Good morning, John. So, a couple months ago, you were like

[Flashback]"I think the underlying problem is that almost everything on the internet is dependent upon advertising, and advertisers, in my opinion, are terrible at measuring the value in the creator-viewer relationship. So, Hank, please fix this problem during my paternity leave, okay? Thanks."

Hank:And then, you had a baby, seen here in this professional artist's rendering, and I set off, on my own, to solve this extraordinarily complicated problem.

And, not to brag, but I think that I have done it, so without further ado, I must announce that John and I will be stopping the vlogbrothers channel and instead, be doing a series of nerdy workout videos called Super Cardio Brothers!

Okay, despite the fact that this is an amazing idea, it does not actually solve the problem. The problem we are solving as someone on Twitter so succinctly put it is that advertisers value views, not viewers. They don't care how much you care about the thing you're watching, they only care that you're watching.

This it turns out is not a problem that I can solve, but it might be a problem that we can solve. The advertising system is so ingrained that there isn't a technological solution, but there might be a cultural solution. Cultural changes need activation energy and they need catalysts.

Nerdfighteria has become kind of a pretty powerful force, so I feel like Nerdfighteria can be the activation energy and Subbable could be the catalyst. Subbable, if you haven't already heard of it is a system that lets you subscribe to content and when you do that, you get to decide how much you would like to pay for it. It could be $0 a month or it could be $1 a month or $5 a month or $100 a month. Or it could just be a one-time amount of money, we're pretty flexible.

Subscribers get videos and other content in their feed and possibly maybe some other exclusive content, but you don't have to pay for it. Every dollar you do spend, it gets banked in the Subbable system, and you can trade that in for perks for that project. That might be a signed poster, or a mention in a episode, or a message to your loved one in the description.

We're launching this with just Crash Course, Crash Course is our educational show, it is very expensive to make. The Google grant that payed for it for the last 2 years is ending, and without this system and without the support of the people who like it, we won't be able to keep doing it. Because it's actually educational content and thus incapable of getting the bajillion views necessary to pay for through advertising.

Crash Course will of course still live on Youtube, it will still be free, but our hope is enough people who can pay for it, and we understand that lots of people can't, will choose to so that all people can have access to it.

We're asking, and this is weird, for you to pay for content because you want to, not because you're forced to. This is a weird cultural shift. We want to continue educating the world for free, as effectively as possible and that takes money.

We also want you to help us create that cultural change, a change that I think will result in a lot more content being created that's really engaging, that people really love and isn't just distracting. We wouldn't have been able to do this without Peter Jaros, our developer or Andrew Willis, our designer. They are both, really fantastic. And also, of course we wouldn't be able to do it without the support of Nerdfighteria. Thanks, guys.

John, its been wonderful to share this channel with so many amazing people over the last few weeks, during your paternity leave. But I am somewhat relieved, and very excited to say, that I will see you. On Tuesday.

Subbable, it's a little hard to spell. S.U.B.B.A.B.L.E. .com. Go there, help us fund Crash Course and defy capitalism. Brwrwrwrwrwrwrwr.