IDB

I think his silence is because his project is dropping soon and he likes to go quiet when he’s working on something

I bloody hope it’s not on purpose in a punishing way tbh. I thought he needed a break, then the mention of a project makes me think this is the new normal cos he’s carrying on with something creative (I guess), though it’s hard to be sure if he’ll return and I’d love him to talk to us more often/in a vocal way again (video of some kind, though ig and twitter are good too). I wasn’t thinking in terms of a vicious cycle plus an intention of being cold towards us, though I don’t know if he realises how cold it feels, but he won’t be enjoying backlash, obviously, so it doesn’t help. On those reactions and generally, I think he’s just needing to put himself first more than before. I think he might have found the new quiet more attractive and relaxing than even he expected so has remained quiet, cos I’ve found such relief from the ending of stressful jobs. Or he intended to take a whole year, especially after postponing BIG from last year. Speculation, of course.

Phantasy wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:29 pm So, picking up on a line of thought from the last thread—is there consensus (or majority sentiment) that Dan essentially has his audience in time-out or—to put it another way—is he withholding content and updates as a sort of punitive response as a result of some of the community backlash he’s been receiving? (Radio silence is nothing new for Dan, but the complete lack of content or mention of the Star Wars premiere has me flummoxed.)

I mean, we can't know because he won't say. But I think it's not that malicious. I personally think he's withdrawing because he wants more privacy. And I've come to the conclusion that this might be a decision he made after he received so much media attention for BIG. That's the only scenario that makes sense to me because he said he wanted to share more and nothing would change and then he disappeared again after BIG. And my idea is, and that's purest speculation, that the massive reaction to BIG, although it was positive, might have made him realise he's not ready to properly come back to Youtube now or ever.

Or, you know, maybe that's not the case at all and he just thought his big project would drop right after BIG and then it had to be pushed back again and again, who knows? That's what this kind of non-communication and secrecy do to fandom, everyone's way too invested not to speculate when there's more secrets than clear answers. So no, I don't think he's withholding anything with malicious intent, or maybe I'm just hoping that's not the case because I don't think he would do that. But what do we really know, right?

Dan is a mystery to me right now because I really don't get why he would happily share pictures from his private holiday but not from the SW premier. That makes literally no sense to me at all but he probably has his reasons.

Phantasy wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:29 pm So, picking up on a line of thought from the last thread—is there consensus (or majority sentiment) that Dan essentially has his audience in time-out or—to put it another way—is he withholding content and updates as a sort of punitive response as a result of some of the community backlash he’s been receiving? (Radio silence is nothing new for Dan, but the complete lack of content or mention of the Star Wars premiere has me flummoxed.)

Is it? I've not seen that expressed, though possibly I scroll too fast. In general I've seen anger, disappointment, and hurt over Dan's lack of communication. It's a big leap to go from that to believing his lack of communication is intentionally punishing his fans for something.

Phantasy wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:29 pm I wonder how much this all feeds on itself... the longer Dan goes with out updates/content (and only pops up to sell something) the crankier his audience gets and the more he retreats based on that perceived criticism/negativity?

I also wonder what is Dan’s main pulse for understanding the community... is it twitter, tumblr, YT comments, or this forum. I haven’t seen it mentioned in a while whether or not the IDB community thinks Dan keeps up with this forum, but I find it hard to imagine he’s not lurking here only because where else can you get a robust snapshot of community sentiment.

If Dan's keeping up with the fan community--and I personally think he probably isn't--I don't actually think IDB would be the best place for it. We're smaller, demographically older, and (imo) more critical than the audience overall. I like us, but I don't think we're necessarily a good place to gather broad fandom sentiments.

Dan has constantly referred to himself as obsessive, especially regarding anything that involves people’s perception of him. I really see a lot of myself in Dan (even the tiny snippets of him that we see) so I know if I was a person that gets talked about online like he does then I would definitely scour every single place, constantly. But also maybe Dan has hopefully worked through these obsessive needs with a professional and maybe he’s just keeping track on bigger platforms like twitter and YouTube comments.

On his silence, the thing is we really don’t know why. We can only speculate, maybe based on the little we know about post-BIG Dan. Like is he overwhelmed by all the extra attention? Is he done with YouTube but in denial about having to tell us?

It’s kinda hilarious that Dan said that we think we know him so well and that we’re right about that... when most of the time we’re here discussing his intentions and not understanding his behavior, lmao

I only thought he might not have liked the photos from the Star Wars premiere or they didn’t take many (seems a long shot for them, though).

glitterintheair wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:37 pm It’s kinda hilarious that Dan said that we think we know him so well and that we’re right about that... when most of the time we’re here discussing his intentions and not understanding his behavior, lmao

Seriously, like no doubt there’s fans that think and say that they know everything about him and his behaviors but most of us are just like ????? If we truly thought we knew him then we wouldn’t be speculating so much. We would just be like “yeah this is why bc blah blah blah.” I just rolled my eyes every time Dan made those comments bc like 3 people in the Twitter replies is not everyone ya know?

Unrelated but I am seeing a lot of complaints about IRL shipping, what are they even doing
I’M.....

The first video messages are out and dan is with Phil at his parents.

So it looks like the shout out videos are being filmed in IOM

Dan: Have a festive period! *thinks about that sentence*

noodlebum wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:52 pm Dan: Have a festive period! *thinks about that sentence*

Lol I’m set to get my period in a couple days so thanks Dan! Ily!

Christmas is saved now that I finally got to see the two of them together on video again. Yay joint content!

I've been telling myself these past few days that it'd be totally fine if Deppy were for some reason not doing Isle of Man Pre-Christmas this year and yeah it would technically be fine bUT I'M REALLY HAPPY THAT THE TRADITION CONTINUES YET ANOTHER YEAR AND MY HEART FEELS LIGHTER BECAUSE OF IT.

Actually so happy to see both of them in a video being cute. That elf tiara filter, wow. The rhyming personalisation too, that’s funny. Dan’s face as he realised how the festive period might sound

Boy, I got lucky with merch. It all arrived, but the bag was folded over and glued down just at the top, but under that you could reach in cos it was left open. So nothing fell out, but it wasn't sealed properly. Stuff being out of stock so no chance of replacements and then maybe lies about cctv, and no refunds either... yikes

noodlebum wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:52 pm Dan: Have a festive period! *thinks about that sentence*

I feel like this sentence alone is evidence enough that Dan has been with a man for the last ten years

God they’re really so cute I hate them but also love them bc this made my heart warms dm fuzzy. Doesn’t negate the valid criticism but I’m just .

Weird about the shipping though, I know they don’t control those details but I hope they get people on it ASAP and maybe get the Twitter to respond to these people too.

Another cute one!

Re: IRL - I emailed them a couple days ago because my order never shipped (that I put in Dec 2nd) and they informed me they'd run out of cocoa. IDK if they were ever going to tell me that or just... let my order never send. So I traded it out for a whisker mug and a refund (because apparently they also can't send the "random mug" by itself, I have to pick one? idfk). So, I'm aligned with the complaints. IRL seems a bit.... flustered right now?

All that aside, seeing these videos is GIVING ME LIFE RIGHT NOW.

Last year a jumper I ordered was out of stock so it took until I emailed them to tell me. I think the rest would have arrived eventually, but they put it on the back burner, bit weird.

These videos have given me life. I keep being surprised to see Dan being exactly the same. Idk what difference I was expecting, but it’s still a bit strange.

What business do they have being cute and shit!!

This one made me laugh, I love when Dan is a mess: