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Wikipedia

website · in 73 videos (2007–2026)

Online encyclopedia the brothers cite often, from 2007, when John mused about having it inside your brain; the Wikipedia-like Omnictionary of Paper Towns grew into a 2008 wiki project. In 2022 Hank said ChatGPT is no replacement for it, and in 2025 that he once had a Wikipedia page and lost it.

Videos by year: 2007: 9 · 2008: 2 · 2009: 4 · 2010: 1 · 2011: 4 · 2012: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2026: 3

Also known as: the Wikipedia

Threads

Also named in the threads: John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) · Hank mispronounces 'façade' throughout a college oral presentation on Leon Battista Alberti (college)

Often together

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

United States (13) · Sarah Urist Green (6) · SciShow (3) · AFC Wimbledon (3) · Rosianna Halse Rojas (2) · The New York Times (2) · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2) · Orin Green (2) · VidCon (3) · Google (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

  • 2007-02-20 · Brotherhood 2.0: February 20th: Computer Trouble — Hank muses that it would be awesome if Wikipedia could be in your brain, answering with The Matrix line 'I know Kung Fu'. (playful) — 00:00:10
  • 2007-02-21 · February 21st, 2007: The Wikipedia in Your Mind — John argues that having Wikipedia inside your brain would be 'sort of awesome'. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:51
    • The only problem, John says, is that you don't want a Wikipedia that anyone can edit inside your brain. (playful) — 00:00:51
    • John says hardwiring the whole internet and television into an infant's brain is obviously bad, but that doesn't make Wikipedia inside your brain a bad idea. — 00:00:51
    • So, John concludes, a brain-Wikipedia would have to be editable only by experts you trust. (playful) — 00:02:34
  • 2007-05-14 · Brotherhood 2.0: May 14: The Evil Baby Orphanage — announcement: John says that with the Nerdfighters' help he will make Hank a Wikipedia entry, because he has earned it. (playful) — 00:02:10
  • 2007-05-15 · May 15th: A Bit More EBO and Wikipedia — Hank is now on Wikipedia, feels important, and calls it another gift from John and the Nerdfighters. (playful) — 00:01:57
    • Noting comment discussion of Wikipedia as a source, Hank says it is huge with a lot of amazing information, but is sometimes vandalized and things go wrong. — 00:01:57
    • Hank says he really believes in the idea of Wikipedia and is thrilled to be there among 'the million other articles'. — 00:02:26
  • 2007-05-16 · Brotherhood 2.0: May 16: Beating the EBO into the ground — John says his Wikipedia page will eventually cover his early years, and teases Hank's pronunciation of Wikipedia, urging him to say it John's way. (playful) — 00:02:47
  • 2007-05-18 · Brotherhood 2.0: May 18: How to Write a Book Proposal — John grants that Hank has fact-based evidence on how to pronounce Wikipedia but says he still thinks he is right, calling that 'the American way'. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:43
  • 2007-08-20 · August 20th: Winner, South Dakota — John: Citing Wikipedia, John says Winner has a population of just over 3,000 and lies in south-central South Dakota. — 00:00:54
  • …and 17 statements more in 2007 — all statements of 2007

Also named in: Jun 5th: S-S-S-Somethin From the Forum

2008

  • 2008-04-30 (said on 2008-05-01, implied) · BLOOD! I'm a KILLER! — Hank: Citing a video he just watched, Hank says Wikipedia took about as much time to make as it takes 100 million Americans to watch the Super Bowl. — 00:02:49
  • 2008-05-19 · Three Things — announcement: John reveals that he and Hank have been working on a semi-secret wiki about lies rather than facts, Omnictionary, named after the Wikipedia-like reference source in Paper Towns; Hank acquired the domain. — 00:02:11
    • John explains the idea: just as Wikipedia is a user-created encyclopedia, Omnictionary can become a user-created novel, read in any order and written by everybody, though he doubts it will work. (hedged) — 00:02:44

2009

  • 2009-01-11 · SOMALI PIRATES! France Penetrates Chad! — John reads from Wikipedia's Chad page that the French first 'penetrated' Chad in 1891, then plays the wording for laughs. (playful) — 00:01:01
  • 2009-02-21 (said on 2009-02-14, implied) · Paper Towns and PUPPY — John: He named the book's wiki Omnictionary not for fear of a Wikipedia lawsuit but for literary reasons: the name means it contains all knowledge. — 00:01:00

Also named in: Brotherhood 2.0.0.9, Big Oil RIPS YOU OFF — via Unfair Mathematics

2010

  • 2010-01-08 · GUS HAS NO FUZZ! — announcement: John notes that the link to the hand-dryer study went down from too many clicks, and points readers to Wikipedia's hand dryer article for its conclusions. — video description

2011

  • 2011-07-22 · Your Yard Is EVIL — John's sources for his lawn figures: Wikipedia for turf grass being the biggest irrigated US crop by a factor of three, and EPA estimates that a third of residential water (four billion gallons of potable water a day) goes to watering lawns and that 70 million pounds of pesticides are used on lawns each year. — video description
  • …and 1 statement more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

Also named in: WE ARE 812 YEARS OLD, John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you.

2012

  • 2012-02-28 · On Cuties and Cooties — John defines cooties, quoting Wikipedia, as a fictitious childhood disease said to infect people perceived as different or socially stigmatized. — 00:00:00
  • 2012-03-27 · Wrong but Right: Thoughts from Places Amsterdam — John corrects what he said in the video: Hazel wrongly concludes that the set of numbers (not whole numbers) between 0 and 1 is smaller than the set between 0 and 2; in fact they are the same size, and he points to Wikipedia's article on infinite cardinality for proofs. — video description
  • 2012-06-22 · Hank is Maybe Crazy — Hank: Stretching Blu-Tack ('ticky tacky') for stress relief, Hank says he read its whole Wikipedia page and that it was created completely by accident, like many of science's greatest accomplishments. — 00:00:33
  • 2012-11-20 · Great at Being Terrible: The Florence Foster Jenkins Story — John reads Wikipedia's first sentence on Jenkins: an American amateur operatic soprano known and ridiculed for her lack of rhythm, pitch and tone and her poor singing. — 00:00:04

Also named in: Thoughts from Places: The Tour

2013

  • 2013-01-08 (said on 2013-01-05, implied) · Addicted to the Internet — John says he and Henry spent 20 minutes on the Wikipedia whale shark article settling whether whale sharks bite humans; he was right, and learning it cost nothing. — 00:01:20
  • 2013-02-01 · Football For Nerds — Hank says Americans will collectively spend 300 million man-hours watching the Super Bowl this year (2013), which he calls the time it took to create Wikipedia. — 00:00:29
  • 2013-04-23 · DOCTOR GREEN — John says he looked on Wikipedia and found that, as an honorary doctor, he cannot call himself a doctor. — 00:01:23
  • 2013-12-31 · GOOD NEWS: 14 Reasons 2014 May Be the Best Year Ever — John says most of the video's statistics came from the UN, from Human Progress, or from Wikipedia's list of US motor vehicle deaths by year. — video description

2014

  • 2014-10-21 · Ebola: What IS Terrifying — John: Smallpox was eradicated, so no one will die of it again; Wikipedia's smallpox page begins 'Smallpox was an infectious disease.' — 00:00:11

Also named in: Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context

2015

  • 2015-02-10 · Understanding Boko Haram — recommendation: John offers links for further reading: a timeline of Boko Haram's attacks and a detailed introduction to the group, an overview of how Islam came to sub-Saharan Africa, and more on the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War. — video description
  • 2015-03-20 · A Sacrifice of Individuality and the Internets — Hank says the internet enabled crowdfunding (Patreon, Indiegogo, Kickstarter), crowdsourcing that built Wikipedia, and the wisdom of the crowd: upvotes on Reddit and choices on YouTube and Facebook that help curate content. — 00:01:01
  • 2015-06-19 · 19 Ways to Not Suck on the Internet — recommendation: Hank says anyone can edit Wikipedia: fix spelling mistakes, undo vandalism through the page history, and read about serious editing before making big changes. — 00:01:56
  • 2015-08-28 · ALL of Wikipedia in One QR Code? — ask: In the description Hank invites viewers to check his maths and tell him if he got anything wrong, and links MinutePhysics' 'How Far Can Legolas See' and a video decoding a QR code by hand. — video description
    • Hank asks whether all of Wikipedia could be printed on one QR code and scanned by a camera, calling it a dumb question of the kind he enjoys answering. (hypothetical) — 00:00:26
    • Hank says just the text of just the English Wikipedia is about 24 terabytes, 24 trillion bytes. (doubtful: about 24 terabytes; doubtful: 24 trillion) — 00:00:42
    • Multiplying by 8 squares per byte, taking the square root and assuming 2 mm blocks, Hank gets a QR code 27 km on a side holding all of Wikipedia. (hypothetical) — 00:00:49
    • Hank's answer: yes, Wikipedia can be printed as a scannable QR code, not really with current technology, but it is possible. (hypothetical) — 00:03:30
  • …and 2 statements more in 2015 — all statements of 2015

Also named in: WE WON! Net Neutrality and Re-Thinking Cynicism

2016

  • 2016-02-23 · How Energy and Time Change Everything — John says about 1.3 billion people lack regular access to energy: without it kids can't study after dark or reach Wikipedia, farms grow less food, and clinics can't be sterilized. — 00:00:44
  • 2016-10-07 · Changing Our Business a Bit — Hank says the idea 'imagine others complexly' has its own Wikipedia page, part of Wikipedia's essays on civility, which he finds unusual and amazing. — 00:01:58
  • …and 1 statement more in 2016 — all statements of 2016

2017

  • 2017-05-30 · What Should We Keep? — John recounts the common idea that future archaeologists will see us turning to worship screens, knowing of Wikipedia only from printed books, and says he has problems with it. — 00:00:54
  • 2017-06-23 · Reviewing Musicals from their Wikipedia Pages — Hank: The chosen suggestion, from Morgan, is to review Broadway shows based only on their Wikipedia descriptions; Hank calls it a great idea and says this person should choose all his topics. — 00:00:32
  • 2017-09-05 · John Reads the First Chapter of Turtles All the Way Down — Aza Holmes: Fearing her stomach noise signals a C. diff infection, Aza rereads Wikipedia on the human microbiome and recalls a Cleveland Clinic case; her self replies she has no fever yet. (fiction) — 00:04:22
    • Aza Holmes: Despite Dr. Karen Singh's breathing advice and warnings not to look things up, Aza rereads the article; a thought spiral, followed inward, never ends but tightens infinitely. (fiction) — 00:07:52
  • 2017-09-26 · Trump and Russia: An Introduction to What We Know (and What We Don't) — recommendation: John: For an overview, John recommends a very helpful timeline of events in the Russia collusion investigation and calls the Wikipedia article on Russian interference in the 2016 election very good. — video description

2018

2019

  • 2019-07-02 · On Sunlight — John notes Wikipedia's long list of solar deities: Egypt's Ra, Greece's Helios and the Aztec Nanahuatzin, who leapt into a bonfire to become the sun. — 00:01:27
  • …and 1 statement more in 2019 — all statements of 2019

Also named in: Seemed Like a Good Idea: Eugene Schieffelin and the European Starlings

2020

2022

  • 2022-03-04 · The 2022 P4A Meme Review!!! — Hank says he wanted his forehead on Wikipedia and someone briefly made it happen, though with the picture where a balloon task had him write 'butt' on it. (playful) — 00:03:54
  • 2022-12-09 · Things are Changing Very Fast — Hank says ChatGPT is not good at replacing Wikipedia: it confidently states true and untrue things alike, and only fact-checking tells them apart. — 00:02:55

2023

  • 2023-06-27 · Alone on the Cancer Boat: A Vlogbrothers Reunion — Carole Mitnick (quoted): Mitnick's example that it has been done before: Wikipedia is an effort to extend the quality and length of human lives in a not-for-profit way. — 00:07:04
    • John says Wikipedia taught him the concept of micromorts, which he describes as how many minutes of life each activity takes away. — 00:07:04
  • …and 1 statement more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-02-13 · Why Doesn't ❤️ Look Like a Heart? — recommendation: The description credits Martin Kemp's book Christ to Coke for the heart-shape section, the smiley face metaphor and much background, and calls Wikipedia's article good if limited. — video description
  • 2024-05-10 · Three Whole Onions with Secretary Pete Buttigieg — Hank explains secretary birds are African birds of prey that eat snakes among other meat, though Wikipedia says snakes' importance has been exaggerated. — 00:17:33
  • 2024-11-12 · BELIEVE: The Jimmy Glass Story — John says relegation out of the Football League can be devastating: relegated clubs not uncommonly go bankrupt and cease to exist, and Wikipedia's football history, e.g. Hereford United, is full of past tense. — 00:01:27
  • 2024-12-20 · Fine, I'll Talk About the Drones… — Hank reveals the video's opening was copied from the Wikipedia page on the 2019-2020 Colorado drone sightings, and replays it. — 00:12:02

2025

  • 2025-09-30 · WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING — Hank says he once had a Wikipedia page and then lost it; on the talk page an editor said having a notable brother does not confer notability. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • Hank agrees that a notable brother does not confer notability; deciding what does is one of Wikipedia editors' hard jobs, and he thanks them. — 00:00:42
    • Hank says John was right in his video that there are many new people here who don't know the channel's history, so he looked it up on Wikipedia. — 00:01:05
    • Hank finds that the brothers, the Vlogbrothers channel and Nerdfighteria each have a Wikipedia page, as do Crash Course, SciShow and John's books. — 00:01:27
  • 2025-10-21 · Is Book Publishing Dying? An Author's Perspective — John says that while reading he often feels the siren call of his phone: he wonders if there's a Wikipedia page about something, and then he's off. — 00:02:53
  • 2025-11-24 · Good Store Holiday Gift Guide LIVE with Hank and John — John: Looking at Wikipedia's list of Eckerd College alumni, John says Hank is overwhelmingly the most famous, with writer Dennis Lehane second. — 00:38:39
  • 2025-12-09 · Hank Green, from A to Z — John: Trying to recall the name of Hank's 1990s Mars website, John scrolled past a completely wrong Google AI response and learned from Wikipedia it was Hank Green's Mars Exploration Page. — 00:00:00
  • …and 3 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

Also named in: So I Bought My Team a Pro Football Player, The Web is Going to Die

2026

  • 2026-02-27 · Can We Do a Science Together?? — Hank says Wikipedia has a list of notable people and fictional characters plus public pageview data that can stand in for how famous each is. — 00:03:09
    • Hank asks people in nearby fields who can extract Wikipedia data and build a Tinder-style yes/no test, seeded with fake names to catch lying and tiered by fame, to send grant proposals to hankandjohn@gmail.com. — 00:03:38
  • 2026-05-12 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Bart Giamatti — John: Talking on the livestream about giving Rice University's commencement address, John named Giamatti as his speaker; someone marvelled that Paul Giamatti's dad spoke, so John checked Wikipedia. — 00:00:20
  • …and 1 statement more in 2026 — all statements of 2026