We can now edit the Steam description and image files after a change from a couple of years ago, but a Co-Author still cannot upload or modify the actual mod files.

Without this ability, large collaborative mods like Save Our Ship 2, which I am a co-author of, risk long-term decay or abandonment. The original uploader is sometimes unavailable for months at a time -- and may one day become permanently unreachable. Without an uploader present, mods like SOS2 are forced to migrate to platforms like GitHub, the Nexus, or ModDB, where co-authors do have file permissions and can maintain community support.

This affects more than just the development team. It creates authorship confusion, missing links, broken dependencies, and fragmented mod versions. In the absence of official maintenance, many mods are downloaded and re-uploaded by third parties as unofficial "maintained" versions -- leading to disputes over intellectual property, fractured communities, outdated links, and inconsistent user experience.

Steam currently assumes that all file-level authorship must remain exclusive to the original uploader. This paradigm works for solo developers, but it becomes a barrier in larger projects. Re-uploads also increase Steam’s hosting burden and potentially expose the platform to DMCA claims from original IP holders as they don't have access to re-uploads. (I have personally dealt with this and it is wildly unpleasant, to put it mildly.)

To address these challenges while preserving creator rights, I propose the introduction of a Maintainer Role within the existing Steam Workshop Co-Author system.

This Maintainer role would:

• Be assignable by the original uploader or Co-Authors through the Steam Workshop interface.
  
• Grant the assignee the ability to upload and update files, matching the current privileges of the original uploader.
  
• Be visually identified with a distinct Maintainer tag on the Workshop page.
  
• Be revocable at any time by the original uploader, ensuring final authority remains protected.
  
• Require two-factor authentication and account activity monitoring like all Workshop contributors, preserving Steam’s existing account security standards.

To prevent abuse, the Maintainer role would be subject to strict constraints:

• It must be assigned voluntarily by the original uploader, or, a Co-Author.
  
• Maintainers cannot overwrite the original uploader’s authorship or claim ownership over the Workshop listing.
  
• In the event of a dispute, Steam can require version control records, commit history (e.g., GitHub.)

This balanced system resolves key pain points:

• For developers, it prevents project stagnation and burnout from single-point dependency.
  
• For users, it reduces mod confusion, improves update frequency, and protects against unofficial re-uploads.
  
• For Steam, it reduces duplicate bandwidth use, legal ambiguity, and the likelihood of DMCA threats or content takedowns.

Currently, our maintainer is responsible for significant development work and manages our GitHub repository, but receives no formal Steam benefit: no Steam Points from awards, no visibility or reputation credit, and no ability to perform the basic maintenance required to keep our mod functional. This creates an imbalance in how contributions are recognized, and ultimately devalues collaboration.

Electing a Maintainer from among the Co-Authors would reinforce team trust, reduce legal and logistical strain, and protect the longevity of mods hosted on Steam.