Google and YouTube Accounts Linked (and hacks)

Recently, YouTube requires having a Google account to register. That means you need a unique e-mail address for each YouTube account, and provides some unexpected benefits and problems.
I’ve often advised people to establish separate YouTube accounts under different e-mails, since if one account gets “suspended” or “deleted” than other accounts with the same e-mail are also usually effected.

Now that’s mandatory. It’s nice to have one sign-on/login for Google (which I use as my primary e-mail, reader and increasingly for creating documents) and YouTube. I login to Google, and I’m automatically logged into YouTube. However this becomes a problem when you want to create a new account or login to different accounts.
For instance, I’m posting vlogs on UncleNalts. If I logoff YouTube as Nalts, then go back as UncleNalts, my Gmail session expires. Imagine how much of a hassle this is if you’re moderating comments on various network accounts (for a Next New Networks, Revision3, or ForYourImagination).

Here are a few work-arounds:

  • If your gmail freezes (logged off) when you switched between YouTube accounts, don’t fear. Just open a new tab, log back into Google. Then go back to the gmail and it should send fine.
  • It makes sense to have two different browsers for each accounts if you toggle back and forth frequently. It’s confusing, but it saves a lot of trouble. In the past week, I’ve accidentally taken my gmail offline by going back and forth between various YouTube accounts.
  • If you want multiple YouTube accounts and are out of e-mail addresses, simply link them to various free e-mail accounts (Yahoo, AOL, whatever). Or if you have your own hosting account, create e-mails for each (username@domain.com), and you’ll have gmail/YouTube accounts that match and an e-mail name that matches both. Through Bluehost, I can create dozens of NAME@willvideoforfood, naltsconsulting, kevinnalts, etc. Of course I’ll never remember to check them, or have the foggiest idea what password I’ve used.

21 thoughts on “Google and YouTube Accounts Linked (and hacks)”

  1. I somewhat unintentionally started a new YouTube account that got linked to a Google account. I used an email address with one of my domains that I thought would be fine but then I realised I had setup Gmail to be able to send email from that address. Kind of annoying, but I think I’m just going to reinstall Safari and work with a second browser. Easiest option.

  2. Wow, I guess I should be glad I am not an important enough big-shot to have problems like NALTS. But I will surely make a note of this blog for when the day arrives….fingers crossed…I think.

  3. @Marilyn, you beat me to the punch!

    I don’t like what Google is doing here. I don’t think it’s beneficial to YouTube or Gmail users.

  4. I have subbed to about 10 non-existent Nalts channels. I think the last was something about WeightLossOfNalts

    But I post a Squirrel-Bomb of Nalts and do I get noticed. Not even. (sniff)

  5. I use my gmail with my Apple mail client on my laptop and my iphone..so then I have no use for the actual gmail page. But thanks for the info..very helpful.

  6. @6: I am the official spell-checker for this blog. Trust me, it is a nearly full-time job. Feel free to make corrections when I am not around. 😉

  7. @9: I see. I am the unofficial spell-checker on his hair blog. Glad to see someone has this one covered.

  8. okay, disabled is a bit extreme – is it like telling someone you work with or a casual friend that they have a zit or wart on their face?

    Right now I’m leaning towards OCD…

  9. You take me too seriously. Pointing out errors probably really has very little to do with making fun of Nalts. We probably can’t completely eliminate it from the equation though. Perhaps it is a subconscious attempt to assert intellectual dominance (but the subconscious does tend to be rather inscrutable).

    However, I suspect there is more truth to be found in your OCD theory. Some people tend to be perfectionists by nature and finding and fixing life’s minor imperfections is something of a never-ending puzzle. Most of the time we don’t bother others with trivial corrections, but some more grievous errors (like someone who should know better mixing up “there”, “their”,* and “they’re”) cannot be kept to ourselves. The “effected” vs. “affected” error seems to me a particularly flagrant abuse of the English language.

    Sometimes if Kevin reads the comments he will correct the errata resulting in a more professional blog and happier little OCD perfectionists. In this case, we have a mutually beneficial situation for all parties involved (the readers enjoy a more clear exposition of Kevin’s astute revelations concerning social media unaffected by the repulsive blemishes of mangled English).

    Perhaps Marilyn has some further insight into the inner-workings of the mind of a chronic spell-checker. I suspect her motivations and rationale may be rather disparate. She is probably better qualified than I and has higher authority to pass judgement on Kevin’s grammatical crimes anyways (mathematics, not English, is my language of choice).

    *Note: I am a consciencious objector to the commas inside of quotation marks rule (for very good logical and mathematical reasons I do not care to discuss).

  10. @16: I have this thing about proper use of the English language. I don’t really know where it came from. While I am a teacher, I am not an English teacher. Improper spelling or grammar usage just drives me nuts.

    My mother was also a teacher (again, not English), so perhaps it is in my blood. I also am a voracious reader, so I see elegant, as well as tortuous, use of language on a regular basis.

    I look at it as providing a service and correcting a wrong. I must admit, however, that some of my Facebook friends, among others, don’t take my ” helpful corrections” in the spirit in which they are provided.

    Nalts makes some of the same mistakes over and over again; I am simply trying to help him have a more professional and successful blog, 🙂

  11. Ehhhh… I suspect Nalts seeds his blog with errors just to see how people react. He HAS to know about the “common” error (for “c’mon”) by now, yet he still does it.

  12. @18 I don’t think so DahliaK. He’s probably too busy (or lazy) being unemployed (a.k.a. consulting) and keeping up with all of his websites, blogs, YouTube accounts, and tweets to do anything besides a basic spell-check. That is a more interesting theory though. I’d like to think Nalts is that devious.

    I just looked back at my previous comment (pay particular attention to the first sentence) and decided I probably shouldn’t be commenting while short on sleep. I seem to be charicaturing some sort of a mildly psychotic, bloviating, obsessive-compulsive academic, but there does seem to be some small kernel of sanity and sincerity amidst my ramblings.

    @19 I hadn’t noticed his “common” mistake yet, but I haven’t been following WVfF very long. It doesn’t seem like a common error (Nalts: note the proper use of the word) for most people. My particular pet peeves are apostrophe errors, the notorious “should/could/would of” (and many other homonym errors), and perhaps most egregious, improper use (or absence) of the pluperfect and subjunctive. Dangling participles are my favorites; they can make things quite amusing. 🙂

    Nalts, sorry for derailing your comment thread with my verbose and off-topic ramblings (maybe once I get some sleep I’ll be able to keep them short, relevant, and slightly less snarky), but apparently you haven’t been reading the comments anyway.

  13. hmmm…

    Some times people spell words because of the accent they hear in their head. C’mon (not recognized by the spelling dictionary) is a good example, add a NOLA accent to it and it sounds more like common, add a Jersey accent and it sounds Kim man, in the UK it sounds almost French. Language is always evolving and by the time they print the latest book on grammar it’s already out of date. Ax Enrey Iggings

    I also understand why people are put off when someone makes a correction in public. This fear and resentment I believe stems from being corrected as a child by unkindly teacher in front of the class. For many it draws on the very first feelings of inadequacy.

    However, I’m not advocating a phonetic dictionary nor the modernization of Shakespeare I’m just saying it’s all in the timing.

    “I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.” -Oscar Wilde

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