Welcome to STEEMIT, @theywillkillyou! Gotta say it's impressive how far you did manage to get on YouTube. We gave up on our channel as we were about to break 100K subscribers back in 2011, due to all the censorship and demonetization issues we already faced back then (now, more commonplace than ever).
You may find this recent post I made helpful in navigating your way around STEEMIT. Make sure you check the comments, as there are also many helpful links included there as well!
Link: YouTuber's Guide to Re-Monetizing with STEEMIT!
You'll also find a great and proactive community of people here, as opposed to many of the nasty 12yo comment trolls you find on YouTube! lol
ps. Gotta also add, you guys make some seriously professional high-quality content! As soon as I get over the viagra vid (glad I don't use it!), and the one on Botflies (so creepy, reminded me of "The Strain")... look forward to watching a bunch more of your work!
Hi Alex, thank you so much for the insight...you've just earned yourself another follower :) I found your post really helpful & I'm sorry to hear how much YouTube seemed to have really RAPED you guys. If there's any way I can help, please let me know as I'll do my best to direct you to the proper resources/contacts in order to try get your issues resolved (can't promise anything but I'll at least try).
We've been more fortunate in regards to the demonetizations & restrictions, but it's still been an uphill battle (this would in fact be an understatement). The YouTube landscape seems to be ever-changing & we're doing what we can to adapt, but it's still annoying having to deal with that cloud of uncertainty constantly lingering over your head. That's why I'm so glad to have discovered Steemit: the community is extremely supportive (your're right, no 12-yo trolls!) and everyone seems super motivated to succeed, as well as helping others succeed.
Anyways, looking forward to seeing more of your content! And I probably should've added a little disclosure in my original post about how a strong stomach is required before viewing it hahahah
Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad you found the post helpful! Also appreciate your offer regarding contacts, but truth be told, we were dealing with many of the "top" people already back then, and were basically told if we kept "bugging them" they'd take our whole channel down. That was sort of the last straw, not to mention a complete 180 turn from when YouTube actually flew us out all expenses paid to the first YouTube Live event in San Francisco in 2008.
We tried to have it sorted out with Margaret Healy (head of YouTube "strategic partnerships" at the time), those in charge over at the "YouTube Creator's Club" held in Manhattan's Googleplex, and we were even being courted by the likes of Maker Studios and others at the time as well. We told them if they (as a consortium of channels) could "fix" this crap, then we'd certainly be open to joining if it could help us just focus on content creation instead of all the "political BS". Even they said there was really nothing they could do (or perhaps they were just afraid to step on any toes, since it obviously seemed the "YouTube Mafia" had developed "a thing" for us over there). And all this doesn't even consider that YouTubers with millions of subscribers now face similar "problems" and "worries" on daily basis! Unless, of course, you're Katy Perry with her latest video "Bon Appetit"...
Anyway... enough drudging up old infuriating memories, and back to thinking about the future! I've gotta say, between patreon and steemit, it's great that YouTubers may finally have a shot to successfully and more steadily monetize without "that cloud of uncertainty constantly lingering over their head".