The following general guidelines should be kept in mind when posting to Metacritic Forums. We take these guidelines seriously, and will not hesitate to remove access privileges in response to repeated violations.

1. Please BE COURTEOUS to other users. It is OK to argue against someone's position; it is NOT OK to insult or attack another person.

2. Do not repeat things that have already been said. This means you are responsible for READING PREVIOUS POSTS before making a post yourself. Obviously, if there are hundreds of posts on a topic, you won't be required to read every one, but you should read a significant portion of them. Users who constantly repeat things that have already been said do not add anything of value to the discussions in our Forums.

3. Do not start a new thread if there already is one on your subject. Yes, this means you must scan the existing threads first to ensure that you are not duplicating one.

4. Do not start a new thread unless you have something significant, interesting, and/or relevant to say.

5. Make sure you are posting in the most specific forum possible. For example, if you want to discuss Grand Theft Auto Vice City, you would post in the "Grand Theft Auto series" forum (and not in "Playstation 2 Games" or "General Games Discussion").

6. Do not post the same message in multiple threads or forums. Pick the one best forum and thread for your message.

7. Use complete sentences, correct grammar, and correct spelling in all of your posts.

8. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS in your posts. This is a very good way to get yourself banned from the Forums.

9. In the Movie forums, any spoilers must be in black text, with a warning before the spoiler (e.g., "Spoiler Alert:"). (To read these spoilers after they are posted, highlight the black text with your mouse.) If you do not hide your spoilers in black text, there will be a lot of angry people on your case, and you certainly don't want that.

10. Do not post just to sell a product, promote a website, etc. Posts are for legitimate discussion of relevant topics only.

11. Do not include somebody else's copyrighted material in your posts. For example, if you are discussing a particular review and want others to be able to read the full review, you may LINK to the review, but you may not cut and paste the full text of the review into your post. (Short quotes are acceptable, however, if you cite the source.)

Registered members of the Forums may read and post messages, and create and vote in new polls. (Registration is free.) Non-registered members may only read messages; they may not post new ones. (So go ahead and register if you haven't already!)

Metacritic editors and specially designated moderators do read through many of the posts and will be enforcing the guidelines listed above. In addition, if you encounter a post that violates these guidelines, please report the violation to us (look for this symbol at the lower right of the post: ). Doing so will ensure that everyone else enjoys a better experience in the Forums. If you receive a warning from Metacritic about a violation, please take it seriously and follow the guidelines in the future. If you repeatedly fail to follow the guidelines, you can be banned from the Forums.

All registered Forums users receive "Karma Points" for various tasks, such as posting a message to the Forums. As your total of Karma Points increases, you will notice that your title (which appears under your name when you post a message) will change. Metacritic editors and moderators may also award bonus points at their discretion. (Similarly, they may deduct points for failure to adhere to the guidelines above.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Metacritic Music Editor,

Metacritic does not want members to post links to file-sharing sites. If you are unsure of another site’s legitimacy, then please do not link to it. In the Forum Guidelines, we allow links to “copyrighted” material, but this was in reference to reviews or news articles. This was never foreseen to encourage anyone to link to songs or films which are available on the Internet from dubious sources. Metacritic encourages all of its members and visitors to enjoy all media and share it with whom they may in private. We also encourage a “Heads Up” about artists who have music available on their own MySpace or label pages. However, our main purpose here at Metacritic is to enable you to read and compare others’ opinions, and hopefully we will enable you to find the art which you want. It has worked now for four years.

We do not find ourselves presumptuous enough to tell you what to do with your lives and time, at least away from the Metacritic Forums. We would also expect the same courtesy from our beloved members, and we are very appreciative that most of our members support our stance and understand that when things occasionally seem unfair that it is all done for the sake of keeping the forums available to all. We also understand if you are pursuing music at a much-faster rate than this site can provide. But you all found yourselves here and have been sharing for some time now, so we hope that we don’t drive away any members. The integrity of this site depends on the integrity of our members and how much they agree with us in our goal of providing criticism for all.

If any legal rulings ever come down which suggest that Metacritic’s policies are no longer appropriate, we will be the first to address them. We will also issue changes to the Forum Policies if it is deemed necessary by the members. The way it stands now, there are many things which are currently being allowed in the Forums which are not addressed in the Guidelines. If we begin to add more Guidelines, the members will find themselves much more restricted than they have ever been before. We are hoping that cooperation from our membership will enable us to keep as many options open to everyone as possible. We hope that all of our longstanding members agree with us and try to cooperate with the original Guidelines, this statement, and our Moderating Team. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.