Yesterday, I received yet another "Community Guideline" strike from YouTube.
For those keeping score, this is my third strike since June. As if the initial notification wasn’t frustrating enough, my appeal was swiftly rejected, leaving me unable to post for the next week. Oh. Well. At least they responded to the appeal this time.
As much as I love the virtual friends I’ve made through my YouTube channel, I hate how the platform treats content creators.
YouTube is less a haven for creativity and more a purgatory for it—a corporate behemoth that’s quick to punish, slow to support, and takes more than its fair share.
In case you missed it, back in the summer, I received not one but two “Community Guideline” strikes from YouTube for sharing sources to photos on two videos.
According to the bots and bureaucrats, the videos were fine, but the links violated YouTube’s overzealous Nudity & Sexual Content policy.
The strikes didn’t just lead to three weeks of forced “breaks.” They disrupted my momentum, undercut my revenue, and ultimately shifted how I approach my work. The strikes led me to make Substack my creative “home”—a platform where adults can create content for other adults without walking on eggshells.
This time it’s (allegedly) the video that’s the problem. The video is so heavily edited, I don’t understand how it could be considered “sexually gratifying.” But bots, bullies, and bureaucrats are dumb and rarely make any common sense.
Judge for yourself: Here’s the now-removed “edited for YouTube” version of the original NSFW video. Dancing on the line? Sure. Over it? I don’t think so. Do you?
The silver linings to this strike are: 1) I wasn’t (as) surprised, 2) I haven’t gotten (as) mad, and 3) I am more than excited to focus on making content for Substack only.
To all the fine folks who followed me from YouTube over to Substack: THANK YOU! Your support reminds me why I create and curate in the first place.
As for YouTube, I appreciate the audience and views, but I’ll have to save my rant for another day. I have more important things to do, like finishing the videos I was working on yesterday when YouTube so rudely threw a wrench in my week.
Here’s to the “two steps forward, one step back” content creator dance.
Thanks for reading and subscribing!
Clint
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1887 = Georgia O'Keeffe = American artist 🌈
1929 = Ed Asner = American actor, singer, and producer
1932 = Petula Clark = English singer-songwriter and actor
1940 = Patricia Marion Fogarty = American artist 🌈
1940 = Sam Waterston = American actor
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1636 = The Plymouth Colony issues the first complete legal code in the colonies. Eight offenses were deemed punishable by death, including sodomy.
1904 = King C. Gillette receives patent for the safety razor.
1920 = The first assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
1933 = Thailand holds its first election.
1952 = ONE Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation are signed.
1959 = Four members of the Clutter family are murdered near Holcomb, Kansas, a crime later detailed by Truman Capote in his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.
1961 = The Washington, DC, chapter of the Mattachine Society is formed.
1971 = Intel releases the world's first commercial microprocessor, the 4004.
1987 = Randy Shilts’s seminal work on the history of the AIDS crisis, And the Band Played On, debuts at #12 on The New York Times Best Seller list.
1989 = Massachusetts passes a statewide gay rights law.
1989 = Steel Magnolias is released in theaters.
1995 = The Florida Baptist Convention approves a resolution encouraging a boycott of The Walt Disney Company because of the company's extension of domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees.
2013 = Sony releases the PlayStation 4 (PS4) game console.
2017 = Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sells for $450.3 million by Christie's in New York to Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction. (Note: It hasn’t been seen publicly since…and is still the subject of much debate in art circles.)
2022 = The world population reached eight billion.
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Couldn't be more PG than that!
Yeah. Substack was a genius move. All these "we're against censorship" sites giving lessons in Hypocrisy 101.
Even the guys doing evolution vids get hit for drawings available in any standard HS History book. It's so incredibly stupid.
Obviously, Clint, we support your content any way we can. It's up to you to determine the breaking point with YT. At some point the juice ain't worth the squeeze & high blood pressure + stress isn't anyone's idea of enhancing creativity. One day they'll realize they're killing the geese laying the golden eggs & won't be able to attract ANY decent posters.
Chin up! They WISH they could draw the attention you do. & best wishes for a fruitful, long lasting relationship with substack!