VideoSift is an online community and passionate about Web video. Members submit videos from the best video hosts from around the Net to be voted on by other Sifters with only the best being "sifted" up to the front page. VideoSift was started in February 2006. Since then, we have grown to be the best video aggregator on the Web. PC World magazine agrees.
VideoSift is based on a unique proprietary content management system called Varo CMS, written by VideoSift IT Director Rommel Santor. Although VideoSift shares some common features with other voting communities, we are pretty different in practice. Please insure you have read the Posting Guidelines before submitting videos to our site - or you may incur severe ban-hammering.
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Why did you ban me?
Probably because you self-linked. Have a look at the posting guidelines. You might find your answer there.
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How many votes does it take to get a video sifted up to the front page? ¶
Currently, 10 votes are required to sift up a queued video to the front page.
Videos may be discarded as a result of too many negative votes by members. Currently, a vote tally of -3 will cause a video to be automatically discarded. (See below.)
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Why can't I submit QuickTime, Real, or Windows Media videos?
We are only accepting Flash-based videos because they are compatible with essentially every type of computer (Mac, Linux, etc.) and web browser.
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The videos won't play! Is your site broken?
Make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed for your web browser. If you still have problems it's possible that the actual video host is experiencing momentary technical issues that will probably clear up before too long.
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What should I do if I find something on VideoSift that has been removed by the video host?
If you are a VideoSift member, you can try posting a profile comment for the video submitter, informing them of the problem. If you are a Silver Star member or greater, you can comment with the *dead invocation. If you are not a member, you may contact us and we will address it.
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Can I create or use more than one VideoSift account?
There is a strict rule of no more than one account per person, please. Abusers of this rule will be permanently ban hammered via IP address. Sorry.
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Where's the porn?
None of the allowed VideoSift hosts permit adult videos for content. Occasionally, one might slip through their moderators, in which case it could be posted to VideoSift. If this occurs, please let us know, and we will thank you profusely (and remove it).
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What's the deal with the little stars by some members' names? ¶
The stars are a recognition of a member's contribution to the VideoSift community. We keep score of how many videos a member has had sifted up to the front page and how many other contributions have been recognized and applauded others. It's not much, but we want to indicate that it's the contributors who make VideoSift one of the greatest communities on the web.
Bronze - at least 10 star points
Silver - at least 25 star points
Gold - at least 50 star points
Gold 100 - at least 100 star points
Bronze Diamond - at least 250 star points
Silver Diamond - at least 500 star points
Bronze Crown - at least 1000 star points
View a listing of all abilities available for the various member levels.
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How is a member's rank calculated?
A member's rank is measured by totaling the number of votes received for all active videos submitted by the member. ("Active" means not dead or discarded.) Members are not ranked until they have submitted a video that has been sifted up to the front page.
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How does voting work? ¶
Voting is the glue that holds VideoSift together. All registered members can vote on videos, with the exception that new, probationary members cannot vote on videos for other members who are also on probation, but all members may vote for their own submissions.
When a new video is submitted, it is initially "unsifted." This means it has not yet been deemed by members quality enough for a permanent place on VideoSift. While trying to get sifted up, unsifted videos are queued and available on the Unsifted tab. By default, unsifted videos remain queued for a maximum of 3 days. If a video receives enough votes from members during this time, it is "sifted" up and appears in all of the site's permanent video listings including the Front tab (the site's front page) and the Top Sifts tab. If a video does not receive enough votes, it will be sent to the submitter's personal queue. Newly sifted videos that receive a large number of votes are displayed in the "Top 15 New Videos by Vote" sidebar.
Down voting is available, but only for members with a Bronze Star or higher. (See above.) Down voting is useful for when you find something you really don't like or just feel does not belong on VideoSift. If a video dips too far into negative numbers in its vote tally, SiftBot will automatically discard it. Please do not down vote a video because you dislike the Sifter who submitted it; this is entirely unacceptable. Instead, vote solely based on the quality of video content. If down voting or any other member privilege is intentionally misused, the offending member will be temporarily banned for no less than 2 weeks. A second offense will result in a permanent ban.
One final note: All votes, both up and down, are final. Flip-flopping is not possible, so cast your votes wisely.
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What is this SiftBot thing? ¶
SiftBot is VideoSift's semi-sentient sergeant at arms and house-cleaning robot. SiftBot handles all automated duties like processing member comment invocations, sending notification emails, and kicking people out when necessary (sometimes with extreme prejudice). You don't want to cross SiftBot.
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What's the deal with the
by some members' names? What's a probationary member?
¶
When new, non-charter members register, they are temporarily on probation. The limitations on probies offer a level of protection for VideoSift and other members against abuse. While probationary, members can submit only a single unsifted video at a time and cannot cast votes for other probies. Once a member's first video receives enough votes to be sifted up, they are no longer on probation.
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What HTML tags are allowed in comments? ¶
The following HTML tags are allowed in everyone's comments:
a, i, em, b, strong, blockquote, u, br, small, sup, sub, strike, s, ol, ul, li, code, kbd, tt, p
In addition any full URL (beginning with "http://") in comments are automatically converted into a hyperlink and any newlines will be saved.
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What is with the "NSFW" by some videos? ¶
Some videos might be a little to risque or dangerous for people viewing at work. Videos flagged Not Suitable For Work (NSFW) can be automatically hidden from view by modifying your account preferences if you are a member or, if not logged in, by clicking the corresponding link in the header links at the top of the page.
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What is with the "Blocked" by some videos? ¶
Some video hosts prevent international visitors from viewing their content. The most common situation is enabling playback of video in North America but blocking playback from outside the region.
Region blocked videos are marked as such so users outside the viewing area are aware they may not be able to watch it. Members can automatically filter out such videos from their listings on VideoSift by changing the setting in the member profile. Gold Star members can invoke *blocked to flag a video as being region blocked. The video's submitter and other Gold Stars may invoke *unblocked if the video is corrected. (Yes, "corrected," as in it's incorrect to block the rest of the world. ;P)
VPN servers that provide what appears to be a local IP address to the video host may work to get around region blocking. Some members have reported success with Anchor Free's HotSpot Shield. This is not a product endorsement or instructions to circumvent region blocking- as usual, YMMV.
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What is with the "LONG" by some videos? ¶
This text is displayed beside videos that have been flagged as having more than 10 minutes in length. This is helpful when deciding whether to view a video or when searching for a lengthy video. (Note, this is a hard limit of 10 minutes, and videos of 9:59 minutes in length do not qualify for the LONG flag.)
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What is the deal with these "channels?" What are they and what belongs in them? ¶
Channels are sub-communities on the site. When a video is submitted it may be placed into up to seven (7) channels that apply. Some channels are system-owned while most were created and are managed by users. Each channel has its own subdomain URL (e.g., Comedy.videosift.com) that contains any videos assigned to that channel.
Most channels have been created by experienced Sifters, around their areas of interest. A Sifter may create their own channel upon reaching Bronze Diamond level. (See above.) The Sifter who created the channel is the channel manager.
Gold Star members may add a video to a specific channel by invoking the channel subdomain in a comment. For example, to add to the Cute channel a video of frolicking puppies, invoke *cute in a comment under the video. Note that a video's submitter should just edit to change its channel associations instead of invoking, which adds unnecessary comments. Insure before adding any video to a channel that the video really is the type of video that belongs there by viewing the channels description (e.g., Cute.videosift.com.)
If a video is found to be listed in one or more channels for which it does not belong, a Gold Star member may execute the *nochannel invocation to remove it from all channels.
Sift Talk posts may be added to up to five (5) applicable channels.
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What are the duties of a channel owner?
A channel owner is essentially responsible for everything that goes on in their realm. Here are the basics:
- Make sure the videos in your channel belong there
- Keep an eye on Talk posts in your channel and make sure they are topic related
- Try to be supportive of videos assigned to your channel
- Encourage interaction among those Sifters who frequent your channel
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Can a video be associated with more than one channel?
Yes. Videos can be associated with a maximum of seven channels.
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How does the "Top New Videos" sidebar panel work? Why isn't my video listed there? ¶
This sidebar selects videos with the most votes that were last queued within the past four days and originally submitted within the past two weeks, then lists them ordered with most votes first. If you think a video should be listed but isn't, it is either because it was queued more than 4 days ago (hover your mouse over "published by" to see a sifted video's queue date), was originally posted more than 2 weeks ago, or it does not have a high enough vote total compared to the other videos listed.
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What is the Hot list?
This is a listing that shows the newest videos generating the most buzz with the hottest videos listed first. Only videos submitted in the past 48 hours are included in the listing.
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Why does it say "PQUEUED" next to some videos I find? What's a personal queue? ¶
This text informs that the video is currently residing in the submitter's personal queue. New videos are queued with all other unsifted videos in the site's main queue. If these videos don't receive enough votes to be sifted up to the front page by the time they expire, they are moved into the personal queue.
The personal queue is a special area of each member's profile where their expired queued videos sit indefinitely. There is no limit to the number of videos that may be listed here nor is there an expiration. Personal queued videos may still receive votes and get published. All normal invocations still work on them, so if another member would like to *promote the video to give it another chance in the main queue, for example, they can do that.
The videos in a personal queue are still active, in this regard, so if another member attempts to submit a video already in a personal queue, the new submission is a duplicate and should be discarded.
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Why does it say "DISCARDED" next to some videos I find? ¶
This text informs that the video has been discarded from the site. A discarded video is one that is no longer available in any listing on the site. There may have been a problem with the video or perhaps it was discarded because it was considered not quality enough to be sifted up to the front page.
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What does the "DEAD" mean next to some videos? ¶
A dead video is one that has been flagged by a Bronze Star member as being no longer functional. The submitter has 2 days to find new embed code for the same video and fix it. If it is not fixed by that time, it will automatically be sent to the Dead Pool where it will remain until it is fixed.
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What is the Dead Pool? ¶
After a Sifter has been notified that their video is dead, they have 48 hours to fix the post by finding new video embed code for the same content. If it is not fixed within that period, the video is transferred to the Dead Pool. The Dead Pool is visible only to logged-in members, and videos there may be fixed by any Bronze Star and above member. When a member fixes a video that belongs to someone else, they are rewarded with one star point. Members may fix DeadPool videos as often as desired, but a maximum of one star per week will be rewarded for doing so.
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I want a blog. How do I create one? ¶
Personal Sift Blogs are available to all charter members. If you would like one of your own, you can register as or upgrade your normal account to charter status, then just head to the Blog listing where you can start posting. Your blog settings may be viewed and modified on the charter page of your account preferences.
Note that misuse of your Sift Blog may result in your account being banned and all blog posts deleted with no refund for your charter premium. Misuse includes but is not exclusive to including malicious code or spam in a blog post or personal blog sidebar.
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What are these Power Points I keep hearing so much about? ¶
Power Points are available to all members. By default, all members are allowed a maximum of 1 Power Point at a time. Once you use any of your Power Points, they will be recharged two days later.
Power Points can be used to perform special abilities on VideoSift. The abilities available to each member depends on their star level. (See Star Powers for a complete list.) For example, at the cost of 1 Power Point, Gold Star members can invoke *quality and Gold-100 members can invoke *promote.
There are other "super power" abilities that can be performed for special members that have 2 or more Power Points available. At the cost of 2 Power Points, a member may do some or all of the following depending on their star level privileges:
- Execute two of the "1 Power Point" abilities, as described above (privileged members only)
- Execute *doublepromote - Like *promote, but doubles the "float" time (not your own post; privileged members only)
- *Promote your own post - Like *promote, but can be used on a post of your own (available
to all members including
probationary
members) - One extra queue slot - If you run out of queue slots, you can submit one more video
(maximum of one extra slot at a time; not for
probies)
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Comments ¶
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What can't I say in a comment?
We love a good fiery comment thread, but sometimes they go overboard. Please avoid personal attacks. It's okay to criticize ideas but refrain personal insults. Please avoid blatantly racist speech, threats, or other verbal abuse. This goes for comments in public arenas as well as private member profile comments. If a comment is bad enough it will probably be deleted due to negative feedback. If these types of comments are regular occurrences, we will probably ask you to leave the community.
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Can I cast votes for comments?
All members can cast an up-vote for a great comment. Members who receive 15 up-votes on a single comment are awarded a star point (1 maximum per comment). Conversely, comments that are out of line and violate the above guidelines can be down-voted by Bronze Star members. Lastly, comment spam, wherein someone attempts to advertise a product or service via comment, may be flagged as spam. After 3 spam votes, the comment is deleted and the violating member's spam comment tally is incremented. If applicable (see star powers), once a member's spam tally reaches 2 the account is automatically banned and all comments associated with the user are deleted.
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What can't I say in a comment?
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Posting Guidelines ¶
So you have a sweet video you'd like to post. That's great. We appreciate all of the additions that help keep VideoSift alive and kicking, but sometimes videos are posted that really shouldn't be on VideoSift. We don't like to delete your videos and *ban you. Honestly, it makes us sad. With that in mind, we've put together a few guidelines to which you must adhere whenever posting a video. Please read these before you make your first post!
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Please do not self link.
While you may see this site as a great way to promote a project you are working on or promoting, it would be bad for our content if everyone just put up videos of them and their friends doing random things. If you are associated with a project you think is truly amazing and must be shared, please contact us. We'll take a look at it and if we also think it's great too, we'll post it for you. If you attempt to post it yourself, your video and account will be deleted. Hey, it's harsh, but it's harsh love.
What exactly consitutes a self link?
If any of the following is true about a particular video you are considering submitting, it is a self link, with NO exceptions for any member:
- The video is associated with your account on the video host (i.e., you uploaded it to YouTube, Google Video, etc.).
- You played any role, no matter how large or small, in any aspect of the production of the video.
- You are in any way responsible for or involved in marketing, promoting, or any other manner of proliferating the video.
- You could receive any form of compensation (monetary or otherwise) as a result of the submission or subsequent views.
- You are somehow represented in the content of the video whether photographically, artistically, audibly, or metaphorically.
If you self link, regardless of your logic or explanation, you are violating the posting guidelines. There are no exceptions for any reason, whatsoever.
Finally, submitting a video that is considered spam falls within our definition of a self-link. If you create an account solely to post a video for whatever reason, but do not actually participate in VideoSift in any other way before or after, you may be considered a spammer/self-promoter and your account is subject to banning.
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Please do not post videos that make fun of other races.
Because of the high volume of world-wide traffic on VideoSift, it is very easy to unintentionally offend a good number of people with material like this. If you think a video is questionable, it is probably not going to pass our standards, and you are probably better of not submitting it.
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Please do not post pornography or "snuff" films (which we define as the explicit depiction of loss of human life displayed for entertainment).
Note: The presence of human fatality is acceptable and not considered "snuff" if presented as a limited portion of a lengthy educational, informative news report or documentary. Our definition of "snuff" does include but is not exclusive to any short clip in which a human fatality occurs whether or not any victims are actually visible on camera.
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Please do not post entire episodes of television shows or movies, unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt they are in the public domain.
That's what BitTorrent is for.
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Search the site before submitting to see if the video has already been posted.
Duplicates will be *discarded. A duplicate video is one which contains content already on VideoSift in a published, queued, personal queued, or dead video submission. Minor changes in content, like a few additional insignificant seconds of video or alternate background music, will still be considered dupes. The only exception to this is if the change in audio makes a significant difference to the video content.
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Link Partners Program ¶
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How does the Link Partners program work?
All logged in VideoSift members may register a blog or website as a VideoSift link partner. You can then display your custom VideoSift partner links on your site. We keep track of visitors that click your links to VideoSift. We display your RSS feed or website link on our site and return clicks to you. It's that simple.
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Can you guarantee that you will send us as many links as we send you?
We will do our best. VideoSift receives over 2.8 million page views a month and we will work to insure that our outbound clicks sent to you match up with our inbound ones received from you.
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How do you prevent cheats from gaming your system?
We closely monitor inbound links, IP addresses, and other indicators. If anything looks suspicious we will disable the member's account and investigate.
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Will a link followed by a web crawler count as a click?
No. If a robot (aka. spider, crawler, etc.) such as GoogleBot follows any inbound or outbound links, it will not be counted as a valid click.
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Can I specify any page or RSS feed to receive clicks from VideoSift?
Yes, as long as the content is acceptable. No adult sites, pop-ups, spam or other obnoxious stuff is permitted. We will be the final arbiter of what is acceptable. Intentional violation of this policy will result in your account being banned.
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Can I get credit for sending clicks to any page or RSS feed at VideoSift?
Yes, but to receive credit you will need to make sure your Link Partner code is appended to the VideoSift URL you are linking to. You can generate a custom Link Partner URL by pasting any VideoSift address into the generator form in your Link Partner settings.
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Can I use this program simply to improve my website's Page Rank?
No. The Link Partner program is designed to provide an exchange of visitors between VideoSift and your website, not to falsely inflate the rank of one another.
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What do I do if there is problem or I have a question not answered here?
Please contact us. We won't bite.
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Abuse Guidelines ¶
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Video votes must be cast only for the content and nothing else; the video must be viewed before voting
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Comment votes must be cast only for the content and nothing else; the comment must be read in its entirety before voting
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Harassment or personal attacks in any form (comment, ST post, blog, submitted video, etc.) are forbidden
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No modification or adjustment may be made to another member's post unless aiding the submitter by improving the post for the community (e.g., discarding, tag editing, channel modification, etc.)
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Abuse of the site, other members, votes, posts, comments, or any privileges, especially star abilities, whether mentioned above or not, may result in account suspension or a permanent ban
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Description of Service
VideoSift is a free, online application from Sift Partners, Incorporated ("the Service"). You understand and agree that the Service is provided on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. VideoSift disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Service. VideoSift also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.
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Personal Use
The Service is made available to you for your personal use only. Due to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (which is available at http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm), you must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use this Service. You must provide current, accurate identification, contact, and other information that may be required as part of the registration process and/or continued use of the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Service password and account, and are responsible for all activities that occur thereunder. VideoSift reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any time without notice for any reason.
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Proper Use
You agree that you are responsible for your own communications and for any consequences thereof. Your use of the Service is subject to your acceptance of and compliance with the Agreement. You agree that you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence. You shall not, shall not agree to, and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to: (i) use the Service to upload, transmit or otherwise distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, obscene, contains viruses, or is otherwise objectionable as reasonably determined by VideoSift; (ii) upload, transmit or otherwise distribute content that infringes upon another party's intellectual property rights or other proprietary, contractual or fiduciary rights or obligations; (iii) prevent others from using the Service; (iv) use the Service for any fraudulent or inappropriate purpose; or (v) act in any way that violates the Program Policies, as may be revised from time to time. Violation of any of the foregoing may result in immediate termination of this Agreement, and may subject you to state and federal penalties and other legal consequences. VideoSift reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to investigate your use of the Service in order to determine whether a violation of the Agreement has occurred or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.
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Your Intellectual Property Rights
VideoSift does not claim any ownership in any of the content, including any text, data, information, images, photographs, music, sound, video, or other material, that you upload, transmit or store in your VideoSift account. We will not use any of your content for any purpose except to provide you with the Service.
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Representations and Warranties
You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by you to VideoSift to participate in the Services is correct and current; and (b) you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform the acts required of you hereunder.
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Privacy
As a condition to using the Service, you agree to the terms of the VideoSift Privacy Policy as it may be updated from time to time. VideoSift understands that privacy is important to you. You do, however, agree that VideoSift may monitor, edit or disclose your personal information, including the content of your emails, if required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Use and the VideoSift Privacy Policy. Personal information collected by VideoSift may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which VideoSift or its agents maintain facilities. By using VideoSift, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.
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Advertisements
As consideration for using the Service, you agree and understand that VideoSift may display ads and other information adjacent to the content of videos and comments. VideoSift serves relevant ads using a completely automated process that enables VideoSift to effectively target dynamically changing content.
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Account Inactivity
After a period of inactivity, VideoSift reserves the right to disable or terminate a user's account. If an account has been deactivated for inactivity, the email address associated with that account may be given to another user without notice to you or such other party.
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Termination; Cancellation
You may cancel your use of the Services and/or terminate this Agreement with or without cause at any time by providing notice to VideoSift, however a terminated account may continue to exist for up to ten business days before such cancellation takes effect. VideoSift may at any time and for any reason terminate the Services, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account. In the event of termination, your account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your account or any files or other content contained in your account although residual copies of information may remain in our system. VideoSift will notify you via email of any such termination or cancellation, which shall be effective immediately upon VideoSift's delivery of such notice.
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Indemnification.
You agree to hold harmless and indemnify VideoSift, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the Service, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys' fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, VideoSift will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.