Dear Friends,

You may have noticed that we’ve been making some changes on our website. The videos on our home page were recently removed and replaced, and we have temporarily removed the signup form for our free video eCourse.  If you’ve signed up for the eCourse, we have had to suspend it temporarily, and we apologize for the interruption.

On Monday morning, we received two irate emails from viewers who had seen our videos on YouTube.  One was from a proclaimed Christian who was opposed to our gnostic message, the other from a person who was upset because one of our videos made a connection between science and spirituality. It appears that one of these viewers clicked the button used to report abuse, because the next email we received was from YouTube. They said a complaint had been made about our video, “How Can Quantum Physics Help You Understand God?”  YouTube said that after reviewing the video, they had decided it was in violation of their community guidelines, they were removing that particular video and they had given us a warning strike, which would expire in six months. They would not give us any idea what rule they thought we had violated.

A few minutes later when we tried to open our YouTube account, we were astonished to discover that all our videos had been removed and our account had been permanently terminated and we were told that we were banned from ever opening a new account.  We were denied access to our account, and were blocked from communicating with the viewers who had enjoyed our videos and had subscribed to our account. Even though our free video eCourse was set up as “private” on YouTube, they destroyed our access to those videos as well.  In the places that our YouTube videos were posted, a black screen was shown with the message, “This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content.” Since we had posted our video book trailers where we sell our books, this message was broadcast to potential book buyers as well. Happily, we were able to replace those videos, but this derogatory message could have easily damaged our reputation if we had not acted quickly.

If you’ve seen our videos, it’s obvious that they are instructional/inspirational/entertainment videos that focus on the synergy between science and spirituality and the words of spiritual masters such as Rumi, and do not fall into the category of spam, scam or commercially deceptive content. We read YouTube’s terms of use, and find no reason for our account to be terminated. As to the allegation of “spam, scam and commercially deceptive content,” we feel very justifiably amazed. Of course our desire was that the videos would help people understand our work, encourage them to visit our website and ultimately, take a look at our books. However, nothing is sold on any of them. We have also made video book trailers, but, once again, they give an overview of our books, invite viewers to our website and list where our books can be found. The free six-part video eCourse was sent only to people who have requested it on our website; it complied with all email business laws, and did not ask anyone to buy anything. We have not sent out any additional emails to anyone after they have received the eCourse and we have not asked anyone to do anything further or purchase anything.

Our books are available for sale on our website, at Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Since we do not offer anything for sale except our books, and do not contact anyone who has bought a book from us unless there is a problem with that particular purchase, we are not amused by the YouTube allegation that we are involved in “spam, scams and commercially deceptive content.”

When we contacted YouTube in hopes of straightening out this issue, they emailed us a form letter stating “We are unable to provide specific detail regarding your account termination or your videos’ removal.” We realize that in the big picture, this is an extremely small injustice, and we have simply moved on to another video service. However, we believe what happened to us speaks to the problems we all face in a world of social media.

Yes, YouTube is a free service, and as such, they have the right to terminate any account for any reason. However, most people who use the service expect that they will be treated fairly as long as they comply with the terms of service. Obviously, this is not always the case. We don’t see the termination itself as a big issue since it’s a simple matter to switch to another service. What we did find troubling is that it only took one person who didn’t like what we had to say to permanently terminate our account even though we had not violated the terms of service, and for YouTube to begin hurling false allegations.

No matter who you are, there is at least one other person who does not share your views. When that one person is given the right to shut you up; free speech is in real trouble.  We were also disturbed that YouTube had no problem making their false accusations very public. This is especially problematic since YouTube makes it impossible to communicate with them and try to straighten out the issue. They obviously have very little regard for the effect their allegations may have on someone’s reputation and business. A few days later YouTube sent us a survey asking whether we were satisfied or not with our last interchange. Again, we tried to appeal to them to take a second look, but our request has been ignored.

If you make videos, by all means use more than one service so you have an alternate if one of your accounts is suspended or terminated. However, the issue is much larger than a few videos. The university we attended had a “free speech” area that gave students the impression they could actually speak freely.  But students who wanted to speak publicly about an issue that concerned them quickly found out they were not allowed to use the free speech area unless they got permission and their message was approved by the university. The internet gives us that same impression, but how many others have already had their voice stilled, and how many more will be silenced? Shutting people down, smearing their reputation and refusing to allow them to defend themselves is, to us, a form of cyber bullying that we all need to be aware of and speak out about as long as it’s still possible to speak. We wanted to share what happened to us so you will be aware that this type of censorship and smear tactics can also happen to you, no matter how innocent your words are.

We understand that our friends/readers already know better than to believe the information YouTube is spreading. We invite anyone who is not already familiar with our work to check out our videos on the website homepage, our Facebook author page and Vimeo page; then decide for yourself.

Love, peace and joy,

Lee & Steven

P. S. As you probably know, YouTube is owned by Google. We had uploaded our eBooks to the Google Book Partners program many months ago, since it gave us the opportunity to sell eBooks in several countries that we had not been reaching. Although the books were being viewed, and it appeared that some had been purchased, Google’s system would not accept our banking information. As a result, we could not be paid for any books that may have been sold. When we contacted Google about the problem, they told us other authors and publishers were having the same issue, and they were working on it. Two to three months later we contacted them again, and they said they were still having a problem and had no idea when it would be fixed. However, they suggested that in the meantime, we should just be happy that people were seeing and buying our books even though we were not being paid. However, Google is collecting the money, holding on to it and earning interest on it. When you consider that this may be happening to hundreds or even thousands of authors and publishers, that could amount to quite a pile of money they are benefitting from.  Although we don’t know much about programming computers, none of the other sales outlets we work with has ever had a problem collecting our information and paying us. It seems very odd that Google’s IT people, even after months of working on the problem, are unable to figure it out. We asked to have our books removed from the partner program, and it appears that Google has complied. Our books have also shown up on sites that offer pirated material. If you see our eBooks for sale by Google or on pirate sites, we ask that you please not purchase them there.

Dear Friends,

You may have noticed that we’ve been making some changes on our website. The videos on our home page were recently removed and replaced, and we have temporarily removed the signup form for our free video eCourse.  If you’ve signed up for the eCourse, we have had to suspend it temporarily, and we apologize for the interruption.

On Monday morning, we received two irate emails from viewers who had seen our videos on YouTube.  One was from a proclaimed Christian who was opposed to our gnostic message, the other from a person who was upset because one of our videos made a connection between science and spirituality. It appears that one of these viewers clicked the button used to report abuse, because the next email we received was from YouTube. They said a complaint had been made about our video, “How Can Quantum Physics Help You Understand God?”  YouTube said that after reviewing the video, they had decided it was in violation of their community guidelines, they were removing that particular video and they had given us a warning strike, which would expire in six months. They would not give us any idea what rule they thought we had violated.

A few minutes later when we tried to open our YouTube account, we were astonished to discover that all our videos had been removed and our account had been permanently terminated and we were told that we were banned from ever opening a new account.  We were denied access to our account, and were blocked from communicating with the viewers who had enjoyed our videos and had subscribed to our account. Even though our free video eCourse was set up as “private” on YouTube, they destroyed our access to those videos as well.  In the places that our YouTube videos were posted, a black screen was shown with the message, “This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content.” Since we had posted our video book trailers where we sell our books, this message was broadcast to potential book buyers as well. Happily, we were able to replace those videos, but this derogatory message could have easily damaged our reputation if we had not acted quickly.

If you’ve seen our videos, it’s obvious that they are instructional/inspirational/entertainment videos that focus on the synergy between science and spirituality and the words of spiritual masters such as Rumi, and do not fall into the category of spam, scam or commercially deceptive content. We read YouTube’s terms of use, and find no reason for our account to be terminated. As to the allegation of “spam, scam and commercially deceptive content,” we feel very justifiably amazed. Of course our desire was that the videos would help people understand our work, encourage them to visit our website and ultimately, take a look at our books. However, nothing is sold on any of them. We have also made video book trailers, but, once again, they give an overview of our books, invite viewers to our website and list where our books can be found. The free six-part video eCourse was sent only to people who have requested it on our website; it complied with all email business laws, and did not ask anyone to buy anything. We have not sent out any additional emails to anyone after they have received the eCourse and we have not asked anyone to do anything further or purchase anything.

Our books are available for sale on our website, at Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Since we do not offer anything for sale except our books, and do not contact anyone who has bought a book from us unless there is a problem with that particular purchase, we are not amused by the YouTube allegation that we are involved in “spam, scams and commercially deceptive content.”

When we contacted YouTube in hopes of straightening out this issue, they emailed us a form letter stating “We are unable to provide specific detail regarding your account termination or your videos’ removal.” We realize that in the big picture, this is an extremely small injustice, and we have simply moved on to another video service. However, we believe what happened to us speaks to the problems we all face in a world of social media.

Yes, YouTube is a free service, and as such, they have the right to terminate any account for any reason. However, most people who use the service expect that they will be treated fairly as long as they comply with the terms of service. Obviously, this is not always the case. We don’t see the termination itself as a big issue since it’s a simple matter to switch to another service. What we did find troubling is that it only took one person who didn’t like what we had to say to permanently terminate our account even though we had not violated the terms of service, and for YouTube to begin hurling false allegations.

No matter who you are, there is at least one other person who does not share your views. When that one person is given the right to shut you up; free speech is in real trouble.  We were also disturbed that YouTube had no problem making their false accusations very public. This is especially problematic since YouTube makes it impossible to communicate with them and try to straighten out the issue. They obviously have very little regard for the effect their allegations may have on someone’s reputation and business. A few days later YouTube sent us a survey asking whether we were satisfied or not with our last interchange. Again, we tried to appeal to them to take a second look, but our request has been ignored.

If you make videos, by all means use more than one service so you have an alternate if one of your accounts is suspended or terminated. However, the issue is much larger than a few videos. The university we attended had a “free speech” area that gave students the impression they could actually speak freely.  But students who wanted to speak publicly about an issue that concerned them quickly found out they were not allowed to use the free speech area unless they got permission and their message was approved by the university. The internet gives us that same impression, but how many others have already had their voice stilled, and how many more will be silenced? Shutting people down, smearing their reputation and refusing to allow them to defend themselves is, to us, a form of cyber bullying that we all need to be aware of and speak out about as long as it’s still possible to speak. We wanted to share what happened to us so you will be aware that this type of censorship and smear tactics can also happen to you, no matter how innocent your words are.

We understand that our friends/readers already know better than to believe the information YouTube is spreading. We invite anyone who is not already familiar with our work to check out our videos on the website homepage, our Facebook author page and Vimeo page; then decide for yourself.

Love, peace and joy,

Lee & Steven

P. S. As you probably know, YouTube is owned by Google. We had uploaded our eBooks to the Google Book Partners program many months ago, since it gave us the opportunity to sell eBooks in several countries that we had not been reaching. Although the books were being viewed, and it appeared that some had been purchased, Google’s system would not accept our banking information. As a result, we could not be paid for any books that may have been sold. When we contacted Google about the problem, they told us other authors and publishers were having the same issue, and they were working on it. Two to three months later we contacted them again, and they said they were still having a problem and had no idea when it would be fixed. However, they suggested that in the meantime, we should just be happy that people were seeing and buying our books even though we were not being paid. However, Google is collecting the money, holding on to it and earning interest on it. When you consider that this may be happening to hundreds or even thousands of authors and publishers, that could amount to quite a pile of money they are benefitting from.  Although we don’t know much about programming computers, none of the other sales outlets we work with has ever had a problem collecting our information and paying us. It seems very odd that Google’s IT people, even after months of working on the problem, are unable to figure it out. We asked to have our books removed from the partner program, and it appears that Google has complied. Our books have also shown up on sites that offer pirated material. If you see our eBooks for sale by Google or on pirate sites, we ask that you please not purchase them there.

Dear Friends,

You may have noticed that we’ve been making some changes on our website. The videos on our home page were recently removed and replaced, and we have temporarily removed the signup form for our free video eCourse.  If you’ve signed up for the eCourse, we have had to suspend it temporarily, and we apologize for the interruption.

On Monday morning, we received two irate emails from viewers who had seen our videos on YouTube.  One was from a proclaimed Christian who was opposed to our gnostic message, the other from a person who was upset because one of our videos made a connection between science and spirituality. It appears that one of these viewers clicked the button used to report abuse, because the next email we received was from YouTube. They said a complaint had been made about our video, “How Can Quantum Physics Help You Understand God?”  YouTube said that after reviewing the video, they had decided it was in violation of their community guidelines, they were removing that particular video and they had given us a warning strike, which would expire in six months. They would not give us any idea what rule they thought we had violated.

A few minutes later when we tried to open our YouTube account, we were astonished to discover that all our videos had been removed and our account had been permanently terminated and we were told that we were banned from ever opening a new account.  We were denied access to our account, and were blocked from communicating with the viewers who had enjoyed our videos and had subscribed to our account. Even though our free video eCourse was set up as “private” on YouTube, they destroyed our access to those videos as well.  In the places that our YouTube videos were posted, a black screen was shown with the message, “This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content.” Since we had posted our video book trailers where we sell our books, this message was broadcast to potential book buyers as well. Happily, we were able to replace those videos, but this derogatory message could have easily damaged our reputation if we had not acted quickly.

If you’ve seen our videos, it’s obvious that they are instructional/inspirational/entertainment videos that focus on the synergy between science and spirituality and the words of spiritual masters such as Rumi, and do not fall into the category of spam, scam or commercially deceptive content. We read YouTube’s terms of use, and find no reason for our account to be terminated. As to the allegation of “spam, scam and commercially deceptive content,” we feel very justifiably amazed. Of course our desire was that the videos would help people understand our work, encourage them to visit our website and ultimately, take a look at our books. However, nothing is sold on any of them. We have also made video book trailers, but, once again, they give an overview of our books, invite viewers to our website and list where our books can be found. The free six-part video eCourse was sent only to people who have requested it on our website; it complied with all email business laws, and did not ask anyone to buy anything. We have not sent out any additional emails to anyone after they have received the eCourse and we have not asked anyone to do anything further or purchase anything.

Our books are available for sale on our website, at Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Since we do not offer anything for sale except our books, and do not contact anyone who has bought a book from us unless there is a problem with that particular purchase, we are not amused by the YouTube allegation that we are involved in “spam, scams and commercially deceptive content.”

When we contacted YouTube in hopes of straightening out this issue, they emailed us a form letter stating “We are unable to provide specific detail regarding your account termination or your videos’ removal.” We realize that in the big picture, this is an extremely small injustice, and we have simply moved on to another video service. However, we believe what happened to us speaks to the problems we all face in a world of social media.

Yes, YouTube is a free service, and as such, they have the right to terminate any account for any reason. However, most people who use the service expect that they will be treated fairly as long as they comply with the terms of service. Obviously, this is not always the case. We don’t see the termination itself as a big issue since it’s a simple matter to switch to another service. What we did find troubling is that it only took one person who didn’t like what we had to say to permanently terminate our account even though we had not violated the terms of service, and for YouTube to begin hurling false allegations.

No matter who you are, there is at least one other person who does not share your views. When that one person is given the right to shut you up; free speech is in real trouble.  We were also disturbed that YouTube had no problem making their false accusations very public. This is especially problematic since YouTube makes it impossible to communicate with them and try to straighten out the issue. They obviously have very little regard for the effect their allegations may have on someone’s reputation and business. A few days later YouTube sent us a survey asking whether we were satisfied or not with our last interchange. Again, we tried to appeal to them to take a second look, but our request has been ignored.

If you make videos, by all means use more than one service so you have an alternate if one of your accounts is suspended or terminated. However, the issue is much larger than a few videos. The university we attended had a “free speech” area that gave students the impression they could actually speak freely.  But students who wanted to speak publicly about an issue that concerned them quickly found out they were not allowed to use the free speech area unless they got permission and their message was approved by the university. The internet gives us that same impression, but how many others have already had their voice stilled, and how many more will be silenced? Shutting people down, smearing their reputation and refusing to allow them to defend themselves is, to us, a form of cyber bullying that we all need to be aware of and speak out about as long as it’s still possible to speak. We wanted to share what happened to us so you will be aware that this type of censorship and smear tactics can also happen to you, no matter how innocent your words are.

We understand that our friends/readers already know better than to believe the information YouTube is spreading. We invite anyone who is not already familiar with our work to check out our videos on the website homepage, our Facebook author page and Vimeo page; then decide for yourself.

Love, peace and joy,

Lee & Steven

P. S. As you probably know, YouTube is owned by Google. We had uploaded our eBooks to the Google Book Partners program many months ago, since it gave us the opportunity to sell eBooks in several countries that we had not been reaching. Although the books were being viewed, and it appeared that some had been purchased, Google’s system would not accept our banking information. As a result, we could not be paid for any books that may have been sold. When we contacted Google about the problem, they told us other authors and publishers were having the same issue, and they were working on it. Two to three months later we contacted them again, and they said they were still having a problem and had no idea when it would be fixed. However, they suggested that in the meantime, we should just be happy that people were seeing and buying our books even though we were not being paid. However, Google is collecting the money, holding on to it and earning interest on it. When you consider that this may be happening to hundreds or even thousands of authors and publishers, that could amount to quite a pile of money they are benefitting from.  Although we don’t know much about programming computers, none of the other sales outlets we work with has ever had a problem collecting our information and paying us. It seems very odd that Google’s IT people, even after months of working on the problem, are unable to figure it out. We asked to have our books removed from the partner program, and it appears that Google has complied. Our books have also shown up on sites that offer pirated material. If you see our eBooks for sale by Google or on pirate sites, we ask that you please not purchase them there.