anyone would want.


Neurotoxin had some good remarks and mentioned several potential problematic issues and occurrences.

Cromcrom added some of the potential problems that could arise.

The thing is, i think those can be solved or prevented from happening down the line, if specific measures and basic rules are made to do so from the start.



First:
Modding should remain free. So, no... there is no need to even allow people to set prices for their smaller stuff, or to allow submitting smaller things for this kind of a deal with Larian.
I have been saying this from the start.

Thats one of the several big reasons why i suggested that Larian should have a final say and curating control.

If the deal is presented as such from the very start, IF it is clearly said that only big complete campaigns would be even considered for this, with no guarantees those would become supported for any kind of sales... it would prevent such a negative possibility from ever occurring.


Second:
There should be no arrangement or deal made about it before hand. So, as Cromcrom mentioned, the deal should be based on first proving you can make something by actually making it, and then if its considered good enough the mod could get considered for sales.


Third:
Any and all tricks, fixes, scripts, or any other "ways to do something" in the editor or engine any modder figures out would be freely released and available to the community at large - or else.

- Else - would be taking down the mod from Steam Workshop (for example) and Larian stopping any cooperation with those responsible, while the rest would be handled by community.

Keep in mind there is no hard rule or obligation for usual modders to release or reveal any of their tricks at all and that other modders should be capable to figure out any such fix, trick or script by themselves anyway. Yet it would be mandatory for anyone thinking about some kind of monetization.
I am sure most modders would share their stuff anyway, by themselves as they usually do, but this would enforce and ensure there is no sudden underhanded tricks.


***


Neurotoxin brought a few good points about how these things work when money gets in the picture from a psychological angle.

Clearly, people generally have a specific outlook about modding and mods they get.
And people do value getting free stuff to the point where they reciprocate and freely give money for stuff given freely to them.
Yet...thats hardly something you can count on.

On the other hand it is simply true that there is a lack of bigger, better quality mods i am talking about - precisely because of this "free" kind of mentality.

That isnt anything too strange.
Any idea or system has its positive and negative consequences.
The same goes for my idea and suggestion.
Which is why i specifically tried to anticipate those and suggest specific details that would prevent the worst consequences from ever occurring.


Actually, the potential problems Neurotoxin describes are harder to solve then anything Cromcrom mentioned or others had overblown into unrealistic extremes.

For one thing, i see no reason why the usual deals with donations and other smaller stuff could not work together with my suggestion. Any modder could decide if he wants to submit his mod for official support/deal of this kind (provided it is big and good enough)or not. And the smaller mods can just continue as they do now.

There is no real reason why any single way of doing this should be forced onto everyone.

You could think that leaving everything for donations might be good enough solution but... that brings us back to the very start of this issue. Its the reverse forest problem. You dont see individual trees that well in that case. And people voluntary donations are... iffy. You cant really count on those with any certainty.

Maybe the best solution for getting community created big mods to receive some recompense would be to bundle them all into a sort of community pack which would be sold through steam, with official support and quality assurance.

The price would be symbolic but due to large numbers of buyers available it could be worth it. Both for Larian and the modders and for the community, in the end.