Monday, February 18, 2008

Video Removed: Inappropriate Content

I was surprised yesterday to see an email in my inbox from YouTube titled "Video Removed: Inappropriate Content". What had I, an honest and decent citizen done wrong? The email stated:

Dear Member:

After being flagged by members of the YouTube community and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature.

Cock Fight (3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-gl8ebtsYQ

Please refer to our Terms of Use, Community Guidelines, and the Help Center for more information on what video material is not permitted on YouTube.

- The YouTube Team


This was one of my three videos I posted from a cockfight. The first showed the pre-fight spectacle in the arena, the second showed footage from the actual fight (these two are not yet deemed inappropriate, as far as I know), and the third showed the process of determining the loser (or rather, making sure it was actually dead). I was surprised to see the videos rocket in popularity, with thousands of views, suggesting that lots of people are interested in seeing this sort of thing (or on policing it, apparently).

So what are these Terms of Use that I apparently violated? You can see the Community Guidelines here. The ones that were potentially violated were the following, I'm guessing:
# Don't post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, or bomb making.
# Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don't post it.

I personally don't think that the video fits in either category. Here's my response to YouTube:

I believe this video has been removed in error. In my opinion, there is nothing particularly inappropriate about it, based on the YouTube guidelines. I understand that people may be offended by cockfighting and/or constitute it as animal abuse, and I don't necessarily disagree with them. My video shows footage from a cockfight in the Philippines, where I am a Peace Corps volunteer, and where cockfighting is a major part of the culture, whether Americans are offended by it or not. I posted the video not to glorify cockfighting, indeed, that was the only time I have ever attended such a fight, but rather to share a part of Philippine culture with friends and family in North America. I urge you to reconsider your decision.


...what do you guys think?

UPDATE
Nobody has commented. No response from YouTube. Which confirms my suspicion that nobody really cares about this topic: either you watch the video, or you don't, but the point is that there's no problem with it being there. I'll probably post it again.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hey Craig! hmm... that is strange that your clip was deemed "inappropriate" by youtube. but i agree with you that it didn't really violate youtube terms. i don't know... it definitely wasn't grotesquely violent or terribly offensive in any way. although i will admit that i HAVE been offended by some stupid clips of people ghost riding the whip. :P hope you're doing well!

James said...

Go Huskies!
They took down Cal and are looking like a pretty solid team to play against in the Pac 10 Tournament. They played Standford to the end, have beaten UCLA, and have shown they can hang in there against most of the conference.
Could be an interesting March after all.