Youtube Custom Thumnail is dead

[husypunter]

I logged in to my youtube today and i got this notice with a strike on my account:

The following video(s) has been reported to our team for their use of misleading thumbnails. They have been reviewed and are in violation of our policy against misleading descriptions, tags, titles or thumbnails in order to increase views.

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(video Name)

YouTube's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit such conduct and does not allow you to submit material that is contrary to the YouTube Community Guidelines. Specifically, the Community Guidelines state, "do not create misleading descriptions, tags, titles or thumbnails in order to increase views."
We have removed the custom thumbnail from the video(s). Please refrain from posting videos with misleading descriptions, tags, titles or thumbnails in the future.
Note: this is your first warning for violating our custom thumbnails policy. After you receive three warnings, your privilege for custom thumbnails will be revoked.
Repeated violations of these or other Community Guidelines may result in exclusion from the Partnership Programme and possible termination of your YouTube account.
Thank you for your prompt cooperation in this matter.
Received: Nov 23, 2013 | Acknowledged: Nov 25, 2013

Now the thing is, i cannot disclose my niche or video here, but lets say it was a video of a commercial of wooden chairs, and the thumbnail i used was of a fully clothed hot chic sitting on a chair. and youtube removed it, so does that mean that youtube allows you to use custom thumbnail but you cant use any which are not from the actual video ??? then wats the point ? and theres no way to appeal this decision , all i can do is acknowledge

another point here to note is, i have two of my videos ranked on page 1 for same keyword, 1 week back someone flagged my first video and now it is age restricted because it has a girl in bikini talking in a breathly voice to a man, now after a week my second video got flagged for the thumbnail issue,

IS it possible that some one or a potential competitor is flagging my videos purposely ?? or is there something wrong with youtube, also share your thought , what can i do ? shall i also find and flag videos of competitors ? (though i dont wanna do that as its immoral and a time waste)

or i should just concentrate on my videos ??

please share your thoughts. keep in my mind that with this thumbnail notice i got a strike on my account. also i dont do PPD or any third party network, the only method i do is youtube adsense, i dont promote any other thing.

 

[undiesman]

The viewers are flagging your video as misleading thumbnail, that's it.
Viewers click on video expecting boobs > They get none > Feels cheated > Proceed to flag as misleading thumbnail
There's nothing more to it. Youtube is finally taking some action against misleading thumbnails.

Same thing happened to one of my videos.

 

[binaryking]

It happened to me too! Fuck youtube.

 

[OrangeNRG]

Yeah people are flagging our videos. Then they review it once it gets enough flags. You can try working the thumbnail image into the first few seconds of the video. That might help your chances.

 

[Beven]

Just don't create a thumbnail that's going to result in the video getting flagged..

 

[mqsss]

It's a good thing actually. I'm tired of all the misleading titles and thumbnails about big news, just to find a pencil neck pimpled face kids making idiots out of themselves in the videos.

 

[tangento]

This must be recent I have a few misleading thumbnails but that's the only reason ppl will click on my video this sucks I'll let you know if it happens to me

 

[husypunter]

The viewers are flagging your video as misleading thumbnail, that's it.
Viewers click on video expecting boobs > They get none > Feels cheated > Proceed to flag as misleading thumbnail
There's nothing more to it. Youtube is finally taking some action against misleading thumbnails.

Same thing happened to one of my videos.

But the thing is, as I explained, my thumbnail was not misleading, neither it showed boobs nor was it of sexual nature, an advertisement about wooden chairs, in which there were female actors, I just used a thumbnail in which a fully clothed hot girl was sitting on a wooden chair.

 

[husypunter]

Yeah people are flagging our videos. Then they review it once it gets enough flags. You can try working the thumbnail image into the first few seconds of the video. That might help your chances.

Can someone still flag my videos for irrelevant thumbnail if I use an image in actual video at exact middle, and when youtube suggests that as thumbnail, I use it... in such a scenario can someone flag the video for misleading thumbnail ?

 

[husypunter]

It happened to me too! Fuck youtube.

I know the pain bro

 

[lsmstd]

clickbait title is clickbait

 

[husypunter]

This must be recent I have a few misleading thumbnails but that's the only reason ppl will click on my video this sucks I'll let you know if it happens to me

exactly, thats the whole point of having custom thumbnails...

 

[husypunter]

Just don't create a thumbnail that's going to result in the video getting flagged..

My thumbnail was related to the video and not at all of sexual nature of any kind.

 

[daniel6767]

hmm, can you reply to the youtube notice email? you can ask youtube, does a custuomed thumbnail must come from the video itself? can i use a related or similar image which is not from the video?

 

[husypunter]

hmm, can you reply to the youtube notice email? you can ask youtube, does a custuomed thumbnail must come from the video itself? can i use a related or similar image which is not from the video?

In that notice theres no option to reply or appeal, the the link or option I had was to press the link which said "I acknowledge"

 

[Deleted member 658642]

Probably just a competitor who doesnt like to earn money in the right way. Its disappointing to see such stuff. Anyway, the girl on the chair probably looked more like p*rn to the YouTube staff than an advertisement. I can acknowledge this as I have several videos with thumbnails that are only about 60% related to the video. The function of the thumbnails is to give the viewer a brief heads up of what he is going to watch. So if you have a thumbnail that is totally (as in 100%) unrelated to the video, you can very much expect a strike (if you have an established, legit or old account) or a ban (if you have a new account that looks phony). My advice would be to show more of the chair and less of the chick. Again, you rarely ever get caught for this stuff but in your case, I very much believe that it was the doing of a competitor to bring down your channel.

In that notice theres no option to reply or appeal, the the link or option I had was to press the link which said "I acknowledge"

Appealing in this case will do you no/very little help. They are usually fixed on their decisions and you would probably get an elaborate reply of why your thumbnail was against the guidelines. Its a lost hope. My advice to you would be to carry on with your work.

 

[husypunter]

Probably just a competitor who doesnt like to earn money in the right way. Its disappointing to see such stuff. Anyway, the girl on the chair probably looked more like p*rn to the YouTube staff than an advertisement. I can acknowledge this as I have several videos with thumbnails that are only about 60% related to the video. The function of the thumbnails is to give the viewer a brief heads up of what he is going to watch. So if you have a thumbnail that is totally (as in 100%) unrelated to the video, you can very much expect a strike (if you have an established, legit or old account) or a ban (if you have a new account that looks phony). My advice would be to show more of the chair and less of the chick. Again, you rarely ever get caught for this stuff but in your case, I very much believe that it was the doing of a competitor to bring down your channel.



Appealing in this case will do you no/very little help. They are usually fixed on their decisions and you would probably get an elaborate reply of why your thumbnail was against the guidelines. Its a lost hope. My advice to you would be to carry on with your work.

Thanks,
Can someone still flag my videos for irrelevant thumbnail if I use an image in actual video at exact middle(if i include the thunbnail in the video and make a part of it), and when youtube suggests that as thumbnail, I use it... in such a scenario can someone flag the video for misleading thumbnail ?

 

[husypunter]

anyone else have any thoughts ?

 

[Deleted member 658642]

Thanks,
Can someone still flag my videos for irrelevant thumbnail if I use an image in actual video at exact middle(if i include the thunbnail in the video and make a part of it), and when youtube suggests that as thumbnail, I use it... in such a scenario can someone flag the video for misleading thumbnail ?

The chances are very less but I wouldn't say that its not to be expected. Because the main reason why competitors flag you is to bring you down. They don't care about what thumbnail you use and if its related to the video or not. They just look for a reason to bring you down. I don't know how YouTube would react to a flag in such cases but you always will have the chance of appealing to them. But don't put the chick in the video or you could get your video removed for adult material

 

[tangento]

Update I just had 1 custom thumbnail removed I didn't get a strike though it just got removed
it was just a girl in lingerie other than her stomach and minor cleavage showing it wasn't bad at all