Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to Eff Yeah Nerdfighters’ FAQ page! As you may know, we get quite a few questions from Nerdfighters, and a number of them tend to show up quite a bit. So for the sake of effectiveness, we’ve compiled our most frequently asked questions and provided the answers for you. Below is an index of all the questions listed. Just click on the question you need the answer for and you’ll be directed right!
If you have a question for us that isn’t answered here, email us and we’ll do our best to answer it.
FYNF-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
- Will you post a link about x and help promote me?
- Are you John and/or Hank?
- MAKE ME GIFS!!!
- Why didn’t you post my submission?!
“WHICH VIDEO” QUESTIONS
- In which video was DFTBA first used?
- In which video was the Nerdfighter salute created?
- Where did “french the llama” come from?
- What video is x quote from?
NERDFIGHTING-RELATED QUESTIONS
- How do you become a Nerdfighter?
- What’s the best Nerdfighter video? / What video should I show to my friend as an introduction to Vlogbrothers?
- Why is John’s wife called the Yeti?
- Where did the idea of Nerdfighters come from?
- How do I meet other Nerdfighters?
QUESTIONS ABOUT JOHN AND HANK
- How do I contact John and Hank?
- What kind of cameras/equipment/editing software do John and Hank use?
- What religion is John? Hank?
- Are John’s books gonna be movies?
- Is John writing more books/what is he working on now?
- Where are the mix tapes for John’s books?
- What is the formula from An Abundance of Katherines?
- What did John and Hank study in college?
FYNF-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
Will you post a link about x and help promote me?
Unfortunately, we can’t promote personal projects unless they’re very obviously Nerdfighter-related. If you make something about/for Nerdfighteria, we’ll gladly check it out! Please note, though, that this does not guarantee that we will post it.
We want to make it very clear that we are NOT JOHN OR HANK. We’re just a group of devoted Nerdfighters who had a little idea for a Tumblr that, it turns out, a lot of people enjoy, which is awesome. While John and Hank do look at this site, they don’t moderate or contribute in any way, shape, or form, besides giving us things to obsess about.
While a few of our contributors do make gifs, it’s only occasional, and while we’d love to take requests, they can often be quite time consuming to make, and we, often, sadly have Things To Do. If you’d like to make gifs on your own, you can use Gickr, Photoshop, or GIFSoup to get started, and feel free to submit them when you’re done! Also, subterfuge and sherlocks make some great Youtube-related gifs, and if you’d like more of that kind of thing, you should follow both of them.
Why didn’t you post my submission?!
The number of submissions and questions we get at FYNF has swelled quite a bit since we first started. As the number of followers grows, we have to be a bit more mindful of what we’re posting on the blog. We generally do not post submissions if they are promotions for personal projects, if they are similar to other posts or submissions, if they aren’t formatted correctly or if there isn’t an obvious connection to Nerdfighteria. Still, if you find anything you’d like to submit, please do! Chances are at least one of your submissions will make it up on the blog!
“WHICH VIDEO” QUESTIONS
In which video was DFTBA first used?
That would be in Oct. 2nd: Brotherhood 2.0 on the Road (Literally), introduced in the form of writing on John’s friend Katie’s arm. Watch John explain the answer to this question here.
In which video was the Nerdfighter salute created?
The first use of the Nerdfighter salute (we’re pretty sure) is by John in the February 27th video of Brotherhood 2.0.
Where did “french the llama” come from?
During Project For Awesome in 2009, a bunch of Nerdfighters would say “world suck ftl” meaning “world suck for the lose.” Unfortunately, John didn’t know what “ftl” actually meant and then a Nerdfighter told him it meant “french the llama.” And then John tried to make it a Thing. ie: “French the llama that whale is big!” or “French the llama! The square root of negative one is a letter?!”
We won’t be answering these types of questions very often on the tumblr; we now have a transcription wiki for just these kinds of questions. There you can search a quote or phrase and find its origin.
NERDFIGHTING-RELATED QUESTIONS
How do you become a Nerdfighter?
There really isn’t any criteria to become a Nerdfighter. As John has said before, if you want to be a Nerdfighter, chances are you already are one. However, it’s recommended to watch most, if not all, of the original 2007 Brotherhood 2.0 videos. There are a few NFs who think new Nerdfighters should watch all 700+ videos… but that’d be a bit excessive, if you ask me! Which you did! So I guess we’re the authorities!
What’s the best Nerdfighter video? / What video should I show to my friend as an introduction to Vlogbrothers?
John and Hank made a FAQ video themselves and a playlist for the “Best of Vlogbrothers” which you can watch here; a link to the playlist is at the end of the video! However, if you were to ask the staff what the best video is, our answer would most definitely be here: here!
Why is John’s wife called the Yeti?
“My wife, Sarah, does not wish to participate in this documentary. Sarah is like the Yeti. She’ll appear prominently in our folklore, you’ll hear many stories about her, but sightings will be exceedingly rare.” — January 2nd
Where did the idea of Nerdfighters come from?
The term “Nerdfighters” started when John misread the name of the video game “Aerofighters” at an airport in this video from February 1st, 2007. It stuck, even after John realized his mistake, and he went on to discuss the idea at length and to make up a Nerdfighter song in this video.
How do I meet other Nerdfighters?
If you’re looking to get more involved in the community, check out our forum at youpants.org! We also suggest you go to live shows as well as other events and get involved with projects as they show up. One of the greatest parts of Nerdfighteria is meeting other Nerdfighters and just basking in the sheer geekiness that surrounds you.
QUESTIONS ABOUT JOHN AND HANK
How do I contact John and Hank?
The best way to contact them would be to email John at sparksflyup@gmail.com. Hank also has a contact form on his website. However, be warned. John and Hank can’t always respond to the emails they get due to the sheer mass of them. @replying them on Twitter is also a good way to go - their user names are @realjohngreen and @hankgreen. There is also hankandjohn@gmail.com, but, like the others, we are not sure how often it is checked.
What kind of cameras/equipment/editing software do John and Hank use?
John, according to the FAQ on his website, uses a Canon Vixia camcorder and edits with Final Cut Express. Hank uses a Canon Vixia camcorder as well and uses Final Cut Pro to edit. Here’s a list Hank made of all the equipment they use.
John is Episcopalian; Hank is an atheist.
Are John’s books gonna be movies?
Unfortunately, the answer is probably no. While John’s books all have screenplays that have been sold off, John himself is very sure that they’ll never be made into movies. Also, since they’ve been sold, John no longer has the right to distribute the screenplays, and they’re not available for the general public to read. However, if you would like to dream about what John’s books would be like as movies, Looking for Alaska has an IMDB page where you can talk about the actors you’d like to see as well as other things.
Is John writing more books/what is he working on now?
John has worked on and subsequently abandoned a few novel ideas since his last book, one tentatively called The Sequel and one about a deserted island. He’s currently working on The Fault in Our Stars, about a 16 year old girl named Hazel who has cancer, a boy with one leg who is “very cute” and a reclusive novelist obsessed with Swedish hip-hop; it will be published January 10, 2012, and you can preorder it here (all preordered copies will be signed). Also, John started writing a zombie apocalypse novel during NaNoWriMo 2010 and finished it to be included as a prize in the Project For Awesome raffle; you can acquire an electronic copy of the novella by donating $25 to the Harry Potter Alliance here or by clicking here (still, donating to charity is a thing that everyone should be doing).
Where are the mix tapes for John’s books?
You can find them all here! We don’t have mixes for Let It Snow or The Fault in Our Stars yet; if you’ve made one, let us know!
What is the formula from An Abundance of Katherines?
What did John and Hank study in college?
John got his Bachelor’s in English and religion at Kenyon College. Hank got his Bachelor’s in biochemistry at Eckerd College and then got his Masters in environmental studies and writing at University of Montana - Missoula.
