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An EC-Controlled YouTube Account

Discussion in 'Empty Closets Help and Feedback' started by Pret Allez, Jun 3, 2014.

  1. Pret Allez

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    I was wondering if the staff has considered creating a YouTube account for posting videos on behalf of users so that the videos do not violate any EC policies. The Empty Closets Content Account (ECCA) would take measures to ensure compliance with the Code of Conduct, Terms of Service and any other relevant Empty Closets policies.

    The only issue I can see arising with this would be increased moderation time, as staff members would have to watch the full duration of each user submission to ensure the content is appropriate and that the user doesn't identify herself or any other EC member. I do admit that the moderation time would be substantially greater than reviewing photo albums, as the staff do currently. Clearly, the time to review movies would be on the order of minutes, while the time to review photographs is seconds.

    However, I believe it would still be possible to realize this avenue for safely and appropriately posting video content that enriches the community provided criteria were established for submissions. For example, the videos have to substantially advance a queer interest by posting medically accurate information, inspirational information, information related to violence prevention or healing response, inter alia. Second, video submissions would be time-limited for moderation reasons. Third, users who repeatedly submit videos that end up being rejected will no longer have their submissions considered, as they are known to waste staff's time.

    For mitigation of security issues, I recommend a YouTube account. This allows the following:

    1) ECCA posts all videos as unlisted. This prevents them from appearing in the channel page or in search results. The only individuals who would be able to view the content would be those who know the link, which are the staff members and the individual users they share the links with.

    2) ECCA blocks comments on all videos. This prevents cyberbullying and also prevents circumvention of EC user privacy policies by having members come in and post "this is me" on a given video controlled by the ECCA.

    I look forward to knowing what staff thinks about this.
     
  2. Chip

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    There *is* an EC Youtube account but it hasn't been used in years except for the Christmas video of a year ago, EmptyClosets Channel - YouTube

    There's also apparently an auto-generated Youtube channel that Google created, apparently from videos people have posted here, that has a bazillion videos in it... though it's definitely not endorsed or created by us.

    Right now, the staff would not have time to handle any video moderation. However, one of the values we have for the new site (whenever it launches, optimistically end of 2014) will be support for video content. We haven't given a whole lot of thought to it yet, and don't have any clear plans for member-contributed video but certainly that should be something we consider.

    Most likely, whatever we display we'd host either directly (to avoid Youtube ads and other distractions) or with a service such as Vimeo that offers a paid service that has embedding and so forth without branding or other promotion.
     
  3. Pret Allez

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    Thanks for clarifying, Chip! And I did figure that moderation time would be the biggest hang-up.

    It sounds like what you're describing is cooler than what I was suggesting anyway.

    Compassion and hugginess,

    Adrienne