View source for Official:Forum rules

Kodi.tv provides http://forum.kodi.tv (the forums) for development, support, and discussion relating to Kodi Media Center.

== Registration ==

By following the link to the forum, you will be able to create a new username. After registration you will receive a confirmation e-mail, which you must accept before being able to post on our forum. The username you want to register '''shall not''' contain "XBMC" / "Kodi" or any other trademarked, product or company names, unless you represent a non-profit organization or are an official Kodi sponsor. In these cases you must still add your own name to these trademarked, product or company names to differentiate yourself as individual representative.

== General forum rules ==
Violation of any of the following General Forum rules will result in a preliminary warning. If violations continue, the forum user will be banned for one week with a note explaining the reason for the ban. If violations continue, the user will suffer a permanent ban. Additionally, if necessary, a Forum Moderator or Administrator may delete or edit posts or signatures at will and without warning. These enforcement policies are slightly different than the Piracy rules, so you are encouraged to read both policies thoroughly before posting.


''Forums are not static entities. As need arises, these rules may be altered or added to. Exemptions to any of these rules may be granted by forum moderators.''


{{note|While called the "forum rules", they also applies to other official Kodi websites such as the Kodi wiki.}}
=== General conduct ===
# Be civil.
# Polite language is required.
# Respect the coding efforts of Kodi devs and other coders. Calling a program or add-on “worthless” will be automatically deemed as disrespect.
# Respect the efforts of the forum moderators and those answering questions or writing guides. They are working for free in a fairly thankless job.
# Make an effort to read any sticky threads in the forum you're posting in, along with FAQs and Online Manuals.
# Be patient. Kodi's user base is global and there are many more forum users asking questions than writing answers. Please wait at least 24 hours before bumping your own post unless you have new information to add.

=== No selling or promoting of services for money ===
# Do not try to sell services or hardware to individuals on our forums. <br />Exception: If you own a company and want to run a special discount or promotion for Kodi forum members in your shop, contact a member of Team Kodi for permission first.
# Do not use usernames to promote your business, product, or website.<br /> Exception: We make an exception when the username is in relation to a legal non-profit or the company you represent is an official XBMC Foundation sponsor. Allowed group names must include a personal identifier (e.g. KodiSponsor-Nate or Nonprofit-Nate).
# Do not post donation links directly to Paypal or any other donation collections website. <br /> Exception: If you are the author of an original work relating to Kodi, you may include one (1) direct donation link in your forum post concerning this work. The link must be written with this exact wording: "Donations for this [addon/skin/guide/etc] gratefully accepted." <br />You are allowed to post links to other websites, even if those websites have links to donation sites. For example; Wikipedia requests donations regularly, but you are still welcome to post links to Wikipedia. If you’ve written a guide or created an Kodi addon on your site that’s applicable to a discussion, and your site includes a donation option, you are still welcome to post a link to your website.

=== Posting ===
# One topic per thread for ease of management.
# All posts should be written in English to ensure uniformity and to make the post accessible to the maximum number of people.
# Choose a descriptive thread title. Descriptive thread titles are not only far more likely to be read, but will rank higher in searches and be more helpful to others with the same problem in the future. Use some of the terms you used in your search queries as a base for the thread title.
# Be as descriptive and detailed as possible. Assume nothing, there are no mind readers on the Kodi Community Forum.
# Post all the the information requested in forum stickies, everything you've tried so far, any suspicions you have. Show that you've made an effort on your own. And remember “the latest release” can mean many different things, so be descriptive in what version of Kodi you are using.
# When posting a problem you are encouraged to post a [[Log_file|debug log]] from when the problem occurred. When posting a log or other lengthy code in the forum, please use a paste site, as described in the '''[[Log_file|debug log]]''' wiki page. Do not post log snippets on the forum, if you want to point out a specific part refer to the line number.
# No cross-posting. Do not cross-post or double-post.
# Don't misrepresent the work of others as your own.

=== Signatures and Avatars===

# Don’t try to draw excessive attention to your signature through use of large characters, unusual fonts, colors or other effects.
# Signatures are to be limited to 4 lines of text or alternatively 1 image with a max-height of 40px (not both).
# Avatars and images deemed to be excessively distracting or otherwise counter to the easy reading of the forum will be removed.
# Avatars, images and links advertising addons or sources that violate Kodi's piracy policy will be removed.
# Signatures and avatars which promote political, religious or other affiliations not related to Kodi are not allowed and may be removed at the discretion of the moderator team.
# Links in signatures are to be limited to XBMC.org / Kodi.tv domains and legal sites related to Kodi (For example, a site dedicated to a dev’s Kodi addon). In case of doubt, please consult one of the forum moderator team.
# Forum moderators may, at any time and without warning, delete or alter signatures or avatars that violate these rules.

=== Piracy Policy ===
<section begin="piracy policy" />
# All discussions dealing directly with or linking to add-ons, websites, or services that violate US copyright laws ("pirated content") will be closed when a forum moderator has been made aware of them. The original poster or add-on creator may provide a link to a website not hosted by {{kodi}} for further discussion and inquiries.
# Discussions for add-ons that link directly to pirated content and enables the user to access that content through the add-on will be shut down.
# All links to pirated content will be removed. Requests on where to obtain pirated content will also removed.
# "Pirated content" add-ons, websites, and services typically do not include the following (to be determined on a case-by-case basis if necessary):
#: '''A.''' The add-on does not actually perform the act of accessing pirated content ("mistaken identity") [For example, Sickbeard, which performs no actual downloading or streaming.]
#: '''B.''' The add-on has the potential to access pirated content, but is potentially useful for downloading legal content as well. [For example, an add-on that downloads torrents is not, itself, a problem, since a torrent can cover a wide variety content, including legally distributed videos.]
#: '''C.''' The add-on links/accesses content in a similar way to a normal web browser. This is done under the assumption that if the content owner did not want the content streamed, the owner should have not made the content available to be streamed in their site. [For example, the Bluecop Repository.]
#: '''D.''' The add-on accesses content with permission of the content owner, the content is "[[w:copyleft|copyleft]]", or the add-on accesses content without the clear disapproval of the content owner. {{kodi}} will do its best to comply with DMCA-related takedown requests.
#: ''Thread originators or add-on developers may petition Forum Moderators to re-open a thread that was closed if he or she believes one of the above exceptions applies.''
# [[w:Fair use|Fair use]] exceptions apply for issues such as small video samples for testing and debugging, fanart and related artwork, video and audio summaries, subtitles, etc.
# These rules apply only to the XBMC.org/Kodi.tv websites. At no point will any user be prevented from using {{kodi}} as they so choose, nor will they be prevented from adding additional add-ons from any source they choose to use.
<section end="piracy policy" />

{{bigger|''Examples include those seen on this list: '''[[Official:Forum rules/Banned add-ons|banned add-ons]]'''.''}}

=== VPN Policy ===
;[[Official:VPN_policy|VPN Policy]]
{{#lst:Official:VPN_policy|VPN_policy}}

== ADVICE: How do I ask a question in a smart way? ==
{{#lst:Troubleshooting|how to ask a question}}

== Disclaimer ==

Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin-board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violate any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum or is being used in a fair-use context for development.

== See also ==
* [[FAQs]]
* [[HOW-TO:Submit a bug report]]
* [[Troubleshooting]]
* [[Log file]]
* https://docs.mybb.com/1.6/MyCode/