“Dear YouTube – You Broke My Heart – An Open Letter to @YouTube” plus 1 more

Dear YouTube – You Broke My Heart – An Open Letter to @YouTube

Posted: 12 Jun 2011 03:30 AM PDT

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.

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 (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.

PS: 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‘ but doesn’t give any specific reason. I’m not sure why a problem with the video is 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. Hoping it might be that simple.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Dear YouTube – You Broke My Heart – An Open Letter to @YouTube

What Bloggers Can Learn from Porn Stars

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 07:08 AM PDT

This guest post is by Brandon Yanofsky of B-List Marketing.

Admit it: blogging is an overwhelmingly confusing endeavor. There's so much to learn that, for a beginner, it can literally drive you crazy.

You need to know how to create a blog. How to properly design it. How to write well. How to write persuasively. How to market and promote your blog.

The list of things to know and do is infinite.

Am I stressing you out? Because I'm stressing myself out. There's so much involved. And yet, all the expert bloggers make it look so easy. How can that be?

They’re actually using an age old technique, made famous by notable porn stars.

If you were to watch porn (which, of course, none of us ever would), you might notice that porn stars make sex look very, very easy—at least, that's what I've been told!

But behind the scenes, so they say, it's a completely different story. Apparently, life as a porn star is incredibly difficult and demanding. All day long, they’re having sex. The normal person might tire of this particular pursuit after a while, but a porn star might have to keep going for longer than eight hours—after all, that’s his or her job.

Like any actor, these movie stars might have to repeat a scene over, and over, and over again until the exact shot the director wants is captured. And yet, like any actor, the porn star doesn’t look fatigued in the finished work. They push through the exhaustion—again, that’s all part of the job.

The blogger’s job

As a blogger, you also need to learn how to push through any obstacles you face. That’s just part of your job.

There will be times when you feel like giving up—when everything seems to be going wrong. Maybe you just can't seem to get your blog past 50 visitors a month. You may start telling yourself, "I'll never make it. I should just give up."

You'll look at bloggers like Darren Rowse, and Chris Brogan, and Brian Clark, and you'll say to yourself, "Man, they have it so easy. They write a post and it's a viral sensation."

But I've heard their stories, and they don't have it any easier than you or I. Every night, they stay up late working on a new article, just like they did when they first started.

On the surface, it seems like success comes easily. But behind the scenes, they are toiling. Instead of spending weekends watching TV, they’re at their computers writing. Instead of going out for drinks on Friday nights, they are meeting on Skype to record a new podcast.

Even successful, big-time entrepreneurs like Richard Branson—who makes it seem like starting a multi-billion-dollar company is as easy as tying a shoe—will admit there were times when they considered completely giving up.

The path to success is paved with hardship. But the successful people push through.

Don't give up.

I've had clients come to me, complaining about their lack of traffic, or telling me they can't get anyone to join their email list. I ask them, "How many articles have you written?" Their response? "Well, I've been writing one a month."

"Well, start writing one a week, or even one a day. You'll see a drastic increase in traffic."

"But it's just too much work."

That attitude right there is what separates the successful from the failures. The ones like you and I who are willing to go the extra mile, to push through obstacles and never give up—we’re the ones who will succeed. We are the ones who, in another year, the beginning bloggers will look to and say, "Man, those bloggers just have it so easy." Remember to think like a porn star, and push through the exhaustion.

As an aexample, it took me days to write this article. I felt like giving up on it, but I pushed through. And now, I have an article published on ProBlogger. I pushed through the obstacle and achieved one more instance of success.

So can you. What obstacles are you pushing through?

If you'd like to read more by Brandon Yanofsky, check out his blog on small business marketing. You can also send him a tweet: @byanofsky.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

What Bloggers Can Learn from Porn Stars