YouTube just broke up with me

I have a decision to make.

Early this morning, YouTube informed me that we’re no longer partners. Strike that. We’re still partners for now, but on February 20, our heretofore slightly profitable relationship will end.

I, like, I’m certain, thousands of others no longer qualify for monetization through its YouTube Partner Program.

My offense? I have a pissant channel.

YouTube’s new partnership rules call for at least 4,000 hours of watch time within the last 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers.

Though verified, my little channel has just 149 subscribers and, since, I launched it over a decade ago, 826,636 views.

I am, of course, proud of those views, which are directly responsible for me joining the YouTube Partner Program (read “monetization program”) in 2009.

Back then, I had just a handful of videos when I got word from YouTube that one had generated enough views to qualify for the program. My hand-made pumpkin-carving animation video wasn't very good, but someone at YouTube liked it enough to choose it as a featured video during the Halloween season, which put it on YouTube’s homepage for a time. Soon, it was gathering thousands of views. YouTube took notice and, after asking me to jump through a bunch of hoops (and promise that it…