Kaiser Soze’s Blog

The scene rules or notes are the standards in the warez scene for releasing warez. These standards are the minimum requirements for a release. The scene rules are defined by groups of people who have been involved in its activities for several years and have established connections to large groups. These people form a committee, which creates drafts for approval of the large groups. In organized warez distribution, all releases must follow these predefined standards to become accepted material. The standards committee usually cycles several drafts and finally decides which is best suited for the purpose, and then releases the draft for approval. Once the draft has been signed by several bigger groups, it becomes ratified and accepted as the current standard. There are separate standards for each category of releases. The scene rules can be updated anytime, though it is most likely that the rules won’t change more than 1 or 2 times a year.
Source: AboutTheScene

These rules are private files, not meant for anyone outside the scene. But as they are found very easily on the web, here they are:

update:

• XviD Release Standards 2009
• The 720p x264 TV Releasing Scene Standards 2008