I have an interesting observation - would be interested in hearing from others...

When working with a client that is far away, I occasionally send them a link to a YouTube posting of a rough cut to get initial comments rather than travel to a review meeting or mail a draft DVD. MOST of the time, it works well. Occasionally, however, it seems to lengthen the review time and make the level of comments much more niggling than when doing a live client review meeting. What I think happens is that they are watching it over and over agian, plus sending it to everyone on their e-mail and buddy list - thereby generating LOTS of comments.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Been there...as a coping mechanism I learned to humor the micro-managing suggestions ("what if you had our logo, flying through space?") and try to just glean any useful feedback I could.

For those situations where it gets forwarded and you are suddenly working for a committee and you receive 20 different opinions, many of them uninformed and some of them contradictory to each other, I try to take an average. Sometimes the opinion of a perfect stranger can be really valuable.

Even a live client review it can be tough too, if they are the type that wants to keep stopping and saying "what if you tried this..."

Over the web or in-person, I've had the best experiences when I had one primary contact to deal with and there was mutual trust.

It's impossible to control if they want to forward your preview, but you can ask them to receive all the feedback and summarize it for you, to keep things simple- and keep them in control of their project.

I don't know if youtube has this functionality, but right now vimeo is doing the job for me. they have a password function so you can lock down a video so that only those with the pass can view it (or only people you choose if they are members as well). The password function won't stop them from forwarding it and sharing the password, but it is a lifesaver for my current client who has me under a strict NDA to protect the privacy of their clients. also vimeo lets you post clips in full 1280x720 HD res. there is no limit on individual video size or length, only a weekly upload limit of 500MB.