Jonathan Van Fleet, known in the poker community as “Apestyles,” was hit with a crushing blow last week when his YouTube channel was mysteriously deleted. Van Fleet, who had spent years building a loyal subscriber base, described the loss as “one of the worst bad beats” he’s faced in a while.
Despite weeks of silence from YouTube, Van Fleet has decided to move forward and start over from scratch.
A Devastating Loss
The deletion of Van Fleet’s channel came without explanation, leaving him bewildered. In an attempt to recover his account, he reached out via Twitter to the Team YouTube account. While he was given some standard recovery instructions, following them did not restore his channel. The main issue, according to Van Fleet, was the lack of direct communication with a human representative, something increasingly common with major content platforms.
“It makes me angry that these massive content corporations don’t scale their customer service teams as they grow,” he said. His frustration was compounded by how much he cared about the channel’s loss. “What the f-ck? Why did my educational channel get deleted?” he wondered.
Is It a Mistake or a Targeted Attack?
The big question that’s been haunting Van Fleet is whether his channel’s deletion was the result of an automated error or if he was intentionally targeted by YouTube. Given the timing, when Van Fleet had been planning to ramp up his content with more online gameplay, coaching tutorials, and vlogs from tournament stops, the loss couldn’t have come at a worse time.
While starting a new channel is an option, Van Fleet admits that doing so feels like conceding defeat. The thought of rebuilding his subscriber base, re-uploading content, and regaining the channel’s former momentum is daunting. With about 40 to 50 videos and hundreds of hours of content, starting from scratch is no small feat.
No Bright Side
After struggling to find a way to recover the account, Van Fleet has accepted that it may be lost for good. “There’s no bright side to this,” he admitted. With his original videos safely stored on an offline hard drive, Van Fleet made the tough decision to create a new YouTube channel.
A New Beginning
To mark the beginning of this new chapter, Van Fleet announced the launch of his new YouTube channel. To celebrate, he’s hosting a giveaway for a 2% freeroll on his upcoming trip to the Triton Super High Roller Series in Vietnam. For details on how to enter, fans can head to Van Fleet’s Twitter.
