1. Rules

This is a list of rules which are to be followed by all members. Failure to do so may result in your account being temporarily or permanently deleted and your IP address being blocked.

• Any form of personal abuse or threatening behaviour aimed at other members of the board will not be tolerated, nor will harassment
• Posting under multiple usernames is prohibited
• Any attempts made to hack into the site will not be tolerated
• Hotlinking will not be tolerated in any form on this site
• Leeching is not tolerated on this site
• Files which have been specified as not permissible cannot be shared on the forums
• Unnecessary spamming of the forums is not permitted
• Posting of personal details such as email and home addresses is not allowed on the forums

2. How do I get into the download's section?

When you sign up you are a regular member. To gain access to the download's section, you must acquire 100 or more rep points which will qualify you as a Full Member (see number 7). These rep points will be awarded to you by other members for active participation in the discussion area.

3. What are Reputation Points (Rep Points)?

Reputation points are a system of awarding members who contribute to the boards by sharing files and by participating in discussions and providing advice and help to people who are having problems in the Technical Section of the forum. Both positive and negative Reputation Points can be given. Positive points increase a member's reputation and conversely negative points decrease a member's reputation. Positive rep points should be awarded to a member who does something good, like filling a request, or uploading a file for you, or helping solve a problem or just generally contributing to the well-being of the forum. Negative points should be awarded for doing things that are contrary to the well-being of the forum and its member's. These may include rude or abusive messages to other members, hotlinking, posting offensive materials, spamming the forums. These lists are not exhaustive. If you feel a member deserves rep points one way or another then you are responsible for awarding them, but please make sure you are sure you want to do so.

4. How do I award Reputation Points?

On the right-hand side of the red bar at the top of every member's posts you will see several icons. The first is the post number, indicated by a hash then a number (e.g. #12). Next to that is what looks like a set of scales – this is the button for awarding rep points. Clicking this will open a new page where you select to award positive or negative rep points and you can also leave a reason why you're awarding them. The default setting is positive.

5. What do Reputation Points allow me to do?

Initially you can only access the General Discussion area of the forum (see number 2). By gaining 100 rep points you will be able to access the Music Download section of the forum. By further gaining rep points you will become eligible for possible “promotion” to becoming a VIP member of the board. VIP members are granted certain privileges such as access to another area of the forum which is hidden to normal members.

6. What files can and can't be shared on the boards?

This isn't an easy question to answer since it depends on a lot of things. A good rule of thumb is that any copyrighted material that can be easily obtained on either CD or DVD cannot be shared on the forum. So any album (such as Achtung Baby) or any released DVD (such as Slane Castle ) can't be shared here. Here is a list of things that cannot be shared here. Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

• U2 albums, in full, or in part (this includes Passengers)
• Any track which does not feature a member of U2 either performing on it or has them as a composer
• Any charity tracks which are still available to buy
• Cover versions of U2 songs by other artists
• Video rips from commercially available DVDs
• The entire Complete U2 collection from iTunes cannot be shared so do not ask for it

Any Fruitleg, Ultimate 7 & 12” Collection or Solo Projects compilation cannot be shared here (essentially unofficial albums that contain official material – unofficial bootlegs do not count)

At any point a moderator or administrator may decide that a certain track or file cannot be shared on the forum. This will always be for a good reason and has usually been discussed between the moderators beforehand. Any user posting banned materials will have their links removed and a PM sent to them by a member of staff (this will not necessarily be an "official warning").

The following is a list of files which can be shared on the forum. Again this is not exhaustive.

• Bootlegs, either audio or video, are free to share here
• Copyrighted materials which are out of print (OOP) such as b-sides from singles and, generally, remixes
• Videos which are not available to buy on DVD, such as a digital conversion of Under A Blood Red Sky from VHS

If you are ever unsure if a file is ok to share, contact a moderator before uploading and posting the file.

7. What are the different Member Groups?

You will see that there are a number of different member groups. These can most easily be seen at the bottom of the main forum page where the forum statistics are. Here is an outline of them:

• Administrator – the people who maintain and keep the board functioning
• Super Moderator – same duties as mods with increased responsibilities.
• Moderator – the team who handle the day-to-day running of the forum and deal with enforcing the rules and helping members with problems
• VIP – members who have certain extra privileges above Full Members (see number 5)
• Full Member – a member who has access to the downloads section (see number 2)
• Member – a regular member who only has access to the discussion area

Please do not ask to have your member status upgraded. If/when we need more help we will contact you.

8. Who should I contact if I need help with anything?

Your first port of call should always be one of the moderators who will always be willing to try and help you. You should specifically contact a moderator if you have questions regarding what is ok to upload or if you have any worries regarding other members or any problems you may be encountering. If you are having any technical difficulties with the site then you should try to contact one of the administrators who will help you solve your problem.

9. What are the different sections on the board about?

Here is a brief overview of what the different sections on the board are about:

• Achtung! – all important information regarding the site is posted here. All users should check this regularly, especially if it is showing new posts have been made
• Hello Hello! Hola! – a section to introduce yourself to the other members on the forum (a really good way to start!)
• Coexist – for U2 related discussions only
• Dream Out Loud – for all other (non-U2) discussions
• How To Fix A Broken Lemon (a Lesson in Dismantling Technology) – for getting technical help and information, both regarding the site and also general technical help
• Picture In Grey, Dorian Gray – a place for fan-made pictures, artwork and the like
• Corbijn's Studio – photos from U2 concerts (or other U2 related photos including but not limited to photos of Ireland , fan gatherings, cities/states/countries you have visited whilst following the tour)
• Requests – All requests for any media files should be posted here, nowhere else on the forum
• The Real Thing – All authentic (copyrighted) audio material should be posted here
• Even Better Than The Real Thing – All unauthentic (non-copyrighted) audio material should be posted here
• Bootlegs – All audio bootlegs should be posted in this sub-forum under the correct period/era
• Originals Of The Species – This section is only for lossless files (flac, shorten, wave etc.)
• The Finest In Hardware – This is the traders section. Trade lists should be posted in here. Note – leave all personal information for PMs and emails
• Watch More Television – All video media should be posted in this forum only

10. What information do I need to post with an upload?

You should always post as much information as you can with an upload of any format. For mp3s post the audio bit rate and where the file has come from (if you know). For bootleg concerts upload the concert information, i.e. the date of the concert and whether it is an audience recording or soundboard recording. Try to include a track list too. For videos, post the type of video file (mpeg, avi, wmv etc. – Real Audio (ram) is not allowed) For all files post a file size. These are not so much stringent rules but “rules of etiquette” which are appreciated by most members if followed.

11. What is hotlinking and why is it bad?

Hotlinking is when a person takes the link for a file someone else has uploaded on one website and posts it on another website. This is bad for several reasons. Mostly it's just rude because you are often taking credit for someone else's work; remember it takes a lot of time to upload files, particularly larger files. Also, some upload sites have download/bandwidth limits so posting someone else's link on another site will eat into their bandwidth and can make the file expire much more quickly. Please note that hotlinking will not be tolerated at all on this site.

12. Why do users get banned?

As a last resort, we will ban users from the forum. This is due to repeated abuse of the rules and guidelines outlined above. We generally operate a “one warning” policy whereby members are given a warning to cease their behaviour or they will be banned. We have done this in the past and will do again in the future if we have to, but we would rather not so please abide by our rules. Please note that there is a difference between a friendly PM from the admins or mods giving advice and an official warning. It will be made quite clear if you are receiving an official warning.

Note:

At any point, additions or alterations may be made to these rules and guidelines. If this should happen, an announcement will be made in the Announcements section of the forum notifying users that this is the case. This section should be checked regularly, especially when it shows new posts have been made as all important information is posted here.