BitView

BitView is a website of German origin in which people can interact and upload videos. The site faithfully emulates the evolution of YouTube's layouts, and as of 2022, it uses the interface from 2009.

It was created by Jan, a German computer programmer who had experience in creating video hosting platforms who also developed VidLii, BitView's sister website, as well Vlare, which is dead but also developed by Jan. Jan released BitView on December 2nd, 2017.

BitView, like YouTube, uses an HTML5-based online player, which is inspired by the 2009 HTML5 YouTube Player. Previously, you could use an Adobe Flash player, or use another different HTML5 player, but since September 27th, 2020, only the last one can be used, due to the forced closure of all content that requires Adobe Flash, which will be produced at the beginning of the year 2021. Links to BitView videos can also be inserted in blogs and personal electronic sites by embedding the HTML code at the bottom of the gray information box, which is on every video page.

History
The domain was activated on November 15th, 2017, and its development began on that day. By November 28th, the beta version was finished, and it was officially released on December 2nd. At the time, the page looked very similar to YouTube, when it was first released back in 2005. The purpose of this site was to display the different interfaces that YouTube has displayed throughout its history, in chronological order. Thus, in January 2018, the design of the page would be changed to the interface after the one that was being used until then. The BitView layout had it's first redesign in late February 2018.

By April 2018, the page was redesigned again, and various features were added, such as subscriptions and bulletins. During this period of time, the platform became very popular among users, and was experiencing one of its golden times.

The popularity of the site was gradually vanishing after the abandonment of the creator of the site, since there were no significant changes for more than two years, because Jan was working on other similar projects. However, the development of the page was retaken and the design was renewed, for the third time, on January 20, 2021.

Controversies regarding BigMushroomFan
BigMushroomFan (also known as BMF), who was a former moderator for BitView and current admin for VidLii faced major allegations for his rude behavior and racist remarks. In the aftermath of his feud with JoshTheJosher, Vistafan (who became BitView's administrator) fired BMF from his position.

Features and functions
This website attempts to provide the features that YouTube previously had, many of which were deleted over time.

Videos
Videos uploaded by users are compressed, losing video and audio quality. In addition, the uploaded videos must be no greater than 100 MB (or 2GB on the new uploader and must be less than 15 minutes. BitView supports .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, .MPG and .MP4 video formats. Videos have a view and rating counter.

These videos can be rated with a stars system, with 1 star being the worst rating and 5 stars being the best, and comments can be written on them. In addition, videos can be added to favorites and playlists and people can make video responses to them. Each video can be included in categories and can be shared on social networks from the viewing page, on pages like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter or Bwitter (an old Twitter revival).

The player works with HTML5, although it is an adaptation of the Adobe Flash player at the time.

The search for videos works through metadata tags, which are assigned by the users themselves to them, and which allow them to be found and recommended.

Users of this platform often upload old videos from the Internet, or create new videos inspired by these, as well as the use of video and music editing software characteristic of the time. Several dozen videos are uploaded every day and these obtain thousands of daily views in total. Some videos are featured on the home page.

Channels
The channels can be widely customized, since this platform allows you to customize certain aspects to your liking, such as the channel colors, place background images and tiling them, change your avatar, add or remove information boxes, etc... It can also be assigned the channel type, similar to the categories of the videos.

In addition, you can subscribe to channels, send private messages to users, or add them to a list of friends. Also, you can comment on their profiles and write bulletins, which work in a similar way to the YouTube Community Tab.

Groups
Groups are small forums, in which you can create discussions and share videos. From groups you can send private messages to all members at the same time. In addition, they can be customized by adding an image or customizing the page by inserting CSS code.