Changes to my Youtube Channel

This is probably of no interest to anybody, but I decided to make a big change to my donpfeff youtube channel: The biggest change being that I took down all of the videos and won't be updating it any more. 

Why? It's something I've been thinking about for a long time, actually, and the time finally became the right time to do it. Here is the explanation I posted on my youtube channel:

What happened to all of my other video reviews? Well, they have been deleted by me and I am officially retiring as a mash-up style film reviewer on youtube. Why? I have been doing this for years and for the most part the reception from viewers has been incredibly positive and encouraging, but behind the scenes I have had to deal with countless issues about copyrights, fair usage rules, and various other things that led me to believe what used to be a fun hobby could in fact get me into trouble, even though I don't believe I was doing anything wrong and all the clips I used were fair use.

However, I'm not a legal expert and it finally occurred to me if that you have to ask yourself if something is illegal -- or even just immoral -- then it's probably a good time to stop doing that. Right? 

What happened to all of my other video reviews? Well, they have been deleted by me and I am officially retiring as a mash-up style film reviewer on youtube. Why? I have been doing this for years and for the most part the reception from viewers has been incredibly positive and encouraging, but behind the scenes I have had to deal with countless issues about copyrights, fair usage rules, and various other things that led me to believe what used to be a fun hobby could in fact get me into trouble, even though I don't believe I was doing anything wrong and all the clips I used were fair use.

However, I'm not a legal expert and it finally occurred to me if that you have to ask yourself if something is illegal -- or even just immoral -- then it's probably a good time to stop doing that. Right? 

Also, and even forgetting issues of copyright, I simply wanted to move on from editing together those kinds of video projects and, instead, working on content that is solely my own to use and do with as I please. 

So Donpfeff may return at some point, but until then I'm going to be posting more original content on my So Awkward Show page. I hope anybody who loved my videos here check out my videos there, and please accept my gratitude for the love and support you all have shown me over the years.

Well, except for all the haters, but even they occasionally made me laugh.

Basically, what began as a fun way to learn more about video editing and share my opinions on films to more people turned into something I became increasingly uncomfortable doing. Take my Spielberg-a-thon for example: I intended for it to be a loving tribute to one of my personal heroes, but after so many of the videos were flagged for possible copyright infringements, I decided that might, in fact, be a lousy way to pay tribute to somebody. I don't think anybody who watched those videos would deny they were lovingly crafted and well-intentioned, but I still don't want to run the risk that what I presumed was fair usage was actually infringement. Over the years I have had many offers to monetize my channel, but I turned them all down because I was already having problems with copyright accusations.

So it just wasn't fun any more. The videos I have been doing with my friend Sarah for our So Awkward channel have been fun, although nowhere near as popular or well received. But then, when I first started doing those video reviews, nobody liked them much either.

Bottom line, if I'm going to be posting things online, I want to make sure they are all my own creation. I want to make sure everything I do is legal and moral and, mostly important, in line with my own sense of right and wrong. I realize I am probably over thinking some dumb video reviews on youtube.