@Lazarus, it's a standard procedure for many file hosts, who care about their affiliates and customers. As a rule, uploaders have nothing to hide, so you can clarify details to our support team and we will be happy to help you.
I have nothing to hide and--I'm not sure that you are implying I am, but to be clear-- I reject and resent any insinuation that my lack of appreciation for this policy indicates that. It's a strongly entrenched principle of mine that the individual is innocent until proven guilty. I associate the notion that someone "should be willing to be searched to prove they have nothing to hide" with totalitarian regimes. That's what makes me bristle.
Having said that, filefox has every right to institute the policies they want. And, despite my objection to the way it was handled, I can somewhat understand the intent of the policy even if I don't agree. But, I don't really understand the reasoning... Unless you're actually going to inspect every single upload for the duration of my subscription, it doesn't make sense to me how it would stop a client from posting material you're concerned about. I have no interest in making money off of my downloads. All I wanted to do was post my Kona Kolani collection of videos for people on KK. But, after that is approved, who knows? Maybe in a few months, I'll want to post my collection of child-incest-snuff films featuring Bobo the rapid rapist mastiff. Will you still be reviewing then? Might it not be just as effective to monitor the http referrer with the presumption that if it's linked from a forum like kitty-kats, that it won't contain questionable content? There may be technical reasons why that particular solution wouldn't work, but certainly there are more transparent approaches that would be just as effective without the negative ramifications to the customer than that they first seek review and permission.
You state that many filehosts have this policy, but this is the first I've ever encountered it and I've used every filehost that kitty-kats has recommended (dating back to before they were KK) as well as others preferred by other forums. That doesn't invalidate your reasoning/need for the policy, but it should make you sensitive to the idea that there are many like me who will be surprised and puzzled by this policy. How do those other filehosts avoid the problem you're concerned about?
If this is simply one of those annoying legal requirements that you wish you and your customers didn't have to follow, but you're required to, I commiserate with you. I despise that kind of thing. But, one of the following probably would have caused me to be more understanding.
- Make it clear when a customer subscribes to the service that uploads will require at least an initial approval. Do not put a big "upload your files now" button on the page until that approval has been received, or, at least, put some kind of note near it, or is presented when I click on it, that initial uploads will require approval so that people like me don't have to waste time trying different browsers and contacting filefox thinking that this is a technical glitch. I spent a while ruling out browser and javascript-type problems before I felt justified in contacting you that the problem was on your end.
- When a customer contacts you because the button that says "upload now" doesn't work, don't reply with the simple response, "What files are you going to upload and what for?"... which suggests the customer may be guilty of improper use, that the burden is on them to negotiate for a service that they've already paid for, and that it's a perfectly acceptable user interface to confuse the user with buttons that don't do what they say.
If you'd like, and I would appreciate it, I would think based on the date of my initial post and the message I received from filefox support, that you have enough information to resolve this for me without me having to go back through the official channels. If you could, that would be helpful as my Kona Kalani topic was removed because it didn't contain a filefox link. I have had requests on other forums to post that content there, but KK has always been my preference and I'd like to continue supporting it. I promise to save the Bobo the rabid mastiff content for other forums and filehosts.