Hello everybody,
We would like to announce that as of today VIDS platform in its current form (PissRIP, JavRIP, SpyRIP, PoopVids, DesperVids, DrunkVids and WetVids) has reached the end of its life cycle. But don’t worry, this is not the end of the story, but rather its next chapter.
What follows is Vids.rip – a soft reboot of the platform, something we like to call "Vids 2.0" internally. Let’s go over the main features of this reboot and the reasons behind it:
A single site
Over the years, we have created a number of sites with the goal of better organizing our content and attracting new audience. However, with the exception of a few outliers like DesperVids, they did not perform too well – mostly because they did not have dedicated admins in charge and ended up primarily aimed at existing members of PissRIP. The need to juggle several accounts and maintain presence at several sites at once proved to be an annoyance for both you and us – not to mention few people liked the idea of having to maintain several memberships at the same time. To remedy that, Vids will accommodate all the sites and content of ours under the same roof.
A new engine
Since 2017, PissRIP and other sites operated using a modified news site engine, which was never intended to be used for a tube site. As a result, we have always been limited in what we can do with it. Even though we’ve been using third-party and developing in-house modules – there are bugs we’ll never be able to fix as well as features we have promised at some point but would never be able to deliver. The only way for us to address that was to invest into a specialized engine designed for the sites such as our own. This will undoubtedly lead to better experience for you at Vids, enabling features such as favorites, playlists, different languages and better search; and for us it will mean more flexibility when it comes to our tools, as well as improved decision-making due to better ability to gather statistics.
A dual monetization
In the past we had to make a few tough and unpopular decisions necessary to promote sustainability, including raising the minimal subscription plans and introducing download limits. The ultimate reason behind all this was monetizing solely through site-wide subscriptions. We found ourselves in this frustrating situation where many customers of ours were only interested in paying for regular updates of Premium content; yet we still had to charge for our collection as a whole, "ration" the updates and charge for several months in advance to avoid the cases of people subscribing once or twice per year, downloading what they need and moving on.
The approach of "Vids 2.0" here is to separate content into regular and Premium channels (think of channels as themes or "sites"). Regular channels will hold the vast majority of content from our sites – and the access will be provided on a usual monthly subscription basis. Meanwhile Premium channels will accommodate the most valuable, expensive and sought-after content, where the clips will be offered separately. Under this system, it will be up to you to decide what you pay for. If you’d only like to pay for the updates of Premium studios – you can do it. If you want to explore the collection of thousands of clips – that is also an option. And, of course, any download limits would make no sense, so there’s none.
One other thing that won’t exist at Vids at all is Lifetimes. Years ago we introduced Lifetime memberships under the very different circumstances than what we have today. There was a large influx of new members, and the availability of easy and comfortable payment methods such as PayPal solution meant good business for us. However, it’s apparent to us that after more than 5 years of operation it’s no longer feasible to expect the newcomers to shoulder the entire financial burden associated with running the platform, and so continuing to offer Lifetimes is not sustainable for us in the long run. Another reason is Lifetimes failed to serve their intended purpose - in the past we repeatedly suggested people to secure their Lifetime through PayPal to avoid the eventual need to deal with the less appealing payment methods like cryptocurrency. However, very few people considered it, while the overwhelming majority always went for the cheapest plan available.
… and a new database
To start using Vids.rip you will have to create a new account. And – addressing the elephant in the room – we are sorry to announce we will not be able to transfer the existing subscriptions from PissRIP and other sites.
The main reason for this is different monetization model – Vids will use tokens which you purchase and then spend on channel subscriptions or individual Premium clips, meanwhile Lifetime will not even exist as a concept. The channels can also be curated by different people and have separate economies – so just granting tokens and allowing you to spend them however you want would be the same as allowing you to freely transfer subscriptions between the old RIP sites – which, to be fair, we never allowed. That’s not to mention the community of our sites is fairly large, and if we were to handle compensation to every individual member we’d likely be at it until 2024 – to the exclusion of every other pursuit. Or the fact that every time we announced some sort of compensation in the past we'd get dozens of accounts created 5 minutes ago lining up for it.
While we realize it’s unfair to essentially ask many of you to pay again, unfortunately this can’t be helped. We would like to thank you for your trust and continued support that made this platform upgrade possible and extend our sincere apology to everyone affected. We can promise you we'll make the most out of the new platform as well as do our best to deliver you new and exciting content going forward!
Oh, and one more thing
Please mind that Vids.rip you'll see is still a work-in-progress and does not represent the final experience. This upgrade was a lengthy and costly process for us - which means we couldn't get everything we envisioned done on time, but also means we couldn't just cease operations of our sites for months until everything's ready. So our priority was to switch to the new engine, get rid of bugs, finally deliver on the features we promised you, resolve the issues with downloads and download limits - and then work from there. Some of the things you can expect from us in the future include light theme (for now only dark one is available), better design, tags for videos (something that will be done gradually over time) and more.
I'd like to follow up with the small FAQ based on things that are commonly asked in regards to this upgrade.
I can't access my account with PissRIP/DesperVids etc.
This is because the sites ceased to operate. Simply put - they no longer exist. They were all replaced with the new site https://vids.rip/ - please create a new account there.
What happened to my subscriptions / Access time?
https://vids.rip/ has a new database and is monetized differently from our old sites. We are unable to transfer any previous subscriptions or honor any previous payments. You will need to make a new payment towards your tokens balance if you wish to continue your membership with us.
Have you scammed me?
Nope, at least not intentionally. It's just that the new site is too technically and organizationally different to replicate the same level of Access you had with the old sites. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.
The money that was paid in the last 6 months was necessary to make this upgrade possible - there was a lot of costs in terms of servers, software and coding work. We hope you will appreciate the importance of this decision and that we are able to pay you back in features, content, design and UI/UX.
But I paid for Lifetime, I was supposed to have Access forever?
Lifetime plans referred to subscription for as long as the site in question remains operational. Technically, we delivered on that. Promising or expecting access to all our projects for as long as you're around would be unrealistic.
I work in contract management, and this is totally unacceptable!
The unique nature and circumstances of our operation makes us very different from a conventional business. We are not Netflix. We are not held to the same standards and expectations. We also need to adapt to the situation we have and have to make decisions necessary to survive and thrive - even if sometimes these are decisions we are not particularly proud of.
What was the reason that made you upgrade?
The main reason is that the old news site engine was no longer adequate and we could not deliver the features and performance we promised you. The secondary one is to bring the sites under the same roof. The tertiary one is to create a monetization system that would allow us to get rid of the download limits.
Why wasn't this decision communicated in advance?
There is a number of reasons why it wasn't feasible to do so:
the date wasn't set in stone, and it wasn't just up to us either, but also our contractors and server hosters;
we would need to spend a lot of time here communicating, distracting us from transition efforts;
there would also likely have been abuse such as siterip attempts, and fighting that would delay us even further;
we would need to cease operations of our sites and stop accepting new payments for at least 6 months - which means you would have no access to the content for all that time, and for us it means we wouldn't receive the money necessary for sustained operations and upgrade and would have to shut down.In the end, we settled for the "lesser evil" - an option that allowed us to do things at our pace and deliver you a quality experience, even if it means every benefit of this upgrade ended up overshadowed by your need to pay again.
Why should I continue supporting you?
Because there was no malicious intent behind our actions. We did not run away with your money, nor did we spend it on luxury yachts, women and cocaine. On the opposite - our actions were driven by the desire to offer you a better experience and a better service.
We've been around since 2017. The audience of our sites has always been limited, as we are not selling bread - we are selling fetish content. As such, it has always been important for us to care about our existing community, earn your trust and encourage your long-term commitment to membership. We are not happy for having to put you in a situation that has potential to jeopardize all this. We hope that all the work we've done and all the goodwill we've hopefully accumulated over the years will allow you to see beyond this bump on the road.
Welcome to Vids 2.0!
Sep 09, 2023
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Sep 09, 2023
139