I thought this is funny

For the past few weeks channels have been popping up every day and they upload a few of my videos. When this happens the videos come to me. Normally I don't have a problem when someone re-uploads my videos but I do prefer if the don't. Taking clips of course is 100% fair use but I am referring to re-uploading entire videos of mine. Usually when someone re-uploads my video I leave it alone but when they put malware in the video description I take action. Every day for the past few weeks I have had to do this. In addition to my videos they upload videos belonging to others. So I take the time to contact the other people and usually in a few hours the channel is shut down.

However I thought this video was funny because this time they decided to re-upload my video about DMCA abuse. I think it was funny filing a DMCA take down on a video about someone abusing the DMCA form.

Here is the video stolen from me



And of course here is the original



For those interested http://www.youtube.com/user/fryyjctd is the channel however I don't know how long that channel will last as every video is pirated and has malware in the video descriptions.

Did I Do That?

Well it was a day like any other day for me. Except I went out and voted, that is something I don't do every day. In fact this time voting took some effort as I was recovering from an illness when I had to walk about 2 miles each way to go vote.

Still as I wait to venture forth into Truck Driving next month I spend most of my time on this computer. Either I am answering questions in the Help Forum, or I respond to messages and comments on youtube. I have just been granted Top Contributor Status in two Google Help Forums now. Yay me. There is no pay but it is nice to be recognized for my contributions to the community.

YouTube needs to take away the option to disable flagging

Now for those who do not know what this is, back in 2009 YouTube created what is known as the Shows category. http://www.youtube.com/shows

The videos uploaded to this section had a unique opportunity. Their flag button was disabled. For the most part this was available to network studios that wanted to upload their television shows and movies to YouTube. These studios have long since realized that they can not stop piracy so they signed a contract with YouTube to post the videos and earn revenue. People got to watch videos on youtube and the networks made money.

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

We take your privacy seriously. This policy describes what personal information we collect and how we use it. (This privacy policy is applicable to websites falling under the primary holder http://www.HappyCabbie.blogger.com

Routine Information Collection

All web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. The information is tracked for routine administration and maintenance purposes, and lets me know what pages and information are useful and helpful to visitors.

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Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies.

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Any advertisements served by Google, Inc., and affiliated companies may be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Google to display ads based on your visits to this site and other sites that use Google advertising services. Learn how to opt out of Google's cookie usage. As mentioned above, any tracking done by Google through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Google's own privacy policies.

About Google advertising: What is the DoubleClick DART cookie? The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers better serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

Contact Information

Concerns or questions about this privacy policy can be directed to my YouTube channel

So is the YouTube Partner Program Racist?

I will be responding to a blog post made by YouTube user zennie62

I would encourage you to read his hilarious blog post before you read my response.

It seems that YouTube is racist because they ignored his request to take part in the YouTube Partner meetup taking place in San Bruno that was announced on their twitter here. Now the registration form no longer works so this is basically what it detailed as outlined in this help formum post

First you would get a tour of the YouTube home office, you would get a chance to preview new product demos, you would attend a livestream talk, and get one on one optimization from Partner support.

To quote from zennie62

...this blogger signed up for the YouTube Partners meetup for Ocotber 18th, and was one of the first to do so, yet received zero feedback. Zennie62 is not a show channel, and never will be; it does news commentary and always will do that. But to not be invited to a YouTube meeting because I suddenly don’t “fit the pattern” (or complain about it) is beyond the pale – no pun intended.

Well first of all he has no way of knowing if he was one of the first to register. YouTube's Partner twitter channel (now renamed YTCreators) has over 35,000 followers and they said seating was limited. I myself also signed up for this session within minutes of the twitter announcement, however I was not selected either. You don't see me citing YouTube's antifat policy. Think about it other than Shaycarl name another fat guy on top of YouTube right now. Shaycarl has even lost the weight.

Zennie62 then goes on to talk about the fact that people are using the N-word on YouTube and that it is shameful. Welcome to the internet. He goes on to say,

YouTube’s sending a message that it doesn’t want to know your opinion, just see you act like a silly goose. There’s not even a category for “news” to find YouTubers like Zennie62 in the YouTube Partners and Creators page.

That’s wrong.

For YouTube to seem to be discouraging content producers like myself does not spell a good future for the program, and opens up a huge market for video news commentary that YouTube appears reluctant to fill. But that’s for the future – my issue now is that I feel YouTube is trying to push people like myself to the back benches because we don’t do shows, are minority, and take on news commentary.

That’s a mistake in so many ways.

First, it’s a way of silencing a person because you may disagree with their message. Second, it is playing on the edges of violation of free speech. Third, it works against the very spirit of YouTube – free expression.

Zennie62 nobody is censoring you. The fact that YouTube does not have a category for Partners who do the news (Despite the fact that YouTube HAS a category for partners who do the news click here) does not mean that they are censoring you.

Censorship is the suppression of speech. Unless you can show a message that you got from YouTube saying that you can't say something you are not being censored. If you want views you have to do what the rest of us do. Go out and get them. Network with other people, make content that people want to enjoy. We all have our slumps, and subscription glitches happen all the time on this website.

However for you to claim that YouTube is against you because of your race or because you report the news is laughable. Tell that to RussiaToday who is quickly gaining subscribers.

When is it ok to take the internet into real life?

Recently there has been a spat going on regarding Thunderf00t and Dawahfilms. Now I have gone on record in 2010 defending Dawahfilms because I believed that Thunderf00t misrepresented him. I along with many others came to his aid and reached out to him to help him rebuild his online reputation. I also offered to debate him on BlogTV and that helped expose his views to a much wider audience. DawahFilms has basically been spitting on our help ever since then.

Back in late 2010 he began his quest to hunt for Thunderf00t's docs and in a skype conversation made public by dixiecomic (now removed) he announced his plans to use that information to try and get Thunderf00t fired.

The only time it is acceptable to bring the internet into real life is when innocent people are put in danger. Now some could say that the students who attend the University that Thunderf00t does his research at could be put at risk by his videos, however up until a week ago, that University was not public knowledge. It has also been asserted by Thunderf00t that he no longer works at that University and that he has a new place of employment. However, the only person putting anyone at risk from Muslim extremists was Dawahfilms himself.

I may not agree with all of Thunderf00t's views on religion, but he does have a right to express them. Furthermore, he should have the freedom that all of us enjoy by expressing our views on the internet. Many of us live in communities where having a minority opinion can not only get you exiled, but some places of the world that carries a death sentence.

So when is it acceptable to take what happens on the internet into real life. The answer is simple, when innocent people are put in danger. Allow me to give you two examples from my own experiences.

Recently a user by the name of Variablast began filming young children and encouraging them to use racial slurs without first getting their parent's consent. He moved to a much smaller town and continued this practice. Unlike his former hometown which was so large it would be impossible to track him down, his new town was very small and rural. So I contacted the police and later informed the school district to be on the lookout for this individual. I also sent the school information to share with the parents on how to remove the videos from YouTube if they so desired. The police department was more than cooperative, hover didn't even get a reply from the school.

While I have had disagreements with Variablast in the past, such as his attack on the It Gets Better campaign and also DoctorsWithoutBorders, I chose to get involved with the police and school because I now had a better opportunity of stopping him from filming children without parental consent.

However, at no time did I attempt to contact his employer, I don't even think he has one. I made no attempt to contact his landlord or do anything else to affect his real life. Furthermore I never shared his docs with anyone.

Dawahfilms has no such excuse. His only motive is clearly laid out in that recorded skype conversation. If anyone has a copy please upload it so I may embed it here. Dawahfilms, I do not regret helping you as I try to help everyone and my intentions were pure. However I do regret ever knowing you. You are the type of user on this website that makes this place not as fun as it used to be.

Frequently Asked Questions about HappyCabbie

I am a former cab driver that used to make balloon animals for my customers. That is how I got the name. I originally joined YouTube just to embed videos for my website. It was in November of 2007 that I started posting videos other than balloons and I went from 50 subscribers to over 28,000. The best advice I can give to grow a channel is to always be positive and make some video responses. Sometimes you catch a break and a large YouTuber responds back. I have gotten lots of subs that way. Another good idea is to use the cool box feature with other channels of similar size and content. And of course don't forget colabs.

I became a YouTube partner in 2008 and I use YouTube mostly for social interaction. Although I now do this full time for a living, the money is only a perk and never an incentive. One of my biggest breaks was being featured on G4 Network's Websoup. You can see a copy of my TV debut here, or the original video they featured here.

A few people have asked why I don't accept friend requests. I removed my friends list back in 2008 because it resulted in too much spam.

A lot of people ask me how to become a YouTube Partner. Just apply! Currently it is only available in 23 countries so if you get redirected to the home page that means that the Partners Program is not yet available in your country.

What is the criteria to be a partner?

In order to qualify for the Partner program you have to be free of copyright strikes and contend ID matches. If you want to know what the difference is you can click here.

The easiest way to get rid of a content ID match is to delete the video, but the help article listed above will also show you how to dispute the process. Copyright strikes are a little more difficult. For the longest time the only way to get rid of a copyright strike was to file a counter-notice or get the claimaint to file a retraction. However that was not always possible. Then YouTube announced in their blog that copyright strikes would now expire and that old strikes could be dealt with by attending their copyright school. (http://www.youtube.com/copyright_school)

The other thing Youtube checks for is with the community guidelines and Terms of Service. Sometimes YouTube will remove a video for violating the rules. The best way to avoid flagging is to better understand what YouTube is looking for. To that end YouTube has given us a few educational resources. The first is their Blog post, "Context Is King"

Another good learning tool is Victoria Grand's lecture and demonstration of how YouTube reviews and removes videos that are flagged.

In 2010 YouTube launched the ability to appeal a flag to all users, previously it was available only to Partners. (http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/07/strike-youre-out-or-maybe-not.html)

Here is the help center article on how to do it. They even embedded my video there.

Currently the ability to appeal age restricted videos is a Partner exclusive however having age restricted videos does not mean that you will be turned down for Partnership.

In addition to being a partner there are two other programs that YouTube has where uploaders can make money. Individual Video Partnerships and Account Monetization.

What is the Individual Partner Program?

The Individual Partner Program is currently by invite only. Essentially you need to be able to quickly get enough views in a short period of time. Although YouTube does not have an announced number of views required to trigger the invite, I have found that 500 views in less than 48 hours usually triggers it. (http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72857)

Account Monetization was released a few months ago and many people confuse this with Partnership. Like the IVP the invite is automated. The invite to account monetization is triggered by a channel getting a regular number of hits and subscribers. I have seen people with as little as 100 subscribers get this invite.

Like the IVP, any video you wish to place advertising on will have to be manually reviewed by YouTube to ensure it is compliant with the community guidelines and terms of service. They will also be checking for copyrighted things such as music or clips from TV shows. The team who reviews these videos only works Monday through Friday business hours Pacific time. So to ensure maximum profits I advise you to upload Monday through Thursday early in the morning Pacific time. YouTube has several help center articles for how to claim rights to ownership of your videos to ensure they will be approved for ads.

They also have several help center articles on how YouTube enforces their rules.

Check out my Vidstatsx page and track my channel's performance.

I use Ulead to edit my videos, you can purchase the program here.

To record my screen I use CamStudio. It is freeware that you can download here.