Vimeo Blocks VideoSift

posted by Brian Houston (dag) 1 decade 3 years 2 months 1 week ago • 1,710 views

I'm as shocked as you are. We've been hosting Vimeo videos for over 4 years - and if ever there was a video provider that seemed to match our community ethos, it was Vimeo. Here's what's happening:

In response to this post by @geo321, I sent this to Vimeo:

Hello, I know there is a similar known issue for videos playing directly on Vimeo, but we are getting a differently worded error (above title) on videos embedded on our site, VideoSift.

Just wanted to make sure we haven't been blacklisted - as we have a LARGE quantity of frequently viewed Vimeo embeds on VideoSift.

Thank you

Dag

I received a private reply from their community manager today:

Hi Dag,

I apologize for this, but since you have a store on your site, we cannot allow you embed our videos. Please see our guidelines and terms of service:
vimeo.com/​guidelines.
vimeo.com/​terms

###########
Content + Community Manager

To which I replied:

Really? VideoSift has been hosting Vimeo videos for over 4 years and we have *thousands* of them on our community site. In all that time we've had a "store" or at least have been selling t-shirts to support our community. Our members are already getting restless. videosift.com/​talk/​Vimeo-Videos-Dead-on-Videosift

VideoSift has 1.5 million visitors a month and I've thought that we've always been a good partner for Vimeo with a similar outlook and community spirit. Please respond ASAP - I'll need to go into damage control mode.

Thanks and cheers
So, here we are in damage control mode. We have temporarily disabled the *dead command on Vimeo content until this is sorted. If we can't sort it - well, the nice thing is that we don't rely on any one video provider, we'll begin a campaign to replace all the Vimeo content with alternatives. I really hope it doesn't come to this.

I am hopeful that this can be resolved. I love Vimeo - it's what I use for my personal videos.

If you'd like to help, perhaps contact Vimeo and let them know how you feel.

Update:Well that was quick! Here's a resolution from Vimeo:

Hi Brian,

I apologize for this issue. I have unblocked VideoSift. We made a hasty decision and were quick to judge. We get a lot of abuse and we make quick decisions sometimes.

I am sorry for the short outage and I truly thank you for your kind attitude and patience. It's a true breath of fresh air when dealing with this type of thing.


Thank you Vimeo! We still love you - and STILL my personal favorite video host of choice.

31 Comments

Hybrid says...

Well this sucks! Vimeo have been a great provider of quality videos, and not all of its content can be found on other hosts like YouTube. So I'd imagine a lot of the Vimeo sifts will remain dead should it come to that.

We should also look at it from the point of view, that should they decide not to change their minds on this, then they are effectively no different to a video content provider going bust. They'll come and go over the years, and we'll adapt and fix up VideoSift content as best we can. So this could end up being a trial run... except given this is something they can do something about, this feels more like a kick in the teeth.

I'm not sure I would have really visited Vimeo if it wasn't for all the excellent sifts from there.


kymbos says...

This is a disgrace!

You have both behaved like mature adults in an environment specifically designed for toddler-in-sandpit style tantrums. The internet was not built for decent, rational people to resolve issues sensibly.

Please resolve.

Deano says...

So what kind of "abuse" are they talking about? I'd assume if you provide embedding code they could wind up anywhere, good or bad. Are Vimeo saying they actually scour the net judging each site on how worthy it is of having their embeds?

dag says...

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

Maybe he meant abuse in contacting them, not sure. I do worry about Vimeo - such a great service, but I know they must be paying a buttload for bandwidth -especially with so much HD content. I was a premium member, but let my subscription lapse. Time to re-up I think.
>> ^Deano:

So what kind of "abuse" are they talking about? I'd assume if you provide embedding code they could wind up anywhere, good or bad. Vimeo say they actually scouring the net judging each site on how worthy it is of having their embeds?

AdrianBlack says...

I'm with you on that, Geo...I was pretty sure I might have to quit sifting if this happened. I am SO glad Dag so quickly got it sorted out (and so well done, too).
>> ^geo321:

Phew, that's a relief. Vimeo is my favorite place to embed from.

Ornthoron says...

Yay for Vimeo resolving this in a friendly and mutually benefitial manner! I've been in love with Vimeo since I discovered it before I joined VideoSift, and many of my best sifts are hosted there.

If anyone from Vimeo is reading this, I wish you a splendid future!

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