Dear Rachel,
First, a very belated welcome back. Second, I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done to help us at The YouTube Smackdown. It truly is a grassroots effort and we need all the help we can get. It brings a smile to my face every time I see one of those jihadi fools get his propoganda yanked by You Tube. Keep fighting the good fight and say Hi! to the doggies for me. Thanks again.
~Svinrod from Smackdown

I just zapped six of those pieces of trash, Rachel. Thanks for the nudge!

I've been told that the real problem (or at least part of the problem) is that the Jihadists can simply repost the videos as fast as they are being deleted, so I'm not sure your situation with the squirrel video is a solid example of double standards on YouTube.

Having said that, it is no secret that YouTube has a big leftist bias. Whether the administrators themselves are biased I can't be sure (though I suspect they are), but there are certainly a huge block of YouTube viewers who are several miles to the left of Hillary Clinton. Videos with even a HINT of conservative bias are regularly flagged as "inappropriate" and removed because they constitute "hate speech".

Michelle Malkin long ago started a conservative YouTube group to counter this but guess what? Her group has been flagged as "inappropriate".

Rachel,

I want to thank you again for your ongoing help. As an update, I'd like your readers to know that we're beginning to develop a methodology to make our efforts more effective. Right now we're in the testing and research phase to find what thresholds are necessary to get a video yanked. We'll let you know when we have the data.

In the meantime, if anyone has a burning desire to take on moonbats, try running a search at YouTube using "fuck bush" or "fuck america". You'll be appalled at what the Left thinks about this country and the way they express themselves. You'll have a chance to vent in the comments section.

Thanks again for all the help.

Mark Paules aka Basil: Operation YT Smackdown.

Thanks so much, Rachel. The only correction I can offer to your post is that it's thousands and thousands of 'digital jihadi' videos up at YouTube, not just hundreds and hundreds. We have some 'repeat offenders' with over a hundred videos uploaded on their account alone.

"the Jihadists can simply repost the videos as fast as they are being deleted" - mightysamurai

True, and with a new hotmail or gmail address, any of them who get their accounts suspended can quickly make a new one, and upload the same videos with different titles and a new username. But the goal is to get YouTube to change it's behavior; a reduced tolerance by YouTube for this kind of video will at least make these guys go elsewhere, and folks like Rusky Shackleford are taking the fight to those that set up their own websites.

Our site also links to an article from MEMRI where they estimate as many as 80% of all jihadi websites are hosted in the countries they declare to be their mortal enemies. Why should we help them? Why should YouTube? And yes, YouTube is just a part of that big picture, but that's where the Smackdown is focusing it's efforts.

Or, if you will, we like to think they also serve who only sit and click.

Rachel: I clicked your "Watch this" link and got a message that I had to log on. I don't have an account at YouTube, so maybe this is a sign that that video is not available to just anybody who happens to click there. Which means that maybe the Smackdown is having an effect.

"got a message that I had to log on. I don't have an account at YouTube" - rickl

We aim to please. We have posted a How to Guide over at the Smackdown site. It gives more information and includes links to where you go to sign up for a YouTube account. If you have a @gmail.com email address (the same as having a 'Google account') you can also log into YouTube with that. After all, Google now owns YouTube. ;)

Any other questions any of you have, feel free to ask or check over at the Smackdown site, where we've tried to make it easy to pitch in. After all we're asking for your help, the least we can do is try to make it easier for you to come pitch in. And thanks again.

That is absofuckinglutely unbelievable. I've been reading since you came back, and will definitely be hitting the inappropriate content buttons on these as much as I can.

Thanks for posting this. I just watched, and flagged four videos. I don't think I can look at any more right now. I'm so pissed off I'm shaking so bad I can hardly type. My blood pressure has to be through the roof.

"I don't think I can look at any more right now."

I hear ya. It didn't take long for us to learn to separate the 'merely offensive, hateful, and disgusting' from the true, all-out, snuff-flick, gore-fest, corpse compilation videos. The latter we designate with a 'Strong Stomach' warning on the Daily Dozen.

The 'IED/Hate Speech" category should contain nothing 'worse' than celebrating and looping (over and over and over) an IED going off, usually from a 'safe distance' for the detonators, so it's not going to be too explicit. We'll be sending Rachel a daily 'Featured Smackdown' link to share with you, and they will only come from the less explicit category.

I can't promise it won't make your blood boil to hear them celebrating IED's going off, or when you realize how willing YouTube is to leave these kinds of things up. Some of these are truly NC-17, but we'll limit the Featured videos to PG-13. At least in terms of graphical content, not always in terms of hatefulness. With these videos, that's just unavoidable. Well, for YouTube anyway.

Oh piss.. do you really have to sign into youtube? Makes me really wish I hadn't forgotten all the bogus information I gave them to get an account 2 weeks ago.

You do need a YouTube account, but I suggest you create a hotmail or gmail email address, and use that. You don't need to supply your ISP's email address to get a gmail account, and you can use that to log onto YouTube directly. If you plan on leaving comments, it's a wise precaution.

Some of our more active commenters have had the jihadis making nasty remarks or leaving comments on our YouTube profiles, but there's really no way for them to email us directly or find out anything about us that we don't tell them. Don't, for instance, create a @gmail account with your real name.

YouTube may be very good about protecting the privacy of the jihadis, but they'll at least do as much for you.

Here's what pisses me off. That these videos can even be CREATED IN THE FIRST PLACE, regardless of YouTube "allowing" the postings, Lefties, Righties, Conservatives, whatever the fuck we may call ourselves. I watched one video, felt heartsick and cried, and couldn't watch another.

Is it that we don't want to SEE what's happening?

I know I won't watch another.

Viva La Rachelution.

Take heart in something I read from Michael Yon awhile back that puts things in perspective a bit, and an at times dull the sting of watching these videos to flag:

Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy. They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique, and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive. They planned an operation with snipers, making it appear that an ISF vehicle had been attacked, complete with explosives and flash-bang grenades to simulate the IED. The simulated casualty evacuation of sand dummies completed the ruse.

The Deuce Four soldiers left quickly with the “casualties,” “abandoning” the burning truck in the traffic circle. The enemy took the bait. Terrorists came out and started with the AK-rifle-monkey-pump, shooting into the truck, their own video crews capturing the moment of glory. That’s when the American snipers opened fire and killed everybody with a weapon. Until now, only insiders knew about the AK-monkey-pumpers smack-down.

These things remind me that's it's not a one way fight.

That second paragraph above my last sentence is supposed to be italicized as well.

The dispatch that excerpt came from is here:

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/jungle-law.htm

Alexander...I LOVE Michael Yon. Isn't that fantastic??? That is great work by our forces.

Rachel...looks like that video has been taken down. :) Woohoo!

Definitely, CC.

Rach - do you still reply to email???

:)

"Is it that we don't want to SEE what's happening?
I know I won't watch another." - ChicagoCindy

It is hard at first watching these things. It will probably come down to whether the anger at seeing them (and at YouTube for hosting them so willingly) can steel you to watch and flag more of them, or the anger makes you just want to throw a rock at your computer monitor.

Don't throw a rock. Thank you for even trying. If this isn't your bag, there are plenty of other ways to Support Our Troops. Put that phrase into a search engine, and you'll find lots of ways to help. I've had good experience with Soldier's Angels and there are many, many similar organizations.

Incidentally, the reason "American soldiers" are being killed over there is that they attacked another country.

jaguar,

Incidentally, you placed American soldiers in quotes.

If you want to go over the events that have led to now, don't open a history book...just look at a few news archives.
It wasn't long enough ago to you to forget why or simply make up your own reasons, there's no excuse for that shit.

Yes, the U.S. attacked Iraq over invisible WMD.
Then they admitted the whole thing was a lie, but still announced an indefinite occupation.
So obviously Iraqis should resist the Crusader aggressor

jaguar,

1)We didn't attack over invisible WMD, we attacked because we had information that said otherwise. So did everyone else in the world. (Remember we went in with over 20 countries)

2)No one admitted a lie, because there was none. But you must be a big Michael Moore fan since he thinks being wrong is the same as lying, unless you're him of course, then it's ok.

3)Here's where you should crack open a book. First a dictionary for the definition of 'crusader', second a history book to get even a cursory understanding of what the crusades actually were, when they took place, by whom, why, and how they turned out. Then using your no doubt powerful skills of deduction, you can review your statement and realize how laughably ignorant it is.
But I can't blame you, you just eat what you're fed.

Now, there's a bridge you need to go back under. I've wasted only a token amount of energy on you, but even that was more then you deserved and it won't happen again.

The "WMD stockpiles" pretext for the war was not only a lie in the sense that it turned out to be untrue. It was also a lie because your leader Bush intentionally hyped the intelligence he was getting, talking about "mushroom clouds".

Not that the public needed much encouragement, the American people were already thirsty for blood and wanted to kill some "Ay-Rabs", so any excuse would do.

The occupation should be confronted militarily and otherwise.