For a little more than a month now I've been back to work on a "new normal" basis, getting caught up on reviews and figuring out how to most comfortably & efficiently work in the all-new studio.  Viewer reaction to the new format has been shockingly positive.  I, myself, have felt perfectly comfortable being in front of the camera again, though I do yet need to work on physical access to review subjects from behind the filming rig when doing the traditional close-up shots.

I've been marking new videos honestly as "not for kids" and YouTube hasn't overridden this choice on any of them as yet, though I still don't know if I'm completely in the clear as COPPA settlement enforcement actions have not begun to date, to my knowledge.  I remain unfortunately confident that I need to leave most of my previous 10 years of work marked "for kids" forever, though, and that loss might thus never be recovered.  New legislative efforts in the US have been initiated, meanwhile, to expand the relevant definition of "kids" to everyone under 16 instead of 13, and separately to essentially end toy unboxings & sponsored "reviews" targeted at that broad audience group. Ouch.  I'm happy to mostly not be thinking about laws & such right now, though, as my focus is back on the content where it belongs!

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