Skip to content

Fighting the Flame War!

2009-06-23 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · conversation qa

After the Video Volunteers collab hit YouTube's front page, Hank answers hater and puzzled comments (wearing a duck head to voice commenters), explaining the vlogbrothers project, Ze Frank's influence, DFTBA and what a Nerdfighter is.

What is said

00:00:00 — Filmed Monday because the parents visit; front-page attention brings confusion and meanness, so Hank will answer comments on the Video Volunteers video

  • ★ Hank records on Monday, June 22, rather than Tuesday because their parents come to town the next day and will want him to spend time with them. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says whenever a vlogbrothers video reaches YouTube's front page there is confusion and meanness, so he answers comments to explain what they do and relieve the weight of the haters. (playful) — 00:00:00 · YouTube

00:00:53 — Duck-head comments: why live on the world, destroy it, John never blinks (Ze Frank), MILF, same room, bookshelves

  • ★★ Answering why someone who thinks the world sucks lives on it, Hank says one of the great things about being on the world is getting to make it suck less. (hedged) — 00:00:53 · world suck
  • ★ Hank disagrees with a commenter who says the world sucks and so should be destroyed, offering no complicated philosophical reason. (playful) — 00:00:53
  • ★★ Asked why John never blinks, Hank jokes it is because Ze Frank, a pioneering video blogger, never blinked and 'everything we do is stolen' from him; he urges viewers to watch Ze Frank. (playful) — 00:00:53 · Ze Frank, John Green
  • ★★ Hank says the brothers are not in the same room: they started the project because they live across the country from each other and wanted to talk more. — 00:01:29 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ Hank jokes that John's bookshelf holds lame books like the Norton Anthology of English Literature while his own holds awesome ones. (joke) — 00:01:29

00:01:59 — DFTBA explained; wedding ring; 'wasted three minutes'

  • ★★★ Hank explains 'don't forget to be awesome', shortened to DFTBA, as a saying of the community: people sometimes forget to be awesome, so they remind each other. — 00:01:59 · DFTBA > «sometimes we forget to be awesome. So we should remind ourselves not to as often as possible.»

00:02:54 — John's ringtone and 'fatter ones are older'; Hank's incisor; what is a Nerdfighter

  • ★★★ Hank defines Nerdfighters as people who fight for awesome, love learning and discovering, and try to understand others complexly; anyone who wants to be one probably is. — 00:02:54 · nerdfighter, Nerdfighteria, perspective-taking > «Nerdfighters are people who fight for awesome and are excited about learning things and discovering things»

00:03:38 — Nerdfighter definition concluded; thanks for considering Video Volunteers; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank thanks viewers for considering the Video Volunteers program and hopes to see them making video volunteer videos soon. (hedged) — 00:03:38

Humor (significant)

  • Hank explains the parents' visit: they gave birth to him and stuff. — 00:00:00 > «I guess only mom gave birth to me. Dad just sort of stood there.»
  • A commenter asks why John never blinks; Hank, wearing the commenter's duck head, turns it around. — 00:00:53 > «How come this duck never blinks?»
  • A commenter asks why, if the world sucks, Hank lives on it. — 00:00:53 > «Well, one, I didn't really know that I had a choice.»
  • A commenter calls Hank a MILF. — 00:01:29 > «None of any of the letters in that acronym could possibly apply to me.»

Threads in this video

Replies to

BR2_175aae1179