Vlogbrothers

Brotherhood 2.0 project

John Green and his brother Hank ran a video blog project called Brotherhood 2.0. The original project ran from January 1 to December 31, 2007, with the premise that the brothers would cease all text-based ("textual") communication for the year and instead converse by video blogs, made available to the public via YouTube (where they are known as the "vlogbrothers") and on their Brotherhood 2.0 website.

The vlogs have several recurring themes:

• "Nerdfighters" is the official name for a group of self-proclaimed nerds who fight "world suck". The community established by John, Hank and the Nerdfighters is often referred to as "Nerdfighteria".
• The opposite of a Nerdfighter is known as a Decepticon. (Named after the infamous enemies of the Autobots Transformers based on their shared characteristic of being a team of villains as opposed to a single villain with many subservient henchmen.)
• Every so often John takes on "Question Tuesdays" (that can really be on any day of the week) where he answers some of their commenters' questions.
• The Foundation to Decrease WorldSuck was created with the intention to "decrease worldsuck" by donating money that is given to the foundation to worthy causes.
• The Evil Baby Orphanage was a proposal to use a time machine to kidnap historical despots in infancy (e.g., baby Hitler) and pre-habilitate them at a mountain retreat in Tibet.
• Hank used to post amusing songs every other Wednesday (hence the day being called "Song Wednesday"). The most famous of these, "Accio Deathly Hallows", was the first Brotherhood 2.0 video to be featured on the YouTube front page.
• "The Yeti" is a nickname for John's wife, Sarah, who has never appeared on the vlog (John, when asked why, insists that "her cute would break the camera"), although viewers will sometimes hear her voice or see an occasional appendage. However, Hank's wife Katherine (sometimes referred to as "The Katherine") will occasionally appear.
• Viewers who post unkind things on the YouTube comments have been given the name "Giant Squids of Anger" and are not considered Nerdfighterly.
• "In Your/My Pants" was a term created by fellow YA author Maureen Johnson and was originally intended to be added to the end of a book title (e.g., Pooh Gets Stuck... In My Pants). It grew to be the name of a forum on the Nerdfighters website and an online picture book "Everyone Poops In My Pants".
• Perhaps most noticeably to non-Nerdfighters, John and Hank created an annual YouTube charity project called The Project for Awesome (P4A for short), a project in which YouTube users take one day (December 17) out of their year to create a video promoting a charity of their choosing. The 3rd P4A, in 2009, dominated the YouTube popularity charts, ending the event with not a single non-P4A video appearing on approximately the first half a dozen pages of the lists for Most Viewed, Most Commented, and Most Favorited. In addition, at one point the hashtag #P4A reached the number one trending topic on Twitter, and remained on the list without fail throughout the entire event. The 2010 Project for Awesome raised over $100,000 for charity.

Vlogbrothers after Brotherhood 2.0

In their December 31, 2007 video, the brothers revealed their decision to continue vlogging even though the project had ended. Following the conclusion of Brotherhood 2.0, a website was set up for the Nerdfighters at http://www.nerdfighters.com. The website was originally maintained solely by Hank Green, but is now updated and moderated by a group of Nerdfighter volunteers called the "Ningmasters." New projects, videos and discussions, as well as groups and forums entirely made by the Nerdfighters themselves, are uploaded daily. The brothers' videos continue to be the basis of the international community of Nerdfighteria.

The duo also created a sub-project of Vlogbrothers called Truth or Fail, a game show that is most frequently hosted by Hank in addition to a variety of guest hosts.

On January 21, 2010, Green went on paternity leave and "Secret Sister" Maureen Johnson made videos in his place until February 10, 2010. John's only vlog during that period was on January 28, when he read from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as a eulogy/tribute to the author; Miles, the narrator of Looking for Alaska, is frequently compared to the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield.

Green "introduced" his son Henry Green upon his return to vlogging on February 15, 2010.