What.CD - Rules, rules, nothing but rules.

[Guest Evilblade]

Revisions to the Uploading Rules

There are almost 1.4 million torrents at our users' fingertips. By continuously moderating torrents on the site, the staff strive to make our members' experiences more rewarding with the limited amounts of time that every user has. To make sure that you not only find exactly the music that you're searching for, but also find it in a very high-quality form (both in terms of audio quality and information content), we are announcing the first wholesale uploading rules revision in more than three years. The new rules have been incorporated into the existing Upload rules page. Since that last update, we've added new rules here and there in a piecemeal fashion as we tinkered with ways to ensure that our users got high-quality music that was fully tagged and informative. We may never evolve a suitable set of rules that makes everyone happy but we'll keep trying to make improvements as the years go by and our site continues to grow.

Every section of the uploading rules has been updated and revised. Site Wiki articles are referenced wherever we need to supply more information about a particular topic in the rules but just can't find the space to place it on the actual rules page. To improve the lines of communication between users and staff members, we have also updated the System-generated messages that users receive for reported torrents. These PMs that are sent out to users through our torrent reporting system will now all reference specific uploading rules, making the reasons for torrent removal more transparent. The rules are still not perfect but hopefully they will make staff responses to problematic torrents both more predictable and more comprehensible for our uploaders. This will result in fewer problematic uploads and, when bad torrents are inevitably found, allow staff members to deal with those reported torrents more efficiently.

Ogg Vorbis is no longer an allowed format.

AAC will be restricted to iTunes WEB torrents.

Lossy-mastered torrents are more clearly defined.

WEB-sourced audio files must be uploaded exactly as you received them from the online music retailer, in terms of bit depth, sampling rate, and track order.

Hybrid WEB torrents will be allowed under strict rules (i.e., retail downloads with non-uniform formats).

HDCD rips are no longer allowed.

FLAC log trumping has been clarified with respect to ripping software and log scoring.

A recommended FLAC compression standard of Level 8 is now in effect.

Information on how to determine album editions has been added.

Lossy formats derived from FLAC files must have the same sampling rate as those FLAC files.

All music torrents must have a torrent folder (this includes torrents with only a single file).

Bonus material torrents may be trumped by complete album torrents.

The maximum character length for audio files is 180 characters for new torrents.

Torrents with unnecessary nested folders are open for trumping.

Compilation albums must have file names that start with the track number.

Game discs that have a verifiable Redbook-compliant audio layer are allowed.

Tag trumping will be allowed in several new scenarios.

Torrent inactivity rules have been codified.

Commercial template and clip art packs will be allowed as applications.

We will no longer allow advertising in torrent file names or tags.

Embedded artwork is now limited to 512 kb.

Downsampling of digital material is selectively allowed.

Torrents without the Scene label cannot have references to the scene release group.

Soundboard recordings with a master tape in the lineage are allowed.

How to determine the difference between music and spoken word audio is described.

Non-music audio files must have a minimum average bitrate of 32 kbps.

Non-music audio files now have optimal formats for lossy encodes (V0 (VBR), V2 (VBR), and V8 (VBR)).

Application torrents without release descriptions will be deleted when reported.

Complete comic volumes or series packs can now trump smaller collections of the same comic series.

ebooks cannot be uploaded in archives.

ebooks are now under new scan quality standards.

ebook packs are prohibited.

ebook torrents are now trumpable, with retail versions of the ebook being preferred over scanned versions.

eLearning videos must be related to music or music-associated software.

Commercial album covers have always been exempt from our rules regarding nudity, so that has been made explicit in the rules.

You will undoubtedly have questions for us. Please use the linked thread to point out and discuss any lingering issues with the new rules. In that thread, you'll also find our explanations for some of the larger changes to how we moderate uploaded content on the site.