What kind of a world do we live in?

[David Rice]

What kind of a world do we live in?

For the past six months I have been giving away stock video clips to anyone who wished to download them at: vimeo.com/groups/freestockvideoclips. I offered them for Free. Free for any use. No strings attached. However, I did make it possible, and easy, for anyone to make a donation, if they were so led.

Of the 500+ video clips that were downloaded, and I presume were used for one purpose or another, I never received one donation. Not one. That does not surprise me.

What really surprises and shocks me, is this. Of 500 video clips downloaded for free, not one person, not even one, took the time to thank me for the video clip.

What kind of a world do we live in....

[Gary Huff]

I see a lot of "Great work!" compliments on one of your videos, and likes scattered about the rest, so it's not like you're being totally ignored.

Though I'd like to ask which was the last video you tipped on Vimeo. Are you part of that solution? I have a very popular video on Vimeo, and haven't had anything I have done been tipped, but I tipped a guy who put up a free (48-hour) showing of his film (tipped the price of his DVD), and a ninstructional video that helped me solve something I had been wanting to accomplish via After Effects for a long time.

I think most people are simply unaware of that feature. If you're not really paying attention, then it would be easy to miss.

[Ken Hall]

My wife runs a horse riding centre for disabled people. In fact, it was the first one in the world. It is a small charity and every pound has to be raised by ourselves. Following a fund raising evening last week someone stole our video projector, dvd player and a few videos I had made. The replacement will cost us about £1200. The insurance company has offered us £240. We have an excess on the insurance of £250.

That's the sort of world we live in.

(On the positive side the new one will be widescreen and a higher res.. We all like new toys!)

Ken

[Jonathan Levin]

David,

Simply put, stop giving them away. People are idiots and selfish. My faith in humanity has greatly diminished over the years.

I have not downloaded any of your video, but on behalf of the a*****les that didn't bother, thank you.

But just don't give stuff away.

Jonathan

[David Rice]

I have been giving the footage away so that people can use it and enjoy it. I'm very ill now, and I have given up on all my video related activities. I just thought that I should leave people with something....

[Mark Williams]

Hi David, I saw some of your clips over on Vimeo and thought they were pretty good. I likewise like to make some of my footage available for free but I don't do it for clips. Instead I do short videos for various environmental awareness and outdoor volunteer groups for free. I have never not gotten a thank you.

[David Knaggs]

Hi David.

I'm so sorry to read about your situation.

Originally Posted by David Rice

I just thought that I should leave people with something....

You've actually achieved your goal of helping others. So take a win on that. 500 times!

But I don't think that human nature is as grim as you might currently think. The key to understanding what happened - the lack of communication from the people you helped - is found in Jonathan's comment:

Originally Posted by Jonathan Levin

But just don't give stuff away.

No-one "likes" to receive charity. Their economic circumstances might dictate that they have to take "free" stuff. But it hits at their pride. That's all. Nobody is ever "proud" to accept free stuff. So it inhibits the communication a little bit. Yesterday I purchased an After Effects template and a song on the Envato marketplace. And I felt good about it. Quite often I'll leave feedback for an author on that marketplace, even though I don't have to. Later on yesterday, I noticed that something was wrong with the font and realized that I was supposed to download a "free" font. I didn't feel good about this. On the font page, there was nothing about donations or feedback, just a download button for the font. But the whole experience made me feel that I'd skulked in and skulked out. And I thought, "I wish Envato would just add these fonts on their website for sale at three or four bucks a pop and you can just buy everything in the one transaction."

So that's my two cents.

You live in a world where you just helped 500+ people make better video and film projects. But sometimes giving people free stuff might also make them a little bit embarrassed and deprive you of your well-deserved praise. I think that's all that happened. Just my opinion.

[Matthew Chambers]

You could definitely charge for that footage if you wanted to!

[D.J. Ammons]

Originally Posted by David Rice

I have been giving the footage away so that people can use it and enjoy it. I'm very ill now, and I have given up on all my video related activities. I just thought that I should leave people with something....

David, I think what you did is a great thing and I hate nobody has donated. I don't go to VIMEO a lot but have to say I have never noticed you could even do that.

I am on somebody else's computer right now but when I get back from my business trip plan on checking your videos out. I was born in Fairbanks and lived there the first 14 years of my life.

I am also praying for your situation. Hate to hear you are ill.

God Bless

[Chris Harding]

Hi David

It's called "grab what you can and laugh at the guy for offering them for free" ..I really hate it when you make such a generous offer and people basically just take advantage of you...Even if they made a small donation to a charity of your choice, that would have been better.

I guess you have to be as hard nosed as the ungrateful 500 and put a small price on your clips ... if they had to pay for them maybe they would appreciate them more ....something like download my stock clips at a fraction of my usual price of $50 per clip ...you can get them just for this week for only $5.00 per clip.

People are reluctant to "donate" but seem to be happy to score a bargain so why not play them at their own game and get a little something back for all your hard work??

Chris

[David Rice]

I don't mind not getting any donations.

It's just the lack of gratitude that really bothers me.

All my gear is gone now, and I'm out of video.

For you younger guys who think you are bullet proof.

Many of you, like myself, will learn in your short life times.... that life isn't fair.

In this life stuff happens....

Bye you all.

Dave Rice
Sitka Alaska

[Les Wilson]

Bye David. Thank you for sharing "your backyard" so beautifully. I enjoyed watching the Steelhead piece on your younger days.

Regards,
Les Wilson

[Trond Saetre]

David,
You have many very good videos, and as already been mentioned, you could easily have charged for them.

If we use any of your videos for the "UWOL Around the world" film, you will definitely be notified in advance.

Sorry to hear about your illness. I hope there is a chance you can get better.
Wish you all the best!

[Darren Levine]

In this situation, i would recommend instead of given them away for free, state as a term of using the clip for free, the user must give a credit to the creator of the clip, in the video. thats the way i've seen a lot of free audio sites do it, and it works nicely.

[James Manford]

It's fantastic you give them away for free.

But in all honesty ... charge. Even 0.50 or 0.99 ... why give it away completely free?

I've recently spent £30 on transitions for Vegas only because I liked them so much, even though with some clever trawling on the internet, I could of got similar ones for free.