Ok. This will be my last two cents on the 'update marquee' issue as continued discussion is going nowhere. This all seems to stem from a basic disagreement of principle. Between a modmaker who believes all should only run the newest version, and players who understand that that isn't always feasible.
On the side of the modmaker, I agree that having everyone run the newest version is most desirable. And in SSP, this is often easy enough. Especially from the more tech savvy players like most of the crowd here. But updating a mod always has it's inherent risks, such as unexpected cross-mod issues. Most are benign, but some can cause world corruption and chunk resets.
Now on the side of modpack creators and maintainers, running the newest version *isn't* always feasible, even if it *is* desirable. This can be for a multitude of reasons. First off, modpacks need to be stable. They often lag a bit behind the bleeding edge mod updates so they can properly test all the updated mods and make sure no issues arise. Just as a modmaker needs to do internally for just their mod, a modpack creator needs to do so for all the mods in the pack *together*. This is not an insignificant amount of time. And once they do that, they need to send out the updated pack. For some launchers, this is easy. For others, such as FTB, this can, again, take some time. Second off, some modpacks are purpose-built, such as packs like Crash Landing and Agrarian Skies. These ones have a *very* fine balance and tend to ingest updates excessively slowly after they launch as any even *minor* change within a mod can upset the balance of the pack. Third, modpacks aren't upkept for eternity. After a certain point, any modpack becomes abandoned as the makers either step down or move onto something new. Lastly, modpacks should be professional. They shouldn't harass the users with mod update notifications as players are not just playing the mods in question, but the mod*pack* in question. When running a pack, mod updates are generally the purview of the modpack creators.
Then onto the side of the server owners. Not all owners create and host their own modpacks. Many run common hosted packs through launchers such as FTB, meaning they are not the modpack maintainers themselves. They are then at the mercy of the modpack. Yes, they *could* require people to manually update or host it themselves. For the convenience of their users, though, this rarely happens. It's easier to just be able to point at a launcher and tell people to just run modpack
x. This is true of both large servers and small servers. And if the modpack that a server is running becomes abandoned, then the issues redouble. Server owners then would have their workload increase with having to not just maintain the server, but all of a sudden needing to maintain the modpack as well. And when mods have 'major' revisions, this often can require a world reset. Especially when shifting major Minecraft or Forge versions. Users on a server do *not* like world resets. Thus the continued existence of servers running 1.6.4 modpacks. And again, servers, like modpacks, should be professional. They shouldn't harass users with mod updates as, at this point, the updates are up to both the modpack maker *and* the server owner. It doesn't matter if there's a newer version of a mod as if you're not running the *server's* version of the modpack then you can't connect.
Finally on to the users, namely those who play on servers. If they needed to update mods manually, this can cause issues. Especially if they play on more than one server using particular launchers. To modify one particular modpack just for one server often means that that modpack is modified *period*. So if two servers run different versions of one mod with the same modpack as a base then they can be SOL unless they run the pack with a different launcher. This is the very reason most servers run unmodified modpacks straight from a launcher.
Yes, I understand getting bug reports for fixed issues is a pain and a waste of time. But that's just life in software development. It happens. A lot. To try to pass that responsibility on to the end user by trying to force them to update ... well as
Hyperme said above, the only way to force people onto newer versions is auto-updating, which can corrupt worlds, or not allowing it to launch, which prevents access to servers. Or your method of non-disableable (temporary isn't sufficient) user harassment which just irritates people, especially those that need to run a particular version to play on a server.
Basically, this whole situation is a *lot* more complicated than just 'update, it's easy'. There are a lot more variables in the grand scheme of things, especially in the world of modpacks and servers. It's *not* just users being lazy. It's *not* just modpack makers and server owners being lazy. It's not just *you* being lazy. It's all this put together, making for a veritable mess when one tries to force updates.
Sorry. No TL;DR. If I could have simplified it that much, I would have.
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