What is the community for?
Since 2007 both brothers have said Nerdfighteria exists to bring people together, take care of each other and do good things as a group. Since 2020 they have described making videos with an audience, and John calls the community the greatest gift of his professional life. Hank adds that its shared values decide which ideas succeed.
Axis: a community for doing good in the world ... a fan community for fun and belonging
Positions by date: 74 records in 74 videos. The position was refined (2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014), never reversed, in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-10-24 | first on record | John thanks Hank for the reminder that nerdfighting is about bringing people together, not tearing them apart. → refers to October 23rd: Some Explaining to Do… | October 24th: RANDOM NERDFIGHTING 00:00:09 |
| 2007-12-28 | refine | John says Nerdfighters are not about the brothers but about people giving to each other, raising money and awareness for causes, a supportive community and stupid beautiful projects: a community with no center. | Dec. 28th: John's Last Brotherhood 2.0 Video 00:02:37 |
| 2008-05-20 | restate | John says Nerdfighters are loyal because nerdfighting is done together rather than watched, and recommends building a truly collaborative community. | Guys Love Giraffe Love 00:01:10 |
| 2008-08-21 | restate | John, in the report, says the brothers are trying to bring people who feel like outsiders into a place where they feel like insiders. | INTERNET SENSATION B$%CH 00:01:43 |
| 2009-06-21 | restate | John describes Nerdfighters as a community that fights for awesome and raises a lot of money for charity. | The World Sucks: Help it Suck Less 00:00:33 |
| 2009-08-25 | refine | John says what he loves most about Nerdfighteria is making stuff with and for each other as gifts, not for money, attention or subscribers. | The Gift of Gary Busey 00:01:12 |
| 2010-03-01 | restate | John: Nerdfighteria's biggest business is taking care of each other; it is a place for outsiders to be inside something awesome and important. | The Marriage Ref SUCKS 00:02:14 |
| 2010-07-20 (said on 2010-07-19, implied) | restate | John says helping causes like the HPA is what the community does and its real work, though there is a place for liking balls and giraffe sex. | I Like Balls 00:02:12 |
| 2010-08-16 | refine | John says he is happiest in a community that helps him choose more intelligently and with greater empathy. | Lust and Folly in London and Edinburgh 00:03:14 |
| 2011-02-09 | restate | John holds that no one can tell anyone else whether they are a Nerdfighter: it is a chosen identity defined collectively by living it, as with most identities. | NERDFIGHTERS UNITE! (in your pants) 00:03:02 |
| 2011-06-24 | restate | John says Nerdfighters are constantly inventing and evolving the definition of the word 'nerdfighter'. | On Religion (Redux) 00:02:25 |
| 2011-08-05 | restate | John says that through nerdfighting, DFTBA Records, helping YouTubers and planning conferences, Hank has built a career making places where people can fall and get caught: he builds communities for a living. | Vidcon: Thoughts from Places 00:02:20 |
| 2011-09-12 | restate | John says Nerdfighteria is in the business of reminding each other to be awesome, calling each other to pay attention. | Adorable Baby and Insufficient Cartography 00:02:22 |
| 2011-12-23 | restate | John thanks Nerdfighters for caring not just about the brothers' music, books and videos but about each other. | There Will Be NO SPOILERS!!! 00:02:50 |
| 2013-01-15 | restate | John argues Nerdfighteria is collaboration: people working together to build meaning, which helps them feel unalone. | An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall 00:59:26 |
| 2013-03-20 | restate | John says what matters about a community is its passions and achievements, not its size: small early Nerdfighteria already did interesting things together, such as Kiva lending. | Ads Work...but for Whom? 00:01:53 |
| 2013-08-13 | restate | John wants Nerdfighteria to be an active, effective force against world suck rather than a community whose goal is to become big and powerful. | Shailene's Hair, Unfair Monopoly, and the Just World Fallacy 00:02:23 |
| 2013-10-15 | refine | John says growth without deepening makes communities less important; Nerdfighteria should grow like the Harry Potter core community, as a collaboration among all. | Thoughts for Nerdfighteria 00:02:05 |
| 2013-12-03 | restate | John says the community is defined not by its name or mottoes but by the values those words represent, which don't lose meaning when shared. | Who Owns DFTBA? An Introduction to Trademarks 00:03:25 |
| 2014-05-12 (said on 2014-05-13, implied) | restate | John says the community has never really been about the brothers but about big conversations around big questions and lifting up people who need it. | Perfect Puff and Endless Interviews: Touring and Hollywood Press Junkets 00:03:16 |
| 2014-05-27 | refine | John says the best connections in Nerdfighteria are not just about feeling less alone but about looking at the universe more broadly and enthusiastically. | ALL THE SHIRTS (and some paths to community) 00:03:17 |
| 2014-09-30 | restate | John is glad viral videos rank last for Nerdfighteria, as they don't interest him either; the community's values and the brothers' still line up. | Keeping it EVEN REALER 00:03:08 |
| 2017-02-28 | restate | John argues fandoms are made interesting not by the content but by people who build communities around it: Harry Potter is special not because of J.K. Rowling but because readers respond deeply, enthusiastically and without embarrassment or apology, by dressing up, fanfiction, or singing. | You Are Here 00:01:33 |
| 2018-04-17 | restate | Hank and John have made Vlogbrothers videos for more than 11 years; the community around them calls themselves nerdfighters because they fight for intellectual engagement and celebrate unironic enthusiasm. | John Green Answers Your John Green Questions 00:03:08 |
| 2019-12-10 | restate | Not only offline communities run deep, as this weekend reminded him: though very introverted, John finds meaning in communities bigger than him that value and include him. | On Loneliness 00:03:21 |
| 2020-08-03 | restate | Esther's friends from those Nerdfighteria days remain close, most recently gathering at one's wedding; seeing these decade-plus friendships flourish is a great joy of the online community. | you're bundled up now? wait till you get older. 00:01:09 |
| 2020-10-07 (said on 2020-10-06, implied) | restate | John says he then realized they weren't making videos for an audience but with an audience. | The Golden Age of Vlogbrothers 00:00:29 |
| 2021-01-19 | restate | The P4A reminds John what the vlog project is ultimately about, as his 2021 vision board says: more awesome, less suck. | let's go on a parts adventure 00:03:24 |
| 2021-07-13 | restate | John says it took him long to understand that Vlogbrothers videos are not about their topics but about Nerdfighteria being a productive community where people feel fulfilled and connect. | The Vlogbrothers Videos I Didn't Make 00:02:43 |
| 2021-08-17 | restate | Money is nowhere near the most important thing Nerdfighteria makes, John says: it makes joy, connection and chances to understand the universe and his place in it, which he would not price. | Who Owns Nerdfighteria? 00:03:24 |
| 2023-09-19 | restate | Watching that video in hospital, John first thought the community had a lot of energy and wanted to do interesting things together; it felt like it could be special, and it proved so. | So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! 00:05:23 |
| 2024-04-30 | restate | John likes people engaging with his work and making awesome stuff with awesome people, but loves Nerdfighteria most: an audience and community without feeling wildly overexposed. | Not Doing That Great 00:01:56 |
| 2024-05-28 | restate | John says making these videos for 18 years and posting in Nerdfighter spaces is super important to him: it fosters important connections between people, and they do amazing things together. | A Midlife Crisis 00:01:56 |
| 2024-06-18 | restate | John doesn't want the community only in the crisis-addressing business: they are also silly nerds doing silly stuff like going to Rax. | The Tea 00:05:45 |
| 2024-08-03 | restate | John would like to take credit, but Nerdfighteria is constantly made up by the people who are and have been part of it, like Esther. | I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) 00:03:17 |
| 2024-08-06 | restate | The second thing that helped was his communities; John gets unusual, unreplicable support from Nerdfighteria, for which he is very grateful. | What Helped Through Depression 00:00:29 |
| 2024-11-05 | restate | John goes on mostly from obligation to and love of Nerdfighteria: he enjoys less making videos than what they make, Nerdfighteria, from TB activism to Pizzamas memes to marriages. | Why Do I Still Make YouTube Videos? 00:04:52 |
| 2025-03-18 | restate | John says being with Nerdfighters in community makes him happy and brings him a lot of consolation. | ITS ALL HAPPENING 00:00:24 |
| 2025-03-25 | restate | John says being with Nerdfighteria in community is amazing, the greatest gift of his professional life. | Taylor, Dr Pepper, and My Anxiety Strats: It's Question Tuesday 00:04:52 |
| 2025-10-03 | restate | Over nearly 19 years both brothers have had periods of burnout, but John never felt being in Nerdfighteria wasn't worth it, and that carried him through times he didn't enjoy making videos. | Is It Time to Retire? 00:01:23 |
| 2026-02-15 | restate | John says many corners of the internet gather 100,000 or 200,000 people every week, but very few are as productive as Nerdfighteria, which he is really proud of. | Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! 02:15:23 |
| 2026-09-15 | restate | John says YouTube's interest has always been co-creation between creators and audience: Nerdfighteria would be far less interesting without Sneezing Isn't Normal, Pizzamas and TB Fighters, which came more from the community. | YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584 00:03:53 |
| 2026-09-30 | restate | John says what is interesting is not the project but what built up around it, from Pizzamas to the Maternal Center of Excellence, because Nerdfighteria commits to bits better than almost any online community. | The Point of Life 00:04:30 |
| 2026-10-02 | restate | John says for twenty years Nerdfighteria has not just allowed but demanded that the brothers be in those businesses and rethink how art is made and distributed and who captures its value; they are lucky. | the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world 00:03:54 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-10-23 | first on record | Hank says nerdfighterness is about joining up, not fighting, and warns against teams getting angry at each other. | October 23rd: Some Explaining to Do… 00:03:19 |
| 2008-06-16 | restate | Hank says nerdfighting should not be Democratic propaganda and welcomes Republican nerdfighters, but doubts anti-environment people belong, since being a nerdfighter means caring for others, including future people. | Maine Inspires Deep Thoughts 00:01:09 |
| 2009-06-23 (said on 2009-06-22, implied) | restate | Hank defines Nerdfighters as people who fight for awesome, are excited about learning and discovering, and try to understand others complexly. | Fighting the Flame War! 00:02:54 |
| 2009-08-02 | restate | Hank says he, John and the Nerdfighters have become the go-to guys for talking about doing good on YouTube, and he is proud of it. | ANNOUNCING: Global Geek Week!!! 00:00:00 |
| 2009-10-28 | refine | Hank says Nerdfighteria is a level-four tribe that operates on the assumption 'we are great', so it can do awesome things together. | We Win When Everyone Wins 00:00:51 |
| 2011-04-22 | restate | Hank says Nerdfighteria is there to support his hare-brained schemes: without it as a launching platform he could not have done anything with his ideas. | 500,000 Subscribers (Almost...and Thank You) 00:02:32 |
| 2011-07-15 | restate | In song, Hank says fans gather above all to be with their friends, something that will never end. | Harry Freaking Potter 00:02:12 |
| 2012-08-24 | restate | Hank: online community is a new way for people to organize themselves, be active, give and care about each other. | Happy Birthday John Green! 00:02:11 |
| 2013-10-18 | restate | Hank says the community lets them do things never done before; coming together to do cool things is their most interesting opportunity. | Curiosity is the Greatest Human Quality 00:02:52 |
| 2014-05-16 | restate | Hank says Nerdfighteria gave him something to believe in; his first allegiance is to this community of hundreds of thousands with shared ideas and values. | The Myth of Greatness 00:02:59 |
| 2014-11-12 | restate | Hank: Vlogbrothers is two brothers talking to each other and a community of people with shared values, equality and understanding the complicated world complexly, where serious and silly things coexist. | The History of Pizza John! 00:03:10 |
| 2015-06-05 | restate | Hank says shaming someone for being transgender is not the kind of thing a Nerdfighter would do; doing wrong in the community's name misunderstands it. | Just for Nerdfighters 00:01:20 |
| 2016-12-30 | restate | Hank says Nerdfighteria is his proudest achievement not as a slogan or cheerleading but because it is a rare model for building community in an internet-based, hyper-individualized world. | The Most Interesting Thing I've Ever Done 00:04:27 |
| 2020-01-03 (said on 2020-01-02, implied) | restate | Hank says Vlogbrothers at its core is not about entertainment but about doing and thinking about things together. | Re-Thinking our YouTube Channel 00:01:36 |
| 2020-09-25 | restate | Hank says the channel would not exist, or would be deeply different, without the people who engage with it, even just by clicking and watching. | i said yep 00:01:45 |
| 2020-10-02 (said on 2020-10-01, implied) | restate | Hank says the goal of Vlogbrothers is creating a community, which feels less real past some size: a breeding ground for ideas, weirdness, community and change that enables things like Crash Course. | I ain't she was with well and I so and it's and but so and I'll and 00:02:13 |
| 2021-08-06 | restate | The community tries to enjoy things, learn and do positive, impactful things together; Hank sees great value in a constructive community with shared values, which feels uncommon these days. | Remembering What's Special 00:02:26 |
| 2021-10-01 | restate | Hank says this is what a strong community can do: look past what is new to see what is important. | A Lie I Heard this Week 00:03:10 |
| 2021-11-05 | restate | Hank says that when he or John bring an idea into the world they don't control its shape: the community's shared values and expectations are in charge, and ideas that mesh with them achieve amazing things. | We Have Invented Something Marvelous 00:00:29 |
| 2022-02-04 | restate | The bigger part, Hank says, is a large group of passionate, supportive people with good values that gives new ideas activation energy but also a constraint: ideas must fit the community's values. | How John and I Talk About Ideas 00:03:17 |
| 2022-05-06 | restate | Hank thinks that is why the community has done so much: it shoulders the weight together and does good with it. | Why I Didn't Quit YouTube (yet) 00:02:26 |
| 2022-07-22 | restate | What has excited the brothers for 15 years is not building a community to make a living but building a community, and communities can build things together. | What are These Boys Doing?? 00:01:45 |
| 2022-10-14 | restate | After all these years, Hank is very happy and excited not to be in control of many of the cool things that happen in the community. | The Surprise Revelation of NerdfArters 00:02:50 |
| 2023-11-03 | restate | By capable Hank means the community can act for itself and the world, from TB access to Crash Course, SciShow and the clubs funding maternal health in Sierra Leone; membership should feel valuable. | We Need to talk about Sarapocial Relationships 00:03:57 |
| 2024-02-16 | restate | Hank repeats words they used to say often: wanting to be a nerdfighter makes you a nerdfighter, and signing up costs zero dollars. | How Much Does it Cost to be a Nerdfighter 00:03:53 |
| 2024-11-03 | restate | As Prime became a brand beyond Logan Paul and KSI, Hank wants the community to feel on a quest together, supportive of Good Store even when not buying. | Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… 00:11:59 |
| 2025-09-30 | restate | Hank says the brothers are planting trees and the community is the greenhouse that gives ideas the time they need to grow and succeed. | WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING 00:05:28 |
| 2025-12-19 | restate | Hank credits the brothers' long YouTube careers largely to doing things with people rather than only making things for them, and values the Census as a way to keep a handle on that. | My Big 2026 Prediction is...Not Fun 00:00:59 |
| 2026-08-07 | restate | Hank says community works by listening to each other's deeper views, not to move everyone to one person's position but to be moved by understanding; that is how this community and the brothers' brotherhood have always worked. | Just Trying to Figure Out My Job 00:00:58 |
| 2026-09-18 | restate | Hank says views may suit brand deals, but Vlogbrothers does none: they make things with people, such as artists' Pizzamas shirts whose money goes to Partners In Health. | John was Wrong about YouTube Views 00:08:15 |
Background
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10-28 | background | Hank says the prank is not real science but uses the power of community to do something awesome. (playful) | Mad Science with Dr. Horrible (Hank) 00:03:17 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).