View Full Version : Anyone know who operated the long ago defunct YouTube channel UMyouCantStopMe?


VHSJunkie
03-02-2021, 08:15 PM
Anyone know who operated the long ago defunct YouTube channel UMyouCantStopMe. The channel had numerous VHS rip UM segments in parts,mostly from Lifetime reruns.. In early 2013 the channel was brought down due to copyright infringement.

VHSJunkie
11-07-2022, 03:11 AM
Anyone know who operated the long ago defunct YouTube channel UMyouCantStopMe. The channel had numerous VHS rip UM segments in parts,mostly from Lifetime reruns.. In early 2013 the channel was brought down due to copyright infringement.

Far Off Promise
11-08-2022, 12:01 AM
It was a cool channel. I have the VHS rip ISO files, but I'd like to download them already cut into segments. I'm really kind of surprised no more VHS rips showed up, outside of a couple full episodes on archive.

Souldriver5440
11-08-2022, 12:32 PM
Don't you think the channel could've been around longer if he'd named it something else?

VHSJunkie
11-08-2022, 01:03 PM
It was a cool channel. I have the VHS rip ISO files, but I'd like to download them already cut into segments. I'm really kind of surprised no more VHS rips showed up, outside of a couple full episodes on archive.

Are you talking about the Disc sets that have floated around the web on and off over the years and are around 1ht 30min long each,there VHS rip so the quality from grainy picture or low volume varies on some?

dynoguy88
11-08-2022, 11:47 PM
There were a handful of us who kept uploading UM segments to YouTube over the years. I was JPenn80, FalconJ, AndersYdna, and some other names I can't even remember anymore, it's been so long.

It was a never-ending battle with Cosgrove & Maurer to keep putting segments back up without them noticing. I would start to title my videos under 'UM' instead of Unsolved Mysteries and that worked for about two years before they caught on. After a while, I just got tired of thinking of new ways to get the content on and gave up. But YouTuber ' UMyouCantStopMe,' who obviously had copies of all of crystaldawn's DVD's from their original broadcasts, was going to keep putting them up to spite C&G.

I hated the copyright argument. There was no downside to having that content on a platform as big as YouTube. You want to keep stories, especially the unsolved ones out where they can easily be accessed. I even got private messages from loved ones thanking me for putting the videos online - Joyce McLain's sister, Gary Grant's father, Kathy Hobb's sister, Norman's Ladner's friend just to name a few.

Ironic how within a couple years, Filmrise put the segments on YouTube under an official Unsolved Mysteries channel and the 12-year issue was no longer taboo.

MediaHoarder
11-09-2022, 02:41 AM
Not to beat the dead horse, but the issue with film rise (as we all know) is that the material they have put up is not the original episodes and in fact is not even remotely close.

Although I have increasingly come to the conclusion that long copyright terms are not in the public interest, and there has been some congressional interest in shortening them lately, this particular case is a very good example of why there needs to at least be a statutory fair use case for material which is not being made available by the owners.

But on the subject of "bad VHS copies" I would be interested in how much the quality of the VHS versions could be improved if the transfer was done with good equipment in an experienced hand. From my experience seeing things that have come from VHS the majority of transfers are done terribly, and the low quality is not so much from a limitation of the tape as from the operator. So called "professional services" (LegacyBox for example) have a very poor result as well.

ScaryFog
11-09-2022, 06:04 PM
I hated the copyright argument. There was no downside to having that content on a platform as big as YouTube. You want to keep stories, especially the unsolved ones out where they can easily be accessed.

I get wanting to keep the unsolved ones out there, but at the end of the day, it's their content. If they can play it on their own channels and make a little money off the ad's, then that is their right. Even though it seems a little crappy to put $$$ over keeping unsolved stories alive, it's still their content and they should get decide what happens to it. Having said that, I was definitely appreciative and watched all the unauthorized uploads.

VHSJunkie
11-09-2022, 07:54 PM
There were a handful of us who kept uploading UM segments to YouTube over the years. I was JPenn80, FalconJ, AndersYdna, and some other names I can't even remember anymore, it's been so long.

It was a never-ending battle with Cosgrove & Maurer to keep putting segments back up without them noticing. I would start to title my videos under 'UM' instead of Unsolved Mysteries and that worked for about two years before they caught on. After a while, I just got tired of thinking of new ways to get the content on and gave up. But YouTuber ' UMyouCantStopMe,' who obviously had copies of all of crystaldawn's DVD's from their original broadcasts, was going to keep putting them up to spite C&G.

I hated the copyright argument. There was no downside to having that content on a platform as big as YouTube. You want to keep stories, especially the unsolved ones out where they can easily be accessed. I even got private messages from loved ones thanking me for putting the videos online - Joyce McLain's sister, Gary Grant's father, Kathy Hobb's sister, Norman's Ladner's friend just to name a few.

Ironic how within a couple years, Filmrise put the segments on YouTube under an official Unsolved Mysteries channel and the 12-year issue was no longer taboo.

Are your segments from the Lifetime reruns where many have the Lifetime update(blue background,update being typed out,with some "creepy" music playing along) at the end of segment?

Gelatinous Goo
11-09-2022, 08:33 PM
I think this was the first YT UM content I ever discovered. I want to say it was 2009 or 2010. I happened to be holed up for the night in a sketchy motel straddling the Georgia-Florida border. Perfect setting to binge these spooky old VHS rips. It was the first time seeing the clips in ages, so very memorable.

MediaHoarder
11-10-2022, 01:33 AM
I get wanting to keep the unsolved ones out there, but at the end of the day, it's their content. If they can play it on their own channels and make a little money off the ad's, then that is their right. Even though it seems a little crappy to put $$$ over keeping unsolved stories alive, it's still their content and they should get decide what happens to it. Having said that, I was definitely appreciative and watched all the unauthorized uploads.

I would disagree on several levels. Per Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution.

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Copyright is a limited privilege which our representatives have the power to grant for limited periods of time in order to archive a specific purpose. They are not obligated to grant it at all. The sense in which it is their content is only the sense in which our representatives have granted them that right for a limited period of time. In this sense, to say "then that is their right" is almost misleading, it is not a "right" in the way we usually think of rights, as inviolate conditions which are promised to citizens under law. Instead, it is really a privilege which may be offered by congress at their discretion.

So while it is true that that privilege has been granted to them, that does not mean that we should view it as an entitlement, but rather through the lens of if it is being used in a way consistent with the ends sought by congress. If the way it is used is contrary to the purpose of promoting the progress of science and useful arts then it becomes a good example of why the statute needs to be amended, which is my prior point.

And, more specifically, the issue is not that they chose money over keeping the mystery in the public eye, but that for a period of time the material was unavailable anywhere, meaning that no royalties were being collected and a significant work was unavailable to the public. The second part of that is still an ongoing issue as what has been made available is not the original material either.

dynoguy88
11-10-2022, 11:33 AM
Are your segments from the Lifetime reruns where many have the Lifetime update(blue background,update being typed out,with some "creepy" music playing along) at the end of segment?

95% of my vids were Lifetime copies. In late 2004, I recorded episodes every day because everyone knew the UM reruns were eventually going off the network.

And then four years later, the Farina version of the show started airing and…yuck.

schmave
11-10-2022, 03:19 PM
Don't you think the channel could've been around longer if he'd named it something else?

LOL yes, I would think so.
I don't remember what year I discovered those old episodes on YouTube, but it was like seeing an old friend for the first time in many years. Even if what FilmRise has out there are not the original episodes verbatim, they're close enough for me. Yeah I'd like to see the cases they left out for whatever reason, i.e. Bonnie Wilder, Jean-Marie Gagnon and so many others, but it's great to have what we have.

ScaryFog
11-10-2022, 04:39 PM
And, more specifically, the issue is not that they chose money over keeping the mystery in the public eye, but that for a period of time the material was unavailable anywhere, meaning that no royalties were being collected and a significant work was unavailable to the public. The second part of that is still an ongoing issue as what has been made available is not the original material either.

I wonder if they were just dragging their feet on how to get it out. If they put it online, then that would hurt them selling DVD sets later on. But physical media like DVD have been on the decline in favor of streaming services so they maybe they just didn't feel to motivated to put it out on a dying medium.

MediaHoarder
11-10-2022, 11:11 PM
I wonder if they were just dragging their feet on how to get it out. If they put it online, then that would hurt them selling DVD sets later on. But physical media like DVD have been on the decline in favor of streaming services so they maybe they just didn't feel to motivated to put it out on a dying medium.

No, at that point they had already released the DVD set, which was not the entire series anyway.

DVDs have been in decline in favor of streaming by design, they don't want anyone to own anything if they can prevent it. Streaming extracts more consumer surplus. Its the same reason cable is disappearing.

Far Off Promise
11-11-2022, 01:02 PM
Are you talking about the Disc sets that have floated around the web on and off over the years and are around 1ht 30min long each,there VHS rip so the quality from grainy picture or low volume varies on some?

Yeah, I have those. I think there's 19 discs total.

MediaHoarder
11-11-2022, 03:12 PM
Yeah, I have those. I think there's 19 discs total.

I have seen a 45 disc set mentioned in various places as well.

TJ
11-11-2022, 05:22 PM
They sold the 175 Dennis Farina episodes to Spike TV and Lifetime for around $100,000 each if I remember correctly. I'm sure they wanted the ratings to remain strong for as long as possible to keep them on the air. You can't blame them for trying to protect their copyrighted material and any licensing agreements. They probably didn't want anyone to try and monetize them.

Spike Gets a Modernized Oldie
http://web.archive.org/web/20071124105644/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6492832.html

They did leave some segments up for years. Jim Kimball's brother had the segment uploaded for a long time. It was one of the first segments I remember seeing on there. It may have been blocked or deleted at some point when the full episodes became available.

ghosthouse
11-11-2022, 10:59 PM
Any old show like UM could easily allow vids to stay up on YT and still make money via Film Rise, Lifetime, etc... and it would never hurt their bottom line. But they do owe it to the industry to hold that line.

VHSJunkie
11-12-2022, 11:53 PM
If time and efforts allow consider uploading them to a private Facebook group or Internet Archive,as the site is more lenient on copyright strikedowns

omegadoom
11-13-2022, 11:10 AM
I have seen a 45 disc set mentioned in various places as well.
I have the 45 disc set.

Zero
11-14-2022, 01:55 AM
I remember that channel. He/she seemed to have a lot of stuff I already had. Still kind of sad when I saw their channel deleted.

The one I REALLY remember well was "CrimsonGhost's" channel. He (she?) had complete episodes uploaded as they originally aired. One episode looked like it had been downloaded from somewhere else online and re-uploaded to youtube. There were promo's for the Cosby Show and others.

This episode had the segment where two men and two women went out on a boat and disappeared. Can't remember if pieces of it were later recovered. I remember the mother of one of the women saying she wanted her daughter back, she was a naive girl who didn't know better or, something like that. The two men were later sent to prison... I THINK this is what happened. I hadn't seen it before or since! Does that ring a bell with anyone?

CrimsonGhost also mentioned their facebook page, but I never kept a link to it and can't find it anymore. I think they used a different name for their group which I can't recall.

omegadoom
11-14-2022, 12:22 PM
I remember that channel. He/she seemed to have a lot of stuff I already had. Still kind of sad when I saw their channel deleted.

The one I REALLY remember well was "CrimsonGhost's" channel. He (she?) had complete episodes uploaded as they originally aired. One episode looked like it had been downloaded from somewhere else online and re-uploaded to youtube. There were promo's for the Cosby Show and others.

This episode had the segment where two men and two women went out on a boat and disappeared. Can't remember if pieces of it were later recovered. I remember the mother of one of the women saying she wanted her daughter back, she was a naive girl who didn't know better or, something like that. The two men were later sent to prison... I THINK this is what happened. I hadn't seen it before or since! Does that ring a bell with anyone?

CrimsonGhost also mentioned their facebook page, but I never kept a link to it and can't find it anymore. I think they used a different name for their group which I can't recall.
I used to be Crimson Ghost on Youtube. That segment sounds like Bob Dozier and John Russell.

VHSJunkie
11-16-2022, 12:39 AM
95% of my vids were Lifetime copies. In late 2004, I recorded episodes every day because everyone knew the UM reruns were eventually going off the network.

And then four years later, the Farina version of the show started airing and…yuck.

If time and efforts permit consider uploading the videos onto a private Facebook group or Internet Archive archive.org as the site is more lenient on copyright strikedowns

TJ
11-17-2022, 02:12 PM
If UMyouCantStopMe wants to come forward, please contact the original poster.

If you want to exchange episodes or segments, please do it privately. Thank you.