WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING

2025-09-30 · letter vlog · Hank · 8:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, community lore, self promotion, song or performance

On Pizzamas day 2, Hank recalls losing his own Wikipedia page, reads the Green brothers' many Wikipedia pages, and argues that the channel's history is a community constructing itself: a greenhouse that lets good ideas grow into projects (Crash Course, a hospital in Sierra Leone, grants), built as much on goofing and fun as on doing good; he then dances to a Victor Jones song and plugs Pizzamas.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank's lost Wikipedia page and his most mortifying moment: overhearing his job application mocked

★★ 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 · Wikipedia, John Green
★★ Hank tells his most mortifying moment: after applying for a job where Katherine worked, he overheard two men in the office kitchen discussing the worst application one had received, obviously his. (playful) — 00:00:20 · Katherine Green
★★ 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 · Wikipedia

00:00:58 — Reading the Green brothers', Vlogbrothers' and Nerdfighteria's Wikipedia pages for new viewers

★★ 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 · John Green, Wikipedia
★★ 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 · Wikipedia, Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria, Crash Course, SciShow
★ Hank jokes they went from too few Wikipedia pages to too many, a presence stretching from tuberculosis activism to nerdpunk to VidCon that leaves newcomers no way to catch up. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:27 · Wikipedia, tuberculosis, VidCon

00:02:26 — History of Vlogbrothers as a community constructing itself: shared projects, collective action, the greenhouse, goofing and fun

★★★ Offering a full history of Vlogbrothers from its first video to yesterday's, Hank says the most interesting thing about the project has been watching a community construct itself. — 00:02:26 · Vlogbrothers
★★ Hank says the community constructing itself means weird inside jokes and shared projects, like donating Pizzamas money to help build and fund a hospital in Sierra Leone. — 00:02:40 · Pizzamas, Sierra Leone
★★ Hank says the community realized early that the internet responds well to sudden disasters but not to ongoing ones, such as very high maternal mortality in parts of Sierra Leone. — 00:02:55 · maternal death, Sierra Leone
★★★ Hank says the coolest part is that it is self-reinforcing: a community that supports weird, useful, beautiful or interesting ideas lets otherwise impossible things exist. — 00:03:10 · Nerdfighteria
★★ Hank lists such things: VidCon, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Crash Course, SciShow, Complexly, DFTBA.com selling merch for many creators, and Good.Store donating its profit to charity. — 00:03:24 · VidCon, Crash Course, SciShow, Complexly, DFTBA Records, Good Store
★★ Hank adds things they are no longer associated with, like VidCon, plus the work of Emily Graslie and Chelsea Fagan, a hard-to-run crowdfunding platform acquired by Patreon, and a third-tier English soccer team. — 00:03:40 · VidCon, Subbable, AFC Wimbledon
★★ Hank adds activism (wording unclear) that has forced companies to lower the prices of tuberculosis tests and medications. — 00:03:59 · tuberculosis
★★★ Hank says at the root all these projects are the same idea: they grew out of, and would not exist without, the community they call Nerdfighteria. — 00:04:10 · Nerdfighteria
★★★ Hank says in a complex, messy world one person can feel powerless, but people working together can make good ideas succeed that might otherwise fail. — 00:04:23 · collective action
★★ Hank says ideas built on this foundation only count as good if they are actually good, not just profitable. — 00:04:35
★★ Hank thinks part of why the community has more staying power than an average YouTube channel is that the videos are fun and interesting. — 00:04:40
★★ Hank says another part is that people in the community for over a decade know they are collectively the reason many good and cool things exist. — 00:04:52
★ Hank says without the community there would be no Crash Course, no hospital in Sierra Leone, and no AFC Wimbledon doing surprisingly well this season. (playful) — 00:05:00 · Crash Course, Sierra Leone, AFC Wimbledon
★★★ Hank says he and John see themselves as stewards of this energy, directing it into things that grow beyond the community and help people who don't know who they are. — 00:05:08 · John Green
★★★ Hank says the brothers are planting trees and the community is the greenhouse that gives ideas the time they need to grow and succeed. — 00:05:28 · Nerdfighteria

“this community is like the greenhouse”
★★★ Hank says that is why he and John quietly take no profit distributions from DFTBA or Complexly and give away all the revenue from the channel. — 00:05:35 · DFTBA Records, Complexly, Vlogbrothers
★★ Hank says a lot of the channel's revenue goes to small educational creators through grants. — 00:05:45 · Vlogbrothers
★★ Hank says the grants have supported channels that became much bigger than Vlogbrothers, one bigger than Crash Course. — 00:05:51 · Vlogbrothers, Crash Course
★★★ Hank says it is all built on happy dances, giving Peeps away and drinking blenderized Happy Meals: it is about big and good, but also about goofing and fun. — 00:05:58 · Happy dance (practice), Peeps
★★ Hank says that when he loses sight of the goofing and fun, unsurprisingly, he starts liking it less and having less fun. — 00:06:10

00:06:20 — Hank notices music playing and dances to Victor Jones's song

★★ Hank notices music has been playing for a while and breaks into a dance to a song by Victor Jones. (playful) — 00:06:20

00:07:50 — Thanks, Pizzamas shirts for two weeks, daily dad jokes in the Pizzamas app, sign-off

★ Hank thanks Victor Jones for letting him use the song. — 00:07:50
★★★ Hank thanks the Pizzamas designers for this year's (2025) shirts, available only for the next two weeks and then never again. — 00:07:52 · Pizzamas
★★ Hank gives his motto: if you are going to do good and to goof, you might as well goof for good. (playful) — 00:08:00

“you might as well goof for good”
★★★ Hank says that if viewers download the Pizzamas app, he will send them a pizza-related dad joke every day during Pizzamas. — 00:08:08 · Pizzamas
★ Hank says this is the fourth or fifth year he has done this, so he is scraping the bottom of the barrel of pizza dad jokes, but there are infinitely many. (playful) — 00:08:15
★★ Hank asks viewers to download the Pizzamas app on iPhone or Android, or get everything at pizzamas.com, linked in the description. — 00:08:25 · Pizzamas

In the description and comments

★ In a channel comment, Hank says the application went wrong because he went a little too deep into his own personal politics. (playful) — creator comment

Threads in this video

restate · Do people achieve more together than as individuals? — Hank says in a complex, messy world one person can feel powerless, but people working together can make good ideas succeed that might otherwise fail. (00:04:23)
restate · What is the community for? — Hank says the brothers are planting trees and the community is the greenhouse that gives ideas the time they need to grow and succeed. (00:05:28)
looked back · Vlogbrothers pre-roll ads and the Vlogbrothers Creator Grants (2014) — Hank says a lot of the channel's revenue goes to small educational creators through grants. (00:05:45)
reminder · John asks viewers to buy Pizzamas 2025 merch at pizzamas.com before Pizzamas ends (2025) — Hank thanks the Pizzamas designers for this year's (2025) shirts, available only for the next two weeks and then never again. (00:07:52)
promised · Hank: send a pizza dad joke through the Pizzamas app every day of Pizzamas 2025 (2025) — Hank says that if viewers download the Pizzamas app, he will send them a pizza-related dad joke every day during Pizzamas. (00:08:08)
reminder · Hank asks viewers to get the Pizzamas app and turn on push notifications (2023) — Hank asks viewers to download the Pizzamas app on iPhone or Android, or get everything at pizzamas.com, linked in the description. (00:08:25)
recalled · John (with Nerdfighters): make Hank a Wikipedia entry (2007) — 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. (00:00:00)
restate · What is the community's charity drive for: attention for causes, money, or the community itself? — Hank says the community realized early that the internet responds well to sudden disasters but not to ongoing ones, such as very high maternal mortality in parts of Sierra Leone. (00:02:55)
looked back · Maternal Center of Excellence: the brothers' Partners In Health project in Sierra Leone (2019) — Hank says the community realized early that the internet responds well to sudden disasters but not to ongoing ones, such as very high maternal mortality in parts of Sierra Leone. (00:02:55)
result reported · John asks viewers to press Danaher and Cepheid to cut GeneXpert TB test cartridges to $5 (2023) — Hank adds activism (wording unclear) that has forced companies to lower the prices of tuberculosis tests and medications. (00:03:59)
result reported · John asks viewers to pressure Johnson & Johnson to drop its secondary bedaquiline patent (2023) — Hank adds activism (wording unclear) that has forced companies to lower the prices of tuberculosis tests and medications. (00:03:59)