How Do You Deal With Your YouTube Account?

[jeremyroddick]

YouTube has a lot of traffic and their criterias vis-a-vis content is still a little bit obscure to me. I've been trying to dissect what's a 'yes' and what's a 'no' on their policies and always end up having my Channel closed down.

I see a lot of Studios able to keep their Channel alive for a while. Obviously they are not going on dangerous territories.

I can't find a list of 'yes' and 'nos'. In a way I want to know what limit not to reach. But the dialogue is really hard with them and relies often on judgement calls on their side.

I just to frigging comply with their terms!

Any tips?

[daedal]

It's a Google Service, so abides by the General Terms and Conditions they apply to all there services, it also has it's own set of Terms.

The problem is Google doesn't have a specific list of yes and no's it is down to the individual reviewer dealing with a complaint on deeming whether or not something breaches its policies or Terms and Conditions.

you agree not to use the Service (including the YouTube Player) for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain YouTube's prior written approval:
the sale of access to the Service
the sale of advertising, sponsorships or promotions placed on or within the Service, or Content;
the sale of advertising, sponsorships or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website containing Content delivered via the Service unless other material not obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value to be the basis for such sales

That gets lots of channels closed down.

[asiaboy]

I would not bother with them.

Even though you might get lots of views before they close you down, I do not think they are the types of visitors that eventually pay for memberships. That's what it all boils down to, for me.

I used to have an account, but even two boys kissing with their clothes on was already a violation of their terms. Do that a few times and they close you down and all your work was for nothing!

[nickbaer]

I put up a couple of shower and massage clips on YouTube in 2008. No nudity, no "porn" clip cut as the hands were going for the goods, etc... just non-nude peeks at some of my non-sexual work.

Shortly thereafter, I got a love note from YouTube that one of the clips violated their TOS (of course nothing in the TOS defined any of my clips). They deleted one clip and locked the account from further uploads, unless I replied to some form letter that I would not do that again - which of course I did not.

So for 3 years, the other clips have been busy attracting views.

But in the meantime, a lot of competitors have clips that are porn previews, cut right before the hands go for the goods, complete with clickable links to their sites.

As we've learned over the years, here and elsewhere, such censorship isn't as much about TOS and radical right wingers, as it might be competitive co-conspirators who try to nuke fellow competitors.

[HunkyLuke]

yeah it really seems to be a lotto on YouTube, depending on if any prudes see your clips and report them, and they are not clear nor consistent with applying their rules either

[RDude]

I would imagine there are a fair amount of homophobic viewers on there too that probably flag any kind of gay interaction. What's really interesting about that is it seems to be ok to threaten people's lives in the name of God or any other deity on You Tube, but don't you dare put up a harmless video of two men making out and/or caressing in a non-nude context. That's just too much of a threat to mankind! Pathetic...

Let's also add street fighting and death/murder on a massive scale to the list. But sex is forbidden.

[jeremyroddick]

@Asiaboy Statistically I would have to agree with you. It does not convert good into a sale. But I really liked the idea of showing hot boys in a non pornographic way. Showing my brand to potential YouTube visitors interested...in cute boy.

@RDude I think it's really how they are dealing with that. I had a video where a model was deepthroating a whole banana. The guy was fully dressed. There was no sexual talk. Or anything "naughty" with the banana. The guy was just showing his skills of deepthroating a banana. Then someone commented "Fucking fags" and a minute later the video got flagged and removed.

[attis]

I would imagine there are a fair amount of homophobic viewers on there too that probably flag any kind of gay interaction. What's really interesting about that is it seems to be ok to threaten people's lives in the name of God or any other deity on You Tube, but don't you dare put up a harmless video of two men making out and/or caressing in a non-nude context. That's just too much of a threat to mankind! Pathetic...

Let's also add street fighting and death/murder on a massive scale to the list. But sex is forbidden.

That's the hypocrisy of the current, religion based human societies. Such a wonderful thing like love and sex is a big taboo, but beating up and killing people is absolutely fine. Yes, in some parts of the world it's still a widely accepted social behaviour to get violent on others for next to no reason.

OT: For a while I'm thinking about using platforms like Youtube for promotion, but if you really want to pull in business, there comes a point when you need to link to your main site. And if it's porn, or worse gay porn, that would be probably already a reason to shut your account down, even if you are only showing fully clothed models.

I think you just need to decide for yourself if it's worth your time and effort to have the content and links online while it lasts.