Channel Awesome
Our last 23 days have been great! Unfortunately we have gotten no where with YouTube’s support system. 1 strike has disabled every feature on our account, the YouTube counter DMCA form was not only broken for us, but a different login to the account provided a completely different and WORKING form. Lot’s more in the video, and we’ll probably have another video or two related to this in the coming weeks about how broken the current system is.
Other’s Having Issues recently:
Alternate History Hub – Can’t monetize new videos, no reason why or any answers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mld4GYqbX3c
Eli the Computer Guy:
2 and a half year old video gets him a community strike and his appeal is denied.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxnb2V0muGw
I Hate Everything – Channel was suspended and then returned with no reasons as too why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH-8PqS84qA
RiceGum – channel suspended and reinstated within a day.
https://www.youtube.com/user/RiceGum
Your Movie Sucks – always dealing with claims and strikes. Also, all around awesome guy who helped others during their Cool Cat issues.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSc16oMxxlcJSb9SXkjwMjA
Screenwave Solution:
For those of you having problems with Screenwave video player, I have found a workaround that seems to work for me.
1. I downloaded a Firefox plugin that loads Flash videos into HTML5. This right here solves a lot of the lag and stutter problems, though not all.
2. For videos that still give me problems, I can copy-paste the URL from the HTML5 into a download manager. This allows me to download the video onto my PC so I can watch it trouble-free at my leisure.
I know this is about YouTube, but the reason a lot of us want access to ChannelAwesome videos on YouTube is because the Screenwave player is horrendous. Mileage may vary. SO that’s the reason I’m posting this here.
I don’t have any problems with screenwave, but this is good advice to anyone who does.
I used to have baaaad problems with them. I couldn’t even watch some videos because the lag and stutter were so bad. I even tried to start the video, pause it and let it load for a while, and it wouldn’t even load beyond a few seconds. It was terrible.
But this, this lets me actually ENJOY the videos again, instead of fighting with them. And I just hope that it helps someone who has the same problem I used to.
So thanks for that!
I had problems before with an old version of Chrome, but I updated and things are ok.
I also have no problems with Safari on my iPhone or Firefox on my laptop.
But yeah, people need to read your post so they can watch on screenwave!
FUCK YouTube!
Alternate solution that works for me:
Instead of Firefox, watch on Chrome or Microsoft Edge
The more the merrier, I say! Anything so that we don’t have to depend on YouTube to actually enjoy the videos!
Thanks. Yeah I had problems with Screenwave. They only got worse after I disabled Adobe Flash (long story). After I got Windows 10, I got Microsoft Edge, tried it out, and it works really well.
Yeah. I use Firefox and I also have quite a bit of problems with that damn player.
That is insane! What the hell is going on with this website? Did they figure “well, we’re already a huge company, we can totally fuck them over for no reason. I mean, what are they gonna do, leave us?”
Youtube has just become a bullying site.
It’s not just them. My friends and I talked about this a few years back. Thanks to people and businesses with eager trigger happy lawsuits many play “safe” and remove anything that might be viewed as a case against them. And it’s only going to get worse.
I hate to see this happening to good people and good shows. Good luck to all of you going through this nightmare.
I know, and it really bugs me since I two want to share videos on the web… but crap I just can’t stand any of this!
This is insane. I can’t believe all of the “copyright” bullshit they’re trying to pull. You’re not breaking any copyright laws! I knew more about copyright law in HIGH SCHOOL than youtube does now.
I’m so sorry you guys are getting screwed over. Youtube owes you some sort of compensation for their unprofessionalism.
Channel Awesome is big enough now that they should, with the power of all of us Kickstarting it, sue the everloving fuck out of Youtube, and perhaps even start a class action lawsuit against Youtube by everyone that’s ever been fucked by the copyright bullshit. Just imagine how awesome that would be. The law is clear, this is bullshit. Everything they do is legal. The problem is that nobody’s had both the money and the balls to do it. Well, I think if Channel Awesome led the charge to get this ball rolling, we might see Youtubers rise up and end this bullshit in court. Kickstart this baby and I’ll be there.
You have to remember that they wouldn’t just be suing youtube, their parent company is google and that’s who they’d end up suing. And remember this is the company that just spent almost a billion dollars just to remain the default search engine on iOS, so they would probably be able to spend billions on a court case. Not to mention the fact they owe my country almost £2 billion in unpaid taxes but because the Tories are evil they only have to pay back £130 million.
A better idea is to present this on a political show such as Last Week with John Oliver. Men like him have dropped some pretty nasty balls about society and business, and managed to enlighten the public about such practices. It may not be a game changer but it could start the ball rolling.
That’s actually a pretty good idea.
Part of the problem is as you say. The law is clear. It is just that in many ways the Law is bad. Yes we all know that what Channel Awesome does falls well within the realms of “Faor Use”. The problem is under the law as written YouTube is not allowed to step up and make that common sense determination. Once the claim is made they are obligated by the DMCA to take it down. The only determination they can make is if the claimant has legitimate standing to make a claim. And that is interpreted broadly. Beyond that they are simply the middle man.
Now there is plenty of scorn to be heaped on Youtube and Googles horrific customer service policies and content creator treatment. There is no reason that they cannot treat those that form the profitable core of their business better than they do.
Yeah good luck with a lawsuit. They agreed to Youtube’s terms of service when they started uploading videos and it says monetization can be taken away for any or no reason. It sucks, but making money on Youtube is a privilege the site affords, not a right you can sue over being denied.
It’s shitty but anyone who makes their living from Youtube should know this and have an alternate place to upload videos ready.
I love when reviewers rip the fuck into Youtube. Fuck Youtube. They don’t give a shit unless you’re a successful prank channel, list channel, reaction channel or let’s play channel.
I’m so terribly sorry to hear about this, Doug. While I don’t know much about the video making process, I know enough YouTube’s copyright bullshit that’s been hitting you and many other video makers pretty hard.
It sucks that blip died out and while I have no problems with screenwave, I know a lot of people do, so I suggest leaving more of your videos on screenwave for the time being.
I really hope you get this all worked out. If you ever have to resort to a Patreon, you’ll have my money on Day One.
God bless and good luck.
I bet Warner has something to do with it. Warner has been throwing a temper tantrum because they have to pay back millions (maybe even billions) of dollars for everyone they charged to use the Happy Birthday song, and have thus been going around deleting videos willy-nilly because people dare to use their content, even if they claim fair use. Two of my own reviews were removed recently (Rock of Ages and Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555), and Warner doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
Hope things get better, Doug. YouTube’s copyright system can be a bitch sometimes.
Hi Doug, not sure how much you read the comment section with all the ones you’ll get, but this is a crappy situation. Have you ever considered getting a Patreon account? I’m sure you already know what it is since a lot of other reviewers for Channel Awesome have one. It may not be the same as the guarantee pay you had for so many subscribers through Youtube, but you have a lot of fans and I do think that you could make a good amount from a Patreon. I know I’d support you.
As soon as I saw this video, I came here to see if there was a Patreon account I could pledge to. I’ve been watching Nostalgia Critic videos since 2008 and I would love to be able to donate directly to help keep the videos coming. Doug! Sign up for a Patreon!!
What, if anything, can we as viewers do to help?
Sad to say, this is nothing new Youtube are fucking horrible with their “partners”, they’re fucking lazy, and it’s just so shitty. Sadly, they’re the most popular site for videos, and they know it, so they don’t give a shit about what anyone else thinks.
I’ve been considering doing my own reviews. I had gone as far as getting some examples of things I want to talk about and writing out my ideas on them. Except YouTube has seemed terrible for years and there hasn’t been a clear competitor to turn to. So I never took it any further.
It is definitely time for YouTube to be replaced.
I would rather pay for a server that can host your videos than try to fix youtube. .-.
I had my channel locked and wasn’t allowed to upload for 3 weeks, with the lead into Christmas. I had Christmas videos to post up and I wasn’t allowed. The reason they gave… Someone had “claimed” I had stolen their content. Which is quite rich considering most of the videos are me doing sewing, cooking and painting. The rest are all pokemon game play, that is allowed.
They also had a hissy-fit about the end credit music I was using. Even though I had contacted the artist personally and asked if I could use his music. It turned out he has a freedom of usesage, you just have ti link to his page and say it’s his, which is perfectly understandable. Youtube made a “copyright claim on behalf of *Artist*”. Does Youtube really think it’s doing the right thing, even though I have covered all bases.
I also got claimed for music in the background of a car trip, while I was videoing the fields outside. Also music off the telly, I was videoing my cat watching a rock band! Youtube has gone bat shit crazy! I plan to hold on to my videos then 🙂
The way I see it youtube has gotten to a tipping point, they are so big that they pretty much stopped caring and now a handful of smaller youtube-esk websites have popped up and all they have to do is start swaying a few big users over and youtube will collapse on its self. that is unless youtube starts realising that they cant make money unless content creators can make money. I hope you the best of luck Doug and everyone else.
Oh boy…..I think Ross Scott expected something like this to happen.
Ross Scott is a very smart man.
Ok Doug, time to get real. I’ve watched your videos for 4-5 years now after I came across one by accident. Since then I have gotten my family, bf, and a lot of friends to follow and support you as well.
This is however my first comment ever on any of your videos, it may because I’m a bit drunk or because this youtube thing just pissed me off, and by the way that crossword puzzle thing was very hard while on the phone drunk while creating an account ?
Aaand as I’m bringing up everything, if you do another list of fuck ups, pleeeeaase for europe’s, or at least scandinavias sake, bring up that you said in your the king and I review that you said the little mermaid is british litersture! This is like the only thing Denmark is knowm for! No offense to Denmark ??
Although I may have lost my original point, which was that this youtube thing is bullshit, that was my original idea, about 20 minutes ago. Yes, that is the amount of time I had to put in writing this comment drunk on the train, in my second language.
How crazy is that? ???
They do this shit because they know they pretty much have the monopoly on monetized videos. It’s a shame.
Actually they do it because Youtube always hits the top list on browser searches for most anything concerning videos and it’s easy for most people to watch them. Not to mention most people online would not want to pay to watch something because Internet is the “TV” of the modern generation.
The real problem is that they’ve automated everything. So if a company’s copyright-bot sniffs out anything, BAM taken down unless the uploader appeals.
To the point that Ubisoft’s bots reported their own promo videos and got some of their YouTube stuff shut down this week.
Doug, I don’t blame you for not producing, there is no sense in working for nothing. I know it’s easier said than done, but I think it would be a great idea if you were to band together with some of these other producers and start your own website for hosting and monetizing content. I know fans like myself would be willing to put up the cash for a kick-starter or the like.
I just think that someone needs to take on YouTube, they have a dangerous, near-monopoly of online videos, it seems like everyone is going to get hosed if that particular situation continues. Companies need competition to spur them to innovate, and there is no impetus right now for them to do better.
Thing is, putting up something that’s anywhere near the scale of Youtube is ridiculously expensive, considering bandwidth and server costs. It apparently cost some ludicrous amount of money just to host Gangnam Style alone. So unless there’s another Google out there, or some billionaire with a special interest in video hosting, the only alternative to settle with is Dailymotion.
No one is suggesting building youtube out of the gate, that would be a ridiculous undertaking, I’m talking about a site for them as producers to host their own videos and monetize their own content. If that became popular enough that other producers left youtube, to take similar action themselves that would spur them to action, as it is, if people are continuing to post content on youtube and not get paid for it, the company is getting the message that the system is working just fine.
New website becomes major competition for youtube when? Seriously though I think a major competitor would force youtube to get it’s act together. I’m certainly not able to do this myself but I would’ve thought some nerds in basement somewhere would be on it by now.
Maybe when Disney is done gutting Blip for its player, they’ll put up a competitive replacement.
What I wonder is why there hasnt been a class action law suit against youtube yet.If you read dmca,youll see that youtube is clearly breaking the law,because they must have a human deal with copyright claims,but they are getting a pass on this because…reasons,I guess.
Because they don’t use the DMCA. They use private deals that you agree to when you sign up to use YouTube.
A website can remove whatever content they want–it’s not like the DMCA tells them they have to leave it up. It only tells you when you have to take it down.
If this weren’t the case, trolls could just claim their post was copyrighted and couldn’t be removed by a moderator without a proper DMCA.
A website can indeed do that.But youtube is not a website.It stores your stuff and enables others to access it,AND most importantly,it enables you to get money for this,so its basically an internet service provider.Meaning they are bound by different rules than private websites.One of those rules involves having a person responsible for responding to dmca takedown notices.
They might be able to get them on failure to respond in a timely fashion, unclear punishments or something else within the agreement. Something where they are failing to uphold their side of the contract.
I co-host an anime review series called Carlos and Dave Anime Rave (http://carlosanddaveanimerave.com/ for anyone curious). We’ve been plagued by copyright claims and strikes since day one. I actually host backup videos so that our admittedly small but growing pool of fans can actually watch our stuff. It’s disgusting.
YouTube sides with big corporations and copyright claimants ALL THE TIME. They force people who post Fair Use videos to complete “copyright school” before unlocking the account. We’ve even had three strikes and had our whole account taken down, which required a rather convoluted process of emailing strike appeals to YouTube support.
YouTube, Google, they’re in the pockets of corporations. And likely will stay there for some time.
I think at this point, YouTube is now run by robots. Slowly but surely, the actual people that worked at YouTube were replaced one by one with robots designed to do various things, ’till finally the owner of the company was replaced as well. Unfortunately, that means since no human is working at YouTube, the machines have gone haywire and are now messing with the creators because they see errors that aren’t there. So when the creators make complaints about the issues, the machines refuse to acknowledge/can’t see the issues, and instead are doing everything they can to keep the creators distracted so they can continue fucking up everyone’s channels. Either that, or the execs at YouTube.com don’t give a damn about their site.
The entire strike system should have been phased out. It’s stupid when there’s another system that is much less punitive that actually gets the content owners money on the videos.
What’s weird is the Nintendo actually has the right idea, even if they suck at implmenting it. They have a money sharing paradigm.
The right way to do it would be that they get a percentage, based on the percentage of their content in the video. Heck, it might even function as a replacement for (for profit) fair use–just as long as they couldn’t force you to take anything down.
But that’s just a dream–why do that when they can take everything? They don’t seem to care who they hurt.
Aw, that really sucks. Well, at least this was another video. This explains why Channel Awesome hasn’t been posting as many videos on the webpage as usual. Wow, this reminds me of the Youtube situation that happened with me about a year ago. I posted a dancing video and it was taken down because I played music. -_- Thanks for continuing with the Nostalgia Critic videos though. I really appreciate it though.
Create a donate page! I would give you money to keep making videos until this issue is resolved. I’m sure others feel the same.
Youtube is always been so completely and totally out of line for many years now with all their bs copyright claims. It seems sometimes like they think the term “fair use” means that it’s only fair for other major corporations to be using instead of the average person. We all know that this is in actuality being monitored and done by bots and not real people, but the randomness and unfairness of their system…
This comment is no longer available due to a copyright claim by youtube.
Sorry about that. :\
This just sucks. And whenever I start thinking about doing something with videos shit like this happens.
DAILY MOTION! We need to have everyone just migrate to that site or another one and just leave You Tube to DIE! We have dealt with your shit long enough GOODBYE!
YOU TUBE YOU’RE A FUCKING SHIT FACED ASS LICKING FUCK BITCH
The Bible reloaded guys have a false DMCA copyright claim levied against them. They said with their one copyright strike, their only copyright strike, they were not allowed to contact YouTube if something went wrong. That might be why they never got back to you and they never will. You just have to hope they realize they fucked up
http://youtu.be/zDSZ8m0AQZs