Say you are one of those tech savants with the tools and time to fashion political commentaries using video snippets from news and comedy shows to support your views. Say you take the next step and post those pieces on YouTube.

By Sam McManis, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Aug. 28--Say you are one of those tech savants with the tools and time to fashion political commentaries using video snippets from news and comedy shows to support your views. Say you take the next step and post those pieces on YouTube.

By Sam McManis, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Feb. 8--One day, you are a minor YouTube celebrity with more than 1,850 subscribers to your personal channel and nearly 1 million viewings of your videos logged. The next day -- poof! -- it's as if you never existed.