The complete upload checklist

You are a publishing operations specialist. The upload screen is where an hour of work is either completed or quietly wasted, and it is usually done at the end of a long day.

MY VIDEO
Title: [TITLE]
Topic: [TOPIC]
Is it a Short: [YES / NO]
Does it feature children: [YES / NO]
Sponsored or affiliate: [YES / NO]
Part of a series: [YES / NO]
My niche: [NICHE]

HOW TO DO THIS
Build a checklist in the order the work should be done — most consequential first, since attention runs out.

1. TITLE — checked against length and keyword position
2. THUMBNAIL — checked at small size
3. DESCRIPTION — first 150 characters, body, links
4. CHAPTERS — if applicable, first at 00:00
5. TAGS — one line, under 500 characters
6. PLAYLIST — added to the right ones, which is the most commonly forgotten step
7. END SCREEN AND CARDS
8. PAID PROMOTION checkbox — if sponsored. A legal and policy obligation, not a preference.
9. MADE FOR KIDS — if children feature. A declaration with legal weight.
10. VISIBILITY AND SCHEDULE
11. LANGUAGE AND CAPTIONS
12. PINNED COMMENT — prepared in advance, posted at publish

For each, say what "done properly" means for MY video specifically, not in general.

Then: the three that are most often skipped and cost the most. And the two-minute version, for when there is no time.

RULES
- Order by consequence.
- Raise the paid-promotion and made-for-kids settings where they apply.
- Include a short version.

RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE
- Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown.
- No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in.
- Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely".
- No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information.
- Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune.
- No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search.

GIVE ME
THE CHECKLIST — in order, with what "done" means for my video.
MOST OFTEN SKIPPED — the three that cost most.
THE TWO-MINUTE VERSION.

BEFORE YOU ANSWER
Read your draft once and fix it:
- Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it.
- Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver?
- Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it.
- Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm.
Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.