The Fighting Nerds

A man in a small screen on the Web is talking about his brother, puppy-sized elephants, Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar, and Shakespearean insults. It’s hard to grasp a lot of what he is saying but there is something about the way he speaks that is transfixing. His words are rushed as he often appears to be in a conversation with himself, with the help of fast screen cuts. His sense of humour is infectious. Soon enough you find yourself trying to anagram the names of politicians and adding the phrase “in my pants” after every book title.

Meet John Green. He is a Printz Award winning author whose hobbies include summarizing famous works of literature in lolcat form. His brother, Hank Green, the founder of the Clean Technology website EcoGeek, writes songs about Harry Potter and Helen Hunt in his free time. Together, they are self-proclaimed geeks, who oddly resemble the Scottish band, The Proclaimers.

On January 1, 2007, the two brothers started a video project called Brotherhood 2.0 in an attempt to cease all text-based communication (that means no emails, no instant messaging, and no texting), and instead make daily video blogs. They were inspired by another vlogger (video blogger), Ze Frank, and knew they really wanted to become a part of the YouTube community. The project has helped the brothers restructure their brotherhood but by putting it on YouTube it has also allowed them to affect the lives of many others.

The vlogbrothers’ videos have been watched more than 10 million times in total and they currently have a subscriber list of around 64000 viewers, many of who identify themselves as “nerdfighters” – a title based on John's misreading of the name on an arcade game machine he saw at an airport. But what is a nerdfighter exactly? According to John Green, a nerdfighter is a person who is “made out of awesome”. And these unique people are the reason why Brotherhood2.0 is such a huge success.

With a little bit of inspiration from the vlogbrothers, the nerdfighters were able to create a close-knit community, plan gatherings, participate in online and offline scavenger hunts, and help take over YouTube’s Most Discussed Page on December 19, 2007, and again on December 17, 2008, with videos from YouTubers that all displayed the same thumbnails image “Nerdfighter Power Project for Awesome”, each promoting a worthy charity from Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis to The Uncultured Project which brings attention to the issue of global poverty.

After an hour spent at the Ning, an online forum where nerdfighters like to hang out, it’s not hard to see the impact the vlogbrothers’ project has had on their viewers, especially their teen audience. I ask the nerdfighters at the Ning how they would describe being a nerdfighter and in a matter of minutes my question receives replies from nerdfighters of different ages, from all over the world. Francis, a seventeen year old sci-fi geek from Virginia, talks to me about being made fun in school for using “big words” like reference, and having uncontrollably puffy hair. “Nerdfighters has taught me that it's okay for me to be a nerd.” Another high school student from Manchester, UK, writes “To me being a nerdfighter is like being in a huge family of amazing, unique people, who are proud to be themselves.” Their answers are echoed in countless other replies from Harry Potter fans in Alaska to Doctor Who addicts in Australia.

Although the Brotherhood 2.0 project has ended almost a year ago, the brothers decided to continue posting their vlogs on YouTube. They have recently completed an All-American Tour de Nerdfighting with hundreds of people attending each event. John Green finishes the video by saying “Best Wishes”, another one of the nerdfighter inside jokes, and DFTBA – Don’t forget to be awesome.