I got this e-mail from YouTube this morning...
I found myself being really quite annoyed at first, but then I remembered that:
I've never had ONE cent from YouTube in over 5 years after nearly 200 video's there.
I've actually been expecting this for well over a year and their every changing policies was the main reason I started to branch out to other platforms and media sites in the first place, including to here on Steemit.com.
Now that DTube has become a good experience for me to upload video's to. I don't actually think I need to post anything to YouTube ever again. I still get people finding my channel there and have some great interactions. But why should I post something there ever again? It's never been about the currency, because they've never given me one payment yet. Even though I've spent thousands of £ to get that channel up and running and in all costs that go into supporting me being able to makes video's to post there in the first place.
I think if anything this ridiculous policy of YouTube will actually help alternative video platforms such as DTube, BitChute etc. Alternative sites are now going to see a huge upsurge in people joining. This might not be the FINAL reason small channels turn their back on YouTube completely, but it would be interesting to see the graph from this week onward for new user sign ups, very interesting indeed!
At this time of writing I have 800 subscribers on YouTube, so I don't meet the new criteria.
And also the last part of the message from YouTube states this "Once your channel reaches the new threshold, it will be reviewed to make sure it adheres to our policies and guidelines, and if so, monetisation will be re-enabled.
So not only have they just said a massive "FUCK YOU" to all small channels, they've also said that even if you continue to work hard, posting great content that you are NOT guaranteed to be monetised after all, if you post anything they consider breaches their draconian policies and censorship. Which these days can be anything really.
So in actual fact, thanks YouTube, you have just made a decision for me I've been pondering for a while. Not one more video will be added to my channel (except for one saying that one more will not be added haha)
And YouTube has just made alternatives look even more appealing. People with a small channel are going to be doing what they should of been doing long ago and that is diversifying their presence across multiple platforms and protecting themselves from highly censored and toxic platforms, like YouTube.
I highly doubt that my channel will get over 1000 subscribers before their 'deadline' and since I've never had even one cent from them, I'm actually not that bothered whether I do get monetised on YouTube ever again.
So, thank you to the DTube team and the team of all other video sharing sites that provide a place where people can post to and escape the toxic waste ground that is YouTube. I would love YouTube to become what it once was and to be a rewarding, engaging and financially viable place to be. I'm just not sure that all the content creators can come together as one and actually force them to make real change. YouTube clearly does NOT care about the small creators, doesn't rely on them and in fact this e-mail above is saying that they don't even need them!
So to all the alternative media sites I say this...
"I HOPE YOUR SERVERS CAN HANDLE THE EXTRA TRAFFIC!!"
Be safe and prepared and diversify your online presence in all areas
Geordie Prepper
You can join me an other preppers on the Prepper Discord Server - https://discord.gg/255Td3q
