These are the filtering rules the screening crew members use as a guide to determine what actions to take in instances where a module's acceptability is in question.

Modules that are far too repetitive are not to be accepted. (e.g. a single pattern repeated for minutes).

Modules shorter than 20 seconds are not to be accepted and should be rejected with: Too short to be worth adding.

Chiptunes shorter than 20 seconds are considered WIPs and not final releases for archival purposes.

Modules must be LISTENED to with ears before upload by a screener themselves. No blind uploads. Artists themselves aren't allowed to, neither are you.

Modules with insignificant differences, such as minor differences in pattern data are to be rejected. These are considered WIPs and not final releases. Please DO NOT UPLOAD these in the first place.

Sound effect modules (e.g. from games) are not to be accepted.

Broken modules (e.g. missing samples, most samples are garbage, etc.) are not to be accepted, unless there is a very good reason to keep them anyway (e.g. it is known that there is no better version available). Modules with corrupted instrument texts are often specially packed to reduce size and aren't actually corrupted. These are allowed.

Modules that are identifiable as plagiarism are not to be accepted. Those are considered rips.

Cover tunes are allowed if they are marked as such in title or in the instrument text areas.

Modules that can be identified as already existing on the archive are not to be accepted. These are considered DUPES. If you can do so, please provide the reject system with the matching module ID of the existing archived module.

Modules that comprise of only large end-to-end sequenced samples ("mega-samples") = reject.

No effort has been made, this was a particularly popular way of illegally distributing music tracks via PD libraries back in the heyday of Amiga. These were plagiarism and blatant copyright infringement.

Fair use for sampling is fair game. Remixes, covers, derivative works all fall partly under this category and are permitted.

Modules that appear to have been converted from another format are not to be added. This includes modules which have derived directly from MIDI or SPC files, which have not been tracked by hand.

Recognizing - These have a sound you will get a knack for. Zero velocity sense in piano pieces is a give away that the artist has not even attempted to cover up the MIDI file conversion, also one instrument per channel all the way through the module is another signature, no attempt to optimize and show off clever channel instrument doubling effects for echoes etc.

If you are not quite sure if a module meets the standards, leave it alone and tell someone.

If you have valid reason to give another crew member a heads up, do not reject it immediately but mark it yellow (2nd opinion requested). If a second screening crew member comes to a similar conclusion, the module should rejected. Maybe help that crew member with one of theirs as well in return.

If a file appears to be broken or off-tune in the player you're using for screening, try another software (if possible the original software the module was made with) before rejecting it. You can temporarily reject the module to give the artist a heads up something is wrong giving them an opportunity to correct it.

Plugin usage: Modules should be playable across different platforms. This means that modules using "DirectX Media Audio Effects" in IT/XM are okay, as those are supported by XMPlay / BASS and can be emulated on platforms other than Windows.

Modules using VST plugins may be okay to add if they don't rely too heavily on the plugins, i.e. they sound acceptable when being played through XMPlay (maybe some reverb, chorus or whatever is missing, but it doesn't ruin the tune). Obviously this means that instrument plugins are a no-go.

Modules with Nazi, racist or otherwise questionable or illegal content are to be rejected.

Modules with instrument texts or other content aimed at disrupting the operation of The Mod Archive, including its crew are to be rejected. Bullying is not tolerated here and yet here we are in 2024 with man-children.

Screeners are advised not add lazily made hardcore techno tunes, unless they have merit over the usual lazy newbie crap. Imagine this being served up to you on the site, is it good hardcore? No? Bin it. If you cannot distinguish good quality hardcore then please consult a Dutch member of the crew first.

These are the rules for the screening crew members themselves:

Be more critical about artist uploads.

Generally we want to keep the lowest-quality stuff out of the archive. If someone is an active artist and they upload for example a module with de-tuned samples, reject it and give them a chance to fix it.

If, on the other hand, the module is 30 years old, the artist is unlikely going to fix the tuning of the module.

We prefer screeners do not screen their own modules.

If you do your module will not be added or nominated for the spotlight.

The sound of a song is subjectively different between composer's point of view, and a listener's. So ping a crew mate and ask them if they can give it a look over rather than risk having the permission to filter precious mods revoked.

We prefer screeners not to give priority to specific friends or known artists over others.

Your friends should not have priority over other people because they know a screener. In some situations, screening your friends modules is unavoidable, so do it impartially.

Other Rules

• Screeners are responsible for their actions, and actions are logged.
  
  
• Careless or malicious screening may result in a sudden and permanent kick from from the screening crew.
  
  
• Screeners may confer via IM or IRC if there is doubt over whether a module is acceptable or not. Two yellow flags is enough to warrant a rejection.
  
  
• Efforts must be made to prevent two or more screeners from filtering modules from the same locations on the download lists simultaneously.
  
  Doing so may cause mayhem and confusion, and potentially loss of files.
  
  In these situations, one should pick the top section, the other the bottom section of the list working towards the middle.
  
  Any extra screeners should try going through the 2nd Opinion lists in a similar fashion, or picking at random from either lists.