Encyclopaedia Metallum (also known as The Metal Archives) is a large website which attempts to list every heavy metal band, with additional information such as a discography, a short history and user-submitted reviews. The site also provides a system for submitting bands to the archives, and users are encouraged to do so. As of June 2005, the site boasted 26,321 bands listed, 27,534 registered users and 17,608 reviews.
As incentive for getting people to submit data, the site utilizes a "point" system, in which registered users gain points and move up ranks with the amount and value of data and information they submit. The more valuable and complete the information, the more points are awarded.
The site is known for its extremely strict rules, especially those that mandate the band submissions. Encyclopaedia Metallum only accepts bands which are, without debate, heavy metal bands. The exceptions are: side projects of members which actually are in heavy metal bands, bands that no longer are metal but have been in the past, darkwave bands that are still considered as members of the metal scene and grindcore bands that are close enough to death metal.
Genres that are usually associated with metal, like grindcore and hardcore are also absent as they are seen to have more in common with punk than heavy metal. Bands that are associated with the Nu Metal or Mallcore label are completely forbidden. The site submitted some metalcore bands though they rejected some of them as well. They claimed some metalcore bands are just hardcore with metal influences and that didn't make a band metal. Recently, they have now prohibited all submissions of metalcore and all other genres that end with the word core on their site.
The process of being banned on the site has been nicknamed "Dursted", named after Fred Durst, a figure who is cited as a possible "enemy" of heavy metal, and thus, to members of the site.
The website is notably completely free of advertisements and, as of April 2005, is ran completely independently.
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Encyclopaedia Metallum is about all forms of metal, not only heavy metal. You'll find Black Metal, National Socialistic Black Metal, Death Metal, "Extreme Metal", Symphonic Metal, Viking Metal and all kinds.