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Rules and enforcement

Scene rules are category-specific technical and organizational standards for preparing, naming, packaging and judging releases. They are not laws and they do not come from one central Scene authority. They are a form of distributed self-governance created by groups active in a particular category.

A WEB video ruleset, a GAMEiSO ruleset and a WEB-FLAC ruleset solve different problems. No single document governs every release type.

What a ruleset controls

Area Typical requirements
Scope Which sources, formats, codecs, platforms or release types the document covers.
Directory name Required title, year, language, source, format, status and group-tag order.
Payload Allowed media, disc images, audio tracks, documents or software files.
Technical quality Codec, resolution, bitrate, bit depth, sample rate, cropping, audio and subtitle rules.
Packaging RAR version, volume naming, compression, SFV coverage and permitted file layout.
Documentation Mandatory NFO information and any category-specific links or technical data.
Supporting material Sample, proof, cover art, playlist or other required files and directories.
Dupes and races When an existing release blocks a new one and how chronological priority is established.
Replacements and fixes Conditions for PROPER, REPACK, RERIP, DIRFIX, NFOFIX and other corrections.
Enforcement Violations that can lead to a nuke, an unnuke or a valid replacement.

Rules make independent groups and sites interoperable: a correctly named and packaged release can be recognized, checked and distributed without every site inventing a different format.

How rulesets are created

Rulesets are normally drafted by participants in one release category and signed by established groups willing to support the result. The process is decentralized:

  1. groups identify technical or organizational problems;
  2. a draft defines common terminology and release requirements;
  3. participating groups revise and sign the document;
  4. the ruleset receives an effective date;
  5. sites and validation services use it when judging later releases.

There is no permanent global rules council controlling every category. Different documents can have different authors, signatories, structure and enforcement language.

What a group signature means

A signature records that a group participated in or endorsed that ruleset. It does not mean:

  • the group owns the category;
  • every active group signed the document;
  • the signatories form a government over the entire Scene;
  • every site will interpret every edge case identically.

Unsigned groups can still be expected to follow an accepted category standard. Conversely, a document that resembles a ruleset is not necessarily authoritative merely because group names appear inside it.

Effective dates, revisions and addenda

Rulesets commonly distinguish between publication and mandatory compliance.

Term Meaning
Pre date The date the rules document itself was released.
Optional period A transition window in which groups may adopt the new standard early.
Mandatory date The point after which covered releases are expected to follow the new rules.
Revision A new version that can replace some or all previous category rules.
Addendum A narrower document that changes or clarifies specified parts of an existing revision.
Superseded ruleset An older standard replaced for future releases by a newer accepted document.

An addendum must be read together with its parent ruleset. For example, the HDX Dolby Vision/HDR10+ addendum changes a defined subsection of revision 5.0 rather than replacing the entire document.

Retroactivity and grandfathering

New rules are usually prospective. A release validly pred under the rules in force at that time does not automatically become invalid because a later revision changed the standard.

Current documents express this in different ways:

  • WEB-FLAC treats releases pred before the ruleset as legitimate, subject to limited exceptions;
  • WEB/WEBRip states that the ruleset is not retroactive;
  • addenda can forbid re-releasing older content solely to apply a newly introduced feature;
  • codec or tool updates can include a grace period before older revisions become invalid for new releases.

Always compare a release date with the effective ruleset and any relevant addendum.

MUST, SHOULD and MAY

Modern rulesets often use normative keywords.

Keyword Interpretation
MUST / MUST NOT Mandatory requirement or prohibition.
SHOULD / SHOULD NOT Strong recommendation; exceptions can exist when justified.
MAY / CAN Optional action or permitted choice.

The wording matters. A recommendation should not be treated as an automatic nuke reason unless the ruleset explicitly gives it that effect.

Dupes, races and chronological priority

A dupe is not simply two releases with similar names. Each category defines which differences are meaningful.

Rules can distinguish releases by:

  • source or source quality;
  • language and subtitle configuration;
  • resolution, codec or dynamic range;
  • edition or cut;
  • platform, game version, DLC or update status;
  • audio format, bit depth or mastering;
  • retail, hybrid, scan or WEB origin.

Pre timestamps can decide which equivalent release won a race. Current GAMEiSO rules also account for ambiguous timing when presites or prebots disagree, demonstrating that metadata is evidence rather than a flawless central ledger.

Nukes and remedies

A nuke is a status applied under a ruleset or local site policy. The appropriate remedy depends on the category and fault.

Remedy General purpose
PROPER Another group replaces a release with a qualifying technical flaw.
REPACK The original group issues a corrected package.
RERIP The original content is ripped again to correct the release.
DIRFIX / NFOFIX Corrects a directory name or NFO when the category permits a separate fix.
SAMPLEFIX / PROOFFIX Corrects sample or proof material where allowed.
Unnuke Reverses a nuke that was incorrect or is no longer applicable.

A rules violation does not automatically authorize every type of replacement. Some faults can be fixed separately, some require a complete repack, and some do not justify a proper at all.

See Tags and terminology for the broader status vocabulary and Topsites and the scene system for how status information is propagated.

How to read a ruleset

Use this order when interpreting a document:

  1. confirm that the ruleset covers the release category and source;
  2. identify its revision, effective date and superseded documents;
  3. check whether an addendum modifies the relevant section;
  4. distinguish mandatory language from recommendations;
  5. read category-specific dupe and remedy rules;
  6. verify whether the rule is retroactive;
  7. check the revision history and signatures for context.

Do not transfer a rule from one category into another unless the applicable document explicitly incorporates it.

Current English rules

The local library mirrors every downloadable NFO (d) entry listed under Current English Rules on scenerules.org. The documents are grouped into:

  • Software & publishing
  • Audio
  • Games & consoles
  • Video
  • Adult

Some entries are alternate representations of the same standard:

  • formatted and unformatted NFOs can contain the same rules;
  • an addendum modifies a parent revision;
  • a rebuttal records disagreement and should not automatically be treated as a replacement ruleset.

What Current means

“Current” means that scenerules.org listed the document in its Current English Rules collection when this archive was synchronized. It does not prove that every private site applies every edge case identically, that no later private convention exists, or that the publication year is recent.

Every archived document is served locally and can be viewed through the built-in NFO viewer or downloaded in its original form.

Browse the current rules library.

Sources & references