ZX81 and Commodore DM 602 / Philips 802 green monitor

A composite video output comes in very handy, as it allows the ZX81 to connect to many displays that were used for other home computers of the time.

Commodore DM 602 monochrome monitor, heavily used

Having an old, battered Commodore green monitor, and a ZX81 equipped with a composite video output, the two were connected.

ZX81 to monitor composite video connection

Composite video is actually a color video signal, of which only a "low" or "high" value per pixel will be used by a monochrome monitor, loosing all precision of intermediate values that represent more colors. A "low" signal pixel will be black, and a "high" one will be white, meaning green with the Commodore DM 602 monitor. The ZX81 generates only black and white, so it's a perfect fit.

ZX81 on a green screen monitor :-)

(No) surprise: It works!

ZX81 looks (just as) great on a green screen!

This monitor might be known as:

Commodore DM 602

Philips 802

Philips BM 7500

Highscreen (model name unknown)

(Is this correct? Can you add Highscreen model name? Please leave a comment.)

"ZX81alive" removed - YouTube and the algorithm

YouTube channel "ZX81 alive" got removed by the dumb algorithm.

This phenomenon is being reported by countless, even highly successful YouTube channel owners these days: Your videos get blocked for basically nothing, and you're risking loosing your channel.

In my case, the channel was removed right away. What has happened - I think - was this: I used to have another channel, about films, that got removed, and, well, more or less rightfully so. (No copyright issue, but too much content that's already on YouTube.) I accidentally clicked on that removed channel, then switched accounts to "ZX81 alive" channel, and left a comment on a video game video. The next day, I got the message that the channel has been removed, claiming "circumvention", which apparently means using another channel to do what one used to do with a removed channel.

Which clearly wasn't the case. Or, if it was, then YouTube's "switch account" menu item is a potential kill switch. Which I'm assuming it isn't supposed to be.

Now I fear switching channels at all. What happens after I switch to - now removed - "ZX81 alive" to appeal the decision? Will the next click remove the next channel? Who knows, but the algorithm? 

It's up to me now to put in time and effort to appeal - but I don't even want to try. It's ridiculous. I don't want to support a system that's driven by a dumb algorithm. It was fun for some time, but when your channel gets removed immediately, no warning, for doing nothing bad, just because the algorithm finds a superficial pattern in user behaviour, but does not see the actual content of what has been done, then running a YouTube channel becomes just a game of luck. One click, and it might be gone.

"ZX81 alive" didn't have much content, so that loss is easily tolerable. But loosing trust and motivation isn't cool. YouTube is more and more becoming mere machinery, detached from the users that keep it alive. To some degree, this is a natural progress that goes hand in hand with the growth of the platform - but it's also quite shocking how simplistic YouTube's "safety" (?) algorithm seems to be designed. 

So, it seems that if you to run a YouTube channel, you better make sure you have a streamlined, easily approved production process, and closely stick to it. If you don't, YouTube might just erase any progress you've made so far. Which really isn't very user-friendly.