Making A Release Post - Howto

[wokensheep]

let me say 1st that you don't have to do any of this stuff to post here - although more info the better.
This is a help guide written for another ed2k forum that some people may find useful but all other network links are welcome here aswell.


Making a Release Post

You know a good file on the network and want to reference it for others?
You downloaded it and can verify it's ok, or just have something to share with the world?

Great!!...this will show you how to post it so the other kids don't laugh at you.



first, read the stickies & any rules (different sites have different rules), & search the forum to make sure your copy hasn't been posted already. You can tell if it's the same by the emule hash.


The more info you put the better really as it helps to know the quality and any information about the file, and description will help people find it when they search the forum for related keywords.

This guide assumes you know posting basics like how to add a link or image (use BBcode not html). Doesn't matter if you use the buttons or by typing the code but I won't be explaining that simple stuff.


Quick Guide

Look at other peoples posts for examples. ... and copy how they do it.
Depends on the forum rules but you should at least put ed2k urls and a short description. Usually the nfo file has all the relevant information so you can just copy & paste that if you like.




Extended Guide

Here is an example of how edonkey links work, don't use spaces or funny symbols in the name.

Code:

ed2k://|file|the.file.name|file.size.in.bytes|ed2k.hash|/

The filename can actually be anything, it doesn't matter, emule uses the hash, the name is for us humans.
You can add more emule hashsets at the end (AICH h= p= sources etc) but I think posting this way is best for compatibility with everybody and saves 'the link doesn't work' comments. if you find a link that doesn't work for you: copy it into your browsers address bar, then remove any of these extra hashes and then hit enter to send it to your client

example of a real link

Code:

ed2k://|file|DAMN.NFO.Viewer.v2.10.exe|252928|bf6776400faef93f21cfcb9e5f0a1921|/

pasted into your post will come out looking like
ed2k://|file|DAMN.NFO.Viewer.v2.10.exe|252928|bf6776400faef93f21cfcb9e5f0a1921|/

if you use the url tags for links on this board then it won't strech out the pages and looks much better
<name.goes.here>

example:

Code:

[url=ed2k://|file|DAMN.NFO.Viewer.v2.10.exe|252928|bf6776400faef93f21cfcb9e5f0a1921|/]DAMN.NFO.Viewer.v2.10.exe[/url]

will look like,
DAMN.NFO.Viewer.v2.10.exe


To get a ed2k url:
Put the file into your emule shares or your emule incoming folder. Now open emule, display Shared Files, hit the reload button and wait a minute for emule to hash the file. Once it shows up right click on it & "copy ed2k link to clipboard". Now you can paste it in your forum post.
(There are also separate checksum tools like linkcreator or hashcalc/fsum if needed.)




Scene groups have small nfo files with information about the release.
If it's a scene rel you can just post a copy of the nfo (don't forget to edit out any serial numbers from your forum post if it has them). If it's not a scene rip or you can't find a nfo then put some info yourself about what it is, quality, links, any comments you may have and that sort if thing.
No need to copy complete nfos as they can be quite large sometimes with all the ascii art and greets - just copy & paste any information (use "code" tags to display nfos).
Don't post a image of a nfo, the text is not going to show up on the forum search, it takes up unnecessary bandwidth and if the image doesn't load you lose the info.


Look for nfo files at nforce, vcdquality, isonews, NFOogle or internal nfos.



Otherwise type the name into google to find a short description (google has image search too), or look it up at gamestop or Internet Movie Database

Find a cover pic from a retail site like amazon that lets you hotlink to it, or save a copy of the picture and upload to a free image host like uploadimages or imageshack , etc if you don't have somewhere you can host images already.
Do NOT link to images on the products homesite. - The reason is that the image will get many hits coming from this site, also lots of them don't allow linking so it won't load (it may look to you that it does work ok but this can be because it's in your browsers cache)

The same goes for links to product homesites - DON'T do it. You can add the link non-clickable using the "code" tag

Code:

http://nforce.nl

or just like this; nforce.nl
and then people can type or cut & paste it into their browser. Another alternative is to use a redirection service like anonym.to http://anonym.to/?http://nforce.nl and it won't show this forum as the referrer that way.


For the file info you can use programs like Gspot, AVIcodec, VideoInspector or similar for M$ to view the specs for movies.

VideoInspector has a easy text export button or here's how to set gspot to export a txt file with the codec specifications whenever you open a avi. There are 2 versions of gspot and the settings are a little bit different so follow it slowly if this next bit sounds confusing. The newer version provides more detailed info, most notably QPEL, GMC, BVOP and NVOP info, which is useful to people with DVD players that are not compatible with these. Gspot comes with a format file you can set or you can also adjust the outputed variables.

click options &gt; click export &gt; tick enable exporting &gt; format; tick from file or custom &gt; output; tick same folder as avi or auto &gt; click save as default &gt; click ok

now whenever you open a avi in Gspot it outputs a file with the info to the same folder.

Under linux, mplayer with the -identify command, you may need some other switches and may also be able to pipe it out to a file instead of the console try adding &gt; /path/specs.txt to your command string to export.

gentoo_wiki Wrote:Use the -identify flag with mplayer to see some nicely formatted details about your media file.
mplayer -identify movie.avi
This command will also play the file for you, so be sure to add -vo null and/or -ao null if you don't want to see/hear playback.
Or you can use midentify which won't playback the file.
midentify movie.avi
For some more generic info, you can also run:
file movie.avi

more: here, here or google "mplayer -identify" or use the mplayer --help or man mplayer commands. I guess you could try gspot under wine also.

NFO sighting will give a nice specs export for mp3's, and you can make yourself a ascii template and adjust the $variables for your nfo layouts.

If you want some pics, many players can take screenshots or for best quality you can cut & paste a keyframe shot from a app like virtualdub or nandub and save to standard jpg for web ~85% using a photo app like Slowview or The Gimp (if you do high quality pics instead best to post thumbnails in the forum). Hypersnap can take screens for games.
ed2k: SlowView.1.0.RC2.windows.image.tool.exe
ed2k: HYPERSNAP-DX.v5.60.01.Cracked.REPACK-iNFECTED.rar

movies:
Please always include english subs for non-english film releases as this a english speaking site and they aren't much use without them.
Subs for english movies are good too if you have them, even if they are only english hard of hearing subs as people can use these for translation work. Much easier than doing from scratch cause they are already time synced.
If you don't have any and they are needed then say so. If you want to release it for those that can understand it, cool, but at least we can decide before downloading and we can all look for subtitles and others can post links. example: The Take

Now you are all ready to post, .. don't forget to use the preview button before you send your new topic to make sure it looks right and the links work ok.

At this point you may want to save your pictures/screens and a copy of the BB code. This makes rehosting images easy if ever needed, & you can post it at a few other sites clickity-click.
Smartypants are already seeing how you could save time by making yourself a template in forum BBcode and then just fill in the information each time.




:D

...on the network side of things...


For releasing your own content: emule works best if everyone shares the same copy so don't rip and release it if there is already one on the network. Provided it's ok there is no need. Save your effort for something new or we get 100's of different rips with low sources for each.

get yourself a emule mod that has powershare or other release features.
MorphXT, ZZUL or emule+ are a few

If you are on a slow connection or not always online you may wish it mention it.

If you must remove it from your shares don't until there are many full sources. Nothing is worse than incomplete files cause you never released it properly. Adding this line to your mule's webservices.dat file will give a availability/history stats feature to your right-click and gives you a rough idea of other sources or how your file is spreading.

Code:

ed2k History,http://stats.razorback2.com/ed2khistory?ed2k=#hashid

If you just quote people from forums elsewhere then please give credit to the original releaser. You may wish to ask the person for permission to copy but most public forums won't mind this too much as you can't really stop it happening anyway in a publicly accessible forum. The more the merrier I say and this works well with emule cause of the credit and ratio system to stop people taking without giving.
Of course this also works best if you can verify it yourself and are actually sharing the full file. :wink: and best to only quote reputable and reliable people, you don't want to spread a fake now do you?

I do that sometimes to save time, if all the info is there why do it all again?
Feel free to take a copy of any of my posts if you want to spread the links around to other sites, I don't fuck it up too often.:LOL:heh heh


Clipboard tools can be useful if you are cutting & pasting.
Usually CTRL + ALT + v are the keys, this will show the last 10 copies you made (some you can add permanent presets too for commonly used things)
http://www.mlin.net/Clipomatic.shtml
http://www.cyber-matrix.com/clipmag.html
Shell Toys also has this feature
ed2k: ShellToys.XP.v3.0.0.incl.Keygen.rar

Linux users will find most desktop setups have Klipboard already for this. Otherwise you can install it from your distro disks or through your packet manager.


Keep sharing and posting your verified links. Help index the donkey network!!
This is just to give you some ideas and useful links, any comments or revision welcome.

Big thanks to everyone that contributes and makes the edonkey network and community what it is.




.