Hi! Welcome to the new improved Metal Thread. We - the thread regulars - have had a bad reputation in the past due not only to the common perception of Metal music (Its just shouty music for angry people!) but due to the supposed elitist way in which we've treated people wanting to discuss other forms of music. The thread became increasingly problematic recently and the moderators stepped in temporarily closing the thread and consulting with a few of the regulars to get some clearer, fairer rules that will hopefully cut down on both inflammatory and chatty behaviour in the Thread. We're not nasty people, and though the way we treat newcomers and even each other can seem mean, its all in good fun in the end.

For those of you who held a negative opinion of the thread in the past, we'd like to start a fresh page and invite you back. The rules are not changing; we never planned to allow the discussion of other forms of music in this thread (for the reason that too generalized a discussion leads to a lack of focus and interesting discussion) but now that they're clearer to both regulars and newcomers we can try to ensure less confusion and hard feelings.

To the regulars, there are a few changes we'll have to make for the thread to continue. Chatty off topic talk will have to be cut down, we'll have to be accommodating to newcomers, and we'll have to stick to the rules when people come into the thread discussing off-topic material; don't flame them, ignore them and report them. These rules are the forum rules as a whole and are non-negotiable with the moderators , so whether we like it or not I'm afraid we have no choice as to whether or not to stick to them.

Finally, for those of you not interested in the music we discuss, its simple, don't post. There is no stipulation in the terms and conditions of the forum that state you should be allowed to post in any thread whether the subject matter interests you or not. If you'd like to learn with an open mind about the music we listen to then by all means ask for recommendations and tell us what you thought of them , there are a couple of regulars in the thread who got into the music through recommendations from others , and I for one have discovered a lot of new music in the past through this thread, but if you still don't like it there are plenty of other threads you might enjoy posting in.

The regulars who contributed to these new rules are Herr Braunstein, MutantPenguin and Waspinator. We're taking some degree of responsibility for enforcing the rules and if you have any questions about them, PM one of us. We'd also like to thank summer and Dogsbody for their help.

I know this was a long post to read, but after a few iterations of the thread we can get rid of this bit at the start at the start once everyone understands the issue with the clarified rules here.

The Metal thread is for discussion of metal. Nu-metal (Slipknot, KoRn, Rage Against the Machine etc.) is not metal. Neither are hardcoe nor metalcore (Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, Norma Jean, Avenged Sevenfold, older Trivium etc.). Industrial bands like Rammstein, NIN, Deathstars and Ministry are off-limits.
Bands that contributed to the rise of Metal but are not Metal themselves (Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple) are also off-limits. Other bands to avoid posting about: Tool, System of a Down, Marilyn Manson.

To avoid confusion and perhaps a more hostile environment, if you're not certain whether a certain band gets the green light or not, you can always PM one of the regulars. If you don't understand why certain music is not metal, then try PMing one of us to ask about that too.
This will avoid what happened a lot of times in the old thread, and avoid clogging up the thread with complaints about the rules. The regulars are a good source of information about the Thread.

What we don't appreciate is people coming into the thread with the intention to cause trouble. Jokes like my favourite kind is aluminium! It's just shouting and loud music and similar will be reported.

Thanks for sticking to these rules!