First of all, I do not want to sign with anybody. If you think that after finding this out I will sign up with any other network, you're kidding yourself, with all due respect. Like you said, "you can find a shady part on every network", therefore it would be stupid of me to sign up with another one. If I'm not signing up with anybody, splits have nothing to do with it.
You, "nicekid76" and some other people do not seem to understand what fraud means, I suggest you guys use some of your adsense to go buy a dictionary, or let me paste the definition here for you guys from the Oxford Dictionary of British English:
fraud |frɔːd|
noun [ mass noun ]
wrongful or
criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain:
he was convicted of fraud | [ count noun ]
: prosecutions for social security frauds.
• [ count noun ] a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities:
mediums exposed as tricksters and frauds.
I can only feel pity for the people who think that what Maker do is acceptable, like "nicekid76". If you think that committing a crime is acceptable, then you are just as corrupt as the network and I don't really care about your opinions because corrupt people are bad people. If you accept to let a criminal take care of your money, then you are simply... stupid. You can get offended as much as you want with that but if you knowingly let a criminal handle your money, what else can you be called? And if you expect someone else to let it happen, then you're arrogant as well. If you're reading the terms of service to keep yourself up to date (I read it once every year to make sure that I'm doing everything right) and find out that the network has been doing wrongful stuff that violates the terms of service and you don't ask to get out immediately, you deserve to be taken advantage of and I sincerely hope that you do. I asked to get out because I don't want criminals taking care of my cash/account. I don't care if every network does this. Many wrongs do not make one right.
Now to answer your second question, the release date is as pointless as the contract. They can keep anybody's channel forever if they want, because they are under no obligation to follow the contract. If they think that you don't have the means to hire a lawyer to fight them, there is nothing to stop them from keeping your channel locked in to their CMS forever. Once you click on the button to give them your account, they can keep it for as long as they want it, it doesn't matter what the contract states because this is the theory, the system allows them to keep the account for themselves. YouTube does not care about contracts between users and networks, they WON'T release your channel from anybody's CMS even if you clearly show them that the contract was over. It is the network who has to release you manually from the CMS. YouTube will NEVER touch anybody's CMS, regardless of contracts between users and networks, so by knowing this, they can take control of your account forever and there is NOTHING you can do about that.
Just to show you the reply from a YouTube employer when I posted on YouTube's own partner forum explaining the situation and asking them to give my account back to me:
"
Youtube will not intervene in network disputes; this is between you and the network you are signed to.
If you believe the network has violated the terms of the contract, or that the contract should now be voided, you should consult a legal attorney."
As you can see, the very first sentence shows that networks have all the control, and you have none. That is, if you sign up with a network. If you don't, the account is 100% in your control, which is what I want. I don't want to leave my money in criminal's hands.
I do not try to protect Maker, but you can find a shady parts on every Network i think if you look for it carefully.
Maybe you just realised that you have bad split and decided to find the shady parts in the Network actions and trying to point to it as a way to release you early for breaching contract, so you can sign with better split elsewhere?
Regarding your mentioned issues:
1. if its optional feature to like in exchange to points, then i do not see the problem, you can just do not use it to be on a safe side.
2. regarding keeping your channel forever as you mentioned: if you have a release date how you can say that they can keep your channel forever?