Rathwulven Bushcraft

Thanks y´all! The pirated video I mentioned just some days ago has been removed and, if I may trust YouTube´s verdict in this, also will take staps against the thief. This is also thanks to you getting involved - I appreciate it a lot.

There´s also news on the monetisation issue: YouTube, unfortunately, did reset everything. Which translates as: They do another watchtime-screening to re-evaluate my channel. Huge bummer, cause now this channel needs to pass another threshold-test. Again. If you want to help out, please do me a favour: Pick a playlist and let my content play on your device(s) - may even happen in the background, for example while you´re at work or cooking or whatever. Because if the watchtime-screening fails, all those partner licenses mentioned earlier will remain revoked. Which, in turn, puts the channel at risk again.

I am really sorry for these circumstances, but the Tube works in mysterious ways...

2 months ago | [YT] | 3

Rathwulven Bushcraft

One more call for your help - this time regarding theft of intellectual property. Please read!

So I just received a message that a political channel by the name of "BLACK PANTHER LIBERATION SCHOOL", owned by an individual called Malik Zulu Shabazz, illegally copied and re-uploaded my 72h Survival Training video in order to train political activists. Next to me, another channel by the name of "DropForgedSurvival" also fell victim to this thievery, but their owner Chris cannot be reached via email as it is no longer in service.

I have not yet requested a removal of the stolen video yet - here is why: If I do, the other channel will only receive a single copyright strike - which translates as: There will be no repercussions from YouTube. If you folks, on the other hand, report the pirated content, every report may result in an individual strike against the channel. So if you could, please head over to the copied video via the following link and report the stolen content by clicking the tiny flag icon, consequently choosing "spam/misleading" for your report as this provides you with an empty text field in which you can explain the infringement. Copyright claims themselves can only be filed by me personally.

The pirated video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQdr...

You can place that link in the text box under "spam/misleading" and then also refer to my original video. You can find the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlS-y...

If you did, please leave a quick comment so I know that action has been taken from your side. After a certain amount of reports, I will request the removal of the video afterwards. Thank you in advance - I appreciate any help!

PS: I wish to also inform any viewer of my channel that I am distancing myself from any type of political movement which (ab)uses my content and/or teachings for the sake of political activism. No matter if you are leaning to the left, the right or to whatever ideology: My content is not to be (ab)used for any political agitation and any third party use must, in any case, first be approved by me.

Have a great Friday,
Ralf

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Can I ask for your help?

So today is the day that I - like so many other channel owners and creators before me - have to experience a rather outrageous issue with YouTube/Google: For no apparent reason, YouTube has removed the monetisation feature of this channel and randomly removed me from their partner programs. In almost a decade I have never had such an issue with this platform - yet, as I came to understand today, all partnership licenses have been revoked as of September 16th without any explanation or correspondence towards me. It gets even weirder:

After repeatedly (!) being thrown out of the support chat before I could even explain the issue at hand, I eventually managed to get a hold of a (senior) agent, who basically told me this: According to YouTube, no interactions allegedly took place on my channel during the last six months, hence their decision to "freeze" this account. I literally uploaded a video on September 5th, less than a week prior to the freeze-date decided by YouTube. Next to that, I have interacted with hundreds of you viewers through comments as of recent and even posted shorts in the last couple of days. I even uploaded a new video today - yet it seems as if YouTube considers this very activity to be no activity at all. Make it make sense...

In other words: Right in the process of actively reviving the channel, YouTube made a decision which is equally harmful to this project as it is illogical and outright ridiculous. When addressing this issue at YouTube, their "support" - and you might already guess where this is going - simply disconnect from the support chat again in order to avoid having any conversation at all. Calling this an "unpleasant experience" is an understatement, but it is what it is - resulting in the following problem:

Creators like me are, unfortunately, quite dependent on this platform and hence will always feel a significant impact whenever big companies make outright weird and nonsensical decisions like this one. As the YouTube support team unfortunately offers zero support in this matter, I am forced to file an entirely new application for a partner license I should still hold. This process might at least take an entire month, if not longer - without any guarantee that the very approval I already had to begin with will be issued again.

That, in simple terms, translates as: In the best case scenario, I will miss out on about 1 1/2 months of ad- and partnership-revenue and take somewhat of a financial blow. In the worst case scenario, this issue will remain for a longer period of time, if not for forever - consequently demolishing a stream of (passive) income that took years and years to build. Again: Make it make sense...

Now what does this have to do with you? Well, to cut to the chase: For the time being, I need your support in regards to improving the engagement on this channel. Every little bit does help: Sharing links to my videos on your social media platforms and promoting my channel is what keeps the engagement up - and hence might motivate YouTube to re-issue the partnership-approval. It has to become apparent to YouTube that this channel is still alive and continues to be. So please share, share, share. Clicking the thumbs-up- and bell-buttons also have a positive influence on the algorithm - so make sure to like videos in order to prove to YouTube that this channel is active and that you are engaging with the content.

Also consider leaving some additional comments in order to push the algorithm - that would help tremendously.

I won´t ask you for paid memberships on YouTube though. This is not how I would like to run this channel and as you might know by now, the purpose of Rathwulven Bushcraft is to provide informative content to anyone around the world, free of charge. I do this work with great pleasure and this will not change. If you do help me spread the message and promote my channel, chances increase that this unfortunate matter might resolved sooner than later, and to EVERYBODY´s satisfaction. After all, I´d like to see you folks around in the coming years - and I hope you feel the same way about me, too.

Other than that: For those who wish to voluntarily offer more support, the usual donation-based options established years ago still stand. Please find the links here:


BUY ME A COFFEE:
buymeacoffee.com/rathwulven

PATREON:
www.patreon.com/rathwulvenbushcraft


Anyway: Thanks a lot in advance for your help, no matter how small. Every bit matters, and I hope that there´ll be good news from YouTube soon so this project can continue. If you want, please also hit the thumbs-up button so this posting gets pushed in the view of other subscribers.

Again: Thanks so much, and my sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

PS: Yes, I do like memes. I hope you do, too.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 10

Rathwulven Bushcraft

FYI: I am currently testing a couple of knives designed specifically for bushcraft related tasks - like the Puma IP “Beaver” featured in the picture.

Would you like to see some detailed review videos? Comment: 👍🏻

If you want to check out the entire Puma collection in the meantime, visit: tinyurl.com/pumaknives

More info soon to be announced!


(Disclaimer: This link is an affiliate link - by making a purchase via this link you are contributing to Rathwulven Bushcraft, keeping this project alive. Thank you!)

3 months ago | [YT] | 2

Rathwulven Bushcraft

As all of you undoubtably have noticed, this channel has gone quiet in the recent years. There´s some news for you though: I have spent the last years grinding very hard to improve my medical condition. This in itself obviously did cost both a lot of time and energy as you´ll certainly understand, and I simply had to make my recovery a priority. Now it might surprise you if I tell you that I invested whatever time I had left besides medical struggles into looking for ways to get back into the outdoor-related world.

I have participated in a couple of events related to bushcraft and survival, such as, for example, the Balletrolleborg Game Fair: A convention for hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts. The picture you see was taken during that event (and shortly after shooting a musket dating to the 17th century, yeah!). This experience, in all likelihood, marks a pivotal point in my life - because not only have I met a lot of wonderful people who make their living through outdoor-related activities: I also have been inspired by my fellow woods(wo)men there and am currently in the process of working towards re-shaping this channel.

Unfortunately I cannot share any specific plans with you lovely people yet - still I want to send out a message to you, telling you that, in all likelihood, I will get back to producing content. That said: I also have received dozens of comments and also quite a bunch of emails from you folks stating that you miss seeing content published on this channel. You won´t believe how much your trust in Rathwulven Bushcraft as well as your tremendous patience means to me! I want to thank all of you for sticking around in all those years of uncertainty and hardship - and I want to thank all "newcomers" here for contributing to the growth of this channel which, as you can see, is now (slowly) heading towards 10.000 subscriptions! To me, this is just amazing and it fills me with so much gratitude!

Anyway: Please make sure to stick around a little longer for further updates. Those will be published in the near future, rest assured. If you want, please also take a moment to write a comment if you´d like to see certain outdoor-related topics addressed on this channel. I will take your input into consideration, of course.

Other than that: If you are still actively following this channel, do me a favour and react by posting this emoji 🖐(or something along the lines of "I´m still watching" or so). I am really looking forward to hearing from you.

Again, thanks for everything - you folks are just amazing, and without every single one of you, this channel would not be where it is today.

Love,
Ralf

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 17

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Another update on the medical situation:

As some of you know, I recently had to undergo another surgical procedure and went back into recovery. In terms of skin/tissue, my recovery is going quite well - still I am dealing with an issue: The mobility of my injured leg remains quite inhibited, after spending one and a half years in treatment and physiotherapy, there is barely any strength left in my right leg. For now it seems as if I will have to train hard throughout the coming 6 to 12 months just to build muscle again and strengthen the balance in my leg.

Trust me when I say that it is incredibly frustrating to have to fight every single day for the smallest of improvements: If it was up to me, I'd love to wave a magic wand and make the pain and impairment disappear. I honestly want nothing more than being able to get back into the wild and it remains quite hard to accept that this time has not yet come.

I have received a lot more mails and letters from you folks out there and must say that I am very thankful for every bit of support my community has shown throughout the last couple of months. You guys'n'girls keep me going, and I promise you that I'll be back to shooting footage as soon as it is medically responsible.

Please stick around - I know you have been waiting so long already, and I am sorry if the entire Rathwulven Bushcraft thing has come to a hold in the recent past. I'm working hard to get things moving again a.s.a.p.

Thank you for everything!

2 years ago | [YT] | 8

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Reached another milestone - 5000 subscribers!

Thank you all for your support!

3 years ago | [YT] | 11

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Hello friends,
two months have passed since the last community post and I have received a couple of messages asking whether there'll be any uploads soon. The short answer is: No - but please continue reading.

As it turns out, I am still dealing with a lot of complications and obstructions in terms of recovery. At this current point in time everything points towards a scenario in which I will not fully recover and keep somewhat of a "disability". Further surgery might be necessary and for the time being, I simply have to roll with the punches. Which means that I have to endure a lot of pain every day, fighting it with every additional step I am taking.

Trust me, I understand how frustrating that might be for you - after all, I am quite frustrated myself given that I still cannot go outdoors on my own and without the help of others.

But you can also rest assured that I am doing the best to my abilities to get back on track. It just takes time.

I hope to see you stick around - cause I will, too.

Have a good one!

3 years ago | [YT] | 14

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Hey folks! Things are messy: After the accident and the surgery I now am starting with physiotherapy to see how much of my former mobility I can get back. This is going to be a long way. A painful one, too. Some of you asked me if there is a way to support me and this channel - well there is, check the link below:

www.buymeacoffee.com/rathwulven

You can donate a coin or two via this page. Just klick on the "Buy me a beer!"-tab and enter the amount of beers you wanna chip in for. Of course that money does not go into beers but will be used to cover my expenses for my website and channel.

Thanks in advance to all of you who want to help - I very much appreciate it!

I'll keep you posted about my progress regarding the PT and all, so keep an eye on the community page.

Love you folks!

4 years ago | [YT] | 8

Rathwulven Bushcraft

Hey y'all - just wanted to remind you that you can still download my free eBook on www.rathwulvenbushcraft.com
Just visit the website and pick your free copy today - have a good one! :-)

4 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 7