RIP Vine…
I actually never even knew ya. I hate to admit it, but I struggle with the “too much free time” issues services and apps like Vine raise in me. (I don’t get message boards either — someone explain it!)
And since Vine excommunicated all content that could be considered even the slightest bit racy from the near get-go — please tell me y’all remember how Vine was used for sexy content in the first three seconds of its existence because no one thought to discriminate in their TOS… that was quickly changed though when “porn” was at the top of the app store — I didn’t much run into it through the course of my work.
And now, soon, allegedly, Vine will be gone. On October 27, the app’s imminent discontinue was announced. So RIP Vine, I guess…
…because of course a piracy-based tube site saw an opportunity, probably within six seconds of reading the Death of Vine announcement. According to Vocativ:
Mere hours after news broke that the Twitter-owned platform would shutter, [a piracy-based tube site’s VP] sent Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey a letter, in which he noted the similarities between the two companies and expressed interest in purchasing Vine. [The VP] appealed to the mogul’s financial stake in Twitter, and emphasized that [the piracy-based tube site] was interested in “saving Vine gems” like the famous “Damn, Daniel” video. The letter also made the company’s full intentions clear: “Upon purchasing Vine, we would restore it back to its NSFW glory.”
I mean, it makes sense right — because really, what is Vine, if not a GIF with sound? And as we all know, GIF porn is super popular these days.
Vocativ cited a 2+ years old quote I gave another publication — one I still agree with — in their piece:
As sociologist Chauntelle Tibbals [“recently”] told The Debrief, the rise of the GIF format in porn was inevitable, given that “the consumption of erotic content has always paralleled existing or developing patterns of media consumption.”
…and here’s something I wrote for Mic a while back re the piracy that occurs with Tumblr GIF porn: “There’s a Problem With Tumblr GIF Porn That We Don’t Talk About” (March 28, 2016)
I guess as long as the piracy-based tube site pays for Vine, versus stealing and uploading a version of it somehow, it’s cool that Vine may finally realize its full NSFW potential. But will Dorsey concede to sell his bunk product to something so unseemly as an erotic content provider? And will anyone ever point out the egregious structural inequalities that will *require* PornHub (yes, it’s PornHub) to pay for Vine, while simultaneously allowing them to steal from sex workers and porn producers, all while encouraging consumers to do the same?
So, is it an RIP Vine or an oh la la Vine that’s needed? Only time will tell.
(pictured: image via Vocativ)
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I, uh, know a guy … that spends a bit of time on this piracy based tube site you speak of, and it seems like they’ve been trying to push towards legit. There are a fair few vids that seem to have been uploaded by their creator, with adds for that creator. The premium side of the site appears to be focused on legit content, and their seems to be a community on the site of amateurs that upload their own stuff.
there*
Too early in the am…
Hi Derrill, I suggest telling this guy you know (haha 🙂 to take a look at stats from Takedown Piracy (Takedownpiracy.com) and other DMCA orgs. Said piracy based tube site is still one of the top most offenders (like, top three in the world) using stolen content. Though I agree with you — they are def trying to “clean up” their front-facing image — that’s just their front page. This speaks nothing to the content that must be taken down on a minute-by-minute basis… Because they are still very much reliant on content piracy, which means producers and copyright holders have to hire expensive services to enact the precise legal process required to have their content taken down …or, I guess they could do it themselves too, but that’s a lot of time and skill that’s often most effectively left to the pros. (DMCA law puts the onus of responsibility on the copyright holder, not the pirate, which means the copyright holder or their licensed agent has to find pieces of stolen content, then notify the infringing site, then follow up to make sure it’s done — it’s a lot of work) All that said, if you want *my* opinion (which clearly you do!), the best bet is always to go direct. Like a specific performer? Go to their site directly or hit them up on Twitter and ask them where they would like you to buy their content. Or, if you like a specific director or company, just go to their site direct. If you don’t want to get that precise, go to a reputable adult retail site like adultempire.com, which works like Netflix, has everything, and is legit (read: pays the people who own the content). Feel free to DM me if you need more suggestions, and have a great day!
I guess my, uh, friend is just a casual user of the site, then.
I like the idea of the netflix-like service the most, but I can barely justify netflix by the fact that my wife and kids watch it all the time. If I were living on my own, I’d just game all the time and skip TV/Netflix entirely. I mean I’d miss binging Parks and Rec or Archer again, but I wouldn’t miss it that much.
And ultimately, that’s my … I mean my friend’s situation. I game, and once in awhile I do something else. I mean my friend does. If the tube site goes away, I will shrug and find something else. I pay for stuff I find important to me. My friend. My friend does all this.
This may be a moral quandary. Ethical quandary? Something may have to be changed on my end. It’s never something I’ve worried about before.