If you need to contact us please send an all-staff message for most queries. Please do not contact individual members of staff unless your message is a reply.
The primary address for UKNova is www.uknova.com. An alternative (backup) address exists at www.uknova.tv; you will probably need to login separately at each address if you switch between them.
UK Nova is situated on a dedicated server. Every penny of donated money goes towards covering the costs for this service. See also the 'Donations' section of this FAQ.
Check out Brian's BitTorrent FAQ and Guide for general bittorrent information. Beginners at UKNova should ensure that they read Scunge's Beginner's Guide To Torrenting.
If you have a question you don't find the answer to here and you have searched and read the forums, you can contact The Staff regarding site issues and our First line of Support Team for help with and advice on technical issues
No, you cannot buy, sell or transfer upload credit/score here.
Please use the Account recovery form to have the login details mailed back to you.
You can change it yourself: go to your profile page (by clicking your username at the top-right of the screen), then input the new password in the ‘Account’ box at the top of the form (you'll need to enter it twice to confirm it, and also input your old password to confirm the change). Then click ‘Set’ at the bottom and it should be all done.
No. To be fair to all, we operate a policy of 'one person, one account'. Any duplicate accounts will be removed and offenders therefore risk losing all their UKNova accounts.
You can do it yourself by clicking your username and pressing 'Delete' at the bottom of the form.
There is a limit of 35,000 users. When the limit is reached we stop accepting new members. Also, the limit is revised from time to time and may go down as well as up. Accounts which are inactive for 42 days are automatically deleted to make way for new users. There can be up to 300 new accounts available per day so if your friend keeps trying at regular intervals they have a good chance of becoming a member!
This site doesn't issue invites, sorry.
These expire after 28 days for everyone. If you want to keep a record of them, copy them.
Sorry, no. We don't provide a function for users to park their accounts whilst away (however if you're a VIP or NF then your account will never expire). If you're a User, Power User or VR and fail to login to your account for 42 days or more then it'll automatically be deleted. However, to retain your account all you need to do is login once during that time from anywhere you can find Internet access throughout the world. You don't need to upload or download anything - just ensure that your visits to the website are never 42 days (or more) apart.
Inactive accounts are automatically expired to make room for new users to join UK Nova. If you didn't visit the site for 42 days or more then your account will have been marked as expired pending deletion.
Note that if you can register a new account with the same username & email address as your old account, then the old account has gone forever and cannot be re-activated.
No. Once an account is deleted (for any reason) all the statistics are gone forever. There's no way for us to restore your old account details so please don't ask for credit.
Only you and the site moderators/administrators can view your IP address and email. Regular users do not see that information.
The tracker has determined that you are firewalled or NATed and cannot accept incoming connections.
This means that other peers in the swarm will be unable to connect to you, only you to them. Even worse, if two peers are both in this state they will not be able to connect to each other to share data at all. This obviously has a detrimental effect on the overall speed or uploads and downloads.
The way to solve the problem involves opening the ports used for incoming connections (the same range you defined in your client) on the firewall and/or configuring your NAT server to use a basic form of NAT for that range instead of NAPT (the actual process differs widely between different router models - check your router documentation and/or the support forum - you will also find lots of information on the subject at PortForward).
First find an image that you like and that is within the rules. Then you will have to find a place to host it; popular choices include Photobucket, Upload-It and ImageShack). All that is left to do is copy the URL you were given when uploading it to the avatar field in your profile. You can set your signature in a similar way.
Please do not make a post just to test your avatar. If everything is OK you'll see it in your user details page (click your username next to 'Logout' at the top of most pages). Please do not leech pictures from other sites (by copying the URLs into your profile without uploading the images to a new host).
A torrent key or passkey is a 32 character key associated with your account that uniquely identifies you as a UK Nova user. When a .torrent file is downloaded from your account, the key is automatically encapsulated into an announce URL added to the .torrent file.
Make sure that you keep your key and .torrent files private at all times.
You can use this feature to generate a new passkey for your account. Remember that the passkey uniquely identifies you, therefore if someone discovers it they will be able to leech using your account. If you suspect that your key has been compromised just create a new one using the 'Reset passkey' feature. Note that by doing this you will invalidate all the .torrent files that you may have previously downloaded, and will have to get them again.
UK Nova doesn't use the status 'Uploader'. Any member may or may not have upload rights regardless of status. For privacy reasons the usernames of uploaders are not disclosed anywhere on the site. Please do not ask questions about the identity of any uploader. If you would like to become an uploader please see Uploading.
The user levels within UKNova are as follows:
User
The starting level for all new arrivals to the site.
Power User (PU)
Must have been be a member for at least 4 weeks, have uploaded at least 25GB and have a score at or above 105. Power Users can access the Suggestions forum. This promotion is automatic within 24 hours of these conditions being met. Note that you will be automatically demoted from Power User if your score drops below 95 at any time.
VR
Awarded by the staff at their discretion to those that have made a unique contribution to the site in some way, normally by being helpful in the forums or IRC, through their uploading efforts, or in some other [non-financial] capacity. VR users and above have access to The Lounge and Zen Garden forums. VR users and above are immune to automatic demotion.
VIP
Considered an elite member of UK Nova. Awarded by the staff at their discretion to those that have made an outstanding contribution to the site in some way. VIP users and above are immune to automatic account expiration.
Nova Friend (NF)
Special UK Nova VIP. The highest level of UKNova user. Awarded by the staff at their discretion.
'Thanked' stars are given on very rare occasions to members who have made a very special contribution to the site. They aren't used to identify donators.
Note: Anyone begging for promotion will automatically make themselves ineligible!
Custom titles are usually reserved for members of class Power User or above. If you feel that you deserve one, please ask a member of staff.
There are occasional blips in the system - and, sadly, some people cheat. But we deal with these things - and anyone found cheating gets banned from the site. But the main thing is for you not to worry about other people's scores - just concentrate on your own. Please don't send a report to tell us that some user has uploaded 1 million terabytes and is possibly cheating. It just wastes everyone's time. Look after your own ratio - and let us worry about everyone else's.
No, sorry. Nothing on this site is for sale. We don't sell credits, status or any other benefits and we never will. Donations are accepted only as entirely voluntary contributions towards the site running costs.
Every single penny from donations to the site is put towards running costs. The benefit to you is that donations enable the site to continue to exist and go on providing its services. Donations are always very appreciated, no matter how large or small, however unlike other sites donations will not buy you a star, VR/VIP/NF status nor any upload credit at UK Nova.
The Donate-O-Meter may appear on the site front page when there's currently a shortfall between the total donations received and the funds required to cover the site running costs for the month. If the Donate-O-Meter has reached 100% you're welcome with your donation next calendar month!
You can still donate even if the Donate-O-Meter reached 100% and your donation will be carried forward in full to the next month. No donations are ever redirected for other purposes.
The indicator is updated manually. It may take 24 hours or more for your donation to be included in the total. Thank you for donating and please rest assured that every penny counts!
The site would be forced to close, or take other action, unless additional funds can be found to cover the shortfall.
No. Some torrent clients are disallowed because they report statistics inaccurately or do not work correctly with private trackers.
The following clients are banned:
Xunlei (any version)
Transmission (versions before 0.7)
BitComet (version 0.60)
Note: This version of BitComet has been withdrawn and some other versions are allowed to be used at UKNova (but see below).
We also recommend that you avoid the following clients:
BitComet
BitLord
Shareaza
BitSpirit
BitTorrent++
Nova Torrent
TorrentStorm
Clients in alpha or beta versions should also in general be avoided.
If you're a downloader we suggest that you use the latest stable versions of either Azureus or µTorrent. Uploaders may also wish to consider using a client which is good at super-seeding, such as BitTornado or to a lesser extent µTorrent or Azureus.
As an uploader, if you use BitComet you must disable the ‘File align to piece boundary’ option when creating new torrent files.
Your score and the amount uploaded and downloaded, as displayed on the website, are updated every few minutes after the tracker receives new information from your client. Clients typically send stats information every 30-90 minutes.
Possible reasons for stats not updating include:
Updated stats are normally only sent to the tracker every 30 to 90 minutes.
The user is cheating.
The server is overloaded or unresponsive. Just try to keep the session open until the server responds again. Flooding the server with manual updates will only make the problem worse.
You are using a faulty client. If you want to use an experimental or development version you do it at your own risk.
These are some of the things that you can do:
If the stats for a torrent you are currently leeching/seeding have not updated for awhile either wait for the next automatic update or force a manual update using the appropriate feature of your client.
Make sure you always exit your client properly, so that the tracker receives the "event=completed" message. It can sometimes help to stop all torrents before exit.
If the tracker is down, do not stop seeding. As long as the tracker is back up before you exit the client the stats should update properly.
Do not use clients which are alpha or beta versions or known to report stats inaccurately. We suggest that you use the latest stable versions of either Azureus or µTorrent.
Some clients, notably TorrentStorm and Nova Torrent, do not report properly to the tracker when canceling or finishing a torrent. This can also happen with other clients if your connection is unstable or you do not exit them properly. The tracker will keep waiting for some message from your client - and thus listing the torrent as seeding or leeching - until a timeout occurs. If you ignore it, it will eventually disappear.
Tracking the statistics for each members uploads and downloads allows the site to identify users with fast connections and/or a good attitude towards seeding and reward those members with the ability to access new torrents sooner after they are uploaded. This greatly benefits all members because our uploaders can then seed new content more quickly and efficiently and ultimately everyone benefits from a wider choice of content being available. The system also encourages seeding with the benefit that torrents tend to have a long lifetime at UK Nova and fast download speeds.
Yes everyone can start new topics (discussion threads). However, we expect you to search for similar threads before doing so and use the existing threads instead if the topic is already being discussed. Even if the existing thread is several months old, or the request has already been fulfilled, please use the existing thread - your post will bump it to the top of the Forum again, and it helps if we can keep all discussion about a show in one place.
If you duplicate an existing topic then your thread is likely to be banished to Room 101. This is especially important in the request forums because they are already extremely busy and topics can be buried very quickly.
Use the box on the left side of most pages. Enter one or more words to search for. If you can't see the search box, click the little white arrow on the very left of the screen to make it appear. The search function only searches topic titles. If you want to search within posts, click the little arrow and put a tick in the "Search full post text" box.
Room 101 is a dumping ground for posts which are moved from other forums. It mostly contains requests which are duplicates, for content which doesn't meet the site rules or are no longer required for other reasons. You will still be able to read your threads if they are banished to Room 101 but no new posts can be added.
The Lounge is a private room in which members can chill out, have a nice cup of tea and discuss the ups and downs of life.
Please don't ask for access to The Lounge. If you're given access to the The Lounge please respect the rules of that area and do not take issues or conversations from The Lounge to other forums.
Please send an all-staff message requesting a moderator to delete it for you (click here). Remember to include a link to the topic that you would like to be deleted (you must be the person who started the topic).
This is what to do if you don't know whether or not a show has previously been uploaded:
Use the search function to look for existing threads about the show. Perhaps try a few different queries if the first doesn't work, e.g. if the programme title doesn't work you could try other keywords such as the names of people in the show.
If you find an existing Re-seed Requests thread, join that one. Or if you find a Show Requests thread, add your voice to that instead.
If there were no active request threads but you found a 'Room 101' thread then read it carefully as you'll need to figure out the reason why it's there - could be a duplicate, or your show might be disallowed or perhaps a request which was filled or already covered in the 'Schedule'. It's okay to add new posts to 'Room 101' threads if you need to ask questions or, in the case of allowed content, if you'd like to request a reseed (this will normally cause the 'Room 101' thread be moved to the Re-seed Requests forum; feel free to ask if this doesn't happen within a few days).
Still no luck? If you find other discussions which indicate whether or not the show has been uploaded before then you can then work out whether to start a new Re-seed Requests or Show Requests thread. Otherwise, create a new Show Requests thread.
Please don't post massive pictures inline. If they're wider than the forum then post a scaled down version, thumbnail or link instead. ( a suggestion of 400x300 max is best for all concerned )
No, we no longer allow members to post invites, invite requests, or links to sites that allow commercially available material to be downloaded.
No. Do not post links to sites that allow commercially available content. Do not post hints or clues or otherwise attempt to work around this rule as new posts (in the forums and torrent comments area) which are against the spirit of the rule will be treated the same as if you had posted a direct link.
We won't be editing references out of the nearly 300,000 old forum posts. Give us a break - we haven't got time for that!
No. Members are not permitted to post adverts, affiliate links, e-bay auction links or offers to buy, sell or trade goods in the UK Nova forums (or in their signatures). If you're unsure whether or not a link you wish to post is allowable, please ask the site staff before posting.
Whenever you see a chevron on UKNova this indicates that there's a drop-down menu or more options that can be selected. Click the chevron next to 'Torrents' on the main bar to perform a quick search. If you don't see the advanced search panel on the torrents list then click the chevron to open it. Clicking on chevrons within the search panel shows or hides additional search options.
Searching the forums is very much like searching for torrents. Whenever you see a chevron on UKNova this indicates that there's a drop-down menu or more options that can be selected. Click the chevron next to 'Forums' on the main bar to perform a quick search. If you don't see the advanced search panel on the forms page then click the chevron to open it (return to viewing the list of topics first if you don't see the side panel or chevron at the side of the page). Clicking on chevrons within the search panel shows or hides additional search options.
Yes you can. Here.
The 'Sitting Ducks' category is a showcase for the talents of UK Nova members. If you have upload rights then you're permitted to upload your own original work in this category for the enjoyment of other members. Downloaders can connect and enjoy your work with 'no waiting time' regardless of their score.
Unless the torrent is a reseed, please do not upload the work of others in this category without their permission.
Note: Upload rights will not usually be given to members solely for access to the Sitting Ducks section.
In the first place, it's unlikely your ISP is doing so. DNS name resolution and/or network problems are the usual culprits.
If your ISP is truly blocking the site then there's nothing we can do. You should contact your ISP (or get a new one). Note that you can still visit the site via a proxy. In this case it doesn't matter if the proxy is anonymous or not, or which port it listens to.
Notice that you will always be listed as an "unconnectable" client because the tracker will be unable to check that you're capable of accepting incoming connections.
The 'Report' links can be used to alert the staff if you notice that a user, torrent or forum post breaks the site rules. It will then be investigated ASAP and you will usually (but not always) receive a response by PM.
The UK Nova source code is not currently available.
UK local time is equal to GMT in the winter and BST in the summer. BST is British Summer Time which is GMT plus 1 hour. The UK Nova server runs to GMT all year round (i.e. like most servers it doesn't adjust for daylight saving time). To see the correct time in the UK right now click here.
There are a number of guides and tutorials to assist with uploading, video capture & editing and other subjects. These can be found in the forums and are listed in the UKNOVA INDEX.
Never hit & run on UKNova torrents regardless of your score. Don't mistake 'no waiting time' torrents for freeleech - all members are expected to seed back at least as much as downloaded - there are no freeleech torrents here! Even if you find seeding difficult you must try to maintain your seeding and keep up an acceptable score as staff consider all accounts on an individual basis and if you're caught hit & running or failing to even try to seed back your fair share for the amount you downloaded then you may be warned and/or your access to torrents may be removed. If your score is below 100 then you should seed more (longer) or download less - it's as simple as that!
You were caught hit & running on a torrent or your score is dangerously low and you don't appear to be trying to improve it. Alternatively, you may have received a warning for poor conduct (for example making unacceptable comments on torrents or in the forum or by private message). If you don't know or can't remember why you received a warning then please ask any member of staff. If your conduct does not improve then your access to the site may be removed without further warning.
You can find a lot of information in Wikipedia and of course by using Google!
UKNova does not allow anything that is available to buy - and so we also don't allow links to other sites that allow material that we don't. Please don't ask for links to other sites, and please don't give any links in the forums. There are various ways and means out on the internet for finding what you want - we suggest you use one of those to find out about other torrent sites, rather than ask about them here.
You can try posting in the Forums; you'll find they are usually a friendly and helpful place - provided you follow a few basic guidelines:
Make sure your problem is not already answered in this FAQ. There's no point in posting just to be sent back here.
Before posting read the sticky topics (the ones at the top). Many times new information that hasn't yet been incorporated into the FAQ can be found there.
Help us to help you. Don't just say "it doesn't work!" and leave it at that. Provide details so that we don't have to guess or waste time asking. What client do you use? What's your OS? What's your network setup? What's the exact error message you get, if any? What are the torrents you are having problems with? The more you tell us the easier it will be for us, and the more likely your post will get a reply.
And needless to say: be polite. Demanding help rarely works, asking for it usually does the trick.
You can also contact our Support Team for further assistance.