Main rules • Do not defy the expressed wishes of the moderators. If you're told you've broken a rule and you aren't sure which one it is - it's this one. • Avatars must not contain pornographic, semi-pornographic, or otherwise potentially offensive material. • Do not post our .torrent files on other sites. Every .torrent file has your personal passkey embedded in it. The tracker will automatically disable your account if you share your torrent files with others. You will not get your account back. This doesn't prohibit you sharing the content on other sites, just the .torrent file. • This is a torrent site which promotes sharing amongst the community. If you are not willing to give back to the community what you take from it, this site is not for you. In other words, we expect you to have an acceptable share ratio. • Do not sell our invites, or offer them publicly (this includes invitation-only forums). The invites were given to you to invite your friends or people that you think can contribute. If you are found selling invites or offering them in public, you'll lose your account. • Do not sell or trade your account. If you don't want it anymore, delete it. • You are entirely responsible if someone you invite attempts to cheat their ratio. We have a zero-tolerance policy with cheaters. If you invite a cheater, you will lose your ability to invite again in future. • We're a community. Working together is what makes this place what it is. There are well over a thousand new torrents uploaded every day and sadly the staff aren't psychic. If you come across something which violates a rule, report it! Ignoring it is only damaging the community. • We respect the wishes of other sites here, as we wish for them to do the same. Please refrain from posting links or full names of sites that want not to be mentioned. Uploading Rules General uploading rules • Do not tag your releases. Your name goes next to the upload anyway, there's no need to plaster it all over the place! • No freely available material is allowed on this site, no exceptions. • Only music, apps, comedy (audio), audio-book, e-Learning videos and e-Books are allowed here. • Do not upload a torrent unless you intend to seed until there are at least 1.0 distributed copies. • Duplicate torrents in any category are not allowed. There are some exceptions to this rule which are outlined in the relevant section below. • Do not advertise other sites in either your torrent descriptions or the contents of your torrent. We don't have any advertising, you shouldn't either. Music-Specific Uploading Rules • Music releases must have an average bitrate of at least 192kbps, regardless of the format. There is one exception to this rule: • LAME V2/APS, V1 and V0/APX releases are allowed to dip below 192kbps. We strongly encourage the use of LAME 3.97 with the V0 switch for encoding. You can find out more information about LAME and its options at the Hydrogenaudio wiki. You can also find a thorough guide for good CD ripping on jiGGafellz' site. • Albums must not be ripped to a single track. If the tracks on the original CD were separate, you must rip them to separate files. If you need a tool to split up an MP3+CUE into individual tracks, you could try musiCutter. • All music torrents must include a complete track listing. • Music releases must be properly labelled and ideally also have corresponding tags (ID3/APEv2/Vorbis comment). • No transcodes or re-encodes of releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim it is. • Music releases must be a folder containing the music, not an archive (i.e. .rar, .zip, .tar). The only exception to this is if it is a single file where a torrent of a single file would be acceptable, though still not archived. • CD Image files like .bin, .iso and .nrg are not allowed in music torrents. • Radio, television, web rips and podcasts are not allowed. It does not matter whether it's FM, direct satellite, internet or even if it's a pre-broadcast tape (too difficult for us to moderate such things). Radio does not have enough bandwidth to meet our 192kbps rule. Plus, anything on the radio has already been through several conversions/reencodes. • Music uploaded here must not be freely available on the web (from official sources such as record label or band websites). If you could just download from the web, so can everyone else. Uploads can be from other torrent sites but you take responsibility for determining that the music is not transcoded. • Music releases should be properly labelled. This means you should not be sharing a folder which is just the album name. The minimum you should have for a folder is 'Artist - Title'. A little extra effort from you saves a lot of time for others. • File names must reflect the song titles. You may not have file names like track01.mp3, track02.mp3, etc. • Torrents should never be tagged as [REQ] or [REQUEST]. If you fill a request using Requests then everyone who voted for it will be automatically notified. • The Artist field in the torrent name should contain only the artist name. Any tags like [Advance] or sub-genres (if you must use them) should come at the end of the Title field. • CD sourced music must not contain pops or clicks (rip/encode errors). They will be deleted if reported. • Cassette and VHS sourced music is not suitable for this site, the frequency range is not good enough to meet the high quality we strive to maintain here. • All music torrents must be encoded with a single encoder using the same settings. This means you cannot create a torrent which contains both CBR and VBR files, nor can you upload torrents containing a mix of APS/V2 and APX/V0. • Duplicate torrents are not allowed. For example, if a torrent exists on the site at 256kbps, no further torrents at 256kbps or lower bitrate are allowed. Significantly higher bitrate rips or different file formats of the same content are allowed (applies to lossy codecs only). There is one exception to this rule: • A LAME --alt-preset-extreme (or the newer equivalent, -V0) rip is allowed on the site at any time, even if a higher CBR rip is already on the site. Only 1 APX/V0 rip, though. Lying about the quality or transcoding a release in order to meet this condition will result in severe consequences. Multi Album Torrents • Multi-album torrents are now not allowed on the site under any circumstances. That means no discographies, pitchfork compilations etc. Discographies make it a hassle for users to download individual albums, result in a lot of duplicate albums being uploaded and are generally very poor quality. • All music torrents must be one release, so if an album is 2CDs, it is fine to upload that as a single torrent. However, uploading 2 or more different albums in one torrent is strictly forbidden. Greatest hits and best of compilations with several CDs are ok. Boxsets may be uploaded as one torrent so long as they do not contain any discs that are available as another individual retail release. Lossless Torrents • A FLAC release which contains a .log of the rip process can be uploaded when there is already a FLAC without a .log, or the existing torrent has CRC mismatches. In the latter case, the existing torrent must be reported or your new one will be deleted as a duplicate. If a FLAC torrent already exists, no alternative lossless format may be uploaded. • Uncompressed WAV files are not allowed. Many lossless compression routines exist which are cross-platform and severely reduce the filesize. We recommend FLAC. Comedy (Audio) and Audio Book Specific Uploading Rules • Duplicate torrents are not allowed. For example, if a torrent exists on the site at 256kbps, no further torrents at 256kbps or lower bitrate are allowed. Significantly higher bitrate rips or different file formats of the same content are allowed (applies to lossy codecs only). There is one exception to this rule: • LAME --V8 (or --V8 --vbr-new [with or without -mm]) rip is allowed on the site at any time, even if a higher CBR rip is already on the site. Only 1 V8 rip, though. The --V8 may be sourced from a higher bitrate lossy encode. • Lossy-sourced audio is permitted in these, and only these categories. That means the source can be cassette, VHS (audio), radio, and even a higher bitrate. We strongly discourage from sharing transcoded material, but realise that for these categories, the audio-quality is less significant than for music. • This rule is not meant to allow the uploading of radio talk shows. We are primarily a music site, and those do not belong in any of our categories. • Music is not permitted in these two categories. They are for spoken word only. • Releases must be a torrent of a folder containing the audio files and have a bitrate (or rough average bitrate) at least 16kbps mono (ideally much higher). • Archive files (.rar, .zip, etc.) are not permitted in these, or any other audio category. App Specific Uploading Rules • Application 'packs' are not allowed. The only exception to this rule is if the applications are from the same company, i.e. Adobe CS and Macromedia Studio. That means no '0-day' packs, or 'video utilities' compilations. • App releases (whether Windows or Mac) must not be freely available tools. There are no exceptions to this rule. • Unix apps are not allowed here - don't upload any. • App releases can be either a torrent of a folder or an archive, but archives must not be password protected. • App releases must either have a small description of the program (either taken from its website, or from an nfo) or a link to information; ideally both. • The torrent name must not just be a non-informative filename. • Serial numbers should not be posted in torrent descriptions. They should be in a file (text or otherwise) contained within the torrent. • Torrents containing collections of cracks or keygens are not allowed. A crack or keygen for an application is only allowed in a torrent containing that application. • Torrents containing collections of hacking or cracking tools are not allowed. • Collections of pictures or wallpaper are not applications. They do not belong in this or any other category. Component Specific Uploading Rules • This category is only suitable for fonts, plugins and addons for applications, excluding music-app related addons, such as Reason refills, which should be put in the 'Music Apps' category. • They must not be freely available, and to aid in moderating, links must be provided in the description to the respective commercial product(s). • 'Packs' are permitted, but only for the same version of the application they are for. For example, if a plugin is for Adobe Photoshop CS 2 Windows version only, only plugins for this specific version may be grouped together. In the case of fonts, they must be of the same type (i.e. only TrueType together). • Components packs must not be archived, to aid in the download of individual files within packages. • The description must accurately depict the contents of the torrent. eBook (and eLearning Book) Specific Uploading Rules: • eBook releases can be either a torrent of a folder, an archive or original format (.chm, .pdf etc). Neither the eBook or archive can be password protected. • Collections of pictures, posters or wallpaper are not eBooks. Do not upload them on our site. eLearning Video Specific Uploading Rules • The eLearning Videos category is to be used only for tutorial videos. • This category is only suitable for tutorials on how to use features of applications, musical instruments or computer hardware. i.e. no kung-fu training, how to dance videos or lecture material which does not fit into one of the 3 topics already mentioned. • Uploads in this category must be either in a video file format (.avi, .mov etc) or a disk image (.iso, .bin/.cue etc), not archive files (.rar, .zip etc). • As with other categories, they must also not be freely available on the web and should include a proper description and/or a link to further information. Specifically Not Allowed • Games of any kind, whether PC, Mac or phone. No games. • Radio talk-shows • AllData programs and data (car parts) • Videos of any kind (other than eLearning Videos). No movies, no TV shows, no concerts. • Pornography or nudity of any kind. This includes pictures, comic books, etc. • Anything not specifically allowed above. If you have any doubts, ask before uploading. Forum Etiquette • Some general guidelines. • Don't use all capital letters, excessive !!! (exclamation marks) or ??? (question marks), it seems like you're shouting! • No lame referral schemes. This includes freeipods.com, freepsps.com, or any other similar scheme in which the poster gets personal gain from users clicking a link. • No asking for money for any reason whatsoever. We don't know or care about your friend who lost everything, or dying relative who wants to enjoy their last few moments alive by being given lots of money. • No posting music requests in forums, there's a request link on the top bar, please use that instead. • No flaming, be pleasant and polite. Don't use offensive language, and don't be confrontational for the sake of confrontation. • Don't point out or attack other members' share ratios. A higher ratio does not make you better than someone else. • Try not to ask stupid questions. A stupid question is one that you could have found the answer to yourself with a little research, or one that you're asking in the wrong place. If you do the basic research suggested (i.e., read the FAQ) or search the forums and don't find the answer to your question, then go ahead and ask. • Be sure you read all the stickys. • Use descriptive and specific subject lines. This helps others decide whether your particular words of wisdom relate to a topic they care about. • Try not to post comments that don't add anything to the discussion. When you're just cruising through a thread in a leisurely manner, it's not too annoying to read through a lot of "hear, hear"'s and "I agree"'s. But if you're actually trying to find information, it's a pain in the neck. So save those one-word responses for threads that have degenerated to the point where none but true aficionados are following them any more. • Or short: NO spamming • Refrain from quoting excessively. When quoting someone, use only the portion of the quote that is absolutely necessary. • No posting of requests for serials or cracks. No links to warez or crack sites in the forums. • Please refrain from starting political or religious discussions. These types of discussions lead to arguments and flaming users, something that will not be tolerated. This is a filesharing community in which we share music and apps. • Don't waste other people's bandwidth by posting images of a large file size. • Be patient with newcomers. Once you have become an expert, it is easy to forget that you started out as a newbie too.