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Why I Didn't Quit YouTube (yet)

2022-05-06 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Personal essay · tags: fundraising ask, self promotion

Formerly titled Why We Didn't Quit YouTube (yet).

Prompted by Dan Howell's 'Why I Quit YouTube', Hank reflects that he considered quitting only when the weight (impossible expectations, online hostility) outgrew his support, and says luck and strong support let the brothers keep going because their work isn't done.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Dan Howell's video 'Why I Quit YouTube'

  • ★★★ Hank says Dan Howell's video 'Why I Quit YouTube' opens with one of the most eloquent, thoughtful and accurate takes on YouTube's history and the bad parts of being a YouTuber. — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank agrees with everything in it, which is weird since he has talked to Dan only about twice. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank notes Dan's video is 85 minutes long while the brothers have a four-minute limit. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Four-minute rule
  • ★★★ Hearing the worst parts of the last 15 years of his life summed up made Hank wonder why the brothers didn't quit or burn out on YouTube. — 00:00:00 · occupational burnout, YouTube

00:00:29 — Why didn't they quit: weight versus support; impossible expectations and people being mean online

  • ★★ Hank says many others have quit and he respects that decision a lot. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Hank can't answer the question for John: it is very personal, and people respond to all this very differently. — 00:00:29 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank says the times he entertained quitting came when the weight got too heavy for the support he had. — 00:00:29

  • ★★★ One form of the weight: a responsibility Hank may not live up to, being everyone's 'unproblematic king', what everyone imagines him to be, which is impossible. — 00:00:58 · celebrity

    “To be like everyone's unproblematic king.”

  • ★★ Sometimes Hank tweets something he has believed since high school and people say he has changed; he has, but not on that. — 00:00:58 · Twitter

  • ★★ Hank says people have too many reasons to lose faith in the world right now, and the last thing he wants is to be one of them. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ The other form: people really disliking him and being mean online; not lately, but when bad it made him ask why he does this without the support to carry it. — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Lucky in weight and support; some weight is good

  • ★★★ Hank tells John they have been very lucky in both weight and support: carrying less than they might have, with good internal and external support. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank says some weight is good: he wants responsibility, people relying on him and a standard to meet, and to do the best with what they have. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — The community shoulders it together; Awesome Socks Club plug; why he uploaded today

  • ★★ Hank thinks that is why the community has done so much: it shoulders the weight together and does good with it. — 00:02:26 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Hank says the Awesome Socks Club has donated over a million dollars to Partners In Health for the brothers' work in Sierra Leone. — 00:02:26 · Awesome Socks Club, Partners In Health, Sierra Leone
  • ★★ Hank says a short Awesome Socks Club sign-up window is open now, with a link in the description. — 00:02:26 · Awesome Socks Club
  • ★★ Any weekly video could be Hank's last, and he knows everyone watching would support him stepping away if he had to. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank uploaded today not because he had to but because he feels their work here isn't done. — 00:02:26

00:03:03 — Thanks to everyone whose support kept them going; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank doesn't know if he could have articulated that before watching Dan's video, and thanks Dan. — 00:03:03
  • ★★★ After 15 years, thanks to viewers, parents, friends, Katherine and Sarah, and colleagues at Complexly and DFTBA, the brothers keep creating together, with the weight mostly healthy and the support strong. — 00:03:03 · Katherine Green, Sarah Urist Green, Complexly, DFTBA Records
  • ★★★ Hank feels grateful for the luck and support they have had, without which they would not have done these things and would have quit. — 00:03:03

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank probably will at some point before he dies decide his work on YouTube is over, whether from platform decline, community weakening or his capacity. (hedged) — video description · YouTube
  • ★★ The description says Hank hopes that day comes because they outlasted YouTube. — video description · YouTube
  • ★ In a channel comment John says he was watching Dan's video when Hank's uploaded, and it is very, very good. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a channel comment Hank says that VidCon, which he loves, was responsible for some of the hardest days of his life. — creator comment · VidCon
  • ★ In a channel comment Hank says without the four-minute limit he would feel he had to make something as good as Dan's work, which would be impossible. — creator comment · Four-minute rule

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Dan Howell · Why I Quit YouTube

Also: People: Katherine Green · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Awesome Socks Club · Complexly · DFTBA Records

Organizations: Partners In Health · Twitter · YouTube

Rituals: Four-minute rule

Concepts: celebrity · cyberbullying · occupational burnout

Places: Sierra Leone

Only in the description or credits: VidCon

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