All rules for Songlists

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Draft+ entries

Rule 1: Source non-obvious

Include sources for non-obvious additions or changes. Edits by verified artists are considered authoritative information and do not need to be further sourced.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 2: No incorrect information

Do not add incorrect information.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 3: No information removal

Do not remove information in a way that’s not in line with the content removal guidelines.

Clearly incorrect information and out-of-scope entries can usually be removed, however it is typically best to make an entry report first.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 4: No duplicate entries

Do not create duplicate entries.

”Duplicate” artist entries are allowed for separate artist personas.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 5: No duplicate information

Do not duplicate information between fields or different entries.

Some data duplication is allowed if there are significant upsides in usability.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 6: Use correct fields

Use the correct entry fields when adding information. For example, do not put lyrics in the entry description.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 7: Name required

All entries require a name.

If all the primary names are whitespace, add the Untitled tag.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 8: No name duplication

Missing names should not to be copied from the other two fields.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 16: No mobile links

Some websites have a separate URL for pages meant to be viewed on mobile:

Always prefer adding the desktop version of the link.

(Applies to all entries)

Direct download links (on any field) to media files (such as .mp3 or .flac) and links to file-hosting services (such as Google Drive or Dropbox) are not allowed, even if they’re legal. If the content is officially distributed, link the artist’s page (e.g., on Piapro or a blog) instead.

File sharing website links are only allowed if the website supports user profile pages, and the user (uploader) page is directly navigable from the download link page (https://piapro.jp/ links for example). In other cases the download link location should be mentioned in the entry description instead.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 18: No email links

Do not add email links.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 19: No tracking links

When adding external links, remove extraneous URL elements (usually after ? or &). More on #1765.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 22: No objective tag votes

Adding tag votes to objective tags is redundant, unless there is a need to highlight the tag.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 30: No machine translations

Do not add machine translated/romanized titles or lyrics.

Official translations are accepted in any case.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 31: Valid translation

Translations should be correct. Do not attempt to translate if you do not know the language well enough.

Official translations are accepted in any case.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 33: Japanese whitespace

Separate all words and particles with spaces when romanizing.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 34: Chinese whitespace

For Pinyin, separate each character with a space when romanizing.

Special names and proper nouns are kept together.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 35: Romanization capitalization

Capitalize all words that are NOT single kana particles (は、が、を、etc).

E.g. 歌に形はないけれど would be romanized as ‘Uta ni Katachi wa Nai Keredo’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 36: No macrons for long vowels

Do not use macrons for long vowels.

こおり is romanized as ‘koori’, not ‘kōri’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 37: Apostrophe after ん

If ん is followed by a vowel (including や・ゆ・よ), romanize it as n’.

E.g. してやんよ would be romanized as “Shiteyan’yo’“.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 38: Romanization は

は (ha) is romanized as ‘wa’ if it is used after a noun as a topic marker.

E.g. 恋は戦争 would be romanized as ‘Koi wa Sensou’, the は is not part of a word and functions as a particle.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 39: Romanization づ

づ is romanized as ‘dzu’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 40: Romanization を

を (wo) is romanized as ‘o’ if it is used after a noun as a direct object particle.

E.g. 地球最後の告白を would be romanized as ‘Chikyuu Saigo no Kokuhaku o’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 41: Romanization へ

へ (he) is romanized as ‘e’ if it is used after the name of a place to indicate direction as a particle.

E.g. 駆ける、星空の彼方へ would be romanized as ‘Kakeru, Hoshizora no Kanata e’, the へ is not part of a word and functions as a particle.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 42: Identical name order

Use the same order as the original Japanese name for romanizations.

Usually this is “Lastname Firstname”.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 43: Loanword romanization

Loanwords are romanized into their original language.

コーヒー would be romanized as ‘coffee’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 44: Honorific suffix dash

Use a dash with honorific suffixes on names when romanizing.

お姉さん would be romanized as ‘Onee-san’.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 45: Fully loanword names

If the entire name is composed of loanwords, leave the romanized name field empty. Use the translated name field instead.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 46: No AI-assisted audio transcriptions

Ai-assisted tools are not allowed for audio transcription, as they are extremely inaccurate with languages like Japanese and Chinese and even more so with Vocaloid.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 167: Valid pool category

Pools (public song lists) should start with a category name. For example:

Viewcounts: (NND) More than 10M views
Contest: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade (Song Contest Winners)
Game: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA (初音ミク -Project DIVA-)
Official Playlist: Apple Music - Apple Music J-Pop Playlist: ボーカロイドベスト
Medley: RINLENMANIA of KARENT LINEUP
Theme: Realistic tuning

(Applies to all songlist entries)

Rule 174: No sensitive personal information

Sensitive personal information should not be shared in entries or user profiles.

(Applies to all entries)

Rule 175: Official romanizations are valid

Official romanizations do not need to follow VocaDB’s romanization guidelines.

In this case the official romanization tag is required.

(Applies to all entries)