Davide DB Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 Once upon a time, Vimeo. For reasons officially unknown (I'll come back to this later) Vimeo stopped being, for us Europeans, a community of video storytellers. (As it still likes to call itself). Basically, in certain regions of the world you can no longer use the video search function and at the same time you can no longer browse other users' videos. I can only see and search my own videos and eventually see a video of another user only if I have its link. Even if I know his name I cannot search for him. I can only see his profile if I know his exact url. This post sums up what happened: https://shortverse.beehiiv.com/p/vime-nooo I am so angry. I noticed it by accident and I also looked like an idiot because I as well as thousands of other users thought it was a bug. No communication at all. Out of the blue. The entire UE community lost. Membership fee is the same for everyone but I have most of the features disabled. Those who read this thread and, for example, have an account in the U.S. or other countries not affected by this ban might think that this does not affect them. But it absolutely does not! I have several friends in the U.S. who use their Vimeo account for showreels, basically a videocentric Linked-in. In their profile they have written "available for hire." Here, you must know that their profile is no longer searchable from banned countries. And we don't even know which ones they are. I can only access a video of theirs via direct link but I can't go to their profile or search them by name via the search function. This is my following people page: I can see their names but I cannot click on their profile icons. Sounds like a joke. What is the point of these lists now? Just imagine my frustration, I've been a member for 13 years and I've developed a whole network of relationships over all these years and now I can't even see the profiles of people I've collaborated with, anymore. Think about it before you renew your subscription! Emanuel, sanveer and Christina Ava 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 2 Share Posted November 2 It works at my end... PT-based as of now ATM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 1 hour ago, Davide DB said: (...) Basically, in certain regions of the world you can no longer use the video search function and at the same time you can no longer browse other users' videos. (...) Why to restrict it along certain regions of the globe?! Sounds too much weird to understand it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 7 hours ago, Emanuel said: Why to restrict it along certain regions of the globe?! Sounds too much weird to understand it... Financial problems: they changed the storage quota rules. The are unable to be compliant to EU rules. Then copyright problem I guess... Few months ago I received a notification from vimeo about a couple of my old video infringing music copyright. They were automatically put in private mode...While it's the norm on YT, on Vimeo it was the first time. And Vimeo is full of copyrighted music and they don't have a sofisticated management system as YT. The ban is in entire EU at least. I guess that they were able to reach some form of agreement with right owners in some countries while In EU they simply didn't have this agreement so they locked the users But I pay like a usa member so it's not fair at all. Without notice my account became a sort of Google Drive/MS OneDrive for video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 8 hours ago, Emanuel said: It works at my end... PT-based as of now ATM. If you use it for you job, from now you and your video are invisible to all European users. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noli Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 Thats so sad.. I spent a lot of time on vimeo a few years ago. You can still access your Watch Later List, Favorites and Collections but not even being able to go to the page of people you're following sucks. Davide DB and Juank 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 I don't understand what you're saying... Really. Sounds I have access to all videos over here... I have access to the videos of people I am following. No idea if all of them but some good part of them for sure : ) Looks like not every countries have that ban if any then. Why that? Weird to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 Here are several examples from that list: Are you sure it's not your access/browser, mobile, Android, iOS, whatever, instead? I am in Windows/Firefox right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 3 hours ago, Emanuel said: Are you sure it's not your access/browser, mobile, Android, iOS, whatever, instead? I am in Windows/Firefox right now. Manuel, sorry, did you read my opening message? https://shortverse.beehiiv.com/p/vime-nooo It affects all European accounts! Again: https://www.reddit.com/r/vimeo/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 This is the automatic I (and all EU users) are receiving to our complaints: Quote Hi Davide, Thank you for reaching out and sharing your thoughts with us. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. As part of our compliance with local regulations, the option to search all of Vimeo is not available in some regions, which is why you can search only for videos in your account and team account. If you’re looking for short films to watch, Vimeo has partnered with the European Film Academy(EFA) to offer a collection of Staff Picks to European audiences. This exciting collaboration builds upon both organizations’ shared mission to celebrate creators as they educate, entertain, and inspire audiences worldwide. The European Film Awards' website will now showcase a selection of European Film Award-nominated short films and Vimeo Staff Picks. This creates an opportunity to celebrate short films all year long and will provide film enthusiasts access to an ever evolving collection of exceptional content. Explore the collection here! We can confirm that it is not a bug. Search will no longer be available in some regions as part of our compliance with local regulations. However, please know that we received and appreciate your feedback. Thank you for your understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 1 hour ago, Davide DB said: Manuel, sorry, did you read my opening message? https://shortverse.beehiiv.com/p/vime-nooo It affects all European accounts! Again: https://www.reddit.com/r/vimeo/ No, my name is Emanuel as much as mine is an European account : ) so this is not affecting every European accounts, that I can confirm over here :- ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 I know this makes no sense but maybe because you're using a premium account? Here is from a new free account from a Portuguese IP: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 4 Author Share Posted November 4 Emanuel sorry for getting your name wrong but I don't understand what you are getting at. I am in Italy and Vimeo does not work as it used to. From the one article that summarizes what happened, I read that the change to the terms of the contract was made for several European countries: Quote Using a VPN I confirmed that users in France, the Netherlands, and Germany can no longer utilize website search, access their user feed, or browse channels. Staff Picks redirects to the new partnership page, but the Short of the Week channel, one among thousands of such user-curated collections, returns a “this page isn’t available in your region” message. When navigating to individual user profiles, you can no longer browse user collections, showcases, follow, or message users. Several European users have the same problem and this is confimed by Viemo support which states "this is not a bug". I am glad it works in Portugal. Vimeo support keeps replying to everyone that “the service has been modified in some regions” but refuses to specify which are these regions. Hence the idea that the whole European Union is affected by the change in terms of service. I have been using Vimeo for my work/passion for 13 years and have my entire private archive online there. No use creating another account and using it secretly with a VPN. Ciao Emanuel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSMW Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 There’s a lot of criticism of Vimeo and to be fair, a lot of it is valid, but playing devils advocate… I have over 750+ videos hosted with them. I use it as an on-line storage and download facility both to host videos on my website and for clients to download. Having an upload issue the other day, I went to delete it and err, oops, deleted the most recent 38 client uploads. After some horrified research (I do not have a great connection and a 10 minute 4k production is an overnight job and it can fail several nights in a row) I found out they could restore the most recent 25. I had a chat with them and within 24 hours they restored all 38 with no quibble. The thought of having to re-upload 38 videos with all the fails would be like 2 months for me to re-do manually 🤬 So fair play to them. Davide DB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide DB Posted November 4 Author Share Posted November 4 I agree with you but as I told you there's no difference among my Italian subscription plan and another unaffected by this ban. So why I have to pay the same and I'm not entitled to know who is affected? I'm not able to connect to my partners anymore. This is the last message from Vimeo support: As part of our compliance with local regulations, message, follow, search, for hire card, collaborator card and collections in activity card are not available in some regions, which is why you are not able to see them on Vimeo.com. While we are unable to discuss specific regulatory details, please know that our decision was made to ensure full compliance with applicable EU laws and regulations. We are committed to maintaining a high level of legal and ethical responsibility. Then I discover that Emanuel Portuguese account is not affected. To my knowledge Portugal is 100% inside the EU regulations. Emanuel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPNS Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 im in belgium and also affected. This makes the site mostly useless imo Emanuel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 @Davide DB Yes, indeed, Portugal is full part of EU so no idea why here works differently : ) I only tried to let you know as much as this community that you have a workaround through VPN and free account at least so far. I'll be monitoring it for sure and let you all informed from my side. No worries with that of my name anyway, era una battuta : D Only a point that "E" is part of one of my first names and not some virtual nick in this cyber world we live all in ; ) not equal for all as it seems! Such Vimeo move is incredibly nonsense... I'd feel the same way if I had found that as you did. No excuses for them! Saluti per te e la bella Roma, citta' del mio cuore sempre e sempre : ) Ti contatto una volta lì ;- ) In questo momento, lavoro su qualcosa per Roma prossimo estate... Davide DB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 My hope was that they had introduced it only under certain circumstances... This is terrible news indeed! They will spread it all over the place, I'm afraid. Disgusting to say the least. People have to protest. 10 hours ago, MrSMW said: There’s a lot of criticism of Vimeo and to be fair, a lot of it is valid, but playing devils advocate… (...) So fair play to them. I wish they could struggle with difficulties to see how it hurts from the user's POV. These people are placing Internet upside down. The free world of before is pure business these days, go to hell with all this. The most horrible side of human nature and senseless/emotionless humans have moved to here instead. The same for ads. Worse than TV in its worst ever! Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSMW Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 So this has got me thinking, what if Vimeo fold? I am not bothered about anything on-line older than say 3 years, but that is still something like 100 productions and video is 50% of my business as in if Vimeo disappeared overnight, so would 50% of the content of my website. What are the alternatives? I suppose I could start using YouTube over Vimeo as they are the least likely to disappear but do they offer a similar hosting and download (for clients) facility? No one finds me from Vimeo so it is not a marketing platform for me, but YouTube might be? Or what other hosting/client download options are there? My Squarespace site seems to like Vimeo and YouTube as it’s primary/default options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Vimeo for filmmakers, YT for all the rest. I dare to write that was a bit like that all the way round. Until when, that's the question now, I think. - EAG :- ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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