Well, excuse me, but I am offended that my criticism of the promote system is being written off as purely self-interest. I stopped promoting because I didn't want to mess with other Sifters' promotes -- how is that being selfish about my own presentation?

I understand that lucky and dag have a duty to the site as a whole. Which is why I asked the question -- how many complaints were generated about the old system? That was a real question. Those of us on the site a lot can get stuck in our own bubble. If there have been complaints about how the site was working, then we all need to know about them. Something put a burr under dag and lucky's saddle about the way promotes used to work -- but I just don't see it and they aren't helping me to understand.

And -- for whatever was prompting this overhaul of the promote system, lucky's new solution is fine. Meets their interest of minimizing the number of promotes on the front page -- lets Sifters promote without worrying about messing with other Sifters promotes -- promoted videos no longer look like ads and they will have full data without having to click through.

I am beginning to wonder if this whole promote controversy is related to mass number of Sifters finally figuring out that they can work cooperatively to get their vids promoted -- to promote your own costs two power points. If you work cooperatively with someone else, you each get a promoted vid for the cost of one power point. And hence the number of promoted vids went up.

I don't see that as a problem in and of itself. I think that makes for a stronger community, where we work together so all can succeed. It encourages conversation between Sifters, which is all to the good of the community.

I really appreciate dag and lucky and all that they put into this site. I appreciate that my opinion is asked. I am not above begging for my point of view. Bottom line, though, it is dag and lucky's deal and I suspect that they are privy to issues and complaints that we know nothing about.

Thanks, our fearless leaders. I appreciate the opportunity to offer my two cents. And I appreciate that you guys clearly are taking EVERYONE'S two cents into account.

As much as I agree with you, our Fearless Leader changed the definition of a dupe and codified it in writing. Emphasis added.

"If a newer submission's video is a clip of content found within an existing post, it will be considered a duplicate unless it meets both these criteria:

The original post is at least 15 minutes in length
The original post is at least 3 times longer than the clip

If a duplicate cannot adequately be considered an exact or reasonable replacement of the original, it should be *discarded."

That last line is to prevent bad back-up embeds.

So this dupe process can't continue without screwing up the backup embed, and so it falls to dft to discard it.

For the record, I think this stinks. We had a Sift Talk with overwhelming support that a dupe is an exact duplicate. This was over-ridden by the Power That Is (Lucky on his own) when someone ignored that Sift Talk vote and called dupe on something that clearly wasn't a dupe.

I understand why Lucky did it, I think -- I think he did it because he was sick to death of all the squabbling over the definition of a dupe, so he just laid down the law.

So, dft, you "have" to discard this video. Or -- start a Sift Talk about it. Or pull this vid into discuss. Which is pretty ironic, given that Lucky wrote those rules just so he wouldn't have to listen to us squabble anymore.

As if the Sift could exist without squabbling.....



>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

^But that video has so many words. Mine only has one. notadupe.org.com

Yeah yeah, sorry fearless leader. I'll tone it down from now on.

..you know i'm right tho. mwahahaha = P

>> ^dag:

Hi there. This is a non-expiring official warning for your ad hom comment. Please attack the idea, not the person. Thanks
In reply to this comment by GenjiKilpatrick:
You bag of shit. Show some respect.
In reply to this comment by lantern53:
That Wheldon was a greedy type, trying to win $5 million dollars in this race.
Why should a guy who drives a car make so much more money than a taxi driver?
The gov't needs to control this kind of greed.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I am honestly really, really sad. I feel a bit silly because I've never been sad at a famous person's death before. I can't scoff at Michael Jackson mourners. I think I have to link to this again: http://blog.videosift.com/dag/Apple-Fanboy-Since-1983

>> ^therealblankman:

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:
shit! now my life has no meaning!!

You're not alone, I'm sure our fearless leader @dag is completely distraught.
But let's face it, what really finally killed him was yesterday's incredibly disappointing iPhone 4GS introduction.

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

shit! now my life has no meaning!!


You're not alone, I'm sure our fearless leader @dag is completely distraught.

But let's face it, what really finally killed him was yesterday's incredibly disappointing iPhone 4GS introduction.

>> ^Issykitty:

It was a fun time! Great to meet Sylvester_ink, a pleasure to see Lucky again, and finally meet our great and fearless leader! I thought for sure there would be others that would show up, but whatever... that was their loss. Yeah, ant... I'm talking to YOU!


IssyKitty, you threatened to crush me with your paws so I didn't want to go. Also, I need a portal/transporter/teleportation since I don't drive.

It was a fun time! Great to meet Sylvester_ink, a pleasure to see Lucky again, and finally meet our great and fearless leader! I thought for sure there would be others that would show up, but whatever... that was their loss. Yeah, ant... I'm talking to YOU!

The list contains following clips:
1. Speech by Frank Oz.
2. When The River Meets The Sea (song), sung by Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold.
3. Bein’ Green (song), sung by Big Bird.
4. Speech by Bernie Brillstein.
5. Fearless Leader (a poem) read by Jerry Nelson (as Floyd Pepper).
6. Bring Him Home (song from "Les Miserables") sung by Louise Gold.
7. Introductory speech and Jim Henson’s letters read, by His wife Jane Henson and children Cheryl and Brian respectively.
8. Speech by Richard Hunt.
9. Muppet Songs pt. 1
10. Muppet Songs pt. 2
11. Just One Person (song), sung by sixteen puppeteers (each with one of their famous characters).
12. When The Saints Go Marching In (song), played by "The Dirty Dozen Brass Band".


For further clips concerning this, have a look at:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Jim-Hensons-death-on-Entertainment-Tonight-ET-May-1990

Also, one part of this playlist contains the singing of Big Bird which Arvana sifted a while ago, so make sure to look it up at:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Big-Bird-singing-at-Jim-Hensons-funeral

Yeah, he's unfortunately right, the dollar is quickly becoming a worthless piece of paper outside of our own country... I went abroad recently and I never felt so poor before... I'd like to ask our fearless leader, "Mr. President, just what the fuck is the point of being the only superpower if its citizens cannot enjoy the rest of the world?" Coupled with the fact that we're loathed in a lot of countries because of this stupid war, our currency is now becoming useless... and wtf was the point of all of it again? Oil? Money to line THEIR pockets??

Good points, theo. I do love some Al Green and if I only knew how to fancy html link to that Soul Train performance, then it would be linked here.

But my tolerance for actors such as Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson runs roughly proportional to how much of their particular political message is intertwined with their work. Mel Gibson of Mad Max, fine. Mel Gibson of Braveheart or le Passion, pretty unbearable.

Which brings me back around to the Chicks. A thinking artist is aware both of their audience and how they wish to inspire, move, or disturb their audience. The Chicks seemed and still seem genuinely shocked that their core of conservative Southern country music yay-hoos and lesser yay-hoos didn't follow their scorn of the Fearless Leader.

Why were they surprised? Like Keith and Greenwood, are they in a happy country bubble?