I understand, I would have said it was a good idea if alt tubes didn't already exist.
Because, seeing the current state of the internet, I don't know if many people would be willing to pay to use it.
It's already really hard to make an active, free site, so a paid one... I don't know...
Currently, most alternative sites that actually work, beyond the major platforms (Reddit, Twitter, etc.), are mainly revivals of existing ones.
And right now, the state of this part of the web is like this:
- Revival projects (vidlii, bitvid, spacehey, etc.)
- Personal Sites (Neocities/Nekoweb, etc.)
- Imageboards (the only type of board that is still alive today)
- Textboards (never been very prominent outside Japan)
- Forums (almost dead, but fortunately some still persist)
- Alternative search engines (wiby, marginalia, etc.), which I find quite bad for discovering new sites...
Some new platforms are also emerging that seem really active (pikidiary and zdiskuss, which I discovered recently).
This may indicate that we are finally reaching a point where people are looking for new, original sites rather than just revivals of existing ones!
Or maybe not, LOL.
Anyway, you have to consider the current state of the web if you want to make a website that works and is appealing.
Because above all, you're doing it to build a community and have fun!
That's why in this context I don't think many people would be interested in a paid video social media.
On the other hand, it's a very good idea to start with.
But you're right, the advertising model we have today is bad and really annoying.
And my suggestion to allow anyone to post comments is definitely a shitty idea.
Actually, I wanted to find a way to let people enjoy it enough to make them want to create a paid account.
However, I still think that allowing people to post images, audio, and flash files in addition to videos is a good idea