WinWorld Forum Rules and Information
Welcome to the WinWorld forums!
WinWorld is an online museum devoted to preserving and sharing vintage abandoned historic software. WinWorld provides free, unrestricted access to a large collection of vintage operating systems and applications. We believe such software should be available so that anyone may experience the history for themselves and learn about early software that helped shape the computing world.
For more information, you may wish to see our main page.
Downloads are located in the WinWorld Library.
Information about our move to the Vanilla Forums.
We also have an IRC channel.
The WinWorld forums are provided so you may discuss vintage software, hardware needed to run it, and software archival.
While on our forum, you are expected to behave as an intelligent, civilized, courteous, contributing adult. We are not going to spell out every single possible rule. You are expected to use a certain level of common sense.
Some general rules and guidelines are listed below. Be sure to see any "stickied" announcements on each sub forum.
First of all, this is an Internet FORUM. It is not Twitter or Facebook. Behavior and content on a forum is expected to be much more formal.
Posts should generally consist of paragraphs, complete sentences, and the content should be well thought out. In other words, typically longer than 140 characters.
Avoid short pointless posts like "Me too!" or "LOL".
Do not double post or make rapid, multiple posts. This can be considered SPAMMING.
Instead, you may edit your post and add additional content. You may edit your post for several hours after it is posted.
While most forums provide a visible "edit" button, regrettably this forum hides the option. To edit your post, move your mouse cursor over your post. A small "gear" icon will appear in the upper right. Click on that, and a drop down menu will appear. Select "Edit" and then make your additions or changes.
Avoid "bumping" old posts. Be mindful of the date and time the post you are replying to was posted. If you must bump an old topic, be sure what you have to say is worthwhile.
Due to abuse, off topic discussions are not allowed. Topics must be related to Hardware, Software, Site Issues, Video Games, or Programming.
Do not post advertising, spam, or gibberish.
Do not harass or flame other members. Do not reply to trolls or spam. Do not "back seat moderate". If you see an issue with a post, just report it and move on.
This is an English language forum. All posts must be made in English. While we all make mistakes, please do your best to use proper grammar. Please be aware that translation software or unfamiliarity with the English language can make you sound uneducated and difficult to understand.
When requesting assistance with something, provide as much relevant information as possible. For example, the model of computer, VM or emulator software in use, or exactly which download you are using.
Moderators don't have time to hand-hold everyone. If your post gets deleted without explanation, just don't do whatever you did again and don't complain about it.
Other forum and library information:
Do not post in "Activity" this is a non-optional pointless feature of this forum software. Ideally it would go away.
Do not mistake "Activity" for the private messaging system, especially as Activity is not private and posts may be deleted. To send a PM, go to a user's profile page and click the "Message" button.
Some mobile/satellite providers mess with IP addresses in such a way that it causes problems with our anti-leaching system. A possible solution is in the works, however in the mean time please use a real ISP.
How to contribute:
At the current time we do not have an automated upload system. You must use a file hosting site to temporarily store the files and then PM a link to SomeGuy or one of the other staff. All files are inspected, tested, repackaged, and only then uploaded. This can take weeks or months due to busy schedules and backlogs. Do not pester staff about delays. Archives that are not genuine dumps from original media, have been altered, are incomplete, or do not meet our definition of "abandonware", may be rejected.
Optionally, you may post the link as an "offer" in the "Offers and Requests" sub forum.
Hosting sites that our members frequently use include: dropbox.com, wetransfer.com, mediafire.com, and drive.google.com. You may also attach small files to forum posts, use a personal web site, or add your files to the archives at archive.org or vetusware.com.
Requesting software:
You may request a software title in the Offers and Requests sub forum. Requests must meet our definition of acceptable abandonware. Please note that requesting DMCAed titles like Windows XP or Office 2000 or later are not allowed.