Why YouTube is wrong about video responses

About an hour ago YouTube announced this on their blog.

http://youtubecreator.blogspot.com/2013/08/so-long-video-responsesnext-up-better.html

Essentially they are going to retire video responses on September 12th and allow people to post links to videos in the comments.  Something they tried in 2005 and was scrapped due to the amount of spam it generated.  http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2005/07/attach-video-to-messages-if-you-want-to.html#comment-form.

First I must call bull winkle on the claim that 1 out of 4 million users will click on a video response.  This is just simply not possible.  My suspicion is that as most views go through Vevo and music videos (who allow people to attach video responses freely) this is the source of your stats.

However those who engage in their audience have a much different track record.

I built my channel on video responses.  A third of my videos were video responses.  I knew where the views came from because I tracked my analytics.  They came from people who first saw the video I was responding to.

I also regurlary cross promoted my videos by posting responses to myself.  It is how I was able to get a high click through rate.  When someone found my video they were always directed to another.  Remember 40 percent of my views comes from mobile users who can't use annotations.

Likewise people got views from attaching their videos to mine.  One of my critics Rith once claimed that I was irrelevant and yet his most viewed video was a video response to me.  

It is not enough to allow people to post links in the comments section.  Remember why YouTube disabled this feature in the first place.  Spam.  As a content creator and consumer I relied on video responses.  Please reverse this decision.

Remember even the great Shaycarl got his start via video responses.  The one in 4 million stat is bogus as the numbers simply don't add up.  People do watch video responses.  Don't take this away YouTube.

Furthermore, as a person who would sometimes get over a hundred comments on a video, it would just cause chaos.  As a content creator it is far more efficient to focus on people who took the time to create and upload a video response to me.  How does YouTube expect large channels such as PewDiePie, Smosh, ect to focus on reponses when they can get thousands of comments every hour?

For historical record, YouTube launched video responses in 2006

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2006/05/video-responses.html

One final note, pass along to whoever runs the Creator Blog to undo the change that mandates you MUST have a Google Plus account in order to comment on the blog.  I have a blogger account, a Google product.  That should be good enough.  

(Side note:  I do not allow comments on my blog based on advice from Google staff, user generated content such as comments can put my blogger at risk.)

Send your feedback to YouTube with this twitter link.

http://clicktotweet.com/by3Ta

Vlograys vs Brett Keane

This blog post really isn't so much about giving my opinion as essentially I have none.  Rather the purpose of this blog is to archive in one place the videos these two made about each other.  I don't really have an opinion on Vlograys as we have not interacted that much.  I am aware of several videos he made critical of me prior to his inclusion of the Onision Debate where I was moderator.  He even commended me on my professionalism in how I treated everyone even though he made some videos critical of me.  I also recently assisted him with filling out a counter-notice after he deleted the video in question.  As of the timing of this blog I have not heard back from him on that.  Of course most of my readers are aware of the history with Bret Keane and myself, the good and the bad.

Question to ZJempTV on the issue of hormone therapy

ZJempTV was on CNN arguing for the rights of inmates such as Chelsea Manning to gain access to hormone therapy to assist them in their transition from one sex to another.  Below is the interview.



I will admit, at first I was against the idea of tax payers funding this until it was revealed that the cost would be less than $100 per month.  ZJ herself claimed to pay for this out of her own pocket at the rate of $25 per month.  This surprised me.  When a typical hospital visit can cost thousands of dollars I had no idea this type of treatment was so inexpensive.

However there are a few questions I was hoping ZJ might address.  She can do so via twitter, or perhaps on her blog, or on her FreeThoughtsBlog, or perhaps even video.  However she decides to respond, I will update this blog accordingly.

Onision, Someguy827, Turtles, & Doc Dropping

Ok, for those who are not in with what this story involves it is about Someguy827 posting Onision's address in several of his recent video descriptions encouraging people to contact various animal welfare organizations.  I suspect Someguy827's motives for doing this.  However at the same time I am also not convinced that Onision did the best care for his turtle.

Why is LifeInATent bringing up old drama?

Back in December of 2010 all the way through 2011 and the early part of 2012 I and another user named LifeInATent his twin brother WeathermanKevin and MeganLeeHeart went head to head.  It all started with this video I made around Christmas time.  It was a response to his postings in the YouTube help forum.  He has since lost his account and his help forum account as well, that is why his posts are no longer seen there.

QDragon1337 and Brainstorm

I was contacted by my friend QDragon1337 yesterday.  He asked for some assistance in getting the word out about his series of science videos called Brainstorm.  Due to circumstances explained earlier I told him the only thing I can do is blog about the subject.  

QDragon1337 is a brilliant and talented young man.  I have enlisted his assistance many times in graphic work for not only myself but also other people and he has always been more than willing to help.  It is my honor to promote his content.  Below is one of his most recent videos.

Urine Stem Cells!  Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough (Brainstorm Ep149)

Click here to chat with me on Twitter.

Is it wrong to rank ladies by their appearance?

As one of my goals is to one day return to the trucking industry I have kept tabs on several news outlets regarding the trucking field.  One of them is Overdrive Magazine  Recently they did an article interviewing Maggie Stone.  She is a finalist in Overdrive's Most Beautiful.  You can read the article HERE.

Overdrive's Most Beautiful finalists

I admit I do have mixed feelings about this.  Allow me to explain why.

Why TheHealthyChannel was terminated

As some of you may know I had a channel called TheHealthyChannel where I vlogged about my diet attempts, exercise and weight loss.  Recently I was vlogging about doing a water fast.

Yesterday I discovered that account was terminated by YouTube.  For a time I believed it was due to my videos on water fasting as it could have been perceived as doing something that can be dangerous.

I filled out YouTube's account termination inquiry forum and learned that the channel was targeted for copyright violations.  See below.

Now this has some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that now that I know the issue is copyright, all I have to do to regain my account is fill out the appropriate counter-notice.  Per the 1998 DMCA law, YouTube must restore my account within 10-14 business days of receipt of a counter-notice so long as the claimant does not file a motion in Federal District Court.

The bad news is this email neglected to tell me the URLs that I require to correctly fill out the counter-notice form.  Until I get the URLs I am unable to correctly fill in the legally required information for a counter-notice.

I will keep you updated on my status, but for now the only way to contact me is via twitter.  Per YouTube's rules I am prohibited from accessing my other accounts that I still have and I am prohibited from creating new ones.

UPDATE:  I got this email regarding SockPuppetBalloon, one of my test accounts.  I used this account to test out different features from time to time.  As with TheHealthyChannel the issue is copyright, but no URLs for me to fill out the counter-notice.

HappyCabbie Account Terminated

When I logged on to my computer, I was greeted with a prompt informing me that there was suspicious activity on my account and that I needed phone verification to access my account.  So I entered in my telephone number and received the automated prompt to enter in the 5 digit code.

I was then taken to this page.

I filled out the form on the contact us page and waited for a response.  I checked my email to see if any messages came in from YouTube regarding a strike on my account or a DMCA.  There was nothing.  There was however this message.

Later I got this message from YouTube's Trademark team.

So that leaves me with one of two guesses.  The first is someone hacked into my account, even though I have Two Step verification enabled on my account.  The second is that my name HappyCabbie is infringing on someone else's trademark.

Either way, I will respect YouTube's decision to terminate my account.  If I broke the rules by using the HappyCabbie name then I deserve to suffer the consequences.

Furthermore, in compliance with YouTube's rules, I will not create any new account nor will I access any of my old ones.  To do so would be a violation of the Terms of Service.

For those who claim that this is a free speech issue I disagree.  Free speech is a Constitutional protection against our government.  YouTube/Google is a corporation and they have the right to disable accounts if they feel they violated the Terms of Service.  As stated in the above email, I violated their trademark rules.  As such I will honor my suspension.

Thankfully, I am only banned from YouTube.  My Blogger account is not terminated and it is a completely different service offered by Google.  So here along with Twitter I can still post.

Corky Forum discussion is canceled.

On August 3rd of 2013 I posted this video to the FacepalmResponse channel

Challenge to the Corky Forum


I also made THIS POST on the Corky Forum announcing the event.

Essentially it was a response to the debate Brett Keane had with the forum.



A little backstory on this debate.  A user named MindLiberationArmy made THIS POST to the Corky Forum asking people to join him in a discussion.