PokéSins Update - Copyright

I was hoping that this'd all be sorted by now; I was told it would likely be done within 3-5 days, but as always, it is taking longer.

That's why I've not spoken publicly about this whole situation yet... I just know that the day after I inform everyone, the situation will change and make my new video obsolete or, worse, seem like an overreaction.

So what exactly has been stopping me from posting new PokéSins episodes? I got a Copyright Strike.

For those unfamiliar with YouTube copyright punishments, there are several stages.

If YT's bots think that a video is infringing, it is automatically flagged; this happens to every single PokéSins I upload. This means that for the first month (the time that the claimant ShoPro has to confirm it's infringing) I gain no ad revenue for the video. As the first month is the most profitable usually, this is a severe hit to my income.

If ShoPro decides that my video IS infringing (like they did with the Dratini and Porygon episodes), they deny my dispute to have the flag removed and the video goes from unmonetisable to unviewable. This is what happened a couple of weeks ago.

As I told you guys last week, I went to my network immediately and they've been doing their best to fight for me on this issue. I am in the right and both my network and YouTube itself agree. I could appeal the denial, but if they then refuse the appeal, my channel gets a big copyright strike. This is why we didn't plan to appeal until we'd come to an agreement outside of the system.

Then, out of nowhere, my Porygon video gets removed properly (as opposed to simply unviewable by anyone but me) and I get the first copyright strike I have ever had. The way these work is the first two strikes mean very little, but if you get three in the space of three months, your channel is shut down. Gone.

I'm not being dramatic when I say that this is the biggest threat my channel has ever faced, including that time I got hacked. Given the out-of-nowhere nature of the first strike, coupled with another waiting victim in the form of my Dratini episode (which was still waiting to be appealed), I was terrified that I'd get a second strike. My network advised that I delete the Dratini episode manually to stop the risk, so I did.

Now I'm left in a very scary position. I've counter-claimed against the strike, starting a legal proceeding saying ShoPro is wrong to strike me, and that was begun last Friday. They have 10-14 days to respond and I was told that I'd likely hear back in 3-5 days. A week on, I've heard nothing. I am terrified about posting any more PokéSins videos until this is done because all it takes is a couple of clicks at ShoPro and my channel is shut down.

I know I said that I'd post an episode today regardless, but that was before the strike. The strike changes things and makes them very, very volatile. My network is confident that they can sort this out and that when ShoPro sees sense, I could even be whitelisted. This means that PokéSins would NOT be flagged by bots.

This is a lot of information and may not make sense to a lot of you, depending on how much you've been following this or how much you know about YouTube and copyright law. Essentially I don't want to make a move that ShoPro may disapprove of while this is hanging over me. Going back to my previous analogy where you don't keep shooting while negotiating a peace treaty: you don't keep shooting when they have a nuke aimed at you.

I hope you can all understand my position and how frankly scared I am for the channel's future. Your support is sorely needed as this is exactly why I made a Patreon in the first place. I don't like giving rolling updates, but it should only be another week MAX before my strike is removed or enforced. What happens after that depends on how ShoPro swings.