No Bootlegs allowed! How many times do we have to say that?!
 

I've had to admonish TWO newbies about uploading bootleg screencaps from pirated copies of films that have not been released yet. Though we don't have an F.A.Q. that explicitly states our policy, I've always figured that the fact that it is already illegal would give some people the clue.
[Edit: Thankfully, both new members were gracious and removed their bootlegs poste haste]

Not only do Bootlegs screencaps SUCK in the quality department, they will garner the legal wrath of some studio lawyer somewhere and I don't want IMFDB shut down due to the actions of some miscellaneous member somewhere in the world.

So please reminder everyone you see on the site when they do a new upload:

PLEASE, BOOTLEGS are FORBIDDEN!

Members caught uploading bootlegs are given a warning, and their illegal images will be deleted. Fair enough.

But if any of the same members are caught again uploading bootleg images, then their accounts will be temporarily banned. They do it again after coming back, their accounts will be permanently banned. Some people should be given a second chance, but that's it. If they don't learn enough not to do something illegal, I'm not risking IMFDB over their lack of comprehension.

The lack of an F.A.Q. does seem to be a huge problem for us. I also had to talk to a guy last night who started a new "Family Guy" page even though we (not me, but the other admins) decided not to do pages for cartoons.

As for bootlegs, I agree we need to clamp down on it, but without an F.A.Q., we do have to keep in mind that some members are coming from countries where bootlegging isn't frowned upon in the same way as this country, so it is inevitable that we'll see them pop up.

And we need to say no matter how high quality, even DVD quality. If it is before the release date of the DVDs, then we can't have them on this site.

Ditto. It is just asking for trouble if someone posts screens from a movie that's not on DVD/Blu Ray yet.

Well I've stumbled upon several DVD quality of movies that came out this past year. Of course I have NO intention of posting any caps until the proper release date. I'm not stupid. Also I wouldn't pay for G.I. Joe. That movie wasn't really good.

I could put a clear warning on the upload file dialog page not to upload images from pirated movies - what do you think? They'd be more likely to see that than an FAQ - I do agree though we need a primer to the imfdb linked to clearly on the front page.

I think we need some big button on the Main page that links to a "Rules of IMFDB" page. That page can be work in progress until we flesh it out, but it should only be editable by Mods. The First and Foremost rule should be the No Bootlegs rule, merely because it is the one issue that could become problematic for the entire site if we manage to piss off the wrong people. Then we can add things like proper formatting guides, proper image formats, online arguements/vandalism, etc. Thanks. again.

Bunni has given the world a great thing in IMFDB. But with success comes a wave of new members from all over the world who may not understand many of the rules that the rest of us have abided by for months. :)

There's no time like the present - I just put a page up with rule no 1. :) Check the pages discussion page for my thoughts.

I'm sure we'll add more later on. But let's hop the idiots and noobs actually click on it.

Is it considered bootleg to make screencaps from Youtube videos?