The top part of this is not negotiable and the second part is only suggestions to follow.

Recently we have had a return to the "Bad Old Days" of people using the torrent comments and rating system to attack uploaders because they feel:

1) The upload was not satisfactory because it did not agree with their standards of what a good upload and quality should be.

2) They do not agree with the content of the upload. This could be because it contains material of a religious or political nature they disagree with or for other reason.

3) They feel there are too many copies of the book being uploaded in too many formats. This was especially bad if they had uploaded a copy and felt they have been overshadowed just for the points. An example is if an uploader uploads a two part 32K audible book and later someone uploads a 96K CD rip from their library.

It should be pointed out that while we do listen to users' opinions and take them into consideration; the rules are set by the staff after much discussion and change over time. But the changes are made for what we feel are the best interest of the site. The convenience or personal benefit of any one user is not normally part of that consideration.

This includes such things as do away with this because I have always done it another way and this is inconvenient for me.

1)

Uploaders are the only source of torrents here and users attacking them will not be tolerated.

The staff have set certain rules in place concerning duplicate uploads. As long as the uploaders comply with those basic rules it is not up to an individual user to second guess the staff and try to moderate or chastise the uploaders. This discourages uploader participation and will NOT be tolerated.

The general rule of not being rude and disrespectful to others also is a major issue. You are free to disagree but you are not free to attack others just because they don't agree with you.

In the near future we will be putting items such as the bit rate, narrator(s), author(s) on the upload form so that it will be shown for audio books. Telling uploaders that they should tell you this is not required and is not productive

2)

The upload content is uploaded because there are many interest and opinions. Whether you agree with the content or not is of no importance. Others might. If you do not "DON'T DOWNLOAD IT." DO NOT criticize the uploader because you do not agree. If you do you will be warned, if you continue your rights to post comments will be removed, and if you continue to be disruptive you will be banned and disabled.

It is still ok to mention problems with the torrent in the comments, such as: audio is crackly, audio skips, book is not/poorly formatted, or any other pertinent details that might be of interest to downloaders. Just remember to keep your post informative, not critical of the uploader.

If you believe the torrent is in violation of a MaM rule, please use the "Contact Staff" link in the torrent description to report it. Not comments.

3)

Staff will decide if there are too many copies and if they are dupes and if the quality is correct. If you feel for some reason that we should look at a torrent then use the option on the torrent detail page to give staff feedback. Do not make a comment that is rude about the torrent not being required - let staff evaluate the torrent and decide. And if the only reason you feel this way is because you uploaded a copy and feel you have exclusive rights; Too Bad.

Whether you agree with the singles vs. collections does not matter. Let staff handle this.

The items below are simply guidelines. They just happen to be the findings of many years experience in uploading and formatting audiobooks.

Below are some general guidelines to consider concerning upload Quality:

a) Rips of audio book CDs are acceptable in anything from 48K to 96K. The decision is up to the uploader and for almost any audio book is acceptable quality. (Some female narrators have very high pitched voices and the higher bit rates do help)

b) Graphic Audio books are acceptable in anything from 64K to 192K because of the sound effects and because those who love these full cast productions like their 192K

c) Audible downloads come in two common flavors today - .aa at 32K and .aax at 64K.

for .aa conversions use either 32K or max 64K for uploading.

for .aax conversions use either 64K or max 96K for uploading. (128K or 320K should be converted to 64K)

You can't increase the quality of a file by converting it to a higher bit rate! This is because the compression used is "lossy" and the data was discarded and does not exist to be put back.

d) Chapters are nice but not required. If someone wants to take the time to do it that is great. Simply breaking large files into smaller parts that are not real chapters is fine as long as it does not compete with other uploads at the same bit rate and same overall size. In other words they must be real chapters, not just parts if other uploads already exist.

e) Stereo vs Mono: Most audio rippers produce Joint Stereo which is simply the same information in two channels. This means the left and right channel have the same information at only half the power of the envelope. Mono produces the same information but uses one stream with full power. The benefit of mono is that the player will give the full volume in both ears rather than half volume in each. (Good for those who have hearing issues.) Both are acceptable for upload but mono is preferable except in the case of things like GA where they do produce real stereo.

f) Naming or identifying the input source is nice but not required

g) Identifying the narrator is always a good thing and will be a required input field in the near future.

h) Identify the bit rate if you know it.

i) Take the effort to put in a format like Author - Album or Album - Author on the torrent name and/or the small description as well as the large description. This will soon be required input and will help in the retrofitting of existing torrents in the future.

j) ID3 tags in the MP3 files are a very big help also but not an absolute requirement. These tags help MP3 players know what file to play in what order and display the Author and File.