UPDATE: Finally updated. 50+ recent "any mods?" topics have been added
Navigation:
1st post for the list.
2nd post for copy/pastes
7th post for the archive of all these topics.

Firstly: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1010109 is a good supplement to this list. It links to topics and sites where one person lists mods, whereas this one links to the smaller opinions/lists of the general masses.


History:
A while back after spending my time typing up a bunch of recommendations for someone and then getting my time rewarded with a "Oh, I'm not interested in those types of mods" I got a little annoyed of the constant stream of: "I'm new are mods any good?", "What's the best mod?", "How come there aren't any mods?" topics. So the next time I saw one I cam up with an idea, mostly because I had already said something before that I could copy/paste to answer his question, well... after a good 10- 20 minutes of sorting through all my posts I found it, and I thought "there has to be a better way!"(ugh the cliche!) and so from then on I decided to tag every "Are there any mods?" topics with a made up word called azerbagb. The word has since made things easier to bring together the un-opinionated with the opinions of the past.

Reason for the topic:

There are downsides though to using a search word to help people, they are as follows:

1: They have to be registered and logged in here, meaning people in other forums it wouldn't help as much
2: If you link to the search results the link eventually goes down
3: Some people are too lazy to "search" through links on a search result, and hopefully they'll feel better about "browsing" through a topic of links to other topics.
4: I can put a topic on the list without having to post the search word in it, which is nice for topics I might have nothing to add to.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1212564-seeking-advicesuggestions/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1200644-best-side-quest-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1198925-essential-mods-that-changed-your-oblivion-experience/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1190735-can-you-recommend-good-quest-oriented-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1188428-looking-for-a-mod/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1189715-some-mod-help/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1188461-help-finding-some-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1184986-essential-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1184061-something-to-make-magic-a-bit-more-fun/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1182472-resolved-to-actually-complete-oblivion-%e2%80%94-essential-mod-advice/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1182390-finally-got-oblivion-for-the-pc/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1181630-good-mods-for-oblivion/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1181931-just-got-oblivion-for-the-first-time-on-pc-and-its-the-first-time-i-have-tried-modswow/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1181333-final-oblivion-playthrough/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1181344-need-some-mod-assistance/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1174636-castle-defense/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1168081-anyone-got-any-good-mod-suggestions/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1165152-survival-mod-recommendation/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1162646-mods-which-im-using-any-which-would-compliment-these/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1157809-mods-for-vanilla/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1153895-well-done-non-female-armor-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1153076-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1151865-recommended-graphics-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1150743-mod-recommendations/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1150533-pc-modding/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1142142-recommended-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1138302-new-mods-since-this-summer/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1143172-so-any-mods-that-meet-my-expectations/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1142456-rumor-of-a-discworld-mod-interview-with-terry-pratchett/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1143172-so-any-mods-that-meet-my-expectations/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1140817-i-need-something-else-to-do/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1129107-transportation-networks-what-do-you-use-why-what-do-you-likedislike-between-them/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1130383-coming-back/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1131729-dark-brotherhood-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1135053-stealth-mod/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1136396-looking-for-mods-that-adds-the-other-daidric-realms-into-the-game/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1204786-questions-of-mods-that-might-be-over-the-top/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1215739-mage-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1215629-the-best-companion-mods
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1213923-quests-for-peaceful-characters
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1213640-what-is-the-best-conversion-mod
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1213551-mod-shopping-list-for-oblivion
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1213437-need-some-help-here-please/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1213208-mods-for-my-mom
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1212700-must-have-magic-mods
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1212770-new-to-oblivion-modding/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1211132-new-to-the-game-what-mods-do-you-find-necessary-for-oblivion/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1210336-new-to-oblivion-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1209328-best-story-mods





Outdated list. everything here is over a year old and probably purged

Spoiler

List KEY:
AZER= what the topic creator was asking about
ConMin= Content Minimal, not a lot of posts probably not very helpful.
Subcat= a smaller less popular category may be included or the primary focus of the topic
to 200!= it got all the way to 200... very rare.
bleed= this topic bled over into multiple lists.
OffSite= links somewhere besides gamesas forums. I'll try to keep these limited and save them for the less popular list items.

The List:

AZERessential (Also AZERgeneral for the non specific topics)

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1041453&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044287&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044331&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044695&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1017111&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044378&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1046827&hl=azerbagb ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044110&hl=azerbagb to 200!
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1049553&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1051722&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1053750&hl=azerbagb ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1054379&hl=azerbagb ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1055287&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1059556&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1060645&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1062156&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1065140&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1065671&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1066130&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1068545&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1067352&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1067390&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1072892
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1072785
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073167
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073313
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075100
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075304
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075629
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1082532
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1082857
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1082615
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1083479-need-some-help-or-idea/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1083934-the-perfect-oblivion-experience/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1085096 ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084508
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084448 ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084265
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1089215
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1087905
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1088766
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1090118
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1089215
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1092449 NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1092130 NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091352 NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091355 ConMin NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091402 ConMin NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091327 NEW

AZERquest:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1060755&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1052081
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1048659&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1046341&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1013747&hl=azerbagb (purged but archived)
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1089691 NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091386 NEW

AZERmage/magic:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1062767&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1044862&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1072385&hl=


AZERnecro:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1069112&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1067641&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1061693
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1076900 NEW
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1092158 NEW

AZERevil:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1072418&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1057795&hl=azerbagb Subcat= paladin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1055533&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1053701&hl=azerbagb ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1088911


AZERwar:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1056783&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1056685&hl=azerbagb
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1011881&hl=azerbagb purged but archived

AZERruler:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1034895&hl=azerbagb purged... need a new one soon

AZERimmersion:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1070986
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=924363&topic=51137901 OffSite Subcat=quests
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1070904 Subcat= travel/explore
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1092398 Subcat= realism (ie: fatigue, sleep, eat, etc.) NEW

AZERlike....: (Mods similar to a different game)
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073475&hl=
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073497&hl= ConMin
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1080814
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1091039 NEW

AZERbody/face:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073294
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1074264
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1076308
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1078916
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084097
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1088364-facial-makeover-mod/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1088087-character-mods/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1090951 NEW

AZERlevelup!:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1081720-levelling-mod/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1083921

------------
I think that's all the often asked about topics. Note that these are only the ones on the azerbagb search results, and there may be topics I missed or neglected. Also feel free to recommend categories, or submit topics to be put on the list. I will try to archive non-ConMin topics that come close to being purged but, if you want to archive a topic for me go right ahead.... I can't catch them all.

Right now the topic is still kind of under construction I may make some minor changes to the formatting and try to add topics and categories I may have missed or forgot... For now though I just want to post it before I get discouraged again.

*Reserved post just in case*
Gonna use for Copy/paste listings for now:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=15598738
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=15598757
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073167&view=findpost&p=15603156
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073167&view=findpost&p=15602927 (Don't really want a lot top 10's or simple lists but I'm desperate for copy/pastes at the moment)
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075680&view=findpost&p=15650213

Check the "Phoenix1213's (mine)" link for an explanation if necessary.... or just scroll down a little bit.

Very nice idea, deserves a thumbs up for the hard work and hopefully will help prune the front page of its daily infestation of these countless topics.

Thanks, while I'm at it maybe the topic should be open to people's copy/pastes too.

Here's two of mine:

For vague requests for mods:


For the occasional "What are your must haves?"

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=15598757 right below this post.
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1073167&view=findpost&p=15603156
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1073167&view=findpost&p=15602927 (Don't really want a lot top 10's or simple lists but I'm desperate for cop/pastes at the moment)
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1075680&view=findpost&p=15650213


Others are welcome to post their's too, if they want I'll just edit their's into this post.... your copy/pastes of general helpingness, preferably not too many lists of "must haves!" because then this topic would turn into the type of topic it tries to catalogue.

Here's my copy/paste. It was originally in response to a 'what are the best mods' question

Welcome to the world of modded Oblivion. It's a great place, but you will have to do some of the work yourself. Your question gets asked a lot. Be prepared for some sarcastic replies. It's not possible to give a comprehensive list of great mods because tastes and computer specs vary so greatly. You will have to read up on this forum, on the download sites, and in the readmes of individual mods.

Here is my distillation of the collected Mod's forum wisdom.

1. If by the best mods you mean the ones that almost everyone uses and recommends, then you are talking about the Unofficial Oblivion Patches. The one for the main game is http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5296. If you have Shivering Isles you need http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10739, and if you have any of the downloadable content (Knights of the Nine, Spelltomes, Frostcrag Tower etc), you need http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9969. Beyond that there is no agreement about what constitutes the best mods.

2. Read the stickies at the top of this forum to get a good basic grounding on what is involved in installing and using mods. In particular see http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=449239

3. http://www.tesnexus.com/index.php and http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.List&game=4 are the two most important sites that hold mods for download. They both have ranked lists of the most highly rated mods, these lists are a good place to look for mods that may interest you.

4. Load order is very important. It is difficult to adjust load order without a specific tool. The http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097 is a program that allows quick and easy adjustment to your load order. It also lets you create OMOD files, which allow easy installation and removal of mods. As a beginner mod user you should use both these functions. Obmm has other uses as well.

5. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516 is a nice tool that automates much of the load ordering problem. It works well with Oblivion Mod Manager.

6. http://wrye.ufrealms.net/#WryeBash is a more sophisticated tool that you will need to get to grips with once your load order starts expanding and mods start to conflict with each other.

7. Here is a good list of mods covering the main areas of the game that many users find to be lacking, http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=790175

8. For new quests you should look at this site.http://knol.google.com/k/devnulldevakm/toql-the-oblivion-quest-list/2xu0v7u1nzut0/2?domain=knol.google.com&locale=en#

9. For visual improvements to the game you should check out this site,http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/obliviontextureoverhaul

10. Be cautious when adding mods to the game. Research a mod, add it to the game, and then play for a while to test whether the mod is working as it should before adding more stuff. If you add a pile of mods at the same time it can be very difficult to isolate what is causing any problems.

11. If you do encounter problems the first place to check is the readme. Then try a forum search to see if others have encountered the same problem. If all else fails you should post on this forum. Many of the most popular mods have long running threads you should use. If you start a new thread you should make your title and subheading informative about the nature of the problem. Give as much information as possible, and try to use grammatically correct English. (If English is not your first language it may be worth mentioning it in the post so that you are not flamed unfairly). If you do all this you will most likely get the help you require.

Just wanted to thank you for this awesome information source. I haven't really been keeping track of Oblivion mod releases recently so this was just what I needed to get back into it all.

The "any mods" list (and all the topics currently on the list) is now archived on filefront:
http://www.filefront.com/16459005/The-Oblivion-are-there-any-mods-topics.zip/

Now when the old topics get archived they'll still be alive and well in HTML format over there^

Everything with a "NEW" on it is still unarchived since it's more likely that there might be new posts in those. I'll try and update the archive every few months/years(!?).

I doubt anyones actually going to download so as an added incentive I separated the "General" and "Essential" categories in the archive version of the list. Sort of an ironic joke really... Also some bonus topics (Currently only 2) (really funny ones, topics about the constant "any mods?" topics, this mod VS that mod!, etc.)


P.S. Your copy/pastes are still very welcome, I'd rather not have to steal them all.

BUMP, finally updated this with a bunch of recent topics

Bump