Rules for Beatmap Nominators

The rules listed here affect what Beatmap Nominators can and cannot do when nominating beatmaps as well as set the tone for the general conduct expected from them. These rules are the result of discussion within the Nomination Assessment Team (NAT) and have taken into account feedback from the Beatmap Nominators upon their proposal.

Beatmap Nominators possess the tools to nominate beatmaps and shape the world of osu! by promoting new content towards being included in the official listings, for this reason they have to abide by the rules at all times. Violating any of these may get the respective Beatmap Nominator removed from the Beatmap Nominators. Violations of those rules may be reported to a member of the NAT directly.

Expectations

All Beatmap Nominators are expected to do their best to abide by the ethos laid out in the Expectations for Beatmap Nominators article.

Sustained behaviour in conflict with these expectations is grounds for dismissal at the discretion of the NAT.

Conduct

• Do not follow any unfinalised rules or amendments.
• Abide by the osu! Community Rules and the Code of Conduct for Modding and Mapping at all times. As a Beatmap Nominator, your behaviour should serve as a positive example to other members of the community. Infringing upon the Code of Conduct may result in you being placed on a temporary probation, or in extreme cases, removal from the Beatmap Nominators.
• Do not partake or participate in paid modding, ranking OR beatmapping commissions. There should never be any question as to the legitimacy or motives of members of any osu! team (BN, NAT or otherwise) involved in the ranking process.

Activity

Beatmap Nominator activity is measured via nominations,¹ and is evaluated during regular BN evaluations, which happen around every 90 days.

• Beatmap Nominators must nominate at least 6 beatmaps over a 90-day period.

  • An activity warning will be issued when failing to meet this rule.
  • Falling below 4 nominations will always result in removal from the Beatmap Nominators.
• Hybrid Beatmap Nominators must nominate at least 3 beatmaps per proficient game mode over a 90-day period.

  • An activity warning in the relevant game mode will be issued when failing to meet this rule.
  • Falling below 2 nominations in a given game mode will always result in removal from the Beatmap Nominators of said game mode.
• When warned for activity, minimum activity requirements must be met after 30 days.
• Failing to meet the required minimum when being warned for it within a period of 1 year will result in a removal from the Beatmap Nominators.

When a Beatmap Nominator's evaluation is created and they still need to meet their minimum activity requirements, they will receive a reminder via the NAT bot and will be given 7 days to meet their quota.

Nomination

• Do not nominate beatmaps with unrankable issues. The General Ranking Criteria and additionally all mode-specific Ranking Criteria apply to all sets with mode-specific difficulties.
• Do not nominate beatmaps that you contributed to. This includes any major contribution such as mapping, hitsounding, storyboarding, skinning, or slider velocity editing.
• Do not nominate a beatmap without properly checking all difficulties of the mode(s) you are nominating. Improper checking includes just running a modding tool before nominating or not even downloading the beatmap.
• Do not nominate a beatmap if you are unsure of something. In such cases, ask fellow nominators for assistance before making any rushed decisions. This includes unfamiliar game modes, suspiciously grey area/unrankable issues, quality issues or complex timing.
• Do not nominate a beatmap if you cannot reasonably judge it. Being able to reasonably evaluate a beatmap, either through playtesting or modding experience, is a core part of being able to judge a beatmap’s quality. If you are deemed not to have sufficient playing skill or modding experience, we may call your ability to judge the beatmap into question.
• Make sure no mod posts in the beatmap discussion have been ignored before nominating a beatmap. Posts without a sufficient reply may count as ignored. When in doubt, double check if the Code of Conduct for Mapping and Modding has been violated on the beatmap discussion and act accordingly.

Qualification

• Do not qualify a beatmap directly without any communication with the mapper. The mapper might have done self-changes after the last nomination, so nominating a beatmap without communicating with the mapper can lead to pointless disqualifications.

Nomination reset

• When resetting a beatmap's nomination(s), the first line of the post must contain a short reason for the reset. Simply linking to posts is not enough, you should try to summarise the relevant posts. In the case of disqualifications, simply writing that it was requested is also not enough. You must link any related issues posted in the beatmap discussions unless there are too many to post.
• If a nominated beatmap contains unrankable issues, its nomination(s) must be reset. This applies even if you do not intend to nominate the beatmap.
• Ensure that you are looking at the most up to date version of the beatmap before resetting the beatmap's nomination(s).

Disqualification

• Only full members may disqualify beatmaps, regardless of reason. Probation members may however still participate in such discussions and report beatmaps like everyone else.
• Disqualifications should primarily be done for beatmaps with unrankable issues, or if the beatmap owner requests it.
• Disqualification requests by the beatmap owner can be applied immediately. This includes yourself, in case you want to self-dq.
• Issues that can be mitigated through online offsets, tags or similar must still be disqualified. In the case that this is not possible, contact a member of the NAT. Online offsets and tags only apply for the website, so players will still have the issues in the client unless fixed before Ranked.
• Qualified beatmaps found with unrankable or significant issues must be disqualified immediately.
• Do not disqualify beatmaps of game modes you are not formally qualified for. This does not apply to disqualifications regarding audio, backgrounds, or other content that does not directly pertain to the beatmap's game mode.

Veto

Please see the beatmap veto page for full information on the veto process.

• Do not veto beatmaps of game modes you are not formally qualified for. You are not allowed to nominate them so blocking a nomination without the ability to renominate the beatmap makes no sense. This does not apply to vetoes regarding audio, backgrounds, or other content that does not directly pertain to the beatmap's game mode.
• You can veto a beatmap by posting the issues you think need to be addressed before reaching Ranked status in the form of problem stamps in the respective modding discussion. This will reset any nominations the beatmap has received and thereby stop it from proceeding to Ranked. Other nominators will be unable to nominate it again until the veto is lifted. The veto post must include a clear problem and reasoning for stopping the ranking process of the beatmap. You must participate in the resulting discussion and attempt to reach a mutual agreement.
• Do not veto for unrankables. Unrankables imply that no other nominator should nominate and that the mapper has no other choice but to fix it, in the same way an upheld veto works.
• Do not nominate vetoed beatmaps. A beatmap must have its veto dismissed before renomination, which can happen if the vetoing nominator decides to lift the veto following a satisfactory discussion or appropriate changes to the beatmap, or if the mapper or vetoing nominator requests a mediation and the jury decides that the veto is unnecessary or invalid.

Notes