Imagine this scenario….

A virulent new strain of flu virus is discovered which immediately begins to spread rapidly throughout the United States.

Health officials at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) scramble to contain the spread of the disease. In the situation room, panicked officials are brainstorming to find a way to halt what threatens to become a global pandemic.

“This unusual situation requires unconventional action. We have to think outside the box.” The head of the CDC continues, “We need to find an infinitely powerful organization that has global reach and can get to people wherever they are at any given time, at home, in the office, in their cars…”

Suddenly, a young, techno-geek official jumps up and shouts, “Give me the phone!” He quickly dials a number. “Yes, that’s right. I want to report a violation.”

He hangs up the phone with a broad smile on his face. Everyone in the room is looking at him in silent bewilderment.

He leans back in his chair, still beaming to himself.

After a long silence, the young official sighs and says, “It’s over. I reported it to YouTube and they banned it.”

Spontaneous cries of jubilation, followed by shouts of “Genius!” “Brilliant!”and “Well, we’ll never see that virus again.” reverberate through the room.

A check of online news websites reveals headlines proclaiming the definitive eradication of the swine flu.

Google, the parent of YouTube, saves the day.

*********

Unfortunately, most people who post to YouTube aren’t swine flu.

Take the case of Robert Plank, who has built up a reputation for creating highly useful info products which he used to market through YouTube videos.

Used to, because a few days ago he discovered that his account had been suspended without warning or notice for “violation of terms of service.”

He went to the YouTube website and sent an email through the automated form and received a canned response which gave no indication why his account had been suspended.

It also offered no clue about how he could make an appeal to get his account reinstated.

He posted his account of the events on his blog, but neither he, nor the dozens of people who posted helpful suggestions, could find any specific instructions on how to get his account reinstated.

At this point I am not saying that Robert didn’t violate any terms. He does admit to using a video submission software called Traffic Geyser. It is possible that a spammer was using the service at the same time. Since the IP would have been the same, YouTube could have banned Robert’s account.

Still….

Why doesn’t YouTube provide a clear and simple way for people who feel that their account has been wrongly suspended to say, “Dude, please reinstate me! Here is my story.”?

Obviously YouTube is very busy and the appeal would require manual intervention, so the process could take a while….

…but at least you wouldn’t feel like you were being treated like a disease.

If YouTube can’t get its act together, then self-hosting your videos may be the best workaround.