Hello friends and lost fans!
It has been far too long since I posted here. It’s been an incredible, but busy summer so far. I’ve been to Hawaii, Utah, Lake Arrowhead, Laker games, and a bunch of other places. This post should have been made many weeks ago, and because it wasn’t, I apologize to all of you… those of you who have stuck by me. You guys are great! I appreciate all the nice messages, posts, and videos I’ve gotten these past couple months. I REALLY do.
In this post, I’m going to explain to you guys what happened, why I’ve been “AFK” for awhile, and what I’m planning on doing for all of you in the future. I have a lot of messages I still need to read, a lot of posts to respond to… but I’ll answer every single message and PM from Facebook, Myspace, and this site very soon!
OK, first off let me explain a little bit about the videos, how I make them, and why I make them. I had a YouTube account since Halloween of 2006. During that first year of having the account, I would put up videos made during high school, church related activities, etc. Just a collection of videos from my life with music. In 1 full year, I had about 9 subscribers, which I was completely stoked about. I really wanted 100 though, a dream I guess you could say. If I got 100, I would be sooo happy, but didn’t think I’d ever get 100, or if I did, it would take a really long time.
I LOVED (and of course, still do) Lost. From when it first aired, I was hooked like most of you. My family and friends still get together to watch it each week, and afterward we’ll spend like an hour just talking about it, theorizing, prediciting, etc. Each night after an episode aired, I’d go on different message boards and forums to see other people’s ideas, share my own, see if anyone figured out that crazy map or those hidden hieroglyphics yet, whisper transcripts, stuff like that…
It was the morning after the first episode of season 4 aired when I got the idea to combine my love for Lost, with my love for video editing, and… who knows? Maybe get some more subscribers to my YouTube account and actually reach that 100 subscriber goal! I remember being pretty sick that day, but I just wrote down some stuff I wanted to say, went on a few message boards to see what other people thought and put that in the script, and combined
it with some of the secret things/easter eggs from different sites. I’ll put the video back up eventually so you can see it, but it sucked compared to the last ones I was making lol.
So I threw it together, put it up the next day, and that’s how this whole thing was born… the Seanie B Lost Video Recaps! Here is my direct quote from the first video I made, the 4.1 video. “I’m going to try to start making videos every Friday, this one is a little bit late I’m sorry ’bout that (how many times have you heard me say that lol) but I want to try to get different secrets and pictures and theories and all that stuff that people have posted and that I’ve come up with for you guys, organized in a video for each episode, so hopefully I can do that for you guys.”
This is probably the best summary I could give people about my videos. Here are the main points from that statement…
- Videos each week about the episodes of Lost.
- Recap, secrets, theories, pictures, etc.
- Some of my ideas.
- Some of other people’s ideas.
- Organized for easy watching and a different take.
Every single Lost video I have made have followed these principles. I have added some as I’ve gone along like community involvement, rewards, comedy, etc. but for the most part, the above is what defines my videos.
Now let me explain to you what I did wrong. One of the parts of my videos I mentioned above was the use of other people’s ideas and theories. I mentioned it in my first video and if anyone would ask how I made the videos or where I got some of the information from, I would let them know. I have never claimed that every idea or theory in a video was mine. A lot of them were. But a lot of them were from other people.
Like I mentioned earlier, after every episode of Lost, I go on some different message boards to get a feel for what other Lost-fanatics are thinking, just like most of you all do too. Some ideas are great, while others are a little far fetched lol.
I am not going to school for Egyptology unfortunately (my father has though) and cannot read hieroglyphs. However, I want to know what they say and I KNOW you want to know as well, so when I see a translation, I include it in the video. There are a lot of different translations across the net, so I find the most common and most reasonable translation, I include it in the script.
I do not have nor do I know much about high tech audio equipment, so I cannot single out separate channels of audio in the show to hear 3 different levels of whispers on top of each other in backwards English. I really want to know what they say (if I can’t figure it out myself) and of course you guys want to know too, therefore I include it in the script.
And this doesn’t just include things I cannot figure out myself. I include things in my script that the “average Joe” on some message board has posted (like I said above). MANY people have the same theories. There are soooo many theories and ideas out there about each episode. So what I do is find what I consider the most reasonable ideas, the best ideas, and I determine whether or not to include them in the script, if I personally like them. I’ll reword the idea (whether it is my own, my family, my friends, or a poster on a message board) to make it like a normal dialogue, explaining it clearly like to a friend (you guys).
Basically, after I recap the episodes (which is my own recap with help from lostpedia recaps), I fill the rest with secrets (like the hieroglyphs, whispers, and easter eggs) and lastly with theories. About half of the theories are my own and about half are from the message boards and other people. Doing all of this takes A LOT of work. Going through various message boards takes a lot of time, but I try to come up with the best theories and ideas I can find for you guys. Theories on the show cannot be copy written. Too many people have the same theories, posting them on sooo many message boards.
I just scrolled up and realized I typed wayyyy too much (lol) but I wanted you guys to kind of get a feel for how I make the videos.
Now let me explain to you guys what I did, to cause what has happened to happen. Let me first start off by saying I admit what I did was wrong. I apologized to the two people involved a few months ago, but when they read this again, I want them to understand again that I’m sorry. The 2 people are Erika and Vozzek69. They both write and post on http://darkufo.blogspot.com. I’d also like to apologize to Andy who runs the site again.
Like I said above, when I use a theory or idea I see on message boards or forums, I reword the theory so it is more verbally appealing and sounds better on camera. The whole issue here was that I said exactly what Erika and Vozzek69 wrote, which is against the law, since their material is copy written.
I honestly did not know their material was copy written, but I admit that doesn’t excuse the fact that I shouldn’t have read word for word what they wrote. Now why DID I do this? I think it was because I liked some of their ideas and their articles were well written and already camera ready, if you understand what I mean. I think it had a lot to do with laziness, just trying to get all these ideas from different sources together in one script in a matter of a couple days so the videos could actually be up before the next episode aired. I would just copy some parts I found reasonable or if I agreed with it, and would change a couple words here and there, but for the most part, it was the same. I used some of Erika’s material is 3 videos, starting with 5.8. I used Vozzek’s in a few more. The parts where they wrote “I think”… I should have credited them, but I just plugged the whole sentence into my script.
Another mistake I made was not citing my sources. If I was using their material, I should have at least credited them. Again, I admit I was wrong there too. In my future Lost videos, I will be not be using any copy written material the same way as it was written by the author. I will still use ideas from others on message boards, as many people have the same theories and ideas, and I want to provide you all with the best… well, in my opinion, the best information out there. I will be strictly using message boards. I will not be reading their articles nor any articles where there is a chance the information is copy written. I will not be just copying others’ articles, but looking at different theories and ideas, and if I like them, will be putting them into my own way of telling them. If they are complicated or long theories, I will credit the person who wrote it too.
I have read all kinds of “unpleasant” things about me over these past few months, from being the worst kind of fan, to even being the next Hitler (lol), but perhaps the most common thing I’ve read is that all my material is copied from others. This simply is not true. As you all know, my videos are an average of 25 minutes or so. The recap portion takes over half the videos. My theories and ideas takes about 1/4 of the videos, and the other 1/4 are ideas from other people. Again, this is on average. Of the 1/4 of the video dedicated to theories from other people, some of the ideas were the copy written parts from Erika and Vozzek in some of the videos. Those parts will be taken out and I’ll reupload the videos onto my new YouTube page. Even with the parts taken out, the videos will be very very long and interesting.
The reason my YouTube account got suspended (which in YouTubish means terminated) was because of multiple copywrite infringement acts. As many of you know, I used to use copy written music in the intros to my videos. YouTube cracked down and issued warnings and suspended accounts because of it. Then once these copy written acts were filed, they suspended my account. Unfortunately, it looks like I will not be getting that account back. I was planning on writing this long post right around the time when it happened, but when my account got terminated, I was distraught. It also happened at a bad time for me in my life, which didn’t help, but I was so happy with that account like I talked about at the beginning of this post. Once I realized I would not be getting the account back, I took a total break from all things Lost related, facebook/myspace related, kind of checked out. I needed a break also from making videos, since they took up a lot of my time to make. The break helped a lot, but I’m ready to be infused back into what used to be. My new YouYube channel is TheSeanieB by the way. Sub there if you get the chance!
I realize I lost a lot of fans during this entire ordeal, and that some won’t want to watch my future videos. I understand. I also realize that I will still have “haterz” around here and YouTube for awhile, as I have had ever since I started making videos… some people just like to hate. I hope you all can forgive me and move on, as I’ve admitted my mistakes. Yes, I should have addressed this earlier to everyone, but I’ve privately apologized to the few involved months ago. I guess my wish for those of you who want to help, would be to just inform the others that I’m back to make more videos for you all. That’s my one wish. The first 100 to sub to my new channel will all be mentioned in a future post.
Now about my future with these videos. I still plan on making them, if you haven’t gotten the gist over this post hehe. During the break, I will take out the copy written parts to the videos, reupload them, and work on some new videos. I want to do a whisper video and recap some of the episodes I missed, but keep checking back on the site for updates on what will happen.
I am heading off to a university this fall, but I still plan on making videos for Season 6! I will have a LOT less time to work on the videos, so they may be a little shorter, but I still want to do them. Again, I’ll keep you updated as time goes by.
These videos take up a lot of my time to make. I’m just a college student who has a pretty busy life, but love Love LOVE the community here and you all. I don’t have to make videos about Lost and despite what people have claimed, I don’t get paid for making them lol. I make these videos because I love the show itself, video editing, and ESPECIALLY all the fans who watch and appreciate the effort and passion I put into my films. So this LOOOONNG post was for me to tell you I made a mistake. We all make mistakes and I’m sorry I put this off for so long, but I’m glad I can kind of get all this out of my head. Thank you Russell and all the mods who have kept these awesome forums maintained while I took a break. And for the rest of of you who have stuck with me, you don’t realize just how much I appreciate you.
God Bless,
Seanie B
P.S. Here are my different social accounts. If you feel like it, would love for you guys to drop me a line on my Facebook wall and Twitter page (new Twitter account). Also, head over to my new YouTube page and subscribe if you feel like it. I’ll be answering every message very soon, so sorry for the long delay.


July 11th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Great! Nothing more to say. Or.
Thanks, you´re the best!
July 12th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for owning up to the plagiarism and being completely honest about the situation. That was pretty brave, and pretty much what I needed to hear to continue subscribing to your videos. Looking forward to a new one.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
That’s real and honest talk. I’m sorry for all the BS you have had to hear. I mean, making fan videos of lost for other fans .. things got out of hands with the accusations.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
It is so great to read your response even though it was super long haha. I am looking forward to your new videos. I think it shows you got good character to owe up to your mistakes and for you to explain yourself. after watching your videos I thought “damn, this must take a lot of work!”.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
glad youre back sean, sometimes it seems like everything bad always happens all at once. i can’t wait for you videos to be back and good luck at the university
July 15th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
It took a big man to say what you have said,well done its good to have you back.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Hey, even though there are a lot of haters out there, I think you should know that there are ALSO a lot of people that really appreciated all the recaps you have done and it really made the show more enjoyable as a whole. I hope you continue to make recaps for season 6 and I like many other people will be looking forward to them
July 17th, 2009 at 12:24 am
glad your back, and congrats and good luck at school
July 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Finally. You plagarized. You got caught. You apologized. Forgiveness is God’s will.
Can’t wait to start seeing your vids again.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:24 am
This is ridiculous you mean people actually got mad because you didn’t mention them in you vid?
And that other persons got mad because you didn’t mention that you had used other peoples material?
Didn’t you say that you had been reading on message boards and stuff from the beginning? From what I remember you did…
And of course there are more then one person with the same thoughts about the show because we all watch the same show! I hate the people who blame me for reading other peoples thoughts and saying that they are mine.
Well well… That’s just life, i guess.
Happy that your back!
July 19th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Here’s just a thought.. at the end of your video recaps, a scrolling of LOST fan sites where you can state, “some other great ideas and theories continue to be discussed here”…it provides a community feeling (which LOST fans enjoy) of sharing of ideas and theories. Since you say you make no money doing this, then sharing other sites helps your image. It credits your sources at the same time.
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
hey man,
bravo for owning up to your mistakes. That’s hard to do. I will subscribe to your new youtube page. I missed watching your videos!
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about this topic.
July 25th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Great Letter to all your fans!
I just want to say, i did not think it was a big deal about this whole situation, Its all just fun and games, and people need to realize that and not be so critical! I understand because you were so busy, you were rushed and copied other people’s work a bit, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t add the Seanie B touch to all of the info! I am glad you said so yourself you are coming back and making videos, i love them. You are great at what you do, keep it up!
July 26th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Honestly Seanie when I heard that you plagiarized I honestly didn’t care… why you might ask, well you organized that information in a great unique way that was fresh and easy to consume.
I love lost, I love peeling it apart like an onion, but alas I have a very busy life and job, and don’t have time to go on to 17 different websites and pieces things together. You did that, and that has great value and worth! It broke my heart when you stopped making your videos, as I was one of your first subscribers.
I hope this finds you well, and I only hope that you can reload all of the past video updates, and that we can have you “plagiarizing” for the final season!
I love what you do man! Keep up the good work and honestly don’t give into the haters!
Eric
July 28th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Hey Sean.
I have been enjoying your videos forever. The charge against you was ridiculous. But just as I presumed, you are the bigger man. If someone “stole” my ideas, I would be proud. It seems that there are a few, Doc Artz in particular who wants to corner the market on Lost ideas. I believe these charges are trump up out of jealousy based on your TV Guide appearances. Your videos are entertaining, fun, and EVERYONE knew you were pulling ideas from others. Like you, I don’t think we have seen the end of the haters.
It just really bothered me HOW FAR the opposition went to smear you when in fact they should have contributed in some way instead. That would have been a more NOBLE move instead of the kindergarten antics.
Lost is a great show but some people get their picture taken with a cast member or even invited to the set and then they feel as they are the foremost experts providing de facto analysis that is 100% their own ideas. Everyone has probably downloaded illegal music, illegal software, or past off an idea as their own at one time or another in their life. It is human nature.
Just like the characters in Lost. No one is perfect not even those who cast the stones.
The opposition should now step up and point out their role in this unnecessary “war” against you.
Sean, you are a human being. I can tell by your demeanor, religion, love for your family, love for animals, and your aspirations for educating yourself, that you are a genuine good person who set out to do something nice for others. Thanks for your insight and posting others insight because I just don’t have time to surf every damn “expert” site out their and read pages and pages of thoughts that can be summarized in one quick video. I have a family. I own them my time.
Good luck and god speed.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
man…i m l.f. to ya new stuff…
all ya did is recap not only the episode itself but also the ideas n vibes of the whole lost fan communaty …..whaz wrong with dat….???just mention the guys which ideas ya throw in ,and everyone should be happy … and if not F… em…….
greetz from berlin,kdv
July 31st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
This was a very decent apology. Now, if only the Lost community will more accepting of it.
It hurt me a lot when DocArtz compared you to a ‘fox in the chicken coop’, and I was tired of the endless tirade of people claiming to be ‘writers’.
I just hope that the rest of the community will be more open-minded and forgiving. I really do.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Where are the videos?!?!
August 25th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
While I was disappointed by what I heard around the net, I am satisfied by what I have just read here. I have checked out Erika and Vozzek69 blog. IT IS BORING. You do great video pieces/reviews. If you did copy their material, you made their material MORE ENTERTAINING than what they wrote. And even they would be idiots to deny this fact.
PLEASE continue these vids with the last season! You will still have may viewers!
September 16th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
So are you coming back or what?
I swear you posted this months ago…. Updates please.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Please!! continue with the recaps!!
plzzzzz