What is the purpose of this site?

Here at rbdlc.com, our purpose is to answer the question, "what dlc should I buy?" Users submit reviews and ratings on downloadable songs for Rock Band, and they also use these to help decide what to buy. We also compile youtube videos of song charts. Here we hope you don't ever have another dlc regret.

---

How do I get started?

To register, highlight the drop down menu labeled "other stuff", and select register. Then, provide your desired user name and password, and your email address.

---

Alright, so what dlc should I buy?

¯\(°_o)/¯

How do I get an avatar?

You can change your avatar via the control panel, on the top right corner of the site. All images are resized to 158 x 158 pixels. Moderators are denoted by a silver border around their avatars.

---

What do the different types of "add review song menu styles" do?

These affect the drop down menu for "select a song" on the "add review" page. These can be changed via the control panel. The default style, the standard drop down menu, simply displays all songs alphabetically in 2 categories: songs that have been reviewed at least once, or songs that have not been reviewed by you yet.

The second style, the perfectionist style drop down menu, displays all songs in 5 categories. First, it lists songs not reviewed yet, then songs reviewed once, twice, three times, and then four times.

The final style, full instrument listing, displays all songs that have not been reviewed by a specific instrument and songs that have been reviewed at least once.

---

How does the "request songs" system work?

To see what dlc is the most requested, we have implemented a "request song" feature. Here, you simply enter the artist you desire, and last.fm displays their 50 most popular songs. The you simply select the song you want, and your vote will be counted.

We have run into an issue sometimes where the song desired is for some reason not on the top 50. Chris the admin is aware of this, and will fix this sometime.

---

What is the recommendation engine and how does it work?

The recommendation engine is a new feature currently in its beta phase where it gathers information from your reviews and generates a list of 30 songs in order that would most be enjoyed by you. It is based off of your reviews and how others who reviewed songs similar to you rated other songs. It only displays songs that you have never rated, quick-rate or written.

---

What are the ranks?

Ranks are based purely off of how many reviews a user has written. Your rank is displayed under your avatar, on your user page. These ranks are purely cosmetic, and have no benefits other than prestige.
The ranks are determined as follows:

• Gold stars: 200 reviews or more
• 5 stars: 130 - 199 reviews
• 4 stars: 80 -129 reviews
• 3 stars: 40 - 79 reviews
• 2 stars: 20 - 39 reviews
• 1 star: 5 - 19 reviews
• 0 stars: 0 - 4 reviews

What do the stars on the left song page and under the album art mean?

The stars represent the average score of the song, or its fun factor as rated by the users. Each row represents one instrument, which is given. The "overall" category represents the total score, which is an average of all scores given for the song from all instruments. Putting your cursor over the stars will show the percent score of the song. If a song has no reviews on a particular instrument, it will be shown with 0%, or 0 stars. This does not affect the overall score. The stars are based off of the star system in Rock Band, and also fill up fractions based on percent, as they do in the game with your score. This does not apply for 5 stars or gold stars, as also in the game.

• Gold stars =90%+ and at least 10 reviews
• 5 stars=85-89%
• 4 stars=68%-84%
• 3 stars=51%-67%
• 2 stars=34%-50%
• 1 star=17%-33%
• 0 stars=0%-16%

Each rating you give contributes to the following percent:

• 5 stars=100%
• 4 stars=75%
• 3 stars=50%
• 2 stars=25%
• 1 star=0%

---

What are those bar graphs on the top of the song page?

The graphs at the top show a breakdown of scores by instrument for each song. Each color represents an instrument, which is given below the graph. Each row respresents stars given (1-5) It basically shows how many of each star each instrument recieved. The legnthpure ratio value relative to the other stars given, not quantity. Also, there is now numbers on the backround relative to the highest number of reviews star, also displaying the amount of reviews per rating It may seem complex at first, but once you realize its use, it can actually become pretty useful in things like detecting outliers, and the common scores. . This feature is used by many online companies that involve user-rating, such as Amazon or NewEgg.

---

What is quick-rate and how does it work?

Quick-rate is a feature that allows one to not have to write a full review, but still give input on the rating of a song an instrument.
This can be done by clicking on the smaller stars below the large ones () by the appropriate instrument. When you write a written review for a song, your quick-rated one will be deleted for that instrument if present. The disadvantage with quick-rate is that it does not count towards your review count, and a written review counts five times as much as a quick-rate. You can delete a quick-rate by clicking on the X next to the stars.

---

What are tiers? And which game does this site go by?

Tiers are the difficulty levels Harmonix uses for songs. There are seven tiers in Rock Band 2 (0 dots on the Rock Band 2 being tier 1 on this site, 1 dot being tier 2, 5 dots being tier 6, and 5 red dots being tier 7) Our site goes by Rock Band 2 now, and no longer displays the original Rock Band's 1-9 tiers.

---

What are those +/-'s next to the tiers on many songs?

As many of you may have noticed, Harmonix, in many instances, can be way off with their tiering. To help people see the true difficulty of a song, we have moderators vote on the tiers for song difficulties relative to their current tier. A + means it is about 1 tier harder than Harmonix has given, and up to 3 +'s can be given.

The - means the exact opposite, they are easier than Harmonix has given. They work the exact same way as the +'s. An = means Harmonix tiered the song correctly. However, most songs that are tiered correctly are generally just left alone, and have nothing next to them.

---

How do I add reviews?

When you want to start adding reviews, simply click "add review" from the "other stuff" drop down menu. This will take you to a page to create a review. Here you will select the song you would like to review, select the instrument and difficulty (easy, medium, hard, expert) which your review is based on, and then select your score for it and add some text about the song. Alternatively, you can search/find a song under the "browse" section and select the instrument under the album art you wish to review. You can also click the little pencil image next to songs to access the review page.

---

How do I edit/delete my reviews?

You can edit one of your reviews by simply finding the review via your user page, and clicking the button. From there, you can edit your review's text, rating, instrument, or delete it.

What are those thumbs up/down icons under users' reviews?

These icons are used to mark reviews as good or bad. This can be done by all users now who sign up (not just moderators anymore). These work exactly the same as the "was this review helpful?" system seen on numerous review websites. Each user can vote on a review, determining whether is was helpful or not. If a review gets marked bad many times, one of our high level moderators will have a look at it, and possibly delete it. Don't worry if your review gets marked as bad, nothing bad will happen to you. You will usually be notified via email or Scorehero if you have some major "suckage" going on. Don't worry if you have a bad review, these can always be fixed. We do not ban users for poor reviews, unless they advirtise.
When rating reviews, look for ones that contained good information and advice on whether or not to buy a song. It doesn't have to be 2000 characters, but use common sense when determining good/bad reviews.

---

Why is my review not showing up on the song's page?

When a song has 3 or more starred reviews, only starred reviews will be shown on the front page. You can use the drop down menu above the first review to sort the reviews differently and see all of the reviews for that song.

---

What criteria is used for finding "good" reviews?

When rating reviews, we look for ones that are the most helpful. A good review will:

• Be descriptive: No, you don't have to describe the entire chart note-by-note, but a good review will be decent length, and tell some good about the chart. Try to stay around 500-1500 characters. Also, you don't need to describe the chart exactly, that's what youtube or Ajanata's charts are for.
• Be rational: A review that rates "Silver" on drums 5 stars will most likely not get marked as recommended. Also, try to support the opposite side on songs once. Stating the opposite is key in good reviews, not just for songs. Being rational is especially important when going against the grain of what other users are saying. If you just absolutely hate "Sleepwalker," make sure you have some good reasons! If you just state that it sucks, it likely won't be looked upon fondly by mods.
• Rate the chart: Sound should not be a factor at all You don't need to tell us what kind of music we like, we can determine that ourselves. There is no reason to give "Toxicity" 1 star on drums just because you hate System of a Down. You can buy DLC based on how much you like the song, but it is not helpful at all to incorporate it into determining your rating and review.
• Have good grammar: "I lxdjde thws sngs" obviously won't cut it, but take a few moments to look over your work. No one wants to take dlc advice from some guy who can't spell a third grade word. Also, we recommend not using "txt tlk". You will look much more intelligent if you use proper grammar and spelling.

---

Can I use html or BB code in reviews?

No, you cannot use either.

Who is the administrator here?

This site's administrator and founder is Chris Grenard, or Goldfenix on rbdlc.com and ChrisJG on Scorehero. More information can be found out about Chris on the about page. The main thing to know is that Chris loves you and wants you to be successful in life.

---

What are moderators and what do they do?

Moderators are individuals whos' job is to look after this site, help out, and contribute in various tasks. All moderators have the ability to add/edit/delete youtube videos on this site, flag reviews, edit song info and album art, and vote on a song's difficulty. Some higher level moderators have the ability to edit even more song information, such as enter the tiers and mark songs as "brutally hard", and delete reviews.

---

Who are the moderators?

There is a massive amount of moderators helping out with the site; too many to list.

---

How do I become a moderator?

With the site growing bigger and bigger, we could always use more help. When promoting users, we look for people who write good reviews, are helpful to others, and can be trusted. You can always find us on Scorehero in this topic if you wish to speak with other site mods. Overall, the best way to become a mod is simply to write reviews that are noticeable!

---

How do I find/contact you guys?

As you may have noticed, we currently have no messaging system on the site, however, there are a variety of places you can find us. First, our site has a forum here. Yes, it is a little barren, but we will always answer questions posted there as soon as possible. Next, there is email. We will never email you, unless you win one of our contests. You can email Chris the admin at admin@rbdlc.com or Chris.Grenard@gmail.com.

Lastly, most of us are always hanging around on Scorehero. You can PM ChrisJG(the admin) via scorehero for help or bug reports. Also, a very large majority of our dicussion occurrs in this topic on Scorehero. Feel free to join in the conversation, we won't bite.

---

Do you guys have any connections with Harmonix?

We are not funded, sponsored, or have any "connections" with Harmonix. However, thats not saying they don't know we exist ;)

---

I hate this guy's review, why isn't he banned?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Also, we do not ban users for poor reviews, with spam/advirtising being an exception. If a review is truly outrageous, we will delete it. Also, please do not report reviews to us. Trust me, we're probably already aware of it.

---

Why do you guys like such hard songs?

A large majority of our users are pretty skilled, so expect challenging songs to have a little higher ratings than some. However, there are still highly rated easier songs, and you can use our recommendation engine to generate a personal list of songs based off of your reviews and preferences.

---

Can you give me free dlc?

We will occassionally hold contests here. Contests will be announced via the news box, and eligible contestants will be determined by the quality and quantity of one's reviews. Then, one or two people will be randomly selected, and rewarded with a free 1600 msp code each (or the Playstation equivalent). We will email or PM the code. Funding for this endeavor shall continue as long as Chris keeps winning at poker.