Etiquette for the Direct Connect Network

Hubs and Rules

• When you join a hub, you should read the hub rules. Almost every hub sends those to you when you enter (either by chat or private message). The rules can be very diverse and obviously take precendence over the guidelines outlined here.

Operators in a hub (the ones with the key icon) can ban you from the hub if they please. Most operators are friendly people, some aren't. However unfriendly an operator might be, he is always right... but only in that hub. If unfriendly operators make your stay in that hub unpleasant, leave and join a different hub. There are plenty of other hubs and users that do appreciate your files and your presence.

Sharing Files

• Don't share files that you wouldn't want to download yourself. Prime examples of files that no one wants:
  • Your Windows folder
  • Your Program Files folder
  • Your Documents and Settings folder
  • Your Recycle Bin (if you don't want the files, why would we?)
  • Your homework / e-mails / temp files / cookies
  • Incomplete files
• Don't disconnect from Hubs in which you are downloading from a particular user. (DC++ users have the option to punish this behaviour by setting the appropriate option in Advanced settings that closes downloads of peers that leave the Hub.)
• Share as many interesting files as possible. If everyone shared only a few files, Direct Connect wouldn't be such a great network.

Asking for Slots

Read someones description before asking for a slot. If the user has something similar to "NO SLOTBEGGING" in their description, it's likely that asking for a slot will do you nor them any good. Be patient and wait just like everbody else. When asking for slots, be polite. Be more polite if the user shares a lot more than most users in the Hub. Be even more polite if the users shares a lot more than you do. When asking for slot, specify what you want to download. Some users have a preference to hand out slots for rare stuff. Rare stuff does NOT include new stuff. Don't ask for slots for something that is new (a couple of hours or days). Most likely you're not the only one who wants the file(s) and you'll only piss off the one who has the new stuff. (Remember that the user has a limited bandwidth (just like you do) and cannot hand out slots to everyone, or no one would get the file(s) at all because the upload speeds would converge to zero).

Miscellaneous

Don't ask for files in main chat. The exception to this rule is when you've searched for the file(s) first and the search came up empty and you have the hope that someone might have the file(s) stored on a removable medium. Don't use excessive punctuation marks. Especially usage of many (more than two or three) question or exclamation marks give your peers the impression that you are an immature child. The same goes for excessive usage of capital letters.