Tom Scott is probably the closest thing we have to a perfect Youtuber. Humble, consistent, stuck to his moral and ethical values in the face of untold money, and willing to "retire" gracefully.
Tom Scott is probably the closest thing we have to a perfect Youtuber. Humble, consistent, stuck to his moral and ethical values in the face of untold money, and willing to "retire" gracefully.
This is it, the last Tom Scott video posted on regular schedule of one video a week on the main channel for the foreseeable future. He has held this streak for an impressive 10 years. I really...
This is it, the last Tom Scott video posted on regular schedule of one video a week on the main channel for the foreseeable future. He has held this streak for an impressive 10 years.
I really have to admire recognizing the position he's in and just wanting to take a break instead of taking the channel and his life into a direction he's not comfortable with.
Not gonna lie, seeing the sappy montage of moments from Tom's videos I remember watching as a 23-24 year old ten years ago nearly brought a tear to my eye, Tom's been part of my YouTube experience...
Not gonna lie, seeing the sappy montage of moments from Tom's videos I remember watching as a 23-24 year old ten years ago nearly brought a tear to my eye, Tom's been part of my YouTube experience for a long time. I hope he enjoys his time off and I'm sure whatever he comes back with will be just as great.
Fun seeing a bunch of other YouTubers like LegalEagle and NerdCubed leaving messages in the comments as well, just goes to show the reach Tom's content had.
I got into Tom for his computer science content on Computerphile, I didn't think I'd enjoy the "Things you may not know" series would be so wonderful. It's also been interesting to see the...
I got into Tom for his computer science content on Computerphile, I didn't think I'd enjoy the "Things you may not know" series would be so wonderful. It's also been interesting to see the evolution across the 10 years, from the content itself to the "YouTube-ification" of the presentation (but never in an obnoxious way, always to the reasonable edge). Hopefully he enjoys this break.
Just remembered about Tom's content with his friend Matt on the Matt and Tom's channel (Matt Gray was Tom's early camera operator, and close friend, who's now also doing YouTube properly). Here's...
Just remembered about Tom's content with his friend Matt on the Matt and Tom's channel (Matt Gray was Tom's early camera operator, and close friend, who's now also doing YouTube properly). Here's some of my favourite videos:
I am slightly sad to see this end, but I honestly think we're going to see even better things from him. His most iconic videos for me are the Things You Might Not Know videos, yes, but mostly his...
I am slightly sad to see this end, but I honestly think we're going to see even better things from him. His most iconic videos for me are the Things You Might Not Know videos, yes, but mostly his one off videos. Regardless, he has is taking his well deserved break so that's whats most important.
As a very very very occasional viewer, those I've watched felt to be very high quality and worth my time. Congratulations on quitting and may he find rest and even more happiness and success. But...
As a very very very occasional viewer, those I've watched felt to be very high quality and worth my time. Congratulations on quitting and may he find rest and even more happiness and success.
But I haven't actually watched that many in the last ten years. I'll have a good time picking through the treasure trove I think.
What were your favourite episodes? Which ones should I start with?
It's hard to say, as someone who enjoys sci-fi, the playlist of three short stories is always worth a watch/listen to me. If you have even a passing interest in linguistics, there's a whole...
Sad in a nice way to see the end of this, what an absolute legend. Learned a lot of interesting stuff, but honestly I'm glad that creators do set boundaries. Both for themselves and for the...
Sad in a nice way to see the end of this, what an absolute legend. Learned a lot of interesting stuff, but honestly I'm glad that creators do set boundaries. Both for themselves and for the audience.
I'm glad we were privileged to have him produce videos for 10 years, every week. 520 videos is a lot of work and it always felt genuine to me.
What a wonderful send off! I loved the foreshadowing in the initial monologue once I realised what he was doing. It can be bittersweet, but I'm always really happy to see creators end things on...
What a wonderful send off! I loved the foreshadowing in the initial monologue once I realised what he was doing. It can be bittersweet, but I'm always really happy to see creators end things on their own terms when there are so many more unpleasant ways for things to end.
It's a shame we won't be seeing main channel content from him for a while. His stuff is high quality, he puts effort into making sure his videos are interesting, informative, entertaining and...
It's a shame we won't be seeing main channel content from him for a while. His stuff is high quality, he puts effort into making sure his videos are interesting, informative, entertaining and accessible (his subtitles are on another level compared to other YouTubers). He'll be missed on my subscription feed :(
I can pretty much guarantee he's making way more money on youtube than he's ever likely to make doing TV, with considerably more editorial freedom to boot. He doesn't want fame, he could have sold...
I can pretty much guarantee he's making way more money on youtube than he's ever likely to make doing TV, with considerably more editorial freedom to boot. He doesn't want fame, he could have sold out years ago for that, so the only reason I can think for him to get into TV is if someone has offered him the opportunity (aka money) to do a very deep dive/heavily researched documentary series on some topic he really wants to get into but previously couldn't afford to make - and almost nobody is funding that sort of thing right now. Tom is big enough now that he could probably do that on youtube/nebula if he wanted to anyway - if he set up a patreon he'd get plenty of money to put him on a 1 long-form video a year schedule.
I suspect he doesn't really know what he's doing next and is going to take some time to just relax for a while, which for someone like him still means making plenty of stuff! It'd be nice to see more Technical Difficulties and other lighter content - not to mention his podcast seems has taken off pretty nicely.
nah, I don't think its about money. I think a move to TV would give him better scale; bigger projects, more people to work on it so he isn't doing so much, etc. But he could just focus on the...
nah, I don't think its about money. I think a move to TV would give him better scale; bigger projects, more people to work on it so he isn't doing so much, etc. But he could just focus on the podcast or something else.
I hope he doesn't disappear, but I also hope he takes some time off and I especially hope his team finds other work soon.
The point I was really trying to make, probably fairly badly, was that almost anything TV has to offer someone of Scott's relatively modest stature (he's big with nerds on the internet, he's not...
The point I was really trying to make, probably fairly badly, was that almost anything TV has to offer someone of Scott's relatively modest stature (he's big with nerds on the internet, he's not David Tennant), he already either had, or could have got relatively easily.
The only reason I can think that TV would be appealing is big telly money letting him do considerably bigger things, but unless you're literally David Attenborough there's bugger all of that money about right now. Original/indie TV production in the UK is pretty much dead at the minute and that doesn't look to be changing very fast (source: decent amount of my family and friends work in TV).
I don't think he's going away. I think we'll see more variety in what he does, and a slower rate of output. And more fun! Very much like what happened with Colin Furze.
I could imagine him primarily coming back on a more egalitarian platform like nebula or curiosity stream, I suspect they match his ethos more closely than YouTube these days.
I could imagine him primarily coming back on a more egalitarian platform like nebula or curiosity stream, I suspect they match his ethos more closely than YouTube these days.
Wouldn’t be the first time: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2354831/ (note: this is Tom Scott as a TV show host, not as a guest appearance, like Only Connect or University Challenge). Here's a video...
Wouldn’t be the first time: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2354831/ (note: this is Tom Scott as a TV show host, not as a guest appearance, like Only Connect or University Challenge). Here's a video where he talks a bit about his work there.
Similarly, Joel Haver announced he is going to stop doing his weekly shorts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_oWyt693-Q He's instead going to try to do 12 feature length films in the next 12 months.
Tom Scott is probably the closest thing we have to a perfect Youtuber. Humble, consistent, stuck to his moral and ethical values in the face of untold money, and willing to "retire" gracefully.
This is it, the last Tom Scott video posted on regular schedule of one video a week on the main channel for the foreseeable future. He has held this streak for an impressive 10 years.
I really have to admire recognizing the position he's in and just wanting to take a break instead of taking the channel and his life into a direction he's not comfortable with.
Not gonna lie, seeing the sappy montage of moments from Tom's videos I remember watching as a 23-24 year old ten years ago nearly brought a tear to my eye, Tom's been part of my YouTube experience for a long time. I hope he enjoys his time off and I'm sure whatever he comes back with will be just as great.
Fun seeing a bunch of other YouTubers like LegalEagle and NerdCubed leaving messages in the comments as well, just goes to show the reach Tom's content had.
VlogBrothers left a message too.
Missed that the first time, I see John's comment now, along with Tay Zonday's. Nice to see the opposite of YouTube drama for once.
I got into Tom for his computer science content on Computerphile, I didn't think I'd enjoy the "Things you may not know" series would be so wonderful. It's also been interesting to see the evolution across the 10 years, from the content itself to the "YouTube-ification" of the presentation (but never in an obnoxious way, always to the reasonable edge). Hopefully he enjoys this break.
Just remembered about Tom's content with his friend Matt on the Matt and Tom's channel (Matt Gray was Tom's early camera operator, and close friend, who's now also doing YouTube properly). Here's some of my favourite videos:
There's also TechDiff which the two of them do with an additional two friends, which is just an entirely different Tom, bantering around.
I am slightly sad to see this end, but I honestly think we're going to see even better things from him. His most iconic videos for me are the Things You Might Not Know videos, yes, but mostly his one off videos. Regardless, he has is taking his well deserved break so that's whats most important.
As a very very very occasional viewer, those I've watched felt to be very high quality and worth my time. Congratulations on quitting and may he find rest and even more happiness and success.
But I haven't actually watched that many in the last ten years. I'll have a good time picking through the treasure trove I think.
What were your favourite episodes? Which ones should I start with?
It's hard to say, as someone who enjoys sci-fi, the playlist of three short stories is always worth a watch/listen to me.
If you have even a passing interest in linguistics, there's a whole playlist of videos on that topic.
His second channel, Tom Scott Plus, is all worth a watch as well. It may come back at some point in the future. I particularly enjoyed a video about him trying to overcome his fear of rollercoasters and the two videos on caving:
Sad in a nice way to see the end of this, what an absolute legend. Learned a lot of interesting stuff, but honestly I'm glad that creators do set boundaries. Both for themselves and for the audience.
I'm glad we were privileged to have him produce videos for 10 years, every week. 520 videos is a lot of work and it always felt genuine to me.
What a wonderful send off! I loved the foreshadowing in the initial monologue once I realised what he was doing. It can be bittersweet, but I'm always really happy to see creators end things on their own terms when there are so many more unpleasant ways for things to end.
It's a shame we won't be seeing main channel content from him for a while. His stuff is high quality, he puts effort into making sure his videos are interesting, informative, entertaining and accessible (his subtitles are on another level compared to other YouTubers). He'll be missed on my subscription feed :(
it’s sad, but i wouldn’t be surprised to see him move into television.
I can pretty much guarantee he's making way more money on youtube than he's ever likely to make doing TV, with considerably more editorial freedom to boot. He doesn't want fame, he could have sold out years ago for that, so the only reason I can think for him to get into TV is if someone has offered him the opportunity (aka money) to do a very deep dive/heavily researched documentary series on some topic he really wants to get into but previously couldn't afford to make - and almost nobody is funding that sort of thing right now. Tom is big enough now that he could probably do that on youtube/nebula if he wanted to anyway - if he set up a patreon he'd get plenty of money to put him on a 1 long-form video a year schedule.
I suspect he doesn't really know what he's doing next and is going to take some time to just relax for a while, which for someone like him still means making plenty of stuff! It'd be nice to see more Technical Difficulties and other lighter content - not to mention his podcast seems has taken off pretty nicely.
nah, I don't think its about money. I think a move to TV would give him better scale; bigger projects, more people to work on it so he isn't doing so much, etc. But he could just focus on the podcast or something else.
I hope he doesn't disappear, but I also hope he takes some time off and I especially hope his team finds other work soon.
The point I was really trying to make, probably fairly badly, was that almost anything TV has to offer someone of Scott's relatively modest stature (he's big with nerds on the internet, he's not David Tennant), he already either had, or could have got relatively easily.
The only reason I can think that TV would be appealing is big telly money letting him do considerably bigger things, but unless you're literally David Attenborough there's bugger all of that money about right now. Original/indie TV production in the UK is pretty much dead at the minute and that doesn't look to be changing very fast (source: decent amount of my family and friends work in TV).
I don't think he's going away. I think we'll see more variety in what he does, and a slower rate of output. And more fun! Very much like what happened with Colin Furze.
I could imagine him primarily coming back on a more egalitarian platform like nebula or curiosity stream, I suspect they match his ethos more closely than YouTube these days.
ah! that makes sense. I am now changing my position and focusing my wishing on him competing on the upcoming series of Countdown.
Wouldn’t be the first time: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2354831/ (note: this is Tom Scott as a TV show host, not as a guest appearance, like Only Connect or University Challenge). Here's a video where he talks a bit about his work there.
nice! The game shows he did were pretty good considering the budgets involved, too.
Similarly, Joel Haver announced he is going to stop doing his weekly shorts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_oWyt693-Q
He's instead going to try to do 12 feature length films in the next 12 months.