The 1.12 Backport Problem

=PLEASE UNDERSTAND=
This is kind of a message to those who always want 1.12 mods, and beg mod devs to backport to 1.12. This is more of a personal opinion, and am not intending on personally insulting those who prefer 1.12 over more modern version. Continue!

=Backporting=
Before I get into it, I should probably define backporting for Minecraft, so that we are on the same page. Backporting is converting a version of a mod to an older version of Minecraft. While it SOUNDS simple, just change the MC version in the code, it's actually not. Backporting from 1.14 to 1.12 requires  change of ALL code. Thankfully, MCreator automatically does this. Unfortunately, for mods like Create on Curseforge, there is no automatic conversion; it has to be done by hand. Remember: Between 1.12 and 1.14 was a small little update; version 1.13, Update Aquatic. Yeah, it's not little. It changed coding for blocks to be water logged, so that slabs, stairs, fences, etc, don't have air gaps (thank you, Mojang!). This means that, again, how a block is made, it's code, was changed. It's not a simple point-and-click process like MCreator, which I thank the dev team for making that a feature. The Create mod use a very heavy custom-code based mod, and with the huge code change 1.13 introduced, it means it's more difficult to backport that mod from 1.14 to 1.12. 

=Why the Demand?=
Until 1.15, 1.12 was considered the most stable version of Minecraft. Technically, 1.15 should now be the most stable since about 80% of that update was to squash bugs present in the game since 1.0, like the lighting glitches that were supposed to be fixed in 1.7/1.8. The obvious effect of 1.15's lighting fix can be seen in Scar's volcano in Hermitcraft, Season 6. So why do people demand 1.12 backports? Because of stability. And about 99% of those people who always want 1.12 backports just don't understand what it takes to make a mod, and furthermore, backport it (aka, a LOT of code rewriting). The most obvious example of 1.12 Demands and lac of understanding is very present in the comment section of Create's Curseforge page. There are so many people demanding 1.12, even though the description of the mod page says "We are not backporting to 1.12". I saw one comment saying "all you need to do is change the version number" (not an exact quote). 

=Should 1.12 Mods Go Away?=
No. They should keep their 1.12 support, but try to update to newer versions. Being stuck on old versions will eventually lead people to recreate those mods on newer versions, therefore, less people using the original mod. Those who are always wanting to stick with 1.12 or just being annoying, in my opinion. Sure, there are mods that bring the new features to 1.12, but mod makers are not gonna make a dependency of that mod, when they can just code for the 1.13 update, stick to more modern versions (since Mojang is helping modders update to newer versions with their code releases), and keep themselves open to a wider audience. 

=Closing=
Yes, I'm annoyed by 1.12 Demanders, but that doesn't mean that they should be disrespected. There are some users who, for some reason, can't run modern versions of Minecraft (1.15 should've changed that, but eh). But here's my message to them, and anyone really. MCreator forums are less populated with people demanding 1.12; in fact, I think MCretor is a LOT more open to updating mods to NEWER versions of MC than any other mod hosting site with comment sections I've been on. But here's my message: 

Read the description of the mod. If it says that it is NOT backporting to a Minecraft version, don't ask for it. If it says it will eventually, don't spam the developer(s) constantly asking for mod development statuses, you just annoy them and slow them down; this also applies to updating mods. Be patient and respectful of developers' choice of MC version.

Thanks for reading, and I am open to opinions and corrections in the comments!

~Erin Rose Webs