VideoSift 5.0 Launch!

It's been over three years since we've had a major number release of VideoSift. As VideoSift becomes a richer, feature-laden community - it becomes harder to change. This is inherent in all software; websites are no exception. So this is a big one. If the current exponential gap between major releases continues - we may have VideoSift 5 for the next 20 years. ;-)

So it has to be great - and I think it is. We start with almost all of the features from the previous version and add some polish - throw in a great new UI and make things work better for mobile. But wait … there's more!

@lucky760 has completely rewritten the way the code behind commenting, logging on and invocations work. It's cleaner, quicker and just plain works better.

We're also happy to add some new badges that are going to be a lot of fun - and useful.

Talent Scout:



Talent scout is awarded to Sifters who find videos that are new or not yet a big deal on the wider Internet. There's a little secret sauce in the formula but if you submit something that most people haven't seen yet, you'll be in the running for this one.

Relatividdy:



We've added a new invocation called *related. It's very simple to use. If you find a VideoSift post (and by post I mean video, Sift Talk, or blog post) with content that is related to another post, just invoke related like this: *related=http://videosift.com/video/Crystal-Blue-Persuasion

Queue Angel:



Awarded to Sifters who help out quality new videos in need, flying below the radar, and assisting new Sifters, trying to lose their P. More secret sauce here, but having Sifters working in the queue is good for the Sift and good for surfacing great videos that maybe aren't getting the love they deserve.

Other changes:
  • The maximum number of Power Points you can accumulate is based on your years of membership. E.g., 5 years on the Sift = 5 Power Points limit. You can always buy more Power Points than your limit.
  • You can now transfer your Power Points to other members, limited by the recipient’s Power Point limit.
  • If you have at least a Bronze Star, you can now submit video from any source; you are no longer limited to the list of approved hosts, and you can submit iframes from any host.
  • The most recent three *promoted videos now stay at the top of the front page. When a new video is promoted, the oldest of the top three is cycled out.
  • Blogs now reside on your profile, however they can be *promoted into Sift Talk.
  • All custom styling for channels and profiles has been reset (sorry guys). Charters can use the new profile customizer, but channels cannot be stylized for now. We'll try and get something going for this in an upcoming release.
  • We've moved channels from subdomains to sub-directories. E.g., it is now videosift.com/happy instead of happy.videosift.com
  • Likewise, we've had to remove subdomains from charter memberships, but your last known subdomain will forward to your current profile.
  • We've simplified Charter membership pricing. It’s now only $9 for 1 month and $7 for a recurring monthly subscription. You can now gift a Charter membership directly on a deserving Sifter's profile, with a single click.
  • You can expand video descriptions inline on listing pages.
  • *Amazon and all related features have been removed.


Lastly I just need to thank a few people. Thanks to Ragnar Jarve who did the incredible new design (I love the dark). Thank you to PSD2HTML who converted Ragnar's design to a responsive web app that works great on iPads, iPhones, and Android devices. Lastly, thanks to my partner, the inimitable @lucky760 AKA Rommel Santor for all of the development and another great release, especially when juggling a newborn bub.



We've opened up the usual bugs thread here. Please report any bugs you find while using our new VideoSift.

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