THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS - *edit: GOOD NEWS

Well, I knew it was coming, eventually, and now it's here. 

I've been warned by some eagle-eyed MKU fans that the new, subscriber-only content is showing up on free sites. With thousands of views. 

Some of it is in it is in its entirety, others carefully edited and cropped to eliminate the opening and closing credits and even the watermark in places. 

That means the content I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time (and TONS of money in voice work, hardware & software) making for you has been made essentially worthless. Whoever is doing this is playing me for a sucker, and now, they're playing you for one, too. 

I didn't open a pay site to make money, I just wanted to cover my expenditures for gear and voice work, so this genre hobby would stop costing money ... I've gotten there, but just barely. And there's no way it will cover the cost of a live-action mankiller video. And now ... there's NO WAY I'm going to lay out thousands of dollars for a live shoot if somebody is just going to post it to P-hub. 

This kind of pirating is the reason genre pros like Wicked City Girls closed up. People like the content, but $5 or $10 a month is too much? (a special thanks to my premium tier all-stars, you guys are the only reason this site is still here, honestly). What is the first person who posts it thinking? YOU ALREADY HAVE THE CLIP, genius. What do you get by putting it out there on a free site, other than the satisfaction of knowing you're killing my productivity? 

WHAT THIS MEANS: 

- I'm going to pursue immediate takedown measures at the sites in question.
  If I can, I'm coming after your account privileges in said site(s)

- I will create some form of "thank you" rewards for MKU subscribers who
  alert me to pirated links

- get ready for MUCH more prominent watermarking (sorry, I hate this too). I
  had been making them more and more faint, because it's distracting and I
  hate it, but now .... thank the pirate.  

- I'm going to re-evaluate keeping the download links permanently active.
  Now that I now it's being pirated, someone could join for a month,
  download everything, and post it all, effectively wiping out years of work.
  I hate this too. There might be some kind of schedule I put archived
  work on. I know this equals a loss in value, which I hate .... I'm open to
  ideas. Message me if you have any. 

FOR RIGHT NOW:

I'll be continuing to create content, but I'll be watching the subscriber count very closely. If it takes a hit more than what I've seen lately... I don't know, I don't want to think about that. But there's a real chance this site could fold up shop (I would HATE that, but it's a danger). 

Pirates have killed far bigger genre sites than me, folks. 

A long time ago, I had a blogspot site where I just made stuff and gave it a way for free. For YEARS. Those old blogspot clips are still floating around; whatever, that's fine, they were meant to be free. 

I closed up shop and went away, for YEARS, after a few real choice people got downright abusive when I wouldn't do extra work, for free, on their timeline. "More more more, free stuff, send me pictures, more more!" I got mad and starting taking the material down, and I can still see the message posted by the main instigator: "Delete away, sunshine." 

I couldn't wrap my head around their sense of entitlement, and it pissed me off royally. So I stopped posting stuff anywhere. For a loooong time. And promised I would never provide anything for free again. Which makes me sad, because I enjoyed giving it away, honestly. But some people just take and take.

But I came back, years later, to see if people would volunteer to at least cover my expenses. I figured that meant having a thicker skin and putting up with more crap since there was $ involved.

Well, I'm on the financial razor's edge of being able to do this, and if thousands of people are getting the work for nothing, that's at least a couple dozen who would have paid a few dollars who suddenly aren't. 

I know I'm lecturing the choir; I'm sorry. You current MKU supporters are my heroes; you make it possible to create more of the material we all like. But now, there are a couple of you who have put the whole whole thing in danger. If you're the one posting it... you're a dick. Thanks a lot.   

oh, and PS: If you loyal, gracious, and all-around genuinely awesome MKU subscribers find MKU content posted on a sharing site anywhere, I encourage you to FLOOD the poster's account and message board with METRIC TONS "you're an asshole" messages. Just sayin. I'd love to see it. Thanks again, 99% of you. :)

PPS: There is a guy named "cris123535" on YoutTube who posted the new subscriber-only paid content. FLOOD HIS PAGE, folks, please. Comments, down votes, and you're allowed to file a 3rd-party copyright claim. He breaks them up into 10-sec clips so I have to do SO MANY forms. Help me out with this guy? 

*EDIT: THERE IS HOPE!

Literally within minutes of my first copyright claim, cris 123535 took down my videos from his YT page. YAY! Cris 123535, if you see this, I REALLY appreciate you taking them down on your own accord. I'm actually GLAD you like the videos, I WANT you to see them... just please don't put them out there any more than they already are. Eventually that would lead to me not making them anymore, and neither of us wants that, right? 

Also, one of the two offending P-Hub users saw my messages on their posts (and maybe got an email from P-Hub of my copyright complaint), and deleted the videos. Double YAY. 

Thanks - D

ADDENDUM: As I mentioned above, deep down inside I sort of knew this day was inevitable, but it still surprised me how shocked, sad, and angry I was seeing my stuff -- YOUR STUFF -- out there. But I'll get over it. I'll fight it, as best I can. If you guys see it posted somewhere, take the fight to the poster for me too, will you? I'll just try harder, and I'll put more effort into the marketing angle of things. More eyeballs seeing promos eventually means more folks willing to support it, right? Fingers crossed. Anyway...just know how grateful I am for the financial support of each of you, every single day. The amazing upper tier guys, to the $5 art-only folks, to the guys who drop in and out every few months -- I get it, no worries. I'm so, so thankful for your guys support (and patience). Our goofy little corner of the internet sure has some good people in it. :)

ADDEDUM 2: And now P-Hub has processed their copyright complaint and the Willow video and Flex-Off pirated copies are down! Whoo-hoo! So, it's possible to follow up on these, it just takes a lot of legwork. THANK YOU SO MUCH to the original tipsters, you guys are the best, and a little something special is in the works for you. 

 --D