Well, That's Interesting: YouTube Woes and Vimeo

Before anyone has a stroke: I don't have an opinion on YouTube's actions, regarding WatchReport. Like the fellow said, "I only know what I read in the papers." Or, in this case, online:

"YouTube's Community Police Blow Up Another Innocent Victim"
John Biggs, TechCrunch (December 3, 2010)

"Call me cynical, but after experiencing a YouTube shutdown firsthand, I've come to realize that it is near impossible to build a stable brand or presence on YouTube. The gatekeepers are far too antsy with the big red ban button and, after facing this problem once when CrunchGear's entire video archive was shut down I'm loathe to recommend the service to those trying to post anything other than the occasional video of baby ducklings being blown over.

"WatchReport, a watch website I used to frequent, started posting watch reviews on YouTube in 2005. Over the past five years they racked up two million views and 2000 subscribers on 50 reviews. Then all of the videos were gone.

"On November 23 the account was locked 'due to multiple or severe violations of our Community Guidelines,' which would presumably include 'no sex, nudity, hate speech, shock videos, illegal acts, threats, impersonation, or copyright violation.' These were watch videos and the former owner of WatchReport, Christian, definitely didn't impersonate anyone in the nude...."

"...The lesson? Depend on someone like Vimeo for hosting important stuff. Otherwise it could be taken away at a moment's notice...."

I can tell that Mr. Biggs is disappointed: and regards Vimeo as preferable to YouTube.

This account got me curious about YouTube's TOS: Which weren't all that hard to find. (www.youtube.com/t/terms) The Community Guidelines were linked in that page's sidebar. (www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines) Maybe someone thought WatchReport was too spammy.

But, like I said: I really don't know the facts in this case.

On the other hand, I now know the name of another YouTube wannabe. Or maybe I should say "analog."

Related posts:

• "Well, That's Interesting: Ustream Producer"
  (February 1, 2010)
• "Experiment in Progress: YouTube Video to Advertise Blog"
  (February 14, 2009)
• "That's My Son-In-Law Who's Doing That!"
  (April 2, 2010)