The only British person I respect rule

HSR🏴‍☠️@lemmy.dbzer0.com to 196@lemmy.blahaj.zone – 1840 points –

::: spoiler Alt text

  • Barges into Youtube

  • Uploads interesting videos weekly for a decade

  • Refuses to elaborate further

  • Heads off into the sunset

Image of Tom Scott flying under a helicopter in a harness

:::

110

I might have teared up during the montage.

It's like the end of an age. But as he literally said it's not.

I've almost never been this conflicted in my life.

For the past decade I've been waking up to a new Tom Scott video every Monday. The positivity and curiosity helped me start my week. I'm really going to miss it.

I remember someone telling a suuuuper dumb joke and then linking "two drums and a cymbal" several years after he made the video, and I'd see vids occasionally.

It wasn't until "Danger: Humans" that I went through all his "things you might not know" he had at the time, and subscribed.

I'll just have to binge the channel some more.

I love that two drums and a cymbal video. It's amazing how perfect it turned out.

It feels like a bit of 'old internet' died with him, where he's always been an internet optimist and someone who has lived through basically all of it. He stuck to his principles through all of it. And I guess that has become a rarified breed.

Him taking a step back feels like a bit of that old internet of the curiosity, community and creativity of the early days of the internet go with him. Mind you he's not going anywhere except the people he cares about and I completely understand the choice he made, and I only wish the best for him, so this is just me attempting to explain why it feels so confronting and kind of sad. For me it goes beyond 'oh there just won't be anymore of those videos then', which I can live with although it would be sad to see those go. It's his personality that has, through the entire history of youtube and the many, many changes it went through, stuck to the principles of its first ever users. Be curious, be authentic, and generally just try shit out and see if it works.

I'm sure that core of the personality he showed on screen will never really go away, other people will carry that torch. But it's ok to be a little sad to see someone wave off like this. It shows us all how much we enjoyed it all these years.

Also as a MINOR sidenote on the meme, he never refused to explain, you couldn't stop this man from explaining if you tried lol

The old Internet and its ideals where great.

I actually felt at the time it was mankinds glorious future. Something worth dying for, people have died standing for less.

But it just wasn't to be. Humanity isn't worth saving because they refuse to save themselves.

I had to turn it off when that started. Noped out of there and the nieces and nephews came in from outside asking me what's wrong.

Gonna try again during a later, more private moment.

He's never been the same since the xnopyt incident...

Which is..?

I'm not sure, the video doesn't seem that controversial.

In case internet sarcasm is sneaking past, the entire thing is a joke centered on the fact that Tom yells out after saying xnopyt. In the original video this is just to say the second word but people typically make edits and jokes that somehow it's some pain or fear caused by saying xnopyt.

An absolute national treasure. People have been given MBEs or even OBEs for far lesser achievements.

I was thinking about this earlier. I'm not sure the OBE would consider his achievements to be noteworthy. If you look at other notable recipients, they all had careers spanning many decades, and the ones in entertainment all have backgrounds in more "classy" vocations (theater, film, music). I'm not sure they'd consider "some guy posting videos on the Internet" (from their perspective) to be of sufficient pedigree. That, and occasionally poking fun at the government and royalty probably hasn't put him very high on the list.

However, i think that even if he was offered knighthood, he'd probably decline it, either because he thinks he doesn't deserve it or because he would be too nervous or embarrassed to accept it.

Brady Haran (numberphile etc.) was made an OAM, the Australian equivalent of an OBE, largely for his YouTube work. So it's not impossible.

I'd argue that isn't quite the same thing.

For starters, OAM doesn't confer the title of "Sir" or "Dame" for some reason despite the award still coming from the Monarch of Australia (i.e. the Monarch of the United Kingdom). It seems to me that this was a deliberate choice to not to "dilute" the title when they created the award, suggesting OAM doesn't carry quite the same intended prestige as OBE.

Secondly, Brady Haran's tenure on YouTube is 6 years longer than Tom's (2008 vs 2014), if we're talking about regularly posting videos vs just uploading random projects, and Brady's videos directly promote higher education and academic research through his collaboration with the University of Nottingham. He also worked for the BBC as a journalist for six years before that. This isn't to diminish Tom's work, but I think objectively speaking he's not quite as prolific.

Thirdly, I believe Australian citizens can still receive OBEs as citizens of a Commonwealth realm, so Brady may still receive one down the road, especially if he sticks with it. But if he hasn't gotten one yet, I doubt that Tom would at this point in time.

All valid but OAMs and OBEs are exactly equivalent, both are the lowest honour and neither confer a title. Only much higher ranks from each honour system KBE/DBE or AK/AD make you a Knight/Dame

When I saw this come up on my feed, I thought to myself that it's probably one of those "this is my last video.... Of 2023." Kind of things. Some kind of rugpull. But no, he was just saying goodbye to his posting schedule and taking a break.

I wish you the best, Tom. I've always appreciated the critical and factual analysis you've provided on a variety of topics. You've provided everyone with great content and valuable, factual information over the past decade. I'm sad that you're leaving, but I wish you all the best, all the same.

Thank you.

Genuinely heartbroken but happy for him at the same time.

What's he doing?

Literally flying off into the sunset. He will no longer make YouTube videos. He said he might make the occasional one from time to time, but he might not.

He's taking a break for a while, and won't do something as regimented as weekly researched videos again. He's still doing Lateral, his podcast, and a few smaller projects like the newsletter.

I'm hoping after he takes his break, he's able to find a healthy balance where he can create several videos a year when he really wants to, and finds it creatively fulfilling. It really seems like he loves exploring the topics he tends to cover, so it seems unlikely he won't return at some point. How long the break will be seems to be the biggest unknown.

I absolutely love this man, I will miss the regular content but he will still pop up in other peoples videos im sure. Cheers, Tom!

My wife started to tear up during the final montage. Unrelated, I happened to be sitting under a sprinkler.

There isn't a single downvote in this post, yet. And it has already 1K up vote. It says something about Tom.

im gonna downvote to spite this comment

Congrats, you've encouraged 4 downvotes

I was very sad to see Tom's video. He has always delivered content as it should be. No bullshit at all, but rather informative, well-researched assessments. I have the utmost respect for people like Tom and can well understand that he simply can't carry on like this under the current conditions.

Tom Scott is a mother fucking international treasure

He's like the lawful good version of Colin furze

He's like the lawful good version of Colin furze

I think this is the best description I've seen. Colin Furze is chaotic neutral at best, but I 100% can see Tom Scott being the epitome of lawful good for youtubers.

Colin is my hero but I think his ranking depends on what day you classify him.

Screwdrive tank driving Colin furze is different from high speed rotating chef knife belt colin furze who is wholly distinct from Colin Furze mining company who doesn't seek out any permits.

I can't quit figure out whether he would be the best or worst neighbor and existence. Still absolutely love the guy though

Colin Furze takes oil money.

I'm pretty sure he'll take money from anybody that'll give it to him if he can make something remarkably dangerous with it and film it.

Absolutely zero disrespect intended here, but what does he do? Like, what’s sort of vibe/stuff does he do? Only curious as I’m looking for a channel to peruse…

Mostly short form explainers about interesting subjects, presented in a sort of breathless British TV presenter style. Like a young Attenborough but less posh. Pretty good channel.

I think short form is more like tiktok/youtube shorts length now. I'd put tom scott as medium length.

You're right, the term has taken on that meaning by now. It's just relatively short compared to the multi hour video essays I tend to consume the most.

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Hard to pin Down. Most of his stuff is going to unique and unusual places and customs and why they end up like that. But he also does some pretty great videos on linguistics and computer science.

I would say the best to describe his content is that he is a journalist doing those old school "general interest" style news stories.

My best answer would be for you to go to his YouTube channel, find a video that even mildly piques your interest, and watch him. Like the other person said, he's hard to pin down because he doesn't cover one specific field of interest, but he does make sure to research everything he's talking about. He can even make talking about poorly designed road intersections interesting.

Thank fucking hell! I was looking for a link or YouTube channel name.

You know those shows that your parents might've had you watch as a kid that were about exploring and learning about new places? Basically that for adults

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He will be back. Nobody with that kind of viewership stays gone forever.

Hell, he even said as much. That he'll most likely make some more videos. It's basically just a departure from the feeling of obligation to keep up a weekly schedule.

Though, he's not even leaving content creation. He's still got plenty of other projects running. That makes him less likely to hop back on than most, since he's actually got real other plans

Exactly! 6 months ago when he made the announcement, that's exactly what he said. He will still be making content across his multiple channels. But his 'new video every Monday' is done with.

It's not about viewership at all imo. It's extremely hard to completely change your lifestyle after 10 years of exact same work. I bet he'll be back very soon, perhaps on random schedule, but still doing the same stuff

He's not even really gone. He's just not doing 52 videos a year, on the regular.

Presumably his next release will be circa February. Just a wild guess for enjoying a long-anticipated break. Then I'd expect another 20-odd videos this year, distributed basically at random.

Not counting videos that are just him and the squad, which will hopefully come back in style. Citation Needed videos are fantastic. Four people with wildly different areas of expertise, who've known each other for ages, faffing about on-camera.

To me, this farewell video was more about ending the weekly churn than anything else. He probably sees the millions of subscribers and figures that people hit that button to get more of exactly what he was producing, and when it would release. The non-commital tone here also suggests that he has no idea how/what is going to change, and that he's taking a indeterminately long break to avoid burnout.

In retrospect, his channel has been astonishingly high quality considering the rate of production he's had. And that's with all these side-projects and local/international travel on top of it all.

Scaling back to less frequent releases may well improve his already impressive content style. I'm excited to see what he does next.

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Man, i gonna miss him, i 'm surprised no tv channel attempt to grab him.

I bet they have. Tom Scott is just too pure.

I've heard in a couple of places that the TV, streaming, and movie systems can't really make an appealing offer to top-tier YouTubers. YouTubers want the prestige of being a "real" content producer, and not "just" a YouTuber, but non-YT producers can't offer the level of control one has over their own channel. It's not even about money, it's about taking orders from some executive about not only content but monetization as well.

He said once his iconic red shirt and grey sweater started from a weeks long TV shoot he was doing where everyone wore a different color and he naturally ended up with several identical outfits for continuity throughout the shoot

just like lord buckethead is the only heredity peer i recognise

The sprint is over but the race is not yet won. Tom Scott isn't gone. He is just doing basic self preservation

I hope he enjoys his break. He's earned it.

In case you have missed, there's a second channel where he tried stuff, like stage fighting, with guests.

https://www.youtube.com/c/tomscottplus

Tom Scott has also done a lot of hilarious stuff with his mates.

https://www.youtube.com/@mattandtom

https://www.youtube.com/@techdif

Also Matt Gray (that face from that image from that video) has started doing a new series of trying cool stuff, like road painting.

https://www.youtube.com/@MattGrayYES

Also previously he bought a soft-serve ice cream machine for a while and tried what ingredients would work in it.

https://www.youtube.com/@WillItSoftServe

The Tim Traveler is another youtube channel with the same exploration of interesting places, but smaller and more European Centric.

His brother, Joe Scott, is still uploading skits and interesting videos, just not as 'on location' as little brother Tom.

his other brother, Tim Scott (from the channel The Tim Traveller) still upload on location videos, just like Tom

Wait, he is really Tom's brother?

no, I was just joking (Joe Scott isn't his brother either, right?)

Him and meat canyon it's so sad to see but if that's what they need then I'm happy for them.

Honestly, this is the first time I've ever heard of him. Guess I missed all that!

Still a decade of good vids, if you felt so inclined

On one side I'm partly sad that he's stopping those, but on another respect, he earned it and more!

Saying that Tom Scott "refuses to elaborate further" may be the biggest stretch I've ever seen on the Internet.

I thought the guy was meh. Very much the middle of the road for big sci-comm Youtubers. Less annoying than some of the other really big ones. Him dropping the weekly cadence is only a bummer because I'd been tracking the passage of time by his receeding hairline, like counting rings on a tree stump.

Who are you?

Really, Redfugee42? At least buy me dinner first. Right out of the gate with the personal questions.

Maybe you missed it, he put out a video today where he spends several minutes elaborating.