We were lucky to catch up with Ruin Road recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ruin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

The first half of 2023 saw our YouTube channel double in views and we were gaining subscribers at a rapid pace. But on one Thursday night at the end of July, we hit our biggest problem – in the span of just three minutes, someone hacked into our Google account, changed the two factor authentication and everything to their contact information. Shockingly, Google had no way to undo this, and we could only watch as the following morning all our videos were taken down, the channel rebranded to look like Tesla and they began livestreaming some spam. After likely being reported en masse, the channel was terminated.
Meanwhile, we had reached out to Team YouTube on Twitter (the only way to contact ‘customer service’) and began the weeklong process of getting our Google account returned to us. After that was confirmed to be hacked and restored, we then learned that as the YouTube had been terminated, that would need to be manually reviewed but that they could not tell us when or how long that would take. Now, as of writing, almost three months later there is still no update.
It was very frustrating to have our creative outlet taken away from us, and despite posting about it on our social media, many people still reached out wondering where the YouTube had gone and expressed their dismay at it being down as well.
Some did suggest starting over with a new channel or on a new platform, but we are still hopefully waiting for our old account to be returned as that has over eight years of followers, videos and views that will be very disheartening to lose.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After a lifelong interest in “spooky old houses” that we would pass on the road, a friend sent me a link one day of a video where people explored abandoned buildings and suggested we could do something like that. Eight years later, we have visited hundreds of locations across the country, expanded to secondary dead mall and true crime series, as well as an Amazon Prime show focused on folklore and urban legends that had its third season premiere this past October. While there are literally thousands of people doing the same thing online, we try to set ourselves apart by not making the typical YouTube videos and focus on a more professional documentary approach and never rely on clickbait or making stories up, instead focusing on digging deep into real history and sharing that, which is often more strange and interesting than the usual lies people make up for videos.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Unlike many other countries, there is very little government grant support for artists of any kind, which is why public support is so crucial. While things like Patreon or donations are the best way to give monetarily to artists that you enjoy, with the state of the economy today, many people simply cannot afford to give even a few dollars a month. But also it is easier than ever before to support artists by sharing their work. Follow their social medias, share their videos/posts/etc. It may not seem like much but honestly liking, sharing and subscribing helps us out more than you could imagine in todays worlds of algorithms on everything.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Videography and photography is a creative outlet for me. I absolutely love finding places, traveling to them, filming and photographing them, then researching and putting together the final product. Before we were hacked, I always said that even if no one watched our videos, I am still creating them for me. However, now that that became a reality, I also learned that it is a bonus getting that interaction with viewers and fans. Sharing things with people that opens them to ideas or history that they did not know before is a truly awesome thing and it really makes you feel good to hear how your work is enjoyed.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theruinroad/
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/theruinroad/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/RuinRoad
• Other: Ghosts & Legends show on Amazon Prime – https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-and-Legends/dp/B08P33RG7C Buy our books – https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AKyle+Brooky&s=relevancerank&text=Kyle+Brooky&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

Image Credits
Ruin Road