1) Promoting your stuff on the Hideout: The GaragePunk Hideout is a great site for promoting your band, 'zine, radio show, podcast, blog, record label, festival, new release, show/gig/tour or other project. We just ask that you please don't do this in the main network Forums. For self-promotion or any requests for calls for action or money for any reason, please use the other areas of the site, such as your Hideout blog, an actual blog that's built right into your profile. It's your blog, so use it however you want (within reason, of course). All the latest blog posts appear in the Blogs section of the site, so people will see them. In addition to that, we also have the Classifieds section for classified ads, which is the absolute BEST place to list stuff you're selling (or looking to buy!) or even giving away for free. The Forums are intended for discussion topics, not promotional posts (see guideline #4 below for more details on that).
2) Banner ads: If you're not aware, we sell banner ads that appear in the "Hideout Ads" section of the sidebar on the right. If you really want your record, label, store, festival, business, etc. to get some attention, have a better chance at selling some stuff, and help support the site at the same time, you should consider buying one. They're really cheap (seriously!), and your money goes to helping pay our hosting bills. Get in touch with site owner/admin Damos for details.
3) Regional Forums: If you're looking for tips & recommendations in a certain city or country, or you'd like to promote a live show/concert, festival, or tour that is happening in a specific city (or, in the case of a tour, across many different cities), then it's best to use the appropriate regional forum(s) (such as Continental U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, etc.) and also the Events section (see below for more info on that). For example, bands or labels advertising a new record release should post about it on their blog and the Classifieds. Posting about an upcoming gig or tour? Use the Events section and/or your regional forum. Want people to check out your music on Bandcamp, Soundcloud or your Hideout page? Please just use your blog for that. Have videos or pics you want to share? Post them in the Videos or Photos sections.
4) Forum Posts: Please post your discussion topics in the most relevant forum that relates most directly to the subject matter. For example, a post about a specific band or record should go in the Shakin' Street forum for music discussions. Starting a political discussion would be best served in The Lounge, and so on. And posts that are targeted at one specific city or area (and not for everyone on the network) should go in the appropriate regional forum as mentioned in #3 above. Also, please don't post thread games in the Forum. These are topics that aren't intended to inspire actual discussion, but are just done so that someone else posts an immediate, mindless, one-line response or YouTube video, so instead of having an actual discussion thread going, what happens is you get an endless series of video embeds. Topics like this that have been deleted in the past include "What's Spinning Right Now," "Chain Reaction," and "Guess the LP Cover" (among others). These types of topics will are discouraged in favor of offering up threads that actually spur some conversation.
5) Posting Events: Be sure to include a description of the event with as many details as possible! Include links to band sites, add graphics (a flyer or photo), etc. The more information you provide in your event posting, the more appealing it will be to people, and hence, the better your turnout will be (or at least that's the theory). Make sense? By the way, as mentioned above, a record release is NOT an event. A record release party or show is. There is a difference! An online record sale for your label or distro is also NOT an event. If you create an event about a record release, sale, or something else that isn't actually an event, it will be deleted, and we may even consider it spam and send you a warning which could lead to suspending your membership (see #1 above).
6) Posting Videos: Try to keep them relevant to the site. While you might be an aspiring filmmaker and want to show off something you made recently, please try to determine first if the subject matter fits in with the subject matter of the Hideout. Posting it on a more general video-sharing site like YouTube, Vimeo or Blip.tv might be more appropriate. Also, videos that are nothing more than a song put to a static, unchanging image should NOT be posted in the Videos section. You can upload MP3s of your favorite songs and add them to a playlist on your Music page. Use that if you just want to upload songs, but please don't post static image videos in our Videos section. Those are annoying. And a waste of bandwidth.
7) Policy on pornography, adult content, or nudity This should be a no-brainer, but just in case you think you can post whatever the hell you want here in regards to nudity and adult content, well...
We believe in freedom of expression. With that said, we do not permit pornography to be posted by any members on this website, including photos and videos that contain sexually graphic images or scenes that would be too racey for an R-rated movie. Since we are no longer part of Ning, we will permit photos and videos with nudity used for artistic purposes ONLY.
Members found violating GaragePunk.com's policy on adult content will have the offensive content removed and will receive a note explaining why it was removed (consider this a warning). Repeated violations may result in suspension or deletion of the violator's account. We're not being prudish in doing this; we're simply protecting our network against folks who may not like what they see and want to use it as an excuse to get our network or hosting account suspended. This is pretty much the case ANYWHERE on the Internet, especially large forums and social-networking sites. You may think it's unfair, but hey, that's life. If you really want to post sexually explicit, adult-oriented "NSFW" stuff, please do it on your own website, not ours.
8) Network Moderation We pretty much treat problems or issues on a case-by-case basis. With a few rare exceptions, everyone here gets along really well and very seldom are there any bad arguments, name-calling or flame wars. And we'd like to keep it that way. So please, don't be an asshole. While we're not very religious around here, we do recommend following The Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. (And, conversely, Do not treat others in ways you would not like to be treated.) If you don't like jerks, spammers and trolls, then don't be one yourself. If someone posted something that got under your skin, do whatever you need to do to cool off before you fire off that scathing rebuttal. Walk away from the computer for a few minutes, get a drink, count to ten, run around the block, whatever. We encourage healthy, lively debate and passionate discussion, and it takes many different types of people with varying opinions/viewpoints for this to happen. Just remember to have respect and tolerance for one other. Your membership here and use of this website is a privilege, not a right, and the admins here reserve the right to revoke or suspend your membership for any reason. We also have a list of detailed Terms of Service, which you agreed to when you signed up. They're pretty typical of any online social network, but are obviously necessary to have linked here. If you did not read them when you joined (c'mon, be honest), be sure to read over them now. Thanks!
9) New here? Please read this introductory page next for some tips on getting started. Thanks.
10) ENJOY THE SITE! This network was created for people to communicate and interact with others around the world with similar musical/cultural interests. Please have FUN with it. If it gets to the point where it's taking up too much of your time, causing you personal stress, anxiety, or otherwise making your life a living hell, please, take a break (and see a shrink)!
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Last Updated: April 4, 2018