PRAY: SermonIndex Youtube Channel Deleted without any notice by Youtube

This is sad to hear. I will be praying.

Prayed and will keep in prayers.

Praying brother.

Please check this link on how to appeal.

http://www.geteverything.org/fix-this-account-has-been-terminated-severe-violations-of-youtubes-policy/

Lifting this up and joining you all.

sorry to hear this news Greg, am praying for it to be resolved quickly.

Greg, I just saw this for the first time. I am no cooyright lawyer, but if you email me I will do as much as I can.

Praying that they reinstate. My thought is if they don't, it may be due to thinking of much of it as hate speech, based on the article another poster linked you to.

Brother Greg,

Can we do anything? Like contact YouTube someway and post a complaint or request the channel again? I think if the saints make a loud noise this might help??? Thoughts???

Brother, do you think any of the speakers' ministries might have complained to YT about copyright infringement? That's the only thing I can think of. This is horrible.

I really can't see any minister complaining about spreading one of his gospel messages. It was probably someone who dislikes Christ and His message (and messengers).

You should just make another account and call it preachingindex or something (sorry, lame joke)

That's a great suggestion, let us know how we can continue to pray and serve

I shared an email with folks in our home group asking them to pray that YouTube reinstates. A sweet sister who, with her husband, a very interested in the efforts of groups like American Family Association and ACLJ asked --- and I will ask here, too --- if Greg thinks it a good idea to reach out to someone like AFA and see if they will help generate publicity and a call to action such as an email campaign to YouTube for SI.

I have no contacts with any such organization but if you could get AFA to say anything at all I think you might find a swell of support and at least some number of emails asking them to reinstate and standing for the benefit SI provides for believers here and abroad.

Wow -- this is terrible!

Did they even contact you before they deleted your account? I had a friend who was given a "strike" (or something like that) because he had used copyrighted material in one of his videos. He said that they use some sort of system like that (two or three strikes before termination).

I thought that a particular video had to be flagged for a violation. I don't think that any of the ministers featured here at SermonIndex would target you for termination (and, if they did, that is very disappointing).

Is it possible that it has something to do with that recent minister who wanted his sermons removed had something to do with this?

I'm praying that this is resolved quickly and Alphabet/Google/YouTube will reinstate and restore your channel.

Hi Greg,

I just got off of the phone with YouTube/Google (via their local number [1-650-253-0000] which has offices close to where I live). When I called, I selected to be transferred to issues with YouTube (which was done by dialing "3" with their automated system on the second or third prompt).

After a ten minute hold, I reached the telephone representative. I explained the issue (and gave the name of the channel) and asked why the channel was terminated. I also expressed my disappointment over its removal.

The YouTube rep couldn't give me any information (since I am not the channel owner), but suggested that it could have been flagged by disgruntled individuals visiting the site.

The representative did admit that an individual or group can sometimes target a particular channel for flagging, but couldn't say if that was the case here.

The rep suggested that you reply to the "appeal" email that you received, call them directly (between 9AM-5PM PST on Monday through Friday) or to use their Help forum.

I did voice my disappointment. I stated that -- without clarification -- it almost seems like this website was targeted on religious discriminatory grounds. I explained that the channel garners a lot of traffic too.

Either way, please keep us updated! This will remembered constantly in prayer!

Suggested Tweet:

@YouTube please restore 5K Christian sermon videos viewed 35 million times around the world on @SermonIndex channel. #putitback

Hi Greg
I would like to give you some advice but Im at a loss to say anything only that I am with you and will pray for some resolution.
This comes under the heading of Christian Persecution of that I am off no doubt.You know that you have our full support.
I Can see from the enemies point of view why its beneficial to have us off the air(youtube) as it is a great evangelical tool,a site where Christians and Non Christians visit.
Its the getting punished without been given the reason that hurts the most and the inability to hold them to account of their actions,
I will send an email to Youtube to complain just to add my name at least.My gut feeling but Im not saying this is from God is that its a strike back against the recent happenings in the USA by opposing views,
Our Sword is bigger than theirs,our sword has two edges,our sword doesnt corrupt in the heat of battle ,our sword is always victorious and our sword is living and will do for ever,Yours Hugh

I would seek council from the men at Calvary Chapel and Franklin Graham ministries.

I did a search on YouTube for SermonIndex. I discovered several pages of [playlists] with site, the address, a shortened Google address in the channel description and a combination of random key words but the most common theme dealt with the punishment for adultery.

This is an example:

Channel title: KUWAIT NATIONAL DAY 2014 Website: https://www.sermonindex.net | Twitter: http://goo.gl/f9i0R The work and ministry of sermonindex can be encapsulated
Owner/name: nguyen hoah
Description: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaking at National Day Rally 2015. The Rally was held on 23 August 2015 at ITE HQ & College Central in Singapore.

EDIT: On further investigation, there are lots of references to a Nigerian film called "END OF ADULTERY."

EDIT 2: There are two main accounts associated with these playlists,
1. 'Crybery' link: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCL_Yt12OTU0_DsqvbZ0cPsw
2. 'Comedy Central stand up' link: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCJDLHvvEHu6IIn78LC8pX5w
3. 'nguyen hoah' link: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5OCI4-epuji5jbsq3-V1Kw

Crybery online has one video on it.

'Comedy Central stand up' has zero videos on its channel.

Nguyen hoah also has zero videos.

Another one named, This Is What You Came For, features pages and pages of playlists. Groups of about contain the same keyword but the same thumbnail.

EDIT 3: I checked the source channels for the other playlists, they are doing the exact same thing. None of the channels had more than 3 subscribers. They may all be made by the same person and subbed to each other.

Check it out for yourself. This should be good enough data to get SermonIndex forgiven, though it may take awhile.

I think the reaction to diversify the storage of the videos is wise. We should also work to keep regular archives around the country and around the world.

We should keep in mind, it's very possible that just one person that has the ability to do this is responsible. For these reasons right here is why there should be alternative sites from YouTube and also Face Book, although i'm not on facebook so I don't know that much about it, but I don't think it would be that hard to have optional sites. These sites use their monopolies to voice their own political views, by removing content that don't line up to their views. Maybe someone should start a site called "ChristTube" or something similar, after all, if i'm lost, I would be more drawn to "ChristTube" than YouTube.

Bill, http://www.GodTube.com

Thanks Tim, I remember that now, I was using that as an example, but glad to know there is a still a God tube.

i had no clue that any channel could be deleted after 3 complaints. Now that I know that, if I see something that is offensive, I know that I can complain about it. Just saying.

Hi Greg,

Were you able to call YouTube or reply to the email that declined appeal email that they sent to you?

It would probably be helpful to news outlets to include YouTube's rationale for terminating your account.

*EDIT - It has crossed my mind that this might have been done as a response to the recent temporary moratorium on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations by the Trump administration.

Remember: Google/Alphabet is the parent company of YouTube. On Monday, thousands of Google/Alphabet employees marched to protest the temporary travel restrictions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-protests-trump-streets-trying-182333110.html

In one local interview, one of the employees marching complained that Christians receive "favorable" treatment by Trump. I would hope that this isn't some sort of retaliation motivated by angst from overzealous and bitter Google/Alphabet/YouTube employees.

I just noticed that the channel appears to be back up again!

https://www.youtube.com/user/sermonindex/

Praise God!

Praise God!

I think we need to be careful how we attribute the cause of the take down. Based on my research, the takedown was due to spam. The spamming came from those playlists I linked in my previous post.

I do not doubt that this was an attack by the Principalities and Powers but the nature, cause and method of the attack was different than many members attributed. Practically, the SermonIndex channel was taken advantage of by internet marketers and spammers to promote a movie. Their methods have taken advantage of many other popular items including celebrities, sports stars, movies and so on.

Now, in the process of this, we were faced with several important facts. First we saw how dear members of SI viewed the threat. Many directly pointed toward men who are known to be antagonistic to the Gospel. The other reaction was to turn to men to use influence to solve the problem. Both of these methods proved to be incorrect, it was just someone taking advantage of the goodwill towards SI to promote their stuff and they ended up stealing everything until the cause was discovered.

I'm very thankful I paid attention to what the Spirit was leading me to because before this all unfolded, I had started watching talks by a digital archivist named Jason Scott. Among other things the talks I watched included recovering the original development files for landmark games (on deteriorating magnetic media) and scam and con artists from the BBS days. In addition to alerting me to look for other causes for the takedown, it reminded me of the importance of getting the data of SI backed up securely and in multiple places. Interesting, Greg already has some of the SI content stored on archive.org. Perhaps, he should look at backing up the videos there too. (EDIT: I checked and Greg already has 828 videos uploaded to archive.org.)

I was thinking it might be smart to be careful how files are distributed and backed up across channels. It might be wise to remove links in the descriptions of the videos linking here. This is not isolate them from the wealth here but so it is harder to find them and eliminate them all at once. Ideally, the mirror files should have different meta-data and hashes as well.

I think more importantly, we should return to this issue in three months to look at what the Lord has done through this both to raise awareness for SI and in each one of us and whether we have taken this lesson to heart.

Hi Frank and anyone watching

Sermonindex is above reproach in its dealings of any kind and everyone including myself detest as Frank said the "peddlers"
Its good ending and a warning as Greg said as well.
We are at the mercy of a worldly organisation on the one hand and the flip side of the coin is that it is such a great tool to have.We have to keep an eye out for other Christian organisations in the future as well just in case they need our support,
Yours Staff

Hi Frank
I think you know what I mean.Im not going to count how many angels can dance on a pin head.Suffice to say that Sermonindex have been honest and fair and above reproach in my opinion regarding their dealings.Paul said on occasion when dealing with the churches that he was basically above reproach in the sense that the went out of his way not to be a burden even though he had the right.So in certain things you can be above reproach and blameless as Paul said of himself.
Yours Staff

As far as storage and file sizes for these videos goes there is a really good free programme used by a lot of photographers called Handbrake. It reduces the file size of a video to a third or less and will keep all of the reolution and sharpness and colour etc.
It may not be of interest but just thought I would let anyone know.

Hi Frank
Blessings Brother its hard to communicate correctly sometimes with text apologies,
Have you made anymore of your poems into songs?I really liked "All The Kings Horses" I think I got the name right.Really liked that song.
Yours Staff

Hi Frank
Thats great please let us know where we can listen,
Thats a very nice testimony about that song.I have an interest in the same thing making songs with a Christian theme and I have been drawn I believe by God into the production end of things and I have to say I find it very very hard .so the studio is a great way to go because they can make a great song sound great as well.Poems I think can communicate something quicker than a song but songs are something where the message is repeated and repeated and to a wider audience.So they both have great value.
Well I had another listen to Mary Creig singing broken pieces and I still like the whole arrangement and I hope it reaches ever widening audiences like a ripple in the water as the message is very important,
Im an admirer of Carter Conlon and Times Square Church and they try really hard to get things right
God bless

Hi Frank
I can see why she liked it and also the lenght is very nice you didnt cut it too short which I like.Theirs something about two compatible voices together that is way more than the sum of their parts.Its rare to get that in any genre of music and when the voices are female it is amazing I think.
Its quite a process to bring a song from A to Z almost all goes un noticed by the listner!
I m not sure but I always think the angels do be listening in and singing along to the chorus,
God blessing on your music;
Yours Staff

Hi Greg
A portion from the Chritiantimes article;;;

According to New City Times, YouTube has a standard policy that allows community members to report channels that are deemed to be in violation of the website's guidelines.

"Anyone on Youtube can submit a complaint, and YouTube will delete a channel after three strikes. No appeal. No questions asked," said Donny Soles III, a Regent University law student

So according to this guy if I or a group say complain 3 times lets say to any youtube channel like" WWE" with millions of views or the Ellen degeneres channel which seemingly has billions of views that this will happen.I DONT THINK SO DONNY!I ve always wanted to say this and I hope no one is offended
Donny you are out of your element!

SI had no strikes at all except that hack in 2005? I think.
The good news is and their is good news pressure counted and SI is in a safer place regarding youtube than where it was. SI 1 Christian Discrimination 0
We are also more aware of the risks.

Great to see the response from outside sources.God Bless you for carrying the story
Yours Staff

EDIT: The playlists referred to in this post do not line up.

They were posted between July 2016 and November 2016.

___________________________________________________________

These news stories are leaving out important information. That information being that there were several channels using Sermon Index's name to promote a new movie through SPAM tactics.

SPAM refers to more than just junk email. Here is more information from the YouTube help section:

Misleading metadata
Metadata refers to any and all additional information provided on a video. This includes the title, description, tags, annotations, and thumbnail. The reason we have metadata is so that you can add additional contextual information to your videos. Please do not use these features to game or trick our search algorithms. All metadata should be representative of the content contained in your video. Among other things, metadata added in an attempt to game search algorithms will lead to the removal of your video and a strike against your account.

Video and comment spam
It's not okay to post large amounts of untargeted, unwanted, or repetitive content in videos, comments, private messages, or other places on the site. If the main purpose of your content is to drive people off of YouTube and onto another site, it will likely violate our spam policies.

Source: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801973?hl=en

If you and the news organizations actually do their research, and get the whole story, they will see that the cause for SermonIndex getting SUSPENDED was because these people used SermonIndex's metadata in their SPAM marketing. After Greg submitted the information about these people using SermonIndex's metadata to create SPAM, the SermonIndex channel was restored. If you mark the time between my posting this information, 2017/2/1 4:29, Greg posted about reporting this to YouTube at 2017/2/1 5:23, less than an hour after my post. Then ccchhhrrriiisss posted about the channel being restored at 2017/2/1 11:02, only six and half hours after the new information was submitted.

Timeline:
Jeremy221 - SPAM research: 2017/2/1 4:29
Greg - post new appeal information: 2017/2/1 5:23
ccchhhrrriiisss - posts channel is back up - 2017/2/1 11:02

It is important to note this information from the website where Greg submitted the information about Sermon Index's metadata being used for SPAM:

Please fill out this form if you believe that your access to a Google product has been suspended in error. We'll follow up with you only if we require more information or we have additional information to share.

Source: https://support.google.com/accounts/contact/suspended?p=youtube&visit_id=1-636215024963968338-2137206447&rd=1

In the second sentence it reads, "We'll follow up with you ONLY if we require more information or we have additional information to share."

A little while later Greg re-posted the email response from his first appeal. The response to the appeal was roughly 24 hours after he posted the thread about the YouTube channel being taken down but dated 2 days before the SPAM appeal.

Original post time stamp: 2017/1/30 13:23
YouTube appeal response time stamp: Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 3:23 PM

This data about the response to the appeal is from his first attempt. It is not from the information about SPAM. That webpage states that usually they will not respond with or for more information.

If you look at these spammers' playlists, you will notice that several of them feature videos that have been deleted. I went and rechecked and all the playlists have at least one additional video that has been [deleted] or made [PRIVATE]. I can't conclusively say this is due to Greg's submission but it has happened since then.

I am sorry for using all caps but the message being promoted in the news articles is incorrect. We need to tell the truth in all things. None of the news stories linked in this thread include this information and none of these "reporters" did any homework.

Glad to see the SI YouTube channel back up and running:)
God be praised!