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Four-minute rule

channel rule · in 108 videos (2007–2026)

The four-minute rule, set in 2007, says vlogbrothers videos running over four minutes earn a punishment. Montage, educational and 4:01 videos became exempt, as did videos made with the other brother's permission and, from 2021, meme reviews. After Hank's diagnosis in 2023 the brothers suspended it.

Videos by year: 2007: 6 · 2008: 19 · 2009: 11 · 2010: 5 · 2011: 2 · 2012: 4 · 2013: 13 · 2014: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2026: 1

Also known as: four minute rule, 4-minute rule

Threads

Also named in the threads: Brotherhood 2.0: the 2007 year of daily video letters · Song Wednesday: Hank performs a song on Wednesdays (2007) · Question Tuesday: weekly Tuesday question days for nerdfighters (2007) · John asks Nerdfighters for questions to answer (2007) · John and Hank's Peeps eating contest (2008) · Brotherhood 2.0.0.9: the vlogbrothers' 2009 schedule and rules (2009) · Hank: say viewers' #HankVideo sentences in a video (2009) · Severed hands in Star Wars: Hank's count of 13, revisited in John's 'Zero Severed Hands' (2016) · John asks Nerdfighters to suggest and vote on Hank's punishment (2009) · Vlogbrothers in 2010: the channel's end-of-year reinvention (2009) · Vlogbrothers educational week: a week of videos making a solid effort to be educational (November 2010) · John's paternity leave from vlogbrothers, with guest hosts filling in (2013) · NerdCon: Nerdfighteria 2017 edition (Boston, February): celebrating ten years of Vlogbrothers · Hank: post a long version of his permanent-marker test on hankschannel (2020) · Pizzamas 2022 edition · P4A 2023 edition

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Punishment (24) · Grace Helbig (3) · Bizarre Beasts (2) · hankschannel (4) · social construction (2) · Peeps (3) · YouTube (10) · Paper Towns (5) · Amazon (2) · The Fault in Our Stars (4)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

Also named in: April 5th: Embarrassing Moment Sock Puppet Theater

2008

  • 2008-03-27 · PEEPS Eating Contest Is Peepstacular, Painful — ask: John asks Nerdfighters to suggest in comments what the winner and/or loser of the contest should get. — 00:01:09
  • 2008-04-21 · Belated Book-tacular Questions — John says Hank will be punished too: he lost the Peeps contest without participating and made a video over four minutes without a photo montage, which breaks the rule. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-05-16 · Hank's Punishment (ugh...I don't believe uploading this...) — Hank says he is finally doing his punishment, which he learned only yesterday; it was chosen from suggestions by Nerdfighters and John. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • As the punishment, Hank sings a cover of a ToyBox pop song about a 'World Wide Web girl' chatting online. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • 2008-06-24 · Questions Answered! — announcement: Hank is making a Star Trek song longer than four minutes that he can't shorten, so he invokes the longer-than-four-minutes clause, which requires a Nerdfighting montage. — 00:03:12
  • 2008-07-10 · What Would Captain Picard Do — Hank: In his song Hank says that when you're confused and the choice is too hard, you should think of what Captain Picard would do. (playful) — 00:03:54
  • 2008-08-15 · Metric Sabbath — Hank says the punishment he just did turned out worse than expected; someone suggested it, and since most people didn't want him punished at all, he chose it as easy and peculiar. — 00:00:43
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — John notes Hank's previous video was 4 minutes 16 seconds long and expects a 'weird semantic argument' against being punished. (playful) — 00:00:36
  • 2008-10-24 · Talking to Myself — Hank: In a phone skit with another Hank, Hank says he can see 'their point' and concedes his video was technically longer than four minutes. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • Hank asks everyone to leave punishment suggestions in the comments. — 00:03:44
  • 2008-10-24 · Paper Towns MOVIE1!!!11! — John tells Hank he is being punished by having to do something he once agreed to: dress as Carrie Bradshaw for the Sex and the City movie, at home since it has left theaters. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-30 (said on 2008-10-29, implied) · Hank is Late (dr horrible) — Hank records the video while dressed like Carrie Bradshaw, which he calls embarrassing on its own. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • …and 13 statements more in 2008 — all statements of 2008

Also named in: Live from LAX

2009

  • 2009-03-29 · Tiny Chickens Cause Epic Fail — John says Hank has owed a Carrie Bradshaw dress-up for about six months and won't do it, and claims to speak for Nerdfighters in being mad. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:35
    • John tells Hank to dress up as Carrie Bradshaw and says he is boycotting Hank's videos until he sees it in a video thumbnail. (playful) — 00:01:09
  • 2009-04-01 (said on 2009-03-31, implied) · A Few Of My Favorite Things — announcement: Hank apologises for not yet being dressed as Carrie Bradshaw and says he thinks he will make up for it tomorrow. (hedged) — 00:03:38
  • 2009-04-01 · HANKROLL'd — Hank sings a cover of 'Never Gonna Give You Up', rickrolling viewers; the description says he does it dressed as Carrie Bradshaw. (playful) — 00:00:17
  • 2009-08-04 · Twitter Games and Truth or Fail — announcement: Hank hopes to fit all the sentences in, maybe not given his four minutes, and muses about working them into a song 'written by Twitter'. (hedged) — 00:01:22
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John says Nerdfighteria has long wanted to punish Hank, but Hank keeps the rules: a video every Wednesday, a song every other Wednesday, never more than four minutes. (playful) — 00:00:29
    • After Hank posted a video of four minutes and two seconds last week (week of 9 November 2009), he called John saying the overrun was only the subscription screen and that he is on tour. (playful) — 00:00:59
    • John argues that people, in sports and in life, tend to think breaking the rules isn't really breaking them unless and until they get caught. — 00:01:57
    • John announces that Hank is getting punished, and says he doesn't mind his own punishment since Hank is being punished too. (playful) — 00:01:57
  • 2009-12-01 · Shaving for Pakistan — John reports a Nerdfighter's calculation that the extra two seconds of Hank's punished video, watched about 55,000 times, cost Nerdfighteria 26 hours; 'we want our 26 hours back'. (playful) (doubtful: 26 hours) — 00:03:03
    • John sets Hank's punishment: be at the Missoula, Montana Target when it opens at 8 a.m. and stay, without leaving, until it closes 15 hours later. (playful) — 00:03:17
    • Because the store closes, John adds a second punishment for the missing 11 hours: Hank buys a blender there and publicly blends and eats (or drinks) a meal of his choice in the Target restaurant. (playful) — 00:03:30
  • …and 6 statements more in 2009 — all statements of 2009

Also named in: Israel. Gaza. PUPPY!, 51 Jokes (in Four Minutes)

2010

  • 2010-01-04 · It Hurts In My Toof: The 2010 Rules — announcement: John announces rule two: videos may not exceed four minutes, with the usual exceptions. — 00:02:09
    • John tells Hank the new rule means he has one week from today to spend 15 hours in a Target. — 00:02:39
  • 2010-01-06 (said on 2010-01-05, implied) · 15 Hours in Target! — Hank, tired and unwell, starts his punishment inside a Target with 15 hours to fill; five hours in, he is really bored. — 00:00:00
    • Near the end of his 15 hours in Target, Hank eats 'one last heaping spoonful', coughs, and calls it a horrible idea. (playful) — 00:03:09
  • 2010-01-08 · GUS HAS NO FUZZ! — John congratulates Hank on spending 15 hours in Target without going insane or getting arrested. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • 2010-11-05 · God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I — ask: John says no punishment is due for going over four minutes, since Nerdfighters allowed longer videos, and asks viewers to say how the brothers are doing. — video description
    • John says that, with Nerdfighteria's permission, the brothers have temporarily suspended the four-minute rule to get through the week of educational videos. — 00:05:18
  • 2010-12-07 · Tongue Twisters — Hank tells commenters demanding punishment for a video over four minutes that the 'Nerdfighter montage exception' applies, so he remains punishment-free. (playful) — 00:04:06
  • …and 1 statement more in 2010 — all statements of 2010

2011

2012

Also named in: The Higgs Boson

2013

  • 2013-06-21 · New Channels, New Songs, and Just Plain News — Hank says Grace's video went over four minutes, but he is unsure whether the four-minute rule covers videos on the Vlogbrothers channel or only videos made by the Vlogbrothers. (unsure) — 00:00:00
    • Hank says Grace found out and sent him something (the description calls it 'Daily Grace Slaps Herself'), and declares: 'Punishment served.' (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2013-06-25 · Thoughts from Places: Dog Days of Summer — Hannah Hart: She stops recording because she does not want to go four minutes like Grace did. (playful) — 00:03:24
  • 2013-10-15 · Thoughts for Nerdfighteria — John says his last video ran over four minutes and Nerdfighters in Our Pants ruled it not educational, so he is punished. — 00:02:39
    • For new viewers John explains: Our Pants is the forum; videos may not exceed four minutes unless educational; he likes pizza, Hank corn dogs; Nerdfighters fight to make the world suck less. — 00:02:47
  • 2013-11-08 · VidCon, Punishments, Comments, and Pumpkins — announcement: Hank sets John's punishment, a mix of suggestions: Henry decides and cooks John's dinner, short of poisoning him, and John has to eat it. (playful) — 00:02:12
  • 2013-11-12 · But Is Worm Pizza Poisonous? — John tells Henry he cannot eat worm pizza, Henry's first suggestion, because eating worms can be really bad for you, even kind of poisonous, as they carry bacteria. (hedged) — 00:02:15
    • John sums up the punishment menu Henry has chosen for him to eat: slobber carrots with Henry's drool, really gross barbecue with drool, and hats. — 00:03:49
  • 2013-12-10 · Cooking with a 3-Year-Old: Slobber Carrots and Gross Barbecue — John: On 'punishment Tuesday' John reminds Henry he came up with the gross meal: slobber carrots with drool, gross barbecue with drool, and hat. — 00:00:00
    • In the description John is glad to have the punishment behind him and thanks Henry and Nerdfighteria for the horror. — video description
    • Tasting: the slobber carrots with drool are actually quite good, the gross barbecue is so bad, much worse than a blenderized Happy Meal, and the hat is not very good. (playful) — 00:03:08
    • John concludes that was his punishment meal, doesn't recommend it, and quotes Henry: the grossest meal ever. — 00:03:51
  • …and 5 statements more in 2013 — all statements of 2013

Also named in: Understand the Sequester (Spoiler: It's Bananas.)

2014

  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank says the brothers created the channel on January 1, 2007 with three rules: a video on your day, no video over four minutes, and no textual communication between them. — 00:00:21
    • After 2007 the brothers abolished the textual communication rule, changed the schedule, and exempted educational videos, montage videos and 4:01 videos (YouTube adds a second) from the time limit. — 00:01:32
    • In April 2008 Hank made a video 14 seconds too long and had to sing 'World Wide Web Girl' with pigtails in his hair. — 00:01:49
    • In October Hank left 30 seconds of nothing at the end of a video and had to dance around his house as Carrie Bradshaw singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up': the infamous Hankroll. — 00:01:59
    • In 2013 Grace Helbig became the first non-brother punished, for a video over four minutes during John's paternity leave; though it was unclear the rules applied to her, she slapped herself. — 00:02:46
    • In October 2013 John's over-four-minute video was ruled not educational enough, and as punishment he ate slobber carrots made by his son. — 00:02:57
  • …and 2 statements more in 2014 — all statements of 2014

Also named in: Racism in the United States: By the Numbers

2015

  • 2015-10-16 · Post-NerdCon Haze — Hank says in 2007 the Vlogbrothers imposed an artificial four-minute limit on their videos, as arbitrary as the 24-hour day, and it's great they stuck with it. — 00:03:28
  • 2015-10-23 · Benghazi: Explained — Hank says they have made videos like this since the beginning of Vlogbrothers; he likes being able to go past the time limit, but they are hard and stressful to make. — 00:07:31
  • 2015-12-29 · How to Give Away Over a Million Dollars — ask: John playfully asks whether Nerdfighteria will really punish him because his video about refugee camps in Ethiopia ran over four minutes, calling them monsters. (playful) — 00:02:22
  • …and 2 statements more in 2015 — all statements of 2015

Also named in: Thoughts from Yachts

2016

  • 2016-10-21 · Coming Out, Goats, Government, and Attack Ads with Denise Juneau — Hank reminds viewers that educational videos are exempt from the time limit, so they should stop talking about punishments in the comments. (playful) — 00:08:34
  • 2016-12-30 · The Most Interesting Thing I've Ever Done — announcement: Hank admits the video is longer than four minutes; he hasn't made many overtime videos but couldn't help it this time. (playful) — 00:05:16
    • Hank decides to be punished for this too-long video in front of people at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria; it will be recorded and uploaded, and he doesn't know what it will be yet. — 00:06:01

2017

  • 2017-01-03 · 10 Years on YouTube (...and MORE GREAT NEWS) — announcement: John: Since Hank's last 2016 video went over four minutes without being educational, there is a vlogbrothers punishment for the first time in years, to take place live on stage at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:59
  • 2017-03-03 · PUNISHED: Blenderized Audience Choice: LIVE! — announcement: Hank says he is at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria about to be punished, and the audience is voting on the things he will blend. — 00:00:00
    • Hank drinks the blended mixture to chants of chug, still has a little left, and finds it very spicy once the peanut butter stops masking the heat. (playful) — 00:02:44
    • In a voice-over Hank tells John he survived the punishment and it was worth it. (hedged) — 00:03:46
  • 2017-08-29 · 40 — John says next week's (week of 4 September 2017) video, his reading of the first chapter of Turtles All the Way Down, will be over four minutes but is not punishable, citing precedents from 2011 and 2008 when he read the first chapters of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. (playful) — 00:02:51

2018

Also named in: Making Bad Decisions with My Dad

2019

  • 2019-03-22 · How to Get a Colonoscopy — Hank: Editing on the Friday of his colonoscopy, Hank says the video is at least educational and hopefully leads more people to screen for colon cancer, which is why it runs over four minutes. (hedged) — 00:06:55
  • 2019-05-10 · The Worst Product Ever — announcement: Hank says he accidentally uploaded a Hank's Channel video to Vlogbrothers that ran over four minutes, so he has another punishment brewing. — 00:03:24
  • 2019-07-19 · In Which Hank Consumes the Juice of Over 400 Gushers — Hank says that at VidCon he did his punishment for uploading a 4:02 video meant for Hank's channel to Vlogbrothers: drinking the juice of Gushers. — 00:00:29
  • …and 3 statements more in 2019 — all statements of 2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

  • 2023-01-13 · Why is There an Egg Shortage (And More) — In a comment, Hank says he very occasionally hits the length exactly, but usually records 4 to 4:30 minutes and cuts down; over 5 minutes is a big problem. — creator comment
  • 2023-02-24 · The P4A 2023 is The Hottest Club on the Internet — Hank opens his Project for Awesome 2023 meme review of things people made and submitted to the P4A art folder, again taking an extra-long video. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-06-20 · Reflections from a Terrible CEO — announcement: In a channel comment John says the four-minute rule is off at least until Hank gets better, since 4-minute videos take too long with the current workload. — creator comment
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — John explains that since 2007, with a few exceptions, their videos must be under four minutes, a rule to force concision and intentional use of people's attention. — 00:02:55
    • John likes the four-minute rule: it helped him become a better writer, and without it The Fault in Our Stars would have been about a hundred pages longer and not as good. — 00:02:55
    • John says that since Hank's diagnosis they have suspended the four-minute rule for more flexibility, which he kind of loves; this video will run over four minutes. — 00:03:42
    • John is a little conflicted: he understands the rule is important and long-standing, and one reason they have been able to make things for so many people for so long. — 00:03:42
    • John asks viewers to decide, via a poll linked in the description, whether the brothers should continue the four-minute rule. — 00:04:11
  • …and 1 statement more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

2025

2026

  • 2026-10-13 · My Lungs Are on the Outside of the Body — Hank: Asked his favorite part of his day of punishment in Target, Hank recalls a nerdfighter coming to the Target's Starbucks (not yet a Starbucks then) with little penguin art (as heard) for him: a nerdfighter gathering of three. — 00:02:22