Seems to me that you're being misunderstood. The weird thing is that it seems almost deliberate. It reads like their stock position is that if anybody asks whether something they're doing breaches the ToS, they should err on the side of caution in their response and just say No. My personal reading of what you're doing is that it's fine under their ToS, but it's a bit depressing to see this kind of response from them, that doesn't seem to be trying to help you out or understand what it is that you're trying to do. Especially when they used to handle all support requests more quickly and positively than anyone else.
I'm sure we're all aware that they've been switching their focus away from people like us and from YouTube clip content, to position themselves more strongly as The Web TV Show People. It's obvious that videoblogging isn't going to make anybody any money by itself, but on the other hand there are a lot of people out there who use Blip because it's a fantastic video sharing site, with a great set of features - better than YouTube. Seems to me that things like your videos are just sensible free social marketing for them - showing off why Blip is great to people who usually just see YouTube embeds. But perhaps the weight of HD content being uploaded to their servers, which they have to transcode and stream out, is costing them too much to be worth it. And I guess videoblogs and "marketing and commercial" videos often opt out of advertising, therefore don't make Blip any money. I know Vimeo banned videogame screencasts because they were costing too much in terms of processing time and bandwidth. Perhaps that's why Blip say "We are not a good solution for screencasts" - even though they're actually a great solution for your kind of screencasts. So. Add some post-roll adverts onto your videos, make them some money, and see how keen they are to nuke your account after that ;) Rupert On 28-Oct-09, at 1:24 PM, Adam Warner wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm disappointed to learn that Blip.tv is discouraging me from > hosting my videos. I'm especially disappointed because I have been > using Blip since the beta days (under two accounts). I feel like > I've just been kicked in the gut. This email to the group is > intended to ask your opinion on whether I should continue with > Blip.tv and if not, I would really appreciate your opinions on > alternatives for hosting my videos as it relates to my requirements > to keep some private and some public. > > Here are the details. I am developing a new site which will contain > a lot of video. While I was poking around in my Blip.tv account I > happened across their FAQ and saw something that I wanted to get > some further information on before I started hosting hundreds of > videos. I sent Blip.tv this message through their contact form: > > I have a Pro account and have been using it mostly for testing some > video tutorials I've been making. The reason (I'm paying) for the > Blip Pro account > is because of the private feature and the ability to turn off > embedding > in the player settings. > > While browsing around in > the Dashboard today I came across the content policy and it has me a > bit worried as it may relate to my intended usage of Blips service. I > hope you can clear things up and advise. > > My > intention is to utilize my Blip account to continue to host my > tutorial > videos for a learning site in development. The site is named > LearnWebTools and is located at http://learnwebtools.com. > The site's focus will be to provide video tutorials on various web > technologies. My desire is for some of these videos to only be > available on this site (ones marked as private), and some to be > available to through the show page (ones marked as public) and to take > advantage of your video distribution service. > > I > am looking for verification from Blip as to whether or not my intended > usage constitutes a "show" in Blip's terms and if not, what steps I > would need to take to become compliant. > > The first reply from Blip Support: > > Thanks for reaching out. We are a free platform, provided your > content meets our terms of service. > > We are not a good solution for marketing or commercial videos. See > our Terms of Service: > > Prohibited Content section, fourth bullet. You can read this at > > http://www.blip.tv/tos > > It looks like you have a really interesting business, and I hope you > find a good match for a service provider. > > Best to you in your endeavors! > > ***Fourth Bullet of the tos says this*** > Content that has as its sole or primary purpose to advertise a > particular product or service that, in the sole judgment of Blip.tv, > does not otherwise have redeeming value to the community. Blip.tv may > allow the uploading of some such content for a fee, at its sole > discretion. Such advertising content may be treated differently than > other content (i.e. through indications that it is an advertisement, > or > exclusion from some indices or searches). > > I replied with this: > > I'm not sure I was clear on my intent. My intent is > to create a show that showcases my video tutorials. It wouldn't be a > show in terms of actors and such, more of a helpful "Reality" show. It > is not to market commercial videos. I was asking if this would be > considered a "show" under the Blip tos? I really do hope I can > continue > to use the Blip.tv service. > > ...and received this response: > > We're not a good solution for screencasts. If it is determined a > tutorial is meant as advertisement for a product the account would be > removed. > > Is it just me, or am I being misunderstood by this support person? > If you do a simple search for "tutorials" or better yet > "screencasts", you will see many examples of tutorial screencast > shows. Maybe the issue is that I actually asked permission? I'm just > so disappointed. I plan to reply to the latest response with some > further questioning (and perhaps begging), or maybe someone from > Blip will see this and chime in (Mike do you still read these > threads?) > > I welcome your thoughts everyone, and if I'm just plain wrong in my > thinking that I should be able to continue using Blip, then so be > it. I'll start looking for alternative ways to host my videos. Maybe > I should go with the FlowPlayer route and just host my own? > > > Sincerely, > > Adam W. Warner > http://LearnWebTools.com > http://WordPressModder.org > My Recommended Web Hosting > > ________________________________ > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
