So recently Flowrestling flagged six of my videos for copyright violations on Youtube. The kicker is that four of the vids weren’t even theirs and the other two were Mark Hall and Sammy Sasso highlight vids. The majority of the Mark Hall vid wasn’t Flo’s footage either, but with Youtube’s new copyright policy, any violation that is claimed takes the video down no questions asked. It’s my assumption that Youtube doesn’t have the time to sort through the claims individually so they just take the accuser’s word for it.
I went ahead and reached out to Flo via email but of course received no response, then tried to reach out on social media but they just blocked me, so here I am to rant. I’m not trying to minimize what Flo has done for the sport over the years but just like all of you I’m a fan of the sport and have been for a long time. I have a full time job and just make the vids in my spare time and don’t make a dime off it. But I see a ton of mma content and videos and with wrestling being my first passion I thought well hell since nobody is making the same kind and quality of content I guess I’ll go ahead and put some stuff together.
The problem is that if you’re just a regular dude and not a journalist or part of a corporation you have limited access to any footage that could be used to make vids. The videos I put on my Youtube channel were countdown videos, wrestler profiles, highlight vids, and a few matches but apparently I was too much of a threat so Flo decided to tattle on me. I guess it’s fair to say that they’ve essentially established themselves as a corporate monopoly.
I guess my issue is that it seems that in my opinion Flo has lost its way. When the site was first launched it was awesome. Not sure if you guys remember the candid interviews in John Smith’s office when Martin was picking John’s brain about his training mentality, or when Tom Brand’s was telling the story about Gable throwing apples at one of his athlete’s during practice? One of my favorites was the intensity of the Olympic team training on the cog. Flo simply doesn’t put that kind of footage out any more.
I decided to cancel my FloPro account due to a lack of quality content. I didn’t think it was ethical to make a guy who was paying $20 a month of his hard-earned money to watch a Rocket Mortgage commercial every time I clicked on a video. Not to mention Flo keeps rehashing these old vids and trying to pass them off as something new. I got excited when I saw a clip of Brock Lesnar in an ad, just to be disappointed when I found out it was “Keepers of the Flame,” a great doc, but came out two years ago. I tried to rewatch “Terry” a few weeks ago and I think they took that down for some reason. I also don’t think I should have to pay to see an interview with Doug Schwab, isn’t that what sponsors are for?
Flo is the leader in promoting the sport of wrestling, but I think they could do better. They haven’t evolved over the years, but actually regressed. There are millions of story lines in the sport of wrestling that could get fans more emotionally connected to the sport. Hell kids today have probably heard the name Dan Gable but couldn’t begin to tell you why he’s significant to the sport of wrestling. If they even know who Cael Sanderson is it’s because he’s the head coach of the most dominant program in the country at the moment, not because he’s arguably the greatest wrestler of all time. And forget about guys like Gene Mills, Kendall Cross, and Ray Brinzer, kids today have no idea who those guys are. That is what Flo should be doing, taking a lesson from the "UFC Countdown" series in order to generate more interest. Or do a series similar to the NFL network’s "A Football Life" to talk about the history of the sport.
Perhaps bring back some former wrestling greats to demonstrate technique or be a part of the podcast. And stop making fans pay for every damn thing you put on the site. This is what the sport needs and what I think that the leader in the promotion of the sport should be doing. I haven’t posted a vid in four months because I got sick of my wife telling me that I was spending too much time on the computer and I guess I’m not gonna waste any more time editing videos for hours on end in my free time if Flo is just going to get them yanked, but if they don’t want anyone else doing it, then they should step up and start doing it themselves. Ok I’m done, thanks for reading guys.
I went ahead and reached out to Flo via email but of course received no response, then tried to reach out on social media but they just blocked me, so here I am to rant. I’m not trying to minimize what Flo has done for the sport over the years but just like all of you I’m a fan of the sport and have been for a long time. I have a full time job and just make the vids in my spare time and don’t make a dime off it. But I see a ton of mma content and videos and with wrestling being my first passion I thought well hell since nobody is making the same kind and quality of content I guess I’ll go ahead and put some stuff together.
The problem is that if you’re just a regular dude and not a journalist or part of a corporation you have limited access to any footage that could be used to make vids. The videos I put on my Youtube channel were countdown videos, wrestler profiles, highlight vids, and a few matches but apparently I was too much of a threat so Flo decided to tattle on me. I guess it’s fair to say that they’ve essentially established themselves as a corporate monopoly.
I guess my issue is that it seems that in my opinion Flo has lost its way. When the site was first launched it was awesome. Not sure if you guys remember the candid interviews in John Smith’s office when Martin was picking John’s brain about his training mentality, or when Tom Brand’s was telling the story about Gable throwing apples at one of his athlete’s during practice? One of my favorites was the intensity of the Olympic team training on the cog. Flo simply doesn’t put that kind of footage out any more.
I decided to cancel my FloPro account due to a lack of quality content. I didn’t think it was ethical to make a guy who was paying $20 a month of his hard-earned money to watch a Rocket Mortgage commercial every time I clicked on a video. Not to mention Flo keeps rehashing these old vids and trying to pass them off as something new. I got excited when I saw a clip of Brock Lesnar in an ad, just to be disappointed when I found out it was “Keepers of the Flame,” a great doc, but came out two years ago. I tried to rewatch “Terry” a few weeks ago and I think they took that down for some reason. I also don’t think I should have to pay to see an interview with Doug Schwab, isn’t that what sponsors are for?
Flo is the leader in promoting the sport of wrestling, but I think they could do better. They haven’t evolved over the years, but actually regressed. There are millions of story lines in the sport of wrestling that could get fans more emotionally connected to the sport. Hell kids today have probably heard the name Dan Gable but couldn’t begin to tell you why he’s significant to the sport of wrestling. If they even know who Cael Sanderson is it’s because he’s the head coach of the most dominant program in the country at the moment, not because he’s arguably the greatest wrestler of all time. And forget about guys like Gene Mills, Kendall Cross, and Ray Brinzer, kids today have no idea who those guys are. That is what Flo should be doing, taking a lesson from the "UFC Countdown" series in order to generate more interest. Or do a series similar to the NFL network’s "A Football Life" to talk about the history of the sport.
Perhaps bring back some former wrestling greats to demonstrate technique or be a part of the podcast. And stop making fans pay for every damn thing you put on the site. This is what the sport needs and what I think that the leader in the promotion of the sport should be doing. I haven’t posted a vid in four months because I got sick of my wife telling me that I was spending too much time on the computer and I guess I’m not gonna waste any more time editing videos for hours on end in my free time if Flo is just going to get them yanked, but if they don’t want anyone else doing it, then they should step up and start doing it themselves. Ok I’m done, thanks for reading guys.