This Sucks
 

Dear Partymanners (KirisClown),

I've only heard bits and pieces here and there but I'm so sorry.

For anyone here who doesn't know, his account (with the most fantastic library as most of you know) was suspended because of some Pr**k.

If there's anything anyone here can do to help please let us know.

Thank you MMSC.. I appreciate the note..

Unfortunately it was all due to an individual that actually has worked in the sport of racing.. a person named Jeff Mende..

For anyone interested, here's what happened...


A few years ago I started a YouTube channel to pretty much show fans races they had no way of seeing anymore. Past greats like Holy Bull, Cigar, Skip Away etc.. It steadily built up over time.. by the time it was shut down the other day it had well over 2000 race videos.. and the channel had about 5 million views.

Some time in 2008 the individual (Mende) who had my channel shut down contacted me and said he had many past stakes races on video, recorded on vhs mainly from replay shows and wanted to know if Id like to add them to my channel.. Naturally i said yes..

Everything moved along smoothly until an article about me was written and appeared in the Sunday NY Times sports section.. Once this individual read it he was extremely upset that he was not written about too.. something I had no control over. The author who wrote it was interested in the story behind my channel and what motivated me to do it.. I managed to smooth things out with him though after adding a "special thank you" notice on my channel devoted to him.. so we continued...

Fast Forward a few months to September, to me receiving an email from the upset individual.. demanding that I thank him even more and show more appreciation than I've shown, or he would "pull the plug" on the whole operation.. He continued on, as if he was speaking to a naughty 5yr old.. I wouldn't have any of it and I told him he was taking the fun out of doing it and I no longer wanted to work with him.. I was not doing it for recognition where it seems that was his only intent.

Fast forward again to Thursday night and my channel being shut down.. I received notifications that he claims to own Easy Goer's race videos from Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga etc.. He even claims to own the video of Fusaichi Pegasus winning the Kentucky Derby, somehow he convinced YouTube that he personally owns the copyright to the races.

He apparently has worked in different areas of racing before.. but from this experience it appears he is nothing more than any enemy of the sport..

I just don't even know what to say... I'm speechless.

This is insane.

I owe so much to you. My interest / addiction didn't start until 2004 so you can imagine the years, decades of famous and fantastic races I had never seen. Hell, the champions and races I had never even heard of (!!!) and there they were. I don't know if people ever tell you how grateful they are, how much they appreciate the time and effort involved.

I'll start.

THANK YOU.

I don't know what happens next... if you fight this nut (I don't know his name... should I?), if there's anything that can be done...

Please just update us. Tell us if there's anything at all we can do to help. If you need to vent or anything at all you have fans here.

You have FRIENDS here.

Turn Coach loose on him.

After doing just a tiny bit of digging on Mende, I'm pretty confident he's an assshole. I'll post a little in the paddock.

He has a few posts at PA. . . Seems like a douche bag.

Why someone who cares about the sport would want to deprive fans of seeing races we can't see anywhere else for such a petty reason is beyond me.

He wants adoration and the recognition that he rightfully deserves!

This guy is a huge jerk, to say the least. If you start a petition to send to YOUTUBE, about putting this back up, i am sure we will all sign it.
Jim

Get the Bykster on the case. If anyone can sort it out, he can!

Guy seems like a real "winner" to me. How is it that he owns the copyrights and not NYRA for the NYRA races that just blows my mind. Is his next step to have the NYRA YouTune races taken down as he owns them and not NYRA?

Any way NYRA can contact You Tube and clarify the ownership and copyright information for the NYRA races?

So now when we go to You Tube and do a search for Horse racing the majority of results will at least please PETA as it is all about accidents, mishaps and animal cruelty. That is just fanfu**tastic!

Someone else said it best the guy is a Supreme DB.

I'm sure he'll get his sooner or later....

A huge thank you to KiriscCown and to Steve for creating this room. Having tossed up a VHS to Youtube video myself (yes only one), I can attest to the incredible amount of work Kiri put into the channel.

I was just enjoying the Durkin on Match Game video Thursday night and suddenly it was all gone.

Here's hoping Youtube sees the light sooner than later. The channel is a treasure to horse racing.

I loved that channel. So sorry to hear that some guy that must have gotten his lunch money taken from him on a regular basis had it taken down. Unbelievable!

byk will be on this guy like the guy that tried to steal his tablecloths on travers day!!!..you dont want none of that!!:eek: :mad:

:D

Great idea! Lets get it started!

I really enjoyed watching the races you put up on YouTube.

I appreciated the time and energy you took to do it

Thank you

Thank you guys and gals for the support.. Im happy you were enjoying the channel before the Mende onslaught..

I have faith that everything will work out for the best in the end..

Hey KC -- just catching up here. You put a ton of work into that and it was an awesome resource, especially for someone who had never been able to see or remember lots of those races because I was too young.

This guy sounds like a total d'bag and any help I can offer in any way is yours.

"The biggest @sshole in racing history." - Byk on ATR 1/11/10

Byk is dead on.

I guess I own sole rights to Ghostzapper's maiden and Belmont alw win - because I taped them on TVG.

That's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.