Going along with the idea that you want to keep this a community-based site (not letting YouTards invade), here are a few conservative and most likely unpopular thoughts for the Sift...

I'll mention this first, since, surprisingly to me, it seems to be a contentious subject. Keep PQueues as they are. They give identity to members, sometimes moreso than sifted videos. Most are not sifted because of the time posted, number of views, number of buddies that check your PQ.

Set the default for the front page back to "Newness." The mentality of the Sift has changed. I've read complaints from people saying the quality of sifted videos has gone down, and the "Hotness" tag was supposedly the remedy. The only thing that has accomplished, from my POV, is an acceleration of dumb videos being upvoted. Whether that is because of voting cliques or not, catchy titles or not, doesn't matter.

Force people to "sift" through their own personal preference of videos. This ensures a genuine appreciation for videos that are posted, with no bias based on what other people like. While going through the "Hotness" page lets you know what has been upvoted in the past half-day or so, it's barely a recognition of the quality videos that are out there. The first few are usually good, but once you get to the second page, videos with only 2, 3, or 4 votes defeat the purpose. It perplexes me sometimes when a day-old video with 2 votes can appear on the "Hot" list, and this happens often.

On the flip-side, videos that aren't recognized right away for the same factors (no 'catchy' title, not posted at 'rush hour', long videos) are ignored. I've used "Newness" all the time and the majority of them are now only getting 10-15 votes max. I'm not speaking out about my own videos - I couldn't care less about how many votes my random shit gets - but I HAVE noticed that if any of mine make the "Hot" list, they are a sure thing to get sifted, whether they are better quality than the others or not. It all depends on how many votes are received in a certain amount of time.

Some people don't know the 'hot' times to post videos and we shouldn't have to care about that. To make it fair for everyone, both the Front Page and Unsifted should be set to the "Newness" or "newest queue date" factor. If something is posted during a 'slow' time, it will get more exposure, and vice-versa. Let the people do the math (votes per view) in their own head if they want to - or, of course, use them as a secondary option.

I think this back-to-basics approach would help the Sift, in fairness both to new Sifters (who don't have cliques) and old Sifters (who think the place is going rotten with 'strategic, agenda-driven' cliques).

Shit, I didn't think this post would end up so long. Basically... present everything in newest order posted as the default, forcing people (and mostly newbs who haven't figured out how to customize) to search through and upvote things based on their own principles and what they like/dislike. The "Hotness" factor is flawed in both the Sifted and Unsifted sections.

Crap, this is too long. Nobody's gonna read it. Free promote to anyone who made it this far.

Rasch is a funny dude, I'll give him that.

Ha ha ha ha, and I hadn't voted for my own video, what a newb I was

I think the truth is: mostly only the newbs and probies don't go through the unsifted videos and mostly only look at the top fifteen. It is mostly the people who have been around a long time that look though that and then they probably look out for people they know.

Sad but true.

poor stupid lonely atheist, what do they know?
reverting to billboards to try and pick up chicks, how dispicable.
i love how the news reporters framed this issue, so fair and balanced™. It must've been rating weeks or a slow "news" day. Oh no, I forgot, our news in this country sucks that bad.
before the newbs flame me...check the avatar.

Congratulations, kronosposeidon! Coming from a newb who just today sifted his first video (hooray for me!), you are truly an inspiration. ~sniff~

*quality
such a good king, he even looks out for the little people.
(Like "p"s, newbs, not midgets silly...)

I lol at all the newbs and noobs that talk to you when addressing someone else.

Haha, nothing better than pissing off the newbs; especially if they walked back up the mountain again. Good grief!

A bit hard lined, Gwiz.. I wouldn't go so far as to say Eklek has an "agenda". Essentially you are correct in the fact that this site too is a game. A newb shouldn't have the same status as the vets. Although, the majority of sifters here are happy to promote new members if they have a pretty good first sift.

We don't need to adopt any more policies or guidelines imo. Its always good for business to be welcoming to new blood. Its just good 'siftiquette'.

Hey after all, when we old farts are in the Sift old folks home one day.. the youngins will be fixin our embeds while we gum our creamed corn.

smoking is for newbs.

Call me a newb, but why's it have 60 votes, and not appearing in the Top 15?

Duh, its a Composite Longbow.
1d8 x3 with an effective range of 110ft.
newbs.

yeah. i know i'm just the newb here? but i saw a couple things there that i'm surprised you've tolerated this long.

Thanks Dag, krono and zifnab!!!!! It's really exciting, I lost count until I saw I was around 235, it seems like I was just a newb.

yeah and WHO is he?

I mean, k, there's his nick, he must be a newb, never heard about him. who is him, that was the question