Two weeks ago, YouTube permanently deleted my channel that had nearly 7 million views and almost 10,000 subscribers.
I had over 100 videos posted and what I've learned when talking to other members of the YouTube community is that most of the systems behind YouTube's platform is run by many different algorithms and very few actual humans.
In attempt to recover my channel, I went through the suggested appeal process, which was promptly denied, also informing me that no further appeals would be permitted.
As a YouTube creator, I felt devastated. I FedExed a letter to YouTube's headquarters, faxed them a letter, called every number I could find, sent emails, reached out to their Twitter support team, and have had no response from a human being at Youtube. I even reached out to ViralHog, a large marketing company that sponsored some of my videos, and they agreed that YouTube is very challenging to do business with.
It is sad that such a large platform cares very little about it's small creators. I recently read an article that YouTube is no longer allowing it's smaller creators, under 1k subscribers, to profit from adds on their videos. I understand that they are wanting to "clean up" Youtube but if they are such a large successful platform, is it a possibility for them to put a little bit more effort into customer service and communicating with ALL their creators no matter the size?
When I call my bank they don't say, "Oh sorry, we only can service your account if you have over 1 million dollars in there. Call us back when you have more money!" No. They do their best to treat all consumers equally.
I do know that a lot of my videos on YouTube were embarrassing and so in a way I realize this may be a blessing in disguise. I now have the opportunity to completely start over and "re-invent myself" and completely rebrand my channel.
I am now uploading some of my videos onto my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FleetingFilms2
I plan to make a lot of new videos and am determined to continue to be positive and trust that everything happens for a reason. As I grow my new channel I will put more focus into making higher quality, uplifting videos, and remember that views are not as important as the reward of engaging in the creative process.