My Pivot to Patreon

Beginning in 2025, I've started posting more content on my Patreon, which means I haven't been uploading on YouTube as often. There's a very good reason for this that I wanted to share with everyone.

The biggest issue is that YouTube doesn't allow me to fully spread my wings and be the creator I strive to be for my dedicated fans, nor has it been providing me with the full connection I should have with my audience. Since the beginning, I've been subjected to ridiculous restrictions and removals of my content, whether it was past videos I filmed with friends or recent ones I filmed by myself, and this pattern of attacks continues to this day. YouTube's new comment moderation system has also stopped notifying me of some of the comments my fans take the time to post for me, leaving me to have to check the comment sections of every upload to make sure I don't miss any in order to ensure my fans' messages are appreciated.

To offer some recent examples, the five minute breath-holding video I filmed in August of 2024 was demonetized for being a "harmful act" according to a human YouTube moderator, despite it being a lifelong talent of mine that I was safely sharing with the world, above water where nothing harmful could happen. There are self-described escape artists on YouTube who film life-threatening stunts of their heads locked into glass tanks filled with water, yet these don't have restrictions and I see ads running on them.

Then one of my recent shoeless driving videos was restricted for containing "nudity" by a human moderator -- not because I was actually naked, since I obviously wasn't in a YouTube video -- but because my feet were bare, they decided to apply the nudity policy to attack the video. I personally find it crazy that you can label something as nudity when the person in the video isn't actually nude, and I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.

I also had a Short I filmed on Christmas completely removed by a human moderator because I sang karaoke to a parody song with vulgar lyrics. Even though YouTube is full of vulgar songs and sexually-explicit music videos, my 60-second singalong of an an explicit song was deemed inappropriate and I was issued a warning over it. I also had to take a sexual content policy class with extreme examples that had nothing to do with singing along to an explicit song, which is supposed to be protected, artistic content on YouTube. For emphasis, these are all human decisions that I'm mentioning, not machine/automated ones.

Then there's the decisions made not too long ago on some of the wrestling and brethling matches I filmed with friends in the past. Three of them were restricted because a human moderator marked them as containing "graphic dead bodies and/or scenes of domestic violence." I can assure everyone that nobody died in those friendly wrestling matches and there was no domestic violence occurring since those were friends of mine that were just playing around with me for a YouTube video. There was no option to appeal these decisions, but as past instances have proven, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

Yesterday, one of my workout Shorts was deemed not suitable for advertisers by a human moderator. No reason was given, and no legitimate reason comes to mind as to how a video of a person working out at a home gym could be unsafe for ads when there's far worse videos on YouTube with ads running on them, and some of YouTube's ads are actually sexual in nature and have drawn criticism because of it. I also read a statement from YouTube's blog a while back saying they're no longer going to be promoting exercise videos to younger people on their platform because it causes them to feel insecure about their own bodies, when in fact videos of that nature have always been intended to be motivational, inspiring, and something fun to look at.

YouTube claims to be inclusive and all for the creators who make them money through advertisements, but some of their employees haven't extended that courtesy to me. I personally don't consider a history of bizarre attacks on my original content to be inclusive, nor do I feel cared about as a creator when my talents and attempts at creative ideas are being restricted and removed for ridiculous reasons. It's also common knowledge that YouTube pays creators poorly with their ad revenue split.

To put this into perspective, I barely made $1,000 in YouTube ad revenue for all of 2024. Nobody can live off of an annual income of $1,000, which is why Patreon is even more important for me to continue being able to film for my fans and spread my core message of love and acceptance to everyone who's positively impacted by it. Custom video commissions and selling my clothing also makes this possible, and my new Patreon video Shop for behind-the-scenes Extras has been helpful as well. Patreon was actually started by someone who saw how unfair YouTube was in paying creators on their platform and wanted to offer a more genuine way for them to connect with their fans. Patreon continues to provide a personal and lucrative bridge between creators and fans in the face of big tech only caring about their own interests and wealth.

I don't film inappropriate content on my channel, but that hasn't stopped employees of YouTube from treating it as so, whether it be in homophobic attacks on videos of my male friends and me having fun on camera, or accusing me of being naked simply because I'm not wearing shoes in a video. These extreme decisions are meant to discourage me from continuing to be myself and film the content my longtime fans enjoy watching; it's a passive-aggressive way for intolerant employees of a large, private company to put their personal feelings over professional decisions and try to ruin the livelihoods of people who's identities and outlooks they don't accept or agree with.

Big tech is what it is, and my attempts at reaching out to YouTube using their customer support channels yielded no understanding or empathy. My appeals were denied, and I always end up getting canned responses and apologies for the limitations the support agents claim to have in regards to decisions made by the internal teams who make them. And with so many creators and the staggering volume of content uploaded daily on the platform, and YouTube reporting its biggest quarterly earnings in ad revenue to date, higher-ups are only concerned with the huge profit that YouTube continues to make.

I will continue posting on YouTube as it's been an outlet for me for 9 years now, but I'm not going to worry about trying to play their algorithm game in terms of how many videos I post or how many views I get. I'm too grown to play a childish game with power-abusers who want to treat me like a scourge when I'm trying to spread love and acceptance while entertaining people along the way in my own unique way instead of following boring trends. In the end, it's not worth the stress nor the paltry sum that Google pays me for the ads they actually allow on my content.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's been supporting me on Patreon. To everyone else, if you're able to financially sponsor me, it would really mean a lot, especially if you're someone who's life I made a positive impact on, whether it's helping you understand your own identity, making your day with my personality, motivating you with my fitness videos, or just giving you something fun to watch.

There are 3 tiers on my Patreon. The $6 tier is for general support, but you'll also get to see some of the posts I make every month at that tier. The $12 tier is for private posts, which means you'll get to see photos and videos exclusively shared by me on my Patreon as well as view some of the past posts on my page. The $25 tier will allow you to see every new post I make on my page, including ones exclusive to this premium tier, as well as the past posts on my page.

Here's a link to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/thenodeohero

I also have a new Shop on my Patreon where you can now directly purchase videos using any payment method and without having to email me for the links. You need to have a Patreon account just so you can input your card/bank/payment account information, but you don't have to be pledged to a tier in order to buy videos from my Shop. You will automatically receive the videos upon purchase.

Here's a link to my Shop: https://www.patreon.com/c/thenodeohero/shop

I post on Patreon several times every month, and I'm also constantly adding new videos to my Shop, both new ones I film and older ones detailed here on my website. I plan on continuing to be more active on my Patreon, so please consider supporting me there because I always give extra to those who go the extra mile for me. I understand money may be tight for some, and I'm certainly not rich myself, but I will enrich your lives as best as I can as an independent creator and alternative individual who loves and cares for the community I stand for and speak up for. Custom video commissions are always available as well, and you're welcome to email me anytime you'd like to get one.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, thank you kindly to everyone who supports me, and stay tuned for more content, because despite the pushback I get from some employees of big tech, I'm not going anywhere because nobody can stop the passion I have as a creator, and I won't let anything divide us or deter me from my goal of making a positive impact on our world.

I love you guys! 💚