I absolutely understand your point. Obviously, AskTony has behaved
in a disgraceful manner.
The fact that you and virtually everyone will probably feel the same
way about AskTony is a very "exquisite" form of justice. He's been
caught "with his pants down" and/or "with his hand in the cookie jar"
and exposed as the sleazy operator that he is. This is a far greater
punishment than simply forcing him to quietly remove my video--even
though it is the second most popular of all his fourteen videos.
And frankly, these events forced me into confronting the different,
competing (and sometimes 'conflicting') reasons I have such a passion
for making these videos. Yes, we all want/deserve credit for those
"marvelous moments" we manage to catch on tape. But I also dream of
having the entire world watching my work. I believe video has real
power impacting people's lifel
Looking at the "big picture" here. I see how it has evolved into a
symbiotic, even mutually-beneficial adversarial relationship.
Because he "stole" ('copied' is a better term since I didn't really
"lose" the rights to my own use of this video) I learned the
importance of effective tagging which enabled me to lift my hits from
5,000 to 19,000 in three months. His use of a copy of my video
caused 72,000 people to see it who might never have seen it.
That response was re-inforced by one commentator who though age-
differences were what caused his greater success getting
subscribers. However, that person volunteered that he has actually
subscribed to both our feeds,,,symbiosis in action :-).
Because he's a clever young promoter, I can't help but think that
among his 72,000 viewers there were some young gay teenagers, some of
whom didn't know there were safe spaces & a community of people like
themselves where they could be openly gay and have a life for
themselves. In Iraq, death squads hunt down anyone believed or know
to be gay and kills them. Catching a glimpse of freedom in the USA
gives them hope.
Studies show that 50% of more of teenage suicides in the USA are
young people unable to adjust to parental rejection and/or religious
indoctrination. If AskTony's use of my video helped even one such
person, it gave it an unexpected redemptive aspect.
I have an HD camera and have several projects in the works which i
hope to turn into documentaries. I don't post most of my better
material on YouTube, just stuff I feel is PSA or that I don''t have
necessary releases for anyway. I love the "wild West" aspect of
vlogging and the absence of "gatekeepers". I'm hate to "call in the
authorities" on anyone except as a last resort.
In this video, I held on to what I perceived as the "moral high
ground". By going out of my way to be gracious and foregiving, I
only increased the scorn most viewers will heap on AskTony. In the
end, I see this as teaching a nineteen-year-old discipline while
increasing my own exposure and knowledge.
What I really am dying to know are the details as to how this
"expose" impacts KissTony's relationship with viewers and if it
alters his behavior. It's not going to turn a "sinner into a saint"
but it might have enough social fallout to make him behave more
cautiously & ethically in the future. Kids learn that touching a hot
stove burns and hurtsl Then they stop doing it.
I think meeting AskTony and having a chat about this would be
fascinating at some point in the future. In one of the subtitles I
raised the possibility that I might be doing him a great favor by
exposing him---although, that is an outcome I suspect will not come
to pass.
I have had an interesting exchange of emails with James,
"TheCruelWorld" fellow, who reviews videos on YouTube. I'm sure
he'll get around to the subject of video thieves as his show becomes
more developed.
On Feb 12, 2007, at 12:57 AM, David wrote:
> By watching your video, Randy, I learned you never issued a complaint
> to YouTube about that video being stolen. I think you should send
> them a notice and get AskTony to take it down . I know you made the
> original video as an expression of your freedom to be gay and freedom
> to be openly homosexual in a way that was very risky behavior in your
> youth, so maybe you feel that any exposure the video gets is good.
> But I still think this AskTony guy should be ashamed for what he
> did. Had he left your credits on the video it wouldn't even be as
> bad. One could almost believe he was just trying to share the love.
> But he's a plagiarist. And that's your video.
>
> --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Kent Nichols"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > Send YouTube a DMCA notice, they'll take it down.
> >
> > -K
> >
> > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "humancloner1997" <rhwicker@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Someone stole one of my videos on YouTube & published it as his
> > > own.
> > > When I discovered everything, I was furious. A friend filmed me
> > > raging and raving at my computer screen. The thief was getting
> hits
> > > at twelve times the rate I was. Instead of "getting even", I
> > > decided
> > > to turn it into a learning experience. This is the story of a
> video
> > > stolen from me on YouTube which now seems destined to be the
> most
> > > popular one I ever published.
> > >
> > > http://www.veoh.com/videos/v240366JDqsZeYe
> > >
> > > On YouTube the link is:
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akk9gKpLtxo
> > >
> > > On Blip:
> > > http://blip.tv/file/147004/
> > >
> > > One vlogger suggested that video thieves have greater appeal to
> > > potential subscribers because they can "cherry-pick" from the
> work of
> > > others and end up with consistently better content than that of
> any
> > > single producer.
> > >
> > > (I may totally redo this video with black-stripe subtitles for
> easier
> > > reading.)
> > >
> > > Having my video stolen by a "master thief" made me reconsider &
> > > rethink several core issues about "personal property rights" and
> > > the "real reasons" I put videos on the Internet.
> > >
> > > Randolfe (Randy) Wicker
> > > http://www.RandyWickerReporting.blogspot.com
> > > Hoboken, N.J.
> > >
> >
>
>
>
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