This is kinda just me ranting about the rule breakers of PMC... and I thought it would be healthy for me to get this off of my chest. :P

You can go the "Recently Updated" texture pack section of PMC and find that out of the 20 packs on the first page 17 of those are probably breaking at least one (if not more) of these rules. Effectively pushing the texture packs of those that actually spend countless hours of hard work into their packs way down past the first page within hours...

This list of frequently broken rules references "General Submission Rules." I am paying particular attention to the rules that apply to texture packs. Since this is where I feel screwed over my the masses. I really don't think that the majority of texture pack up-loaders read these rules...

1. Not uploading screenshots of your work-

The general submission rules specifically states: "You must include in-game pictures for all servers, projects, texture packs and mods."

This is a BIG peeve of mine... Why should anyone download your pack if they have no idea what it looks like?

It's a nice thing that when you upload a new texture pack PMC forces you to upload an image but that image is supposed to be a screenshot of your textures being used in-game.

Many people have taken this as an opportunity to upload a completely unrelated picture that isn't even in game content but they slapped text over it with their texture pack name and that's it.

In some cases I've found pictures from other texture packs that are a completely different resolution than their own (Example the texture pack in question is 16x16 but the "screenshots" are of a pack that is 32x32).

I've even encountered people that try to justify uploading pictures from Mario games by telling me, "They are the exact same textures in my pack." So... are you telling me that you didn't create ANY of the textures in your pack? Flagged!

Here is another argument i've gotten from someone... "I didn't upload any screenshots because all of the textures except for the diamond gear are the same as my other texture pack." So why don't you upload screenshots for the new diamond gear? Not to mention that duplicate content is also breaking the rules.

2. Using recolored "default" textures or simply moving around default textures.

The general submission rules under the Texture pack section it states that: "When creating texture packs, you are allowed to use Minecraft's terrain.png contents only as placeholders." Also on the page where you actually upload the new pack it states: "DO NOT UPLOAD: X-Ray, Inverted or Recolored Packs"

I feel that this is one of the most common rules broken on PMC... when 1.5 comes out I don't think this will be as big of a problem. Since in 1.5 the terrain.png and items.png are getting broken up into individual PNG files for all of the contained textures. Once this happens there is no reason to include any default textures as placeholders and you will just need to include textures that have been changed. Any textures left out of the pack will automatically be replaced by default. Problem solved! :)

Most of the time I find default textures that have been colorized (photoshop term) or some might say "shaded" a new color but the texture is otherwise exactly the same as default.

I've also been finding people that add a gem or other similar minor adjustment to default textures and claim it as original. Still breaking the rules even though you added a "touch" of originality.

Several packs I've found recently have been blatantly unchanged default textures but they covered iron doors with bookshelves... or making paintings look like stone... etc... etc... Yes, it seems like a clever idea to try and hide your secret passages or disguise ores as plain ol' stone but these are still default textures and breaking the rules. If you think about the effectiveness of such changes... its pointless because the odds are that your friends and other players won't be using the same pack as you and will quickly see through your poorly thought out plan. :P

3. Diamond Mongering-

In the general submission rules it states: "Do not bribe, force or otherwise coerce other users into diamonding/favoriting/commenting on your submissions." The general submission rules then goes into detail on examples that are obviously against the rules... and also states that you can say "If you like this, please give me a diamond."

Diamond Mongers are those that beg and plea for diamonds in their texture pack descriptions... very irritating to say the least. Somehow and for some reason people give them diamonds even though they do not deserve it...

I rarely ever see people using any of the examples outlined in the rules... instead they don't even try to explain why you should give them a diamond. They just say, "Give me a Diamond!" or "Help me get to 10 diamonds!" Sometimes I even see people put it in the title of their texture pack...an example that I see up right now is one that says... "Unworthy Pack Name (My first Texture pack){Can I get 10 Diamonds?}" You got to be kidding me! You are begging for diamonds before they even look at your pack... and once I do look at the pack I find that its just a bunch or recolored default textures (and very poorly recolored at that.) These beggars aren't content asking for diamonds once... they even go as far as putting it in their description 2-3 times... Like they haven't already made it obvious that they want diamonds. Sheesh!

4. Update Log Abuse-

The general submission rules states: "The update log is only to be used for major updates/changes/additions to your submission. Any small changes such as spelling edits, minor description changes or changed/new images are considered update log abuse and repeated abuse will result in the deletion of your submission(s)."

The obvious reason that someone would break this rule is so they can bump their texture pack back to the top of recently updated in order to get more exposure for their pack.

It seems that most of the people that break this rule don't even give a clue to what they updated in the log. Instead they just say..."Still asking for feed back", "Changed a pixel", "Keeping things updated" or even "New Correction"

I've even found a few that blatantly put "Bump" as a update log... Really? You are making your pack WAY too easy to flag. Come on... stop bumping your crappy texture pack there is a reason you don't have many downloads, diamonds or favorites!

5. Packs With Barely Any New Content-

Within the general submission rules under the texture pack specific section it states: "Do not Upload: Packs with no or barely any new content." Most instances this means that the pack would nearly be completely default...

I come across this ALL the time... Why post the texture pack up if all you did was change a couple of things?!? It isn't worth anything for someone to it... Examples: Just changed the ores or only changed the armor.

The way I see it is if less than 5% of all of the textures that you can edit are updated... you can't really call it a texture pack. Don't post it until the pack changes a significant amount of the games textures. The whole point of texture packs is to improve how the game looks. My texture pack didn't get uploaded until it was about 75% complete... because at that point it actually changed how the game looked.

A few times I've seen people post a pack containing almost entirely default textures and in the description they would say, "I don't know what textures to change please give me suggestions. Give me diamonds to motivate me to create textures... etc... etc..." I have a suggestion... DON'T post anything until you know what your plans are and you have something that can be critiqued! Even if you have a plan... don't post your "plans" post your "work."

6. Duplicate Postings-

Though it is not specifically mentioned in the general submission rules it IS very much a rule. I have encountered several occasions where this has happened... The first couple of times I noticed it, it was just that... someone had posted an exact duplicate of their texture pack one after another. But other times it has been a little less obvious.

In the first less obvious instance the duplicate pack was a copy of the same artists pack except for the set of recolored diamond tools and diamonds themselves. But everything else was the same...

Another less obvious instance was with someone posting a pack of player skins as a set in the texture pack section. The big issue for me was that these skins were already uploaded into the skins section and this was creating a duplicate of that content... This instance not only was duplicate content but just because to create a "Pack" with skins and skins ARE technically textures it doesn't make it a texture pack. (I have confirmed this with moderators.) In the general submission rules it says, "Use proper sections when posting (servers do not belong in projects, blogs don't belong in mods, etc.)"

With all of that said... It's time to rally up the the troops! Start Flagging! It seems like I am constantly flagging texture packs for breaking the rules but I don't think they get removed until they have had enough flags. So many of them don't get removed until days later. (Even the ones that blatantly steal other peoples work.)

Flag the rule breakers so that real artist's hard work will be visible through all of the slop and clutter!