Well, it's finally happened. (Patreon)

hey folks, it's been a crazy weekend, and you're about to read a super long, kind of intense post. I would like to start the following update by letting you know that in spite of what has happened over the past couple of days, I am going to continue to work on the mermaid game and all my other game projects. And while the situation I find myself in is causing a bit of trouble, I don't want anyone reading this to be worried for me or feel they need do anything, I'm pretty sure I can resolve it soon. I'm simply writing because it may affect the future of my youtube channel, I'm currently figuring a few things out, and I don't want it to catch anyone off guard. 

So whenever any content creator reaches a certain level of subscribers or popularity, strangers on the internet will begin to harass them, and the intensity is also higher if the content creator is a woman or another minority identity. I am part of a few circles for content creators, and based on what everyone I have talked to says, this is sadly not just a possibility but an absolute certainty. When I started doing youtube in earnest, I accepted that this would happen and took what I thought would be appropriate safeguards. I'm very private about my personal details and if anyone says anything even vaguely negative on my socials, they get blocked. So far that's worked super well for me!

but recently I learned what real harassment looks like.

You'll recall that a few days ago, one of my reels on instagram went semi-viral. I got a lot of new followers, and this included a cohort of strangers who, for reasons I genuinely can't fathom, really want me to lose some sleep. they commented on several of my instagram posts, my youtube videos, they reached out to people who supported me publicly or said anything nice about me in comment sections, they sent me private dms, and said some very vitriolic things about me, one of which was that I was an art thief (we'll get to that in a moment).

At first, I treated this like any other troll-y or negative social interaction online: blocked and moved on. But what makes this different was that they keep coming back. There are at least three people involved in this, that I can tell. They are using multiple accounts, and again, keep trying to find new avenues to either comment in public place about my work or message me directly. You can tell its the same group because they will always mention that I "stole pixel art", and always ask everyone to visit their own youtube channel as "proof" (I'm not gonna name the channel here because in the back of my mind I wonder if all this isn't some kind of very poor publicity stunt, and I'm certainly not going to give them free clicks or views) Anyway, after I blocked most of these avenues off, instead of going away for good, they chose to escalate.

If you make any kind of work on youtube, especially if you are a woman please read the following. It's information I did not know until this happened that I really wish someone had told me.

Youtube uses an automatic copyright content checking system that analyses every video uploaded for potential copyright infringement. Content creators and copyright holders (generally) work well with this system, because In most cases, if it catches anything you can resolve it with a quick reupload or cut even before you hit publish--and sometimes the copyright owners will let you use their content as long as the video is demonetized. I have only been warned by the system once, because my videos and content are completely original or transformative, and also I don't make money off of youtube anyway, so losing monetization is not a problem for me.

But did you know that anyone can file an outsider copyright claim against your video, even without using this system? Even without having a youtube account?  You just fill out a form with your name, your email, and the video you claim is infringing, and in most cases youtube will create a copyright strike. and here's where it gets nasty.

a copyright strike on youtube is pretty serious. get three of them and your account is deactivated or banned. When someone files an outsider's claim, it doesn't go through the normal automatic system or really get checked by anyone, it gets treated immediately as a potential strike. The creator has 7 days to take down that video or accept the strike, after which they are allowed to file a counter notice to restore the video. This is not an appeal through Youtube, a counter notice is a legal action, basically notifying the claimant "you need to prove in court that your copyrights were violated or youtube will undo all of this" and in most cases, harassers who are abusing the copyright system will back off (with no repercussions, I might add). HOWEVER...

In order to file a counter notice, you must either hire a lawyer to file it for you, or you must file it yourself, and you are required to give the claimants your legal name and residential address so they can take you to court if they want to.

I REPEAT: IN ORDER TO FILE A COUNTER NOTICE, YOU HAVE TO GIVE YOUR HARASSERS YOUR FULL LEGAL NAME AND RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

Kind of bone-chilling, isn't it? Knowing how ridiculously easy it is to abuse the system to do this to someone? I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know about any of it. But you'd better believe the next time I meet someone who is thinking about making youtube part of their career, I'm gonna tell them!

Not that it really matters, but it was mildly amusing finding out what this group of people chose to copyright strike: Lani's design. A design you'll recall was determined by a poll. And the video they filed a copyright strike on clearly shows the poll results and contains footage of me drawing her by hand. Altogether a hilariously bad attempt, and if a single human being had looked at this case it would have been thrown out, but luckily for them youtube is happy to carry out their threats in earnest.

Anyway, if I don't want these fraudulent copyright strikes to deactivate my youtube account and undo years of work and also kill the public funnel to my primary income stream, The options for me right now are: file a counter notice alone and dox myself, or forego a couple of dental surgeries for a while to hire a lawyer to file. I would happily lose a few teeth to get these people out of my life, so I'm picking the latter option!

That is the update, everyone. It is a bit blunt, but I promise there is no need for concern, and this issue is already on its way to being resolved, but I'll admit I am angry and maybe venting a little. This experience made me confront a really dark part of this platform I regularly use, and realize how vulnerable you are by putting yourself in the public eye. If you were one of the people who interacted with or were contacted by this group, by the way, I'm very sorry.  

Lots of gratitude and warmth to everyone who is here and read all the way to the end. I will write more soon about how the game is coming along!