Today I was ‘suspended’ from YouTube with no warning and no explanation of why. Where my videos once appeared on this site a message appears that tarnishes my reputation. As a result I’ve followed the procedure to ask for reconsideration that YouTube give and have written this open letter to YouTube.
Update: about 12 hours after posting this post I woke up to find my YouTube account has been reactivated. I’m yet to hear anything official from YouTube explaining what happened – will update it when/if I hear anything.
Dear YouTube,
I know breaking up can be difficult – but it’s generally acceptable to let the other person know!
Our romance has been long – it began years back (my birthday in 2006 if I recollect correctly) when I summonsed the courage to post a little video of myself on you and then posted it on my blog. I wondered at this amazing new technology that enabled ordinary people to have their voice, face… and life broadcast around the world and began to write to my readers that they should explore the technology too.
At first I thought the relationship was just a one way thing – unrequited love, a school boy crush that would never be returned…. however all that changed when you emailed to ask if we could go to the next level – you suggested we ‘tie the knot’ and have me put your ads on my videos so that together we could make a little money.
I was over the moon – you obviously valued what I was doing, perhaps we had a future.
But today it all came crashing down.
As I sat on a train, heading to the football with my boy, checking my Twitter stream a message came through from a friend that my videos were no longer being served and that my account had been suspended.
I didn’t believe it at first – we’ve been together so long. Perhaps I’d taken you for granted but I didn’t believe you’d break up with me without even some warning signs that you were not happy.
I tried to log in to my account and sadly it was true – I’m locked out of our little home together.
What’s worse – there’s not even a note of explanation – just a bizarre impersonal and very general note that I’m perceived to be in violation of some term of service and a spot where I can add my email address and ask you to reconsider (with not even a place for me to ask why this is happening).
When did this happen? To be honest I’m not sure. I found out today but it could have been at least a few days ago that you locked the door. You didn’t call, email, SMS, Tweet…. I had to hear it from a friend – and nobody seems to know why.
OK – so you’ve broken up with me – I can deal with that and as I know I’ve not done anything to deserve it I’m still hoping we can work it out and that you’ll look at it again and perhaps even give me a chance to clear up any confusion. You give a way for me to ask you to look into it again and I hope you will but what really makes me sad is that while you admit to me that you just ‘perceive’ I’ve done something wrong you’re telling the world something quite different.
When I (and my readers) look at the videos on my site and hit the play button I (and my readers) are greeted with a little note on the video that proclaims to the world that the video “has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content.“
Your little note ‘sorry about that‘ at the end of your declaration and the cute little face next to it only dig the knife in deeper.
In other places it says “darrenrowse has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of our Community Guidelines.”
There’s no mention that I’m ‘perceived‘ to have broken your terms of service and that you’re looking into it – just a declaration to those who’ve come to trust me after many years of hard work that I have violated your policy against things that I detest and which I have campaigned against.
That doesn’t seem like you’re playing fair.
You see those who see that message trust you – they know you – they take what you say as ultimate truth… so for you to tell them that hurts – both me and my reputation.
YouTube – I’m not sure what to say. I understand you need to have policies and procedures and that you no doubt do have to deal with spammers and scammers – but as someone who has worked hard to play by the rules and teach others to do the same I’m a little taken a back.
I do hope that you’ll reconsider our relationship – I’d love to snuggle again – (if I’ve done something wrong I’m only too happy to rectify it and/or explain – I can’t think what it would be) – but more than that I hope that you’ll reconsider the way that you break up with those who love you because when I tweeted this out I had quite a few others share similar experiences.
Heart brokenly yours
Darren Rowse (formerly darrenrowse on YouTube)
PS: if you’re unsure about me, perhaps you should talk to your cousin – AdSense. OK, so we’ve been romantic too (and I once wrote them a similar letter too) but they also once even posted a video about me on… YouTube where they promote me as someone they trust to teach others how to use them.
Update: I’ve just spent some time digging in my spam filters and found an email from Youtube from earlier today saying that they suspended my account for 6 months. It says it was for a single video (my last one titled ‘secrets to making money online‘ (you can read the transcript on that link) but doesn’t give any specific reason. I’m not sure what the problem with the video is (it makes no promises and promotes nothing) or why a problem with one video would trigger an account wide suspension, why they wouldn’t just delete the video and/or ask me to make changes.
I’ve also heard from another YouTube user who also got suspended today for a similar topic video and we’re wondering if some keywords in the video description might have triggered this (despite the content on the video being fairly harmless in my opinion). Hoping it might be that simple.
Darren –
I went to view your video yesterday on which the message from Youtube was posted, and I was shocked that Youtube would bar your work. They are certainly short-sighted. Although it may be a matter of principle to get Youtube to accept you back as a client, you might also consider a subscription to Vimeo or another provider. I’ve used Vimeo and have been pleased by the fact that viewers are served my content without being served ads, especially those that have no relevance to my content.
Either way, best of luck to you and keep up the great work!
Carol,
That is a good obversation and perhaps, they should have watched Darren’s video instead of only relying on the title.
That said, this is quite the lesson for the rest of us.
I host all my videos for my online video show and therefore, I have total control. This was a lesson my video coach thought me – don’t rely on third parties, as you never know when they will turn on you!
Darren – this will pass and we will still be here reading your blog and watching your videos!
Krizia
Women Entrepreneurs HQ Show
Unfortunately, this is the cost of doing business with today’s brand of mega-internet service whose services are free. I find it totally unacceptable and frustrating as well to just cross your fingers and hope that it doesn’t happen to you and usually have little recourse in correcting it or feedback about it. And the points about trust you raise are totally on point. I think the free model results in a general neglect of responsibility to its customers (as opposed to other businesses who can more easily threaten to sue).
“…the reason I chose the title is because people search for that term and are constantly asking me for ‘the secrets’ so I thought I’d give them…”
You’re supposed to be smarter than that. I’ve followed you for a while and think your content is fine, but you have to admit that you ride the edge of questionable with some of your topics. And posting a video called “secrets to making money online” really calls into question your voice of authority. I mean, if you aren’t savvy enough to see how that title is going to cause you problems then I wonder how many other things you do that aren’t completely thought out.
I’m sure this won’t be a popular view here as everyone commenting seems to be in a “screw youtube” kinda’ mood, but how did you think this would go down? YouTube has to protect themselves from forbidden content, and with the volume they see uploaded every day that’s going to mean automated systems. So thinking you can just upload anything or put any title on it is really just naive.
Now, I DO AGREE that since you have 5 years of video history with them, pulling the single video was probably a much better way to go. YouTube definitely has to fix that. But playing the victim and writing a cute letter doesn’t remove your responsibility to know how things work.
Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work. (I like you, I just call B.S. where I see it.) ;)
…Ken
Ken – respect your opinion but really, the video gives the secrets nobody wants to hear – that making money online takes work and is a long term thing.
Bizarrely enough not everyone wants to know that, some simply want to pay someone $XXXX and expect overnight riches.
The irony is that there are literally thousands of videos on Youtube that seem to claim how people can do that – but those videos remain while a video that tells it as it is and argues against quick dollars isn’t welcome and is labeled as deception. While my title was perhaps a little ironic the reality is that them deleting it is probably more ironic.
Of course YouTube uses automated systems. BUT I would expect them to have one of those automated systems to wave some sort of red flag whenever a big guy like Darren is about to be expelled. This is just plain crazy.
Darren isn’t as big to YouTube as he is to fans like you. 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day and A LOT of users are uploading daily, even multiple times per day.
I absolutely disagree with Ken V….and Ken, you are getting noticed by others for your comment, but not in the way I’m sure you were hoping for..
Ken, the “secrets” Darren shared are basically: Do something you love, be as useful as you can, be confident, diversify, take a long-term view, treat it as a business.
Real ban-worthy stuff huh.
Meanwhile as I check the homepage of Youtube there is a “promoted video” titled “Build Chest Muscle FAST” from a channel that says “Discover the REAL TRUTH about getting a ripped body and abs”.
No ban for them though.
Youtube got this one wrong.
It’s sad but guess what? It happens all the time, specially to these who love to market their products on Youtube. Complaining to the community about it makes you look very unprofessional though. Just move on like everyone else does.
Youtube should however change the way they remove spam or spammers from their site. Maybe they should give users three warnings, if the user keeps posting spammy content then they should remove them and send an e-mail explaining why they were removed.
Honestly, you are popular enough and didn’t need to publish a post like this one. All you had to do was post a new blog letting your visitors know that Youtube had deleted your account and that you would contact them to find out the reason why.
Anyway, good luck getting your account back. This is definitely a good lesson for everyone. Not even pro blogger can get away with spammy marketing content.
I think his post was respectful and opened the door to this possibly being a mistake. It’s also a great way to explain his side of the situation while also showing that he’s had a good relationship with YouTube and other parts of Google. In the meantime, until he’s reinstated, it lets people know who may not be as familiar with him that they are reading someone who has had a great reputation and that they should consider the other evidence to that fact.
What they should have done was look at the overall content of all of his videos and then watched this specific one to make sure it was in line with their TOS. It seems they looked at the title only and made a snap judgement. Sounds like a bot raised a flag and no further investigation was done. That’s not fair treatment for any YouTube user with a previously good reputation.
I think the post was fair and reasonable under the circumstances and I hope he’s able to resolve things with YouTube quickly.
Sorry MICK, I think you’re wrong! Great post Darren….
Spammy marketing content? *cough*
I’m not sure what exactly wasn’t professional about this post, but I for one found it to be extremely informative, and tactfully presented.
I don’t think it’s unprofessional. This blog is about issues that bloggers face, this being one of them. And, since he is so popular, maybe he actually has a chance of getting through to YouTube.
And even if the headline was spammy (which I don’t think it was), the content was not, and the fact that it was one of Darren’s videos practically guarantees that it’s not going to be spammy. Regular readers and YouTube should give him the benefit of the doubt.
Sorry, Mick, I totally disagree with you. Yes, these entities act as judge, jury and executioner all the time but that doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t mean we should all just “move on”. We should hold them publicly accountable for their bad behavior because that MIGHT cause them to reform but mostly because doing so will raise awareness and encourage people to stop automatically using only the companies that get continually touted in the media and therefore become “THE” solution and start supporting small alternatives.
Mick, you are assuming that Darren is guilty without even seeing the video in question and siding YouTube’s decision to suspend his entire account. How can you do assume he did something wrong? Wouldn’t you at least want to SEE the video before passing judgment?
We have given these companies far too much control and power. It is about time we stop doing that and support businesses that care more about their users and treat them with respect.
That is extremely harsh. I’m sure it has been very frustrating and I assume it was barred because of a keyword, but as you said they she have just deleted the video not locked the account.
I’m hoping that YouTube will consider your appeal and issue clarification on why they suspended your account without warning. Be brave. I, and thousand of your followers, will support you!
So, note to self, it’s okay to make videos about making money online, but don’t include “making” “money” “online” in the title or keywords. Got it!
Of course, making money online is what a lot of us are here to do and these keywords and most of us (I think) are smart enough to separate good content from the “but wait, there’s more” sales people.
It cracks me up the things that we have to take into consideration: servers go down, accounts get suspended (youtube), or deleted (flickr), and sites get hacked. Okay, now it’s time to start my day.
Looking forward to learning how you get this resolved. And thanks for the heads up.
I thought Rebecca Black has harmed more people then you – how come her video wasn’t deleted?
Very odd that they would be so harsh after one video. I read the transcript – it gave good, sound advice on “how to make money online” – nothing “scammy” about it.
I’m sure you’ll prevail in this Darren with your reputation – surely.
But this is a prime example of how social media websites and cloud based solutions can be harmful to one’s health/income. Hosting your own videos (content) either in full or partially would surely deliver a more significant SEO bonus to your website, BUT it would of course miss the community aspect of YouTube (or whatever platform you use), plus it would cost you heaps in bandwidth.
Anyway, long story short, I bet dollars to dog nuts you’ll be back well before six months, once they realise their faux pas..
Darren it sounds very Orwellian! The Thought Police are out to get you! At least they only removed your videos and didn’t ‘remove’ you too! lol! All kidding aside it is unbelievable that such actions can be taken with so little logic behind them. Freedom of Speech and expression is so important that I would rather live with spam and wacko’s saying weird things than have Big Brother trying to dictate what we can and cannot say. It’s frightening to see these freedoms being eroded everyday with so litttle recourse.
Keep fighting the ‘good fight,’ – you are winning and we are all behind you!
The worst part of all this for me is that YouTube does not even tell us what exactly we (as marketers) are doing wrong when they suspend our videos and accounts. Wouldn’t it just be fair for them to let us know what the actual reasons are for taking their actions?
That way we can all learn from the experience and do our best to work together with YouTube. Their Community Guidelines are pretty vague on some of these issues, and it would be great to get some clarification on this.
Darren, I truly hope that YouTube will reconsider this mistake they have made and re-install your account ASAP.
Things are getting a little crazy…
Gideon Shalwick
Outlandish! Outlandish!
And as crazy as my blog all of a sudden becoming a PR0 after having been a PR4 for years. Just because I’ve decided to take a little break from writing. It’s not abandoned, and there are hundreds of high quality articles for art lovers to benefit from, already there.
Maybe Google and Youtube should go on a vacation together. They’re lacking sound judgement at present. Not a good thing, for anyone. Symptom of the over-worked.
Darren,
I can’t believe they would suspend your account. There are hundreds if not thousands of accounts that put negative, low quality, childish videos that add no value.
I’m sure if an actual human watched your videos they would realize you’re giving value and not some scam.
That is crazy. Hopefully the word will get back to Youtube and they’ll do something about it.
facebook did this once to me.. i just fought it tooth and nail and got my account back within about 10 days..
Vimeo, Vimeo, Vimeo.
Then sue Google for defamation.
I wonder if this wasn’t ann automatic thing, but a outside passive aggressive attack from a person. Someone who simply reported the video?
Hi Darren,
it is quite possible that your account was flagged by somebody targeting the same tags and keywords you were on Youtube. Unfortunately, there are also jackass’s on Youtube who take it upon themselves to report anything that looks like internet marketing because they think it is a scam.
Sadly, the list of jackasses goes on and on and the tricks and lengths they will go to to get somebody kicked from Youtube is quite large, including making false copyright claims. While it hasn’t happened to me, it has happened to a lot of other people I know.
Goodluck getting a human to respond to you from Youtube.
WOW! Just…wow. Youtube really screwed up. I hope you two kiss and make up so we can all get our Problogger video fix.
Darren,
Really weird that you got caught by YouTube, particularly because your content is helpful and about as inoffensive as can be.
I don’t buy the filter explanation: I get followed by at least one marketer trying to convince me they have the secret to quick internet riches daily…if they were really interested in cleaning that up, there would be hardly any marketing or blogging posts on YouTube!
Have you considered that someone might have dropped YouTube a line and claimed you were a spammer, or issued a DMCA takedown? Seems like a targeted attack to me.
Oh well, you can always host the videos yourself, and I’m sure Vimeo would be happy to have your business and traffic.
Keep the faith!
JW
As somewhat of an innocent bystander (sorry, Darren, I don’t know you) and came here via’s someone’s repost of this on FB – I find the policy rather scary and find the comments from Ken and Mick as having missed the point. If YouTube is indeed trying to remove spammers, doing so via keywords in the title leave much room for improvement, as is aptly illustrated here. Hence a video that is not (i hope) trying to push a get rich quick scheme or an mlm of some kind gets a responsible user suspended, and vids selling products and services that are indeed scams are left standing – heck, those users were “smarter” about their titles. Pretty soon there’ll be software that’ll change one’s YouTube’s titles, no matter the actual content of the video, to acceptable ‘safe’ levels as keyword go, and we’ll have tube-spinners and the like.
All in all – a pretty screwed up way of handling something like this on YouTube’s part, and their user/video suspended screens really need some work. Something tells me they wouldn’t have allowed a screen like this to popup on a multi-million dollar brand…
And as posts go – I found this one to be rather tastefully done, all things considered. Had it been me – it would have been much much harsher. Reputations earned over many years are worth protecting, and walking away just doesn’t cut it.
Good to meet you, albeit by accident of this post share, Darren and good luck getting your account back, or at least a response:-)
Sorry to hear about this Darren. It sucks. Even if the material, keywords or whatever set their systems off, it’s heartwrenching that they would just pull the plug like that. Really feel for you. Yours is the only blogging blog I read regularly because I never feel like your building imaginary castles in the air for people. That makes this even more infuriating.
p.s. I’m sure you know this already but just in case, I wouldn’t go the vimeo route. Their criteria for commercial content are even stricter. Even I would think your videos weren’t appropriate there. It’s really for showcasing creative work.
Dude, hope you get over this soon.
Darren,
I had the same thing happen to me this week. There are some Russian porn makers hacking sites and uploading videos to sites. I have also been on Youtube for years and never had an issue. I received an email from a viewer telling me that I had been hacked. I logged in and deleted the offensive videos and then when I went to change my password I received the message your received with that dreadful screen. We need an alternative. Google has become too big and they can now crush little guys with impunity without even realizing they have done it.
Ken
From a YouTube filter’s point of view, the combination of a video laden with “make money online”-esque keywords and links to a web site that sells products is probably what did it. Of course, those of us with human brains are able to discern otherwise. Stupid algorithms.
Hope this all gets resolved soon.
When I clicked on this headline, I fully expected it to be from a guest blogger, not from you!
I’m sure YouTube has policies they need to follow, but you would think they would give some sort of warning, and in your case, benefit of the doubt.
AdSense just banned me for invalid click activity (I suspect my mother :) ) but there was no warning, no opportunity to make it right. My appeal was denied, and since my blog is so new, they have no way of knowing that I was actually not trying to scam the system. But your blog is far from new and far from small, and you’d think they’d want to do everything in their power to maintain a relationship with you.
I’m sorry, and I hope it gets resolved soon!
Amy, I was suspended from Adsense as well, with no warning, no explanation…Nothing.
This is why I cringe every time I hear someone say that the bulk of their money comes from adsense. One little thing goes wrong, and you’re done for!
Have you found anything as effective to replace it?
That makes me feel a little better. :) I’ve applied to the BlogHer Network (which unfortunately doesn’t do you a lot of good), and if that doesn’t pan out, I’m probably going to go with LinkShare. But nothing’s up yet, so I don’t know how well they’ll work.
Darren,
Love your reply. Great writing from you as usual.
I’m pretty confident that this will be resolved shortly. The buzz is out and it will get to thenright person sooner or later.
Just wish I could say the same would happen for the smaller fish
Write on……..
Bob Moldashel
Darren,
Thank you for sharing this experience with your readers.
Everybody wants their content read and to do that a lot of emphasis is on headlines.
In addition, people want to have a presence in all the popular media formats Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. But, the only real estate you have control over is your site – you’ve posted about this topic.
Your situation reenforces for me that headlines are crucial to getting the reader to click on the article and feel that they got what they expected when they’re done reading/viewing. And to focus on putting the majority of content on the property that I own and not to rely too much on third party media.
Good luck and thank you for sharing,
Theresa
Darren,
I know the feeling… a while back I posted a comment to a regular writer on your blog about the reality of making money online, especially with blogs, and she (or you) chose not to publish my comment.
Why? Because it wasn’t warm and fuzzy like the tone of her post?
Following you for years, and finally decided to comment in a (respectful) way that should have triggered a productive argument, but nope… she (or you) didn’t see it that way. Did I get an explanation as to why my comment couldn’t appear? Dead air my friend, not a word.
Darren, you’re one of the good guys, and have reached higher plateaus than you probably even thought possible, and your readers want to mimic your success. When you create a piece claiming the secrets to anything, people hold their breath and hope this is it… finally the truth.
Everyone knows it takes hard work, and everyone “is” working hard, but still, very few see any success worth talking about. It takes a loooooooooooong time, especially if you’re relying on a blog. There are better, faster, ways and that’s what people want to hear from you.
The problem at hand… you have been slapped by YouTube (Google) but this is a bigger, more important message than any anger, disappointment, confusion you’re personally feeling at the moment.
99% of the make money advice you get online revolves around other web properties… search engines, web 2.0 sites, article sites, video platforms, blogs/forums, etc. etc. etc. and that is a serious problem.
To sustain any business online or off that relies on outsiders, especially free (organic search, web 2.0, etc.) with convoluted, contradictive TOSs, is ultra dangerous.
Thinking Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the likes is a long term plan for an online business is foolish and someone with a voice needs to slam that over our heads, which thanks to your honesty and openness is exactly what you’re doing in this post.
And Facebook? Come on… this is a micro Internet that will eventually implode. And believing it is free is delusional.
Enough said.
You don’t need YouTube, and I hope this doesn’t set you back too much (emotionally speaking).
P.S. I wonder if you are guilty by association? Brian, in his latest radio show, said he would not watch video
Ross.
I hope you had a plan B i.e. you have copies of all of your videos and an Amazon S3 account.
Let this be a good lesson to all others. Assume that any one of your free marketing legs (FB, Twitter, LI, SU, Flickr, YouTube) is going to be pulled from underneath you. Never bank a huge amount of traffic or income on any of these.
I don’t know enough about YouTube’s rules in terms of key words that will trigger an account shutdown (maybe they should or have posted those words so we’d all know what they are). But is it necessary to use such harsh language? Also, it doesn’t say the account has been suspended — just this video. That is deceptive — the very excuse YouTube used in suspending Darren’s account.
Why not pay for Vimeo. $60US a year guarantees no interrupted video.
“…spam, scams and commercially deceptive…”
WTF?!
I’m guessing someone has a grudge against you.
Hi Darren,
I hope that YouTube will consider reinstating your account. I have been following your work for some time and really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise. I have learned so much and while I am but an intermediate blogger, the information you provide builds my confidence and inspires me to stick with it.
As for relationships, YouTube and you may have just outgrown each other and one of you may have to move on. As the song goes, “If you don’t know me by know, you will never know me”. And, apparently YouTube doesn’t know Darren Rowse. It hurts but it happens.
Darren, you have followers that know you and trust you, just as much as some know and trust YouTube and maybe YouTube will realize that they acted hastily and will want you back. In any case, I will remain an active member of the Problogger community.
EternalJoi
WOW, how funny, I am not sure if Darren is ware, his videos have been put back again by Youtube I guess…Let’s hear the explanation…
Hi Darren,
I know how you feel about not knowing WHY you were suspended and for lack of better words: It’s Sucks! One fortunate thing is that it is only for 6 months. It’s a long time, but it is not indefinite. It is a shame that they do not tell you exactly why. How do people learn? Were you a YouTube Partner as well?
I was a Full YouTube Partner for 3 years and I was finally having great success on my Original YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/kiddsock (The Branding is still up because the Partnership is only suspended. AND I am the ONLY Partner that has it Suspended.)
Last Spring and Summer, I was having great success and had several YouTube hits. Nothing Viral, but that is fine. I feel that Viral Videos don;t get the quality audience that I am slowly growing again. But I got Disabled July 12th, 2010 and have appealing ever since. No success and no real human contact. Disappointing.
I believe my Success was the cause of the disabling, or the Success Hid “Clickbombing” There is no way to know the source of impressions or clicks on YouTube.
If I could only speak with someone AT Adsense or Google. There are Many Former Partners that are in this predicament and we feel like we have been unfairly shut down.
Maybe it is time to make that video directly to Adsense to try to get it back. I know you don’t want to Rant about it because you want to work with them.
Hopefully you can get your account back sooner than in 6 months. Then you can…
Keep on YouTubin!
Good Luck and I look forward to reading your blog and using your tips for my website and Youtube Channel.
Kiddsock
Did they reinstate your account. Just clicked your link to the offending video and it works. Clicked the YouTube link to go to your page and the videos worked. But they didn’t have any thumbnails.
WOW, how funny, I am not sure if Darren is aware, his videos have been put back again by Youtube I guess…Let’s hear the explanation youtube got to give now…
Well, it seems that your channel is now open again. I guess that being able to make Youtube look so bad in the eyes of so many readers is great leverage.
Too bad that smaller publishers will continue to suffer arbitrary bans on their accounts.
Looks like you’re back? At least I can view the video now. :-)
Did thet explain how this happened yet?
Darren: I’m so sorry to hear about this. Having been posting videos since 2006, I can only imagine that’s a lot of video! I don’t keep a copy of the things I’ve posted on YouTube, but perhaps I should.
I hope this issue gets resolved for you sooner than later!
Darren, with all the good stuff you put out constantly I can’t believe that they would do that to you. So many changes going on now with Google that it is getting harder to keep up. Please let us know what caused this to happen so we can also tweak our sites.
Wow, that’s pretty hardcore!
It seems more and more services are taking this route. Many free blogging services will shut you down if they determine that you’re violating their terms of use (in their sole opinion). Email marketing services have been doing the same thing. It’d be nice if they could give some notice first.
But, to display that message is just WRONG. It’s hard to believe a company like YouTube would do something that ridiculous, especially to someone like you, who I would never associate with scammy, or spammy.
The very same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. My site is largely built on my video tutorials, so it was pretty deflating, not to mention confusing since I was given no explanation. I followed their instructions to appeal, but I confess, didn’t have much hope. However, I was very pleased when my account was reinstated about 2 days later. So, there’s hope!
Maybe Google’s next big product will be compete with Darren…
Maybe everyone was right about the thought police in 1984…it’s just google and not the government!
They don’t make robots like they used to do anymore.
What’s next? Google’s gonna say that you can’t use the word Problogger?
Hey Darren,
Sorry this happened to you…for sure. I’m sure you already knew that video title was a little risky in terms of being a title that would land on the radar of those types of “spam identifying” programs or admin personnel and some policy manual, but YouTube’s “reaction” was also a poor one (especially the blanket reaction of shutting down your whole account instead of the video).
I would hope they would reinstate your account, because the video wasn’t actually “spammy” at all compared to some of the videos I’ve seen on there.
Your videos are back online now (Sunday June 12, 1:23 p.m. CST) so YouTube must have come to their senses. While it doesn’t surprise me when their power goes to their heads, banning someone with your influence and credibility is unwise at best.
Facebook recently took away the Site Build It fan page. That wasn’t overly bright either. Like you, they appealed and took the issue public and their account was restored.
Their message that the video “has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content“ would be libelous when not true. Perhaps a class action lawsuit by those whose accounts are not restored but are not guilty would be advisable.
It is good to see others like Graham realize what is going on. IMHO we all need to continually recommend using INDEPENDENT (non-multi-national corporate controlled) solutions whenever possible. Support the little guy – spread the word – and reduce our dependence on what I call “The Borg”.
Adsense once wrote me that I had to take down an article since it has porn in it. I am a green blogger and the post clearly didn’t have porn in it. I appealed and they said they were sorry.
I think their bot system probably made a mistake and unfortunately, you were the one which got caught in the fray. Perhaps, what happened to you will prevent it from happening to others. I guess the old silver lining approach.
The videos and channel are working here in the UK now when I checked earlier today they did not work. Maybe you got hit by an automation and have been manually reactivated again. I hope this is the case for you and not a cache thing as I would not want to get your hopes up, if I’m wrong good luck in getting this issue sorted.
Your video is working for me. Does this mean the issue has been resolved? Hope so!
Dear Darren, I would guess it is the title of the video. It seems like they may have changed policies radically and you were caught in the net. I would definitely appeal if I were you – since you are the furthest person in the world from a spammer~!
Please let us know if we can make a petition or something to help. I will keep my ears open to see if I hear anything about changes at YouTube. Looks like Google has made some changes. It is a problem when you allow bots to patrol real people’s content. Bots can only use keywords and miss the finer meanings of phrases.
((((HUGS)))) It is very sad to be even accidentally thwarted from a social media outlet that you know and love – I know from being caught in that massive Twitter suspension. Don’t worry – we are still out here for you~!! x0x Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies