August 2024 Update: all links to VidLii have been BLACKLISTED by Fandom as a TOS violation, DO NOT SHARE ANY LINKS TO THE SITE.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
VidLii (formerly VidBit) is a video sharing site that was launched by Jan in 2015. Since mid 2017, it has a used a remake of the late 2008 YouTube design, with some degree of layout customization, however it originally used a remake of the late 2005 layout. One could argue that this website kickstarted the modern iteration of the Old YouTube Community, and was the most popular of its kind for a long time, but it has possibly been surpassed by BitView since 2023.
For more detailed information on the drama that happened near the end of the 2010s, see this page.
History
Early Years (2015-2018)
The first version of what would become VidLii was created in 2015 by Jan under the name "ClipBits". The site looked identical to the 2005 interface of YouTube, without having many features on the main page. In August of the same year, the site look was updated to the September 2005 layout of YouTube. Sometime around 2016, the name of the website changed to "VidBit" where It changed its interface to the late 2008-early 2009 YouTube until Jan decided to briefly take it down which led to the short lived VidBitFuture. That site changed its name to "VidLii" in 2017. For most of the year, it got many updates such as adding a password recovery feature as well as the TestLii program for testing and experimenting with new features, playlists features for channels, inbox sections, a page for uploading fan-made themes, awards, featured video selection for channels and the option to switch to the Cosmic Panda channel layout (a.k.a the YouTube Layout from 2011-2013) complete with social features, and user account management settings. The site gained attention and exposure thanks to a popular Russian YouTuber known as NFKRZ, who made a video featuring VidLii. More features were announced, including annotations, groups and a possible mobile app. During NFKRZ's very short time on VidLii, some people in the community criticized him for "ruining VidLii" for bringing over a toxic userbase to the site.
Vlare, VidLii Remake, and departure of Jan (2018-2022)
In May 2019, Vlare, a site originally starting as a custom theme for VidLii in 2018 before it was decided to spin it off into it's own site, was launched and most of the VidLii community moved to the new site or left the community in general. Even though VidLii remained up its future was in question as Vlare began to become bigger than VidLii, particularly during the COPPA scare on YouTube in late 2019 that led to many channels fleeing to many YouTube alternatives and rocketing Vlare's userbase up significantly for a few months. However, Vlare's abrupt shutdown in August 2020 and the subsequent failure to revive the site caused a lot of the userbase that came from VidLii to return. However, the drama on the site caused several users to leave to other alternative sites or just leave the community altogether.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, Jan began a project to remake all of VidLii with a better code which would allow him to modernize the site and add more features without as much difficulty as he did previously. But after assessing the situation, Jan decided he would repurpose the VidLii remake to being a revival of VidBit instead. This came shortly after VidLii was banned off Adsense around January 2022 not long after it was reported to Google along with an unknown third party finding a massive exploit that would let them to access the admin panel of VidLii.
A week before the sites were scheduled to merge with each other, Lolwut and Kuz of the Russian-based Kolyma Network joined the VidBit Discord Server wanting to speak with Jan to buy VidLii and its sister site BitView. After Jan spoke to Lolwut and Kuz of t, Jan accepted the offer for VidLii and its sister site BitView for €1.7k in cryptocurrency. While the sale was pending, ex-VidLii user and later co-owner of Bittoco, Hush warned Jan to pull out of the deal mainly due to her concern over Kuz's sketchy behavior. But by the time that these warnings were given, it was too late as the sale was nearly finalized. This resulted in Kuz arguing with Hush which led to Kuz telling Hush to kill herself which then lead to Kuz getting banned off the VidBit Discord Server.
On February 10th, 2022. VidLii went down for a short amount of time as a result of the transfer of servers to the new owners. And not long after, Jan endorsed VidLii and it's new owners, along with announcing the discontinuation of the VidBit remake project.
But as the events on the site unfolded throughout 2022, Jan backtracked his endorsement of VidLii and Kolyma, along expressing regret for selling VidLii to them.
Kolyma ownership, decline, terror attack (2022-present)
In the aftermath of the buyout, the site was once again flooded with a wave of users posting videos containing Neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and racism than ever seen before on the site, as well as Pro-Russia propaganda in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that year. This caused many users to flee to other alternative sites or leave the community for good. On January 18th 2023, Lolwut announced on the VidLii site blog that Kuz had finally stepped down and left the site after a decline in overall involvement in the past year, and that lolwut was now sole owner of VidLii moving forward. However, some in the alt community speculate that Kuz was still very much an administrator despite Lolwut's claims of him no longer being one, and that he continues to take part in VidLii some other capacity.
In early 2023, rumors started popping up on the internet that Kuz had died from HIV/AIDS. But this turned out to be fake as Kuz was allegedly fleeing Russia to avoid dealing with legal issues.
Arda K. in the outfit he was in when he stabbed people.
On August 12, 2024, a tragedy would strike in the Turkish town of Eskişehir.[1] An attacker entered a tea garden in the Tepebasi district, and streamed himself randomly stabbing those present, which injured 7 people, critically wounded one. The perpetrator of the stabbings, Arda Küçükyetim, was a VidLii user under the alias Skreewie, and on his channel had uploaded content related to Nazism, Racism, and glorifying real world tragedies.[2] It appears some Turkish outlets are also calling for VidLii to be deplatformed and for people who use it to be put on a terror watchlist, further jeopardizing VidLii's future.
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