Dan & Phil Part 47: Do it with Dan!

[plath]

Yikes, he wasn't kidding about that video being problematic. 2010 really was a different time. I think he's taking the right approach in acknowledging that but not covering it up. I stumbled across my old deviantart profile the other day and oh my god...some of the things I was saying...just...nope.

Anyway, it's kind of a testament to his video making skills that I still smiled a couple of times? Even with the outdated references, abelist slurs, weird homophobia and teen girl bashing? I can't believe he actually lay down on a department store floor wow think of the germs oh god why

[lishachi]

I have spent my birthday morning googling what 'tickle my bum' means

I couldn't find a straight answer. Only some people saying that it literally means what it says it means. So??? I don't know. I will delete my history now though.

Happy Birthday lishachu I hope you have a lovely day and year ahead!

Thank you!

[loonyradish]

I wonder if the conspiracy theory talk was a dig at a certain someone or if Dan is secretly into that kind of stuff himself and is being tsundere

Oh my god, I didn't even realize that that might've been shade

Re: drugs - I don't know, if they did smoke weed then I would imagine it might just be for anxiety or a relaxation method like autumnhearth said. autumnhearth also brought up the "before the drug scandal" comment by Dan which I thought was weird too. I don't know the laws on weed in the UK so I don't know if it would be illegal if they did.

Edit: I just realized that Truth or Dare 2 was unlisted. I understand why.

about bringing up the "future drug scandal" - tbh, I thought he was just referring to the fact that a lot of former Hollywood stars etc were involved in drug scandals? It didn't sound to me like he was implying anything w that, but I might be wrong

Edit: oh, and Happy Birthday from me, too, lishachi! Have a lovely day

[lefthandedism]

In other news: On tumblr today I've seen people lamenting the fact that the phandom has seemingly 'disappeared' recently and I was honestly kind of taken aback. I didn't really get that vibe - I haven't noticed less engagement in the phandom, and personally I've found the last few months to be the most enjoyable time period that I've ever experienced in the land of Dan and Phil (I've been here on and off since late 2012).

I think the people lamenting that are kind of in a bubble of their own making. If they're in cliques or niches in phandom that have been around for years, maybe their friends are bored of Dan and Phil and are developing new interests; but I don't think it's indicative of lessened phandom activity across the board. If you follow 200 people and 50 of them that were in phandom are suddenly posting non-phandom stuff it would look representative of a lot of decreased activity, even if... it isn't, actually.

I mean, IDB is a prime example of how new people are coming in all the time. You just have to be in a situation where you're open to talking to new people to see that. With twitter and tumblr, that can be difficult; you only see the people you've already chosen to follow and not too much gets past those self-inflicted filters.

I too have been wondering if the phandom has gotten less active over the past year. Clearly, it ebbs and flows, and different corners flourish and fade away as new ones rise. But about a month ago I did some statistics that maybe support the idea that there is a broader trend.

First, on Tumblr: there is a blog, http://phanfic.tumblr.com/, that reblogs phanfictions that are submitted to them. Not everyone reblogs there--for instance, authors who have thousands of followers on their own blog, or the harder-core smut--but I think it represents a fair cross-section of Tumblr phanfiction authors who want to get their phanfics to a wider audience. It has seemed to me that there are fewer posts there now than a year ago, and I counted up two representative months.

July 2016 saw 295 fics, while April 2017 saw only 121 (a 59% drop).

So, yeah, for whatever reason there seems to be a lot less phanfic on Tumblr these days. (I realize that there is lots of phanfic on ao3 that may or may not get crossposted to Tumblr; I haven't tried to run numbers there.)

Second....on IDB: it's certainly true that new people are constantly joining, and the core group of heavy posters keeps slowly turning over (it's pretty different now from a year ago), which is all very cool. But the amount of traffic has slowed. The main threads still tend to move pretty fast (usually too fast for me!), but they are taking longer to hit the ~1000 posts mark.

I counted up the lengths of the last 10 threads (37 through 46) and 10 threads from April-June last year (5-14).

Average length in days of threads 37-46: 13 (range: 7-17; if two threads around the move are excluded: 12-17)
Average length in days of threads 5-14: <6 (5.8) (range: 4-8)

Our 10 most recent threads include two threads around the time of the move that went at a speed comparable to the slowest threads a year ago.

I don't know if these stats tell us anything particularly important, but they may contribute to the feeling that the phandom is currently moving at a more stately pace.

[lost686girl]

i think there is a lull right now, but it has to do with the fact that there are no major projects going on to stir up excitement. they definitely have things in the works (that mysterious week in march) that will probably bring back some fan action. it's hard to be "on" all the time, and this down time will probably be great for their creativity. they are still getting plenty of youtube views which is what really matters

[saffarinda]

Whilst I would normally agree with you, I have a friend whos little brother watches their sims videos and videos akin to them (google feud and the like). He's around 5-6, quiet young and just watches them (the gaming channel videos) because he likes the games, so censoring is useful in instances such as his. I think in general gaming channels have typically either younger or cruder audiences, depending on who you market your videos towards - Dan and Phil picked their niche (which exists within their regular brand anyway) and they're stuck with it unless they wished to steadily rebrand - but why would they? The "Dan and Phil" brand has brought them success due to the contrasting personalities, any rebrand with more explicit conversations/less censorship would be taken with caution and hesitancy if they wanted to potentially cut off a portion of their audience.

Obvs I don't think they should be forced to censor themselves, and Phil has expressed subtle discontent at the "innocent, no-swearing" box he has built for himself, but the dynamics work. People enjoy the juxtaposition, yet harmony, in their personalities. I think it's the balance that makes them so popular.

putting more irrelevant ramble under a spoiler before this gets long.

I feel as though a majority of people who are introduced to dnp, from what i've observed in comments, find Dan as the one they relate to. His cruder, light-hearted self-depricating humour -his exasperation with Phil when he makes a comment. Phil balances out the "Dan" persona, he has the "innocence" and innuendos that Dan often lacks, the "naivety" which people either take seriously, or understand that he is hyping it up for humour (which is fine).

Phil's persona is where a majority of casual fans automatically lean towards Dan, especially younger ones. They see his more explicit humour and relate to it, sometimes scorning Phil for his "innocence". Then come in the fans who proclaim Phil an "innocent pure angel bean" and "ohmygod phil SWORE?! this ray of sunshine could never swear oh my goddd" - however, many of them take the sense of superiority. They understand what Phil is saying, and are shocked that Phil could ever come close to saying ANYTHING wrong, and honestly act quite condescending.

Those are the personalities and reactions I've observed at face value.

Obvs as we get into liveshows and old content, peoples opinions tend to change. Dan suddenly appears more insightful, intelligent, softer than his "danisnotonfire" (oops lmao) persona. People's appreciation for him turns from just appreciating his sardonic sense of humour to a more personal, softer tone.

The thing that's different about Phil, is that although he does become slightly more relaxed in, say, liveshows, the personality change isn't as drastic (unless ur us and can psychoanalyse every sentence). So people still only observe Phil at face-value and continue to treat him the same as prior - even upon seeing his nature in old 2009/2010 images, screenshots etc. it's met with surprise and often not much character change.

So people find the balance in the humour, in the innuendos, in the personalities. People can pick to favour Dan's edgier sense of humour, or Phil for his innocence and oddities.

It's the first thing you see in almost anything they send to the wide public. They introduce themseleves, Phil says something slightly socially unacceptable/filled with innuendos, Dan is silent staring at Phil, before he repeats his phrase in a high-pitched tone, Phil describes it, Dan reacts with incredulity before they continue and finish the video.

It's 2:30am, I'm tired and thinking.

tldr; Phil's lack of actual personality prevents people from favouring him. They favour Dan simply because of his personality being more open. Make a good duo due to the balance in humour.

blablah idk it's late n in tired, i have loads of more articulate opinions regarding this topic, esp how interviewers, for example, strerotype etc.

This is a really interesting point and I think you're right about this. Personally I have difficulty connecting with Phil because there's just so much persona in the way. I like him, obviously, but I feel like I barely know him at all. I like having a sense of engagement with a real person, which is why I like Dan a lot more.

When Phil plays up the "innocent tol bean" schtick I rme but at the same time, it's like...this dynamic obviously works for them. Phil's the wacky one, Dan's the sarcastic one. Or whatever. That's fine for videos but I just wish in liveshows or whatever Phil would relax a little bit and let us see the real him a bit more? But I guess he's just an incredibly private person, which is fair enough.

The over-censoring and Santa Claus stuff irritates me sometimes but then I remind myself that not everything is made for me and that's fine. I'm in my late 20s but a large portion of D&P audience are children. One of the things that I like about D&P so much is how aware they are of themselves as role models. I wish the people I'd looked up to as a child had been such good examples, I definitely wouldn't have had such messy teenage years.

What I find really clever about Phil, is that the odder personality is partially true - just greatly enhanced for the internet (just as Dan's personality is). The thing is, with Dan he changes quite drastically from main channel vids to gaming vids and livestreams, the only change for Phil is sometimes some slightly crude jokes that he plays off as ignorance regarding it (the "thicc" thing). It reminds me of whenever a parent says something relating to the internet without truly knowing what it means - the example I always remember is "Grandad just died, lol xoxo" they think it means something else/don't know what it means. People laugh and pity them, and Dan acts as the people emotions irl.

They've both alluded to Phil's persona before, I remember Phil saying in an old LS how he feels as though he can't swear whatsoever, Dan's mentioned several times how different Phil is (the press the button video where he's asking Phil the question about immortality comes to mind, or angry phil in snipperclips).

I don't feel as though Phil's personality changes drastically, it's just he presents his best side to the internet. Of course he swears, makes rude jokes and acts differently irl - he won the Cards Against Humanity game with the gleamers a few years ago.

But at the same time, he is a lot more socially awkward than he presents to the internet - Oqua's incredible "Socially Awkward Phil" (i think it's called) shows that he's not as extroverted as he may initially appear, especially when people compare him to Dan and would see him as the more extroverted, outspoken one (which isn't what extroverted means, but people do always assume). It reminds me of the buzzfeed quiz Dan was taking where it asked if you were more early bird or night owl, and if you know enough about Phil it's v clear that he's a night owl just from all the anecdotes he has that occur at night - plus the three sleepless nights with Phil! It's just that "Staying uo all night on the internet" is a part of Dan's branding, so they always associate it with him.

Anyway, I think a great example of Phil being really smart and managing to uphold a barrier is after the vday video was leaked. Whenever any conflict arises, Phil either answers it once on twitter the ignores it, or just ignores it completely, regardless of spamming on younow, youtube, any social media. We know he's aware of it (he set up a bot of some sort to delete all vday reuplods on youtube, so we know he know's what's going on) but he upholds the barrier between himself and the audience. Dan, however, actively attempts to defend himself. Setting up the customerservicedepartment tumblr was probably the worst idea he could have had - because constantly defending yourself just makes you look like you have more to hide.

Sometimes I like to think to myself, if I was given the opportunity, who's head would I most like to look into for a day - Dan or Phil's. Who's thoughts, ideas and general real mindset would I prefer to see. When I first started thinking about it, I always thought Dan's, purely due to the similar opinions and attitudes; as time's gone on I've leant more towards Phil, simply because there's so much we don't know, I'd love to see his more natural personality. Who's head would any of you prefer to get a look into and why? (Or would u prefer to just stay away and not know, aha). I think it's interesting to see who people choose and their reasons for it.

Sorry for going off on a tangent

[realeyesrealize]

[SquishPhan]

So someone on tumblr just pointed out to me that Dan's Truth or Dare 2 video us unlisted. People only started noticing within the last few weeks, so I'm guessing it's recent. (Perhaps something he's doing as he goes through updating social media links?)

the description now says: unlisted bc problematic 2010 humour is bad

There are plenty of other references in it that are problematic that are valid reasons to want to unlist it, but it's also the video where he plays gay chicken with Phil. I wonder if wanting to downplay that strong early denial-esque moment was part of it?

Either way, props to Dan for handling this the way he did - he's not erasing it's existence but it won't be something that someone stumbles across accidentally.

I'm not surprised at all that he unlisted it, because yeah lots of problematic references. I am glad though that he unlisted it and put in the description the reason for that instead of just deleting it.

I feel like people have been saying that the phandom is dying for at least a year now. And Deppy might have hit their peak popularity wise, but they are still doing well as are their views so I don't see any real problem.

Dan's latest tweet scares me.

[xaephan]

My god this thing makes me uncomfortable. It's that creepy smile + the eye movements, I'm going to have nightmares about this Why did Phil take and approve of this! I take it back the loads of times I said Phil is the better photographer, because this just negated every single one of those beautiful shots in Singapore and Florida.

I do like that Dan is making a 'succ' joke though, the continued trend in male attraction mentions is great. He mentioned that it was his job to water the terrariums in a LS so it's good to see he's taking his responsibility seriously (...ish).

[alittledizzy]

In other news: On tumblr today I've seen people lamenting the fact that the phandom has seemingly 'disappeared' recently and I was honestly kind of taken aback. I didn't really get that vibe - I haven't noticed less engagement in the phandom, and personally I've found the last few months to be the most enjoyable time period that I've ever experienced in the land of Dan and Phil (I've been here on and off since late 2012).

I think the people lamenting that are kind of in a bubble of their own making. If they're in cliques or niches in phandom that have been around for years, maybe their friends are bored of Dan and Phil and are developing new interests; but I don't think it's indicative of lessened phandom activity across the board. If you follow 200 people and 50 of them that were in phandom are suddenly posting non-phandom stuff it would look representative of a lot of decreased activity, even if... it isn't, actually.

I mean, IDB is a prime example of how new people are coming in all the time. You just have to be in a situation where you're open to talking to new people to see that. With twitter and tumblr, that can be difficult; you only see the people you've already chosen to follow and not too much gets past those self-inflicted filters.

I too have been wondering if the phandom has gotten less active over the past year. Clearly, it ebbs and flows, and different corners flourish and fade away as new ones rise. But about a month ago I did some statistics that maybe support the idea that there is a broader trend.

First, on Tumblr: there is a blog, http://phanfic.tumblr.com/, that reblogs phanfictions that are submitted to them. Not everyone reblogs there--for instance, authors who have thousands of followers on their own blog, or the harder-core smut--but I think it represents a fair cross-section of Tumblr phanfiction authors who want to get their phanfics to a wider audience. It has seemed to me that there are fewer posts there now than a year ago, and I counted up two representative months.

July 2016 saw 295 fics, while April 2017 saw only 121 (a 59% drop).

So, yeah, for whatever reason there seems to be a lot less phanfic on Tumblr these days. (I realize that there is lots of phanfic on ao3 that may or may not get crossposted to Tumblr; I haven't tried to run numbers there.)

Second....on IDB: it's certainly true that new people are constantly joining, and the core group of heavy posters keeps slowly turning over (it's pretty different now from a year ago), which is all very cool. But the amount of traffic has slowed. The main threads still tend to move pretty fast (usually too fast for me!), but they are taking longer to hit the ~1000 posts mark.

I counted up the lengths of the last 10 threads (37 through 46) and 10 threads from April-June last year (5-14).

Average length in days of threads 37-46: 13 (range: 7-17; if two threads around the move are excluded: 12-17)
Average length in days of threads 5-14: <6 (5.8) (range: 4-8)

Our 10 most recent threads include two threads around the time of the move that went at a speed comparable to the slowest threads a year ago.

I don't know if these stats tell us anything particularly important, but they may contribute to the feeling that the phandom is currently moving at a more stately pace.

I appreciate the numbers! I suppose to me there's a difference in saying 'fandom is calmer and happier' and 'phandom is dying' - because yes, of course we're calmer and happier! We're getting regular content, Dan and Phil are more open and honest and comfortable than ever. There's less to complain about, and people tend to congregate to debate and discuss more when there's an issue than when everything is just happy. Misery loves company, but people don't usually stop to appreciate when things are just good.

The fic thing... I don't know enough about it to judge but I can definitely say that none of my friends who are writers ever see their fic show up on there? Mine certainly don't. I am not sure what their process of choosing what to post is but I wouldn't consider it representative of how much is actually being written in phandom.

[loonyradish]

[offtopic]I just came to realise that "ribena" is in fact a soft drink, and that I've mistaken it for "ribbon" my whole life. Everything makes so much more sense now. Thanks, ribena emoji [/offtopic]

[anime_is_not_cool]

In other news: On tumblr today I've seen people lamenting the fact that the phandom has seemingly 'disappeared' recently and I was honestly kind of taken aback. I didn't really get that vibe - I haven't noticed less engagement in the phandom, and personally I've found the last few months to be the most enjoyable time period that I've ever experienced in the land of Dan and Phil (I've been here on and off since late 2012).

I think the people lamenting that are kind of in a bubble of their own making. If they're in cliques or niches in phandom that have been around for years, maybe their friends are bored of Dan and Phil and are developing new interests; but I don't think it's indicative of lessened phandom activity across the board. If you follow 200 people and 50 of them that were in phandom are suddenly posting non-phandom stuff it would look representative of a lot of decreased activity, even if... it isn't, actually.

I mean, IDB is a prime example of how new people are coming in all the time. You just have to be in a situation where you're open to talking to new people to see that. With twitter and tumblr, that can be difficult; you only see the people you've already chosen to follow and not too much gets past those self-inflicted filters.

I too have been wondering if the phandom has gotten less active over the past year. Clearly, it ebbs and flows, and different corners flourish and fade away as new ones rise. But about a month ago I did some statistics that maybe support the idea that there is a broader trend.

First, on Tumblr: there is a blog, http://phanfic.tumblr.com/, that reblogs phanfictions that are submitted to them. Not everyone reblogs there--for instance, authors who have thousands of followers on their own blog, or the harder-core smut--but I think it represents a fair cross-section of Tumblr phanfiction authors who want to get their phanfics to a wider audience. It has seemed to me that there are fewer posts there now than a year ago, and I counted up two representative months.

July 2016 saw 295 fics, while April 2017 saw only 121 (a 59% drop).

So, yeah, for whatever reason there seems to be a lot less phanfic on Tumblr these days. (I realize that there is lots of phanfic on ao3 that may or may not get crossposted to Tumblr; I haven't tried to run numbers there.)

Second....on IDB: it's certainly true that new people are constantly joining, and the core group of heavy posters keeps slowly turning over (it's pretty different now from a year ago), which is all very cool. But the amount of traffic has slowed. The main threads still tend to move pretty fast (usually too fast for me!), but they are taking longer to hit the ~1000 posts mark.

I counted up the lengths of the last 10 threads (37 through 46) and 10 threads from April-June last year (5-14).

Average length in days of threads 37-46: 13 (range: 7-17; if two threads around the move are excluded: 12-17)
Average length in days of threads 5-14: <6 (5.8) (range: 4-8)

Our 10 most recent threads include two threads around the time of the move that went at a speed comparable to the slowest threads a year ago.

I don't know if these stats tell us anything particularly important, but they may contribute to the feeling that the phandom is currently moving at a more stately pace.

I think it's mostly just the youtube fan / shipping culture changing. When I joined phandom and tumblr a few years ago, the tumblr tags for example were full of people screaming every time (or any other youtubers that were shipped together) accidentally touched in a video etc. Youtubers aren't so hyped anymore, but that doesn't mean they aren't popular or people don't watch them. and deppy have ofc became more open and its not so much about speculating about their relationship anymore, but you can also notice the difference in the bigger picture and other ytrs I think the most enthusiastic part 14 year olds has just moved on and found something else to obsess over, like kpop atm. It could be because YouTube has (from my viewpoint at least. your youtube experience is ofc 99% based on who you are subscribed to) also changed and a lot of popular ytrs have grown up. People don't want to ship 25+ years old bearded men who talk about social issues vs. teen (or teen-looking) boys who "act gay" around their friends. Fans are also a lot more self-aware. So it's not "cool" to write fanfiction or to be an active shipper on tumblr anymore, but the view counts are still pretty much the same, and if (active) youtubers are facing financial troubles, it's only because of the algorithm. (This has of course been happening over the past few years but the results have only recently became noticeable)

[lefthandedism]

In other news: On tumblr today I've seen people lamenting the fact that the phandom has seemingly 'disappeared' recently and I was honestly kind of taken aback. I didn't really get that vibe - I haven't noticed less engagement in the phandom, and personally I've found the last few months to be the most enjoyable time period that I've ever experienced in the land of Dan and Phil (I've been here on and off since late 2012).

I think the people lamenting that are kind of in a bubble of their own making. If they're in cliques or niches in phandom that have been around for years, maybe their friends are bored of Dan and Phil and are developing new interests; but I don't think it's indicative of lessened phandom activity across the board. If you follow 200 people and 50 of them that were in phandom are suddenly posting non-phandom stuff it would look representative of a lot of decreased activity, even if... it isn't, actually.

I mean, IDB is a prime example of how new people are coming in all the time. You just have to be in a situation where you're open to talking to new people to see that. With twitter and tumblr, that can be difficult; you only see the people you've already chosen to follow and not too much gets past those self-inflicted filters.

I too have been wondering if the phandom has gotten less active over the past year. Clearly, it ebbs and flows, and different corners flourish and fade away as new ones rise. But about a month ago I did some statistics that maybe support the idea that there is a broader trend.

First, on Tumblr: there is a blog, http://phanfic.tumblr.com/, that reblogs phanfictions that are submitted to them. Not everyone reblogs there--for instance, authors who have thousands of followers on their own blog, or the harder-core smut--but I think it represents a fair cross-section of Tumblr phanfiction authors who want to get their phanfics to a wider audience. It has seemed to me that there are fewer posts there now than a year ago, and I counted up two representative months.

July 2016 saw 295 fics, while April 2017 saw only 121 (a 59% drop).

So, yeah, for whatever reason there seems to be a lot less phanfic on Tumblr these days. (I realize that there is lots of phanfic on ao3 that may or may not get crossposted to Tumblr; I haven't tried to run numbers there.)

Second....on IDB: it's certainly true that new people are constantly joining, and the core group of heavy posters keeps slowly turning over (it's pretty different now from a year ago), which is all very cool. But the amount of traffic has slowed. The main threads still tend to move pretty fast (usually too fast for me!), but they are taking longer to hit the ~1000 posts mark.

I counted up the lengths of the last 10 threads (37 through 46) and 10 threads from April-June last year (5-14).

Average length in days of threads 37-46: 13 (range: 7-17; if two threads around the move are excluded: 12-17)
Average length in days of threads 5-14: <6 (5.8) (range: 4-8)

Our 10 most recent threads include two threads around the time of the move that went at a speed comparable to the slowest threads a year ago.

I don't know if these stats tell us anything particularly important, but they may contribute to the feeling that the phandom is currently moving at a more stately pace.

I appreciate the numbers! I suppose to me there's a difference in saying 'fandom is calmer and happier' and 'phandom is dying' - because yes, of course we're calmer and happier! We're getting regular content, Dan and Phil are more open and honest and comfortable than ever. There's less to complain about, and people tend to congregate to debate and discuss more when there's an issue than when everything is just happy. Misery loves company, but people don't usually stop to appreciate when things are just good.

The fic thing... I don't know enough about it to judge but I can definitely say that none of my friends who are writers ever see their fic show up on there? Mine certainly don't. I am not sure what their process of choosing what to post is but I wouldn't consider it representative of how much is actually being written in phandom.

First, a small correction to my numbers: the count of fics on phanfic this year is actually for the month of March, not the month of April.

When I first joined the phandom (a bit over a year ago) it was via phantaray's blog on Tumblr, which was very active at the time (I knew nothing about Tumblr). Someone there recommended phanfic as a repository of phanfiction (which it is!).

I think 99% of the submissions to phanfic are by the fic authors (which is encouraged; you can also submit from other platforms like ao3). It's a great way to get a signal boost, especially if you are unknown. I've submitted most of my fics to phanfic, and in some cases it's doubled my traffic, measured by notes. The trends of all of this are down for me on Tumblr (as opposed to ao3), but of course I'm just one author so it could certainly just be me. So, for whatever reason, fewer authors are submitting their fics to phanfic, and, I think, in general, they are getting fewer notes for their trouble (but I haven't tried to pull those numbers).

I think there may be a bit of a perspective mismatch going on (probably always true; part of the phandom being big and multifaceted). A lot of the phandom is not particularly embedded in the/a community: that takes time, and that can be especially hard for the many shy/awkward among us (including me). So, for example, someone whose experience of the phandom is mostly watching it scroll by complains in an anonymous ask to a top blogger that there is less going on. And maybe there is, by raw count of fics, edits, etc. The blogger, who gets dozens of asks a day on Tumblr, is comfortable posting on IDB, is part of ongoing chatter on Twitter, or whatever, doesn't see that, because the conversation they are actively participating in is going on as usual. Dunno if this makes sense.

[hola]

kinda irrelevant but basically nearly all comprehensive schools in england are getting their funding cut dramatically by the Conservatives which is going to lead to bigger classes as teachers are layed off or arent being replaced when they leave.

Anyways the Guardian did a feature about it and one of the main schools talked about is Dans old secondary school. Its quite interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ns-schools

[cherrybomb3]

kinda irrelevant but basically nearly all comprehensive schools in england are getting their funding cut dramatically by the Conservatives which is going to lead to bigger classes as teachers are layed off or arent being replaced when they leave.

Anyways the Guardian did a feature about it and one of the main schools talked about is Dans old secondary school. Its quite interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ns-schools

[offtopic]dw homeslice the tories being morally bankrupt is never irrelevant did you see question time theyre all bloody insane



almost makes you wish for the nuclear war the right wing electorate seems to be yearning for so much[/offtopic]

[autumnhearth]

about bringing up the "future drug scandal" - tbh, I thought he was just referring to the fact that a lot of former Hollywood stars etc were involved in drug scandals? It didn't sound to me like he was implying anything w that, but I might be wrong

That is how I interpreted it, I just noticed it hadn't been mentioned.

saffarinda I would absolutely like a look into Phil's head, not a tour of AmazingPhil's brain. I've just been watching Dan's Oct 19th, 2015 joint live show, analyzing them. Phil is pretty chill in it, but at the end during Dan's prediction of an impending apocalypse he only said "I hope it's robots" and when Dan tried to go darker Phil censored him with "stop depressing everyone, stop saying scary things, everything's going to be fine, no, rainbows, unicorns and puppies are all here". Also Dan always defaulted to Phil about what they could share from the book and show, even whispering a question in Phil's ear while Phil hummed.

Calmer and happier fandom

Side note: the husband wants to look for Ribena at our local British/Irish import store.
Annnd since I've stopped skipping ads on YouTube to fund Dan's interior decorating, I noticed that Malteasers have come to the US and Casper Lee made an ad for them, which made me wonder if they approached Dan and he turned them down.

That tweet is scary. It reminds me of Doot. "s u c c" multi-level pun there. Oh god, I just noticed the play button. Lighting is so weird, he looks tanner and his hair and eyebrows look really dark. That's a cool mister though.

Oh, scurries off to read the article (I am so grateful that my son is in a class of 14 students and will stay so for the next two years). Large class sizes are awful for teachers, though the structure of classes are changing so much right now, at least in the US.

[DatCog]

kinda irrelevant but basically nearly all comprehensive schools in england are getting their funding cut dramatically by the Conservatives which is going to lead to bigger classes as teachers are layed off or arent being replaced when they leave.

Anyways the Guardian did a feature about it and one of the main schools talked about is Dans old secondary school. Its quite interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ns-schools

[offtopic]dw homeslice the tories being morally bankrupt is never irrelevant did you see question time theyre all bloody insane



almost makes you wish for the nuclear war the right wing electorate seems to be yearning for so much[/offtopic]

Question Time was infuriating! Question after question from the same old red-faced tory men, all of whom seemed to be obsessed with their future Prime Minster being able nuke millions of people without a second thought. I despair

My girls' school is likely to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds if the tories get their way...and we live in an area that is already historically underfunded.

[alittledizzy]

I have a lot of thoughts on the phanfic/fanfic thing and not a lot of time before I need to leave so I'm going to come back to this later!

I think there may be a bit of a perspective mismatch going on (probably always true; part of the phandom being big and multifaceted). A lot of the phandom is not particularly embedded in the/a community: that takes time, and that can be especially hard for the many shy/awkward among us (including me). So, for example, someone whose experience of the phandom is mostly watching it scroll by complains in an anonymous ask to a top blogger that there is less going on. And maybe there is, by raw count of fics, edits, etc. The blogger, who gets dozens of asks a day on Tumblr, is comfortable posting on IDB, is part of ongoing chatter on Twitter, or whatever, doesn't see that, because the conversation they are actively participating in is going on as usual. Dunno if this makes sense.

I definitely see what you're saying; I still think that comes down to people being in a bubble of their own making, though. On any platform besides IDB you (the general 'you') are constrained to seeing the activity of the people you choose to follow. If those people are suddenly less active, or suddenly less interested now that things are calmer, your perception is that phandom is less active. That doesn't, and by its nature can't, account for the activity of new people that you haven't had reason to come across yet. Unless a popular blogger actually follows back forty thousand people on tumblr, then they are still only going to end up seeing the level of engagement that their chosen select group of friends are putting out. Popular bloggers themselves are more likely to rise and fade, imo, than phandom itself - just like phantaray. (I mean, in the context of Dan and Phil's current level of popularity as it currently is. I'll definitely allow for the fact that over the coming years Dan and Phil themselves could, and probably will, actually start to decline.)

Things might not seem as exciting now because they're no longer on tour, they have no big projects coming out. But this was always going to happen; the only way to sustain the level of hype they had last year would be for them to continue touring and putting out books, and even then there would have been a declining ROI. But they can still be extremely popular youtubers at the top of their game with a thriving phandom even if they aren't popping up in a new city every other day. That is the point of 'phandom is dying' that I disagree with.

[queerofcups]

Could it be that the phandom was actually operating at a really high level of activity for an extended amount of time and now we're returning to a fairly normal level? idk, i've been in dying fandoms before and this seems more like a fading of some BNFs and a content fandom to me.

[SquishPhan]

Sometimes I really worry for Phil and his safety.

[DatCog]

Sometimes I really worry for Phil and his safety.

Oh dear - nice that they're enjoying the fine weather and their new balcony area. Hope he didn't drop all the food!

[Blue Girl]

I have spent my birthday morning googling what 'tickle my bum' means

I couldn't find a straight answer. Only some people saying that it literally means what it says it means. So??? I don't know. I will delete my history now though.

Happy Birthday, lishachi !

Lol, I did the same thing yesterday including deleting my history! It's cray, because I feel like that phrase is so ubiquitous that I've taken it for granted and yet even Google didn't know. Mandela effect? Maybe there a parallel universe where everyone knows what "tickle my bum" means?

Who's head would any of you prefer to get a look into and why? (Or would u prefer to just stay away and not know, aha). I think it's interesting to see who people choose and their reasons for it.

I would do it with Dan.

[saffarinda]

about bringing up the "future drug scandal" - tbh, I thought he was just referring to the fact that a lot of former Hollywood stars etc were involved in drug scandals? It didn't sound to me like he was implying anything w that, but I might be wrong

That is how I interpreted it, I just noticed it hadn't been mentioned.

saffarinda I would absolutely like a look into Phil's head, not a tour of AmazingPhil's brain. I've just been watching Dan's Oct 19th, 2015 joint live show, analyzing them. Phil is pretty chill in it, but at the end during Dan's prediction of an impending apocalypse he only said "I hope it's robots" and when Dan tried to go darker Phil censored him with "stop depressing everyone, stop saying scary things, everything's going to be fine, no, rainbows, unicorns and puppies are all here". Also Dan always defaulted to Phil about what they could share from the book and show, even whispering a question in Phil's ear while Phil hummed.

Agree with that! Phil's general censorship and ease at which he withholds information is what makes him even more intriguing.

Re. Less Active Fandom: I was in the phandom most actively between 2013-2014 and I'd say it was much more active in comparison to now. I feel as though one of the reasons for that may be the radio show. Whilst the books and tour were large events that the phandom could obsess over, we're now left with no main project occurring, just videos. The radio show was almost a weekly project - something outside of youtube that people could get hyped about. I remember live blogging the radio show on tumblr and everyone talking between every song - it was a collective event that brought us all together. If you're not aware of forums such as IDB, and you're a smaller account, you're basically left reblogging/retweeting gifs, jokes regarding videos etc. When the project they're working on is revealed, I feel as though the phandom will become much more active again.

Re. Phanfiction The tumblr phanfic was always the place to go for phanfiction in 2013/2014, and I'd agree that it has declined greatly. It makes it slightly more difficult for me to find hidden authours who may be creating new incredible fanfics. Because I wasn't active for a few years (I still watched videos and reblogged when I saw them on tumblr, I just never got into discussions, read phanfic, re-watched videos) I returned not knowing what had changed. I've found a few new incredible fanfictions, but I've mostly been re-reading old favourites (and wow do impressions change over time).

I used to read a lot from phanlight, howellslester, and helenismylover - who's password protected her blog, but the password is olive21 if anyone fancied a read

Most of them have left/aren't active in the phandom, so it's odd readjusting to a new phandom. There are new popular people and blogs - no more Anahita or danisnotonfirevyou1. I sometimes feel like I've just entered a new generation of phandom tbh.

Re. Question Time + Schools: God, question time was so frustrating. When that one woman spoke up questioning why everyone in the room was so fixated upon murdering innocent people I literally cheered aloud. I doubt Jeremy Corbyn will get in, simply due to the negative media attention, but damn do I hope he does.

My school has approx 1,200 students, and my class size is around 30-33. Not the best for individual learning. Some teachers handle it well, but it's always been horrific in Maths. Plus, my school has teachers come and go quite quickly. I remember in year 8 when I had 12 maths teachers in one year... 12! I'd honestly put that lack of stability down to why I'm shit at maths now, considering that I've had the same English teacher since year 8 and I'm now looking to get 8's/9's in my GCSE results this summer (A*/A** for anyone who doesn't know the new grading system they've implemented), but I'm struggling to get the 6 (B) in Maths that I seriously need this summer.

The article mentioned how Dan's old school had to cut A-Level Spanish and French... I'm just in shock honestly. Languages are so highly valued by Universities I can't believe they have to cut them (disappointed but not surprised at them cutting Music, soft subject and all ).

I would do it with Dan.

amazing lmaoo. is there any paticular reason why you'd pick him?

[Blue Girl]

I would do it with Dan.

amazing lmaoo. is there any paticular reason why you'd pick him?

I feel like Phil's mind would tell me what I already suspect, that he is a genuinely cheerful person at heart (not in an unrealistically happy way, but just in a some-people-are-more-naturally-upbeat way), has a lateral way of thinking, and is very smart.

I would go on vacation in Phil Land for sure . I feel like Phil's mind would be a fantastical trip , and while that would be exciting and great, I want answers!


If I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to poke around in their head, I consider Dan to be more of a cipher, so would want to know what he is thinking for reals. (I'm not 100% sure Dan even fully knows himself, so I'm not sure there's much hope for us knowing from just watching what he says and does. Brain voyage is the only answer.)

[somethingsketchy]

I think it's mostly just the youtube fan / shipping culture changing. When I joined phandom and tumblr a few years ago, the tumblr tags for example were full of people screaming every time (or any other youtubers that were shipped together) accidentally touched in a video etc. Youtubers aren't so hyped anymore, but that doesn't mean they aren't popular or people don't watch them.

Re. Less Active Fandom: I was in the phandom most actively between 2013-2014 and I'd say it was much more active in comparison to now. I feel as though one of the reasons for that may be the radio show. Whilst the books and tour were large events that the phandom could obsess over, we're now left with no main project occurring, just videos. The radio show was almost a weekly project - something outside of youtube that people could get hyped about. I remember live blogging the radio show on tumblr and everyone talking between every song - it was a collective event that brought us all together. If you're not aware of forums such as IDB, and you're a smaller account, you're basically left reblogging/retweeting gifs, jokes regarding videos etc. When the project they're working on is revealed, I feel as though the phandom will become much more active again.

These observations fit the impression that I have based on my experiences as an avid Tumblr user outside all the YT fan communities. Back in 2013-2014 I regularly saw posts about Youtubers like D&P, Tyler Oakley and Markiplier on my dash without following any Youtuber fan accounts. I have no idea where all the posts came from and at first I didn't even know who all these people were, but nonetheless it was impossible to not be aware of Youtubers because they seemed to be everywhere. For example, I can remember D&P's radio show being a big thing and that seemingly everyone was freaking out the day when their last weekly show aired, which is a weirdly specific memory to have considering I hadn't ever listened to their show or even seen any of their videos at that point.

Now, I've admittedly taken a couple of long breaks from Tumblr during the years, and my memories aren't super clear, but I still think the hype around all Youtubers has definitely gone down after 2014, at least on Tumblr, because I can't remember seeing any of them on my dash that much for the past couple of years. The exception has been certain dramatic instances, like the whole Pewdiepie-gate (or whatever it's called) of 2016-17, that have been big enough to be visible for people who don't follow Youtubers or their fans outside Youtube. I don't think this necessarily means that people watch YT or D&P less than before but it certainly means that the phandom has changed. For example, 3/4 of all the phanfic on AO3 has been published after August 2015, which in my opinion is noteworthy considering that someone here claimed that the amount of new phanfic published on Tumblr is smaller than before.