Response from: David Dundas    (01/29/06 11:34pm)

Pete,

Thanks for writing about us.

YouAreTV’s take on online video is that, we are seeing four primary types of video content being consumed on the web today: mainstream content that is legally shared, mainstream content that is shared without the consent of the rights holders, personal video which tends to be more goofy and unscripted, and independently produced video. What we have heard from our users is that there is no real place for quality independent content to be showcased in a way that is not overcrowded or devalued. YouAreTV is working to fill that gap. I invite you to visit the YouAreTV site and view some of our content. We hope you’ll find that it is a bit different than the rest of the services out there.

But to answer “inquiring minds,” I think this was a simple case of miscommunication. At the base of the miscommunication was that the part of the agreement was taken out of context primarily because it was very "legalese". In dealing with individuals who own content, not companies, our terms should have been drafted for the real people to understand and agree to, not a legal team. We learned that quickly, and made those adjustments accordingly. OurMedia's (a competitor’s) ensuing blog took the worst of what was said, with no framing of the forum discussion, and the resolution of those concerns. If you do read the Yahoo thread, the back and forth you will see it was a healthy discussion, and in the end the members of the forum and the moderator of the forum defended and supported us for proactively listening.

Based on the concerns we heard in that forum, we did update our terms saying exactly what it said before, but making those terms clearly understandable by any person who submits video content to our site. There are many sites where that is not the case.

We encourage you to understand not only the story behind the headline, but also get to know the YouAreTV service. We are working daily to make it the best place for content creators to showcase their content.

If you have any additional questions I’d love to receive emails at david@youare.tv.

Thanks again!!

David

Response from: Peter Caputa    (01/30/06 7:29am)

Thanks for the great response, David. The most important part of this whole thing is that you've been communicating with the outside world.

I haven't made consuming online video a bit part of my habits. I'll check out Youare.tv in a bit and maybe that'll change.

Good stuff!