I received an e-mail from some folks who are apparently upset for having their account banned for self-posting.



They posed the following question




"Are you saying if somebody shot a funny clip of themselves singing or dancing, and put it on VideoSift themselves, it would be deleted & their account terminated as well?"




Just so we're absolutely clear, the answer is yes. This is being posted on Sift Talk so there's a record of this for all to see.



To be fair, I will also respond to the following point they raised.




"This seem contrary to the intent of sites like VideoSift."




It goes on to complain about the posting of clips from major commercial productions, etc.



To be clear, please understand that Videosift loves homemade content. The current #1 all-time video is still homemade. The top three are all user-made. The vast majority of the top videos are made by ordinary folks.



Then why was the clubhousegang account banned? Because they didn't follow the very simple rules on the Sift: the First Commandment of Sifting is you can't sift up your own content.



If you're really proud of it, talk to some of the other Sifters and



Ironically, this policy is in place to prevent the site from being overrun with clips fired in by corporations practicing viral marketing.



The rule is tough but fair - the reminders to read our posting guidelines are spelled out in bold red letters - "Please do not submit self-promotion of any kind.
Please read the posting guidelines before posting for the first time. Violation of these guidelines may result in a permanent ban."

I don't think we can get any clearer than that.