New YouTubers Take Note

I recently logged onto YouTube and immediately found what soured my enjoyment of the site.  People justifying the actions of trolls and stalkers.  I was not dismayed by the behavior of the bad people, rather it was that their behavior was justified because of who the target is.

The first is Onision.  Onision is well known but also very hated on the internet.  I found him when he only had about 16,000 subscribers.  He now has over 800,000 on his main channel.  The first video I saw of his was Murder Eater.  This is because of another lady I was subscribed to posted a video response to TheAmazingAtheist after he did a response to Onision.  It was the first of many video responses I did to Onision.

Onision has mellowed out a bit but back a few years ago he was militant vegitarian and his over the top views promted a major backlash.  The same can be said for his views on Circumcision and his reaction when popular YouTuber ShayCarl announced in a video that he was going to have his new son Circumcised.  I posted a video response to ShayCarl and even used a clip of Onision and I went on to express my disagreement with Onision (even though we both agree that Circumcising children is morally wrong)



So needless to say, Onision has made lots of people upset with the way he presents his arguments.  However, there were several who sought to do more than just post video responses picking apart his arguments.  There were some who sought to drop his docs and even destroy his marriage.  People such as the now banned user http://www.youtube.com/user/D0NTSTANDSOCLOSETOME  who sought to disclose not only Onision's divorce records but also did several videos of Google Maps documenting where Onision Lived and filming locations for some of his videos.

When his YouTube channel started to get strikes on it he did reach out to me for help.  I basically asked him why he was doc dropping and why he felt justified in digging into someone's personal life that much to release the divorce records.  His answer was essentially they are a public document accessable to anyone and he wanted to refute the claims Onision made in video regarding his divorce.  There are three things wrong with this logic.

1. Onision's divorce records are NOT accessable to anyone.  First you have to have the real names of the people involved and then you have to pay to get those records.  By releasing the divorce records not only did he disclose the names of Onision and Skye but also invaded both of their privacy.
2. Onision wasn't the only one hurt by this.  Skye also had her information leaked out.  If Skye wanted that information online don't you think she could have done it.  Her YouTube channel has almost 10,000 subscribers, surely if she wanted this public she would be in a far better position to do it.
3. YouTube obviously agreed with my opinion as the channel is now terminated as is almost all of the clone accounts this guy set up.  

Another person who has breached the ethical lines is a kid named MrRepzion.  While this guy mostly focuses on doing video responses to people more popular than he is, he did cross the line when he contacted Onision's inlaws via Facebook.  He did this for the sole purpose of destroying his marriage.  Then if that wasn't enough, according to his own (now removed for TOS) video he posted a one hour later a long video full of half truths and unfounded claims and in the video description he posted a link to view Onision's marriage certificate.  This marriage certificate invaded Onision's privacy but of course MrRepzion is to proud to admit it.

1. Like the divorce records, this marriage certificate is not accessable to anyone.  Like the divorce records this certificate showed the real names of both Onision and his wife.  This certificate also showed the county they resided in at the time.  This would be enough information for any real stalker to follow up on.
2. People like MrRepzion have made it clear they don't really care about the safety of Onision's wife.  She has made it crystal clear on Facebook and Twitter that she wants people to stop trying to destroy her marriage.  Yet he presses on.  
3. Once again, upon review when Onision took action against this user, YouTube agreed and took the video down.  A few people have since tried uploading copies of the video only to find their channels hit with a strike.

Yet many people, even some of my subscribers, don't see these people for what they are.  Their actions are cheered.  These people are not really justifying the actions, but rather in my opinion justifying the actions taken against Onsion simply because it is Onision.  Recently both LaciGreen and SMPfilms both had to move due to stalkers getting into their personal life.  The perpetrators were justly vilified for being scum, but someone doing a Google Maps video of Onision's house it gets high ratings and positive comments.

Recently Onision, posted a video accusing someone of sending mail to his inlaws.  He never mentioned MrRepzion but it was clear that Onision was talking about him and in my opinion it is not that much of a stretch to come to this conclusion.  Think about it.  Onision's inlaws get a strange letter in the mail from one of Onision's haters.  Most likely the hater didn't even use his real name or return address on the envelope.  This get's passed on to Onision's wife who then tells him.  Onision is aware that MrRepzion has made contact with his family before, therefore it is no huge jump to assume he did it again.  Now as far as Onision cutting off the email correspondance between them, perhaps it was intentional or perhaps he really doesn't care what some troll has to say that much and didn't bother reading it.  

I don't watch every troll video made about me and my guess is Onision didn't either, thus he may have not seen the video from DontStandSoCloseToMe where he documented this.  All Onision knew is that his wife is complaining that people are still contacting her family.  However MrRepzion, in his video defending his actions did a poor job of trying to deflect blame.  TL:DR version is he only contacted them once and thus it is no big deal.  FYI, yes it is.  Would you like it if people started contacting your parents or other people you deal with in real life?

Then MrRepzion did something very shocking.  He showed a screen shot of a message he sent to Onision.  Here it is right here.

"If you want me to stop making videos about you, Don't say stupid s***"  This in the context of the email exchange between them where Onision was asking him to leave his family alone.  Are we serious?  MrRepzion is trying to justify invading Onision's personal life because he doesn't like what Onision says in his videos?  Yet to my dismay, the video on MrRepzion's channel is met with high ratings and he is regarded as a hero instead of the obsessive teenager that he really is.  

Then there was the Thunderf00t video

The video is 15 minutes long but here is the long and short of it.  Coughlan616 was retweeting a twitter account impersonating Thunderf00t.  He was not only using Thunderf00t's avatar, but also his name.

Thunderf00t also in his video screen shot where this imposter was making contact with Thunderf00t's real friends.  Parody is one thing, impersonation is quite another.  This is where those defending Coughlan's actions fail.  Many have claimed hypocrisy because Thunderf00t posted this video back in 2007

Here is the difference.  Nobody is going to take this obvious photoshop seriously.  It was intended as a joke then, it is still a joke now.  The Thunderf00t impersonation account was actively tweeting offensive things to people that Thunderf00t knows.  It is only after taking a second look do you realize this is an imposter account.  

Others have called bullwinkle on Thunderf00t for following https://twitter.com/atheismplus on twitter.  A few things I need to point out here.  First Atheism Plus is not a person.  It is a movement.  Second this twitter account is up front and honest about it being a parody account.  Much like other twitter accounts such as the one mocking the TSA that I follow.  This thunderf00t impersonator was tweeting to Thunderf00t's buddies.

The final point, some say Thunderf00t is getting butthurt over a twitter account with just 20 followers.  They are missing the point.  Coughlan was retweeting this stuff to his over 3000 followers and was actively engaging in conversations with this person giving the appearance that he was talking to the real Thunderf00t.  It doesn't matter that someone else made the account, Coughlan promoted it and gave it more traffic than it otherwise would have gotten.  

Yet, because Thunderf00t has angered lots of people, the actions of Coughlan are excused.  Had he done this to someone who was more liked, this would have clearly backfired on him.  However Coughlan decided to run and privated his accounts and videos.  He has no problem whipping up on smaller channels and is more than willing to poke poke poke the bigger channels so long as they ignore him.  Yet in less than 30 minutes of Thunderf00t striking back Coughlan turned tail and ran.  To think this is a person I used to respect.

For those who don't know I first subscribed to Coughlan when he was doing a video response to Molotov Mitchel and his defense of Uganda's kill the gays policy.  

This is one of the copies that remain from that great saga.  In my opinion it is one of the best videos he has ever done.

However, over time he ceased being a crusader for what is right and began stirring up drama with PatCondell (who so far has ignored him) and Thunderf00t and others in the Atheist community.  Fun fact VenomFangX actually predicted this years ago.

Slowly people whom I respected starting turning on each other and each made demands that people pick sides.  Thankfully since being friends with Brett Keane most of the Atheist YouTubers want nothing to do with me.  So now I don't have to choose anymore.

Regarding Coughlan running away, Shredder made an interesting video on the subject.  He essentially said that Coughlan privated his stuff because he did not want to get flagged down.  

 This is a very interesting opinion for Shredder to have.  It would appear that Shredder thinks Coughlan made the right decision as he would have been flagged down if he left his videos up.  This would imply that Shredder admits that some of Coughlan's content would violate the TOS.  I disagree with that.  While Coughlan has had videos taken down in the past, I can not think of any video that he currently has uploaded that would get flagged.  Perhaps Shredder knows of a video that I have overlooked.  Irregardless this is what Coughlan had to say.

Well for Coughlan I can say this, there are people who did enjoy your content as many are even willing to defend your current behavior no matter how disgusting it is.  However, I myself have for now at least given up making videos as I don't see the point in sharing my personal life with people bent on destroying it.  The difference between you and me is, you Coughlan brought this on your self.  If you poke the bear long enough, it will wake up and strike back.  It is a shame you couldn't last even 20 minutes.

However, this is what is wrong with YouTube as I see it.  People are willing to defend the indefensible so long as the victim is someone they hate.