How Weird Is My Audience? I Polled 15,408 People To Find Out 

And that's it for the videos in 2020! As usual, there are some brilliant guest videos coming up in January: please give them a warm welcome!

“wait you have an owl? what’s its name?” *former un secretary general ban ki moon*

That's it, from now on I wanna be called "former UN secretary General ban ki moon"

The guys who named the Owl "Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon" and "XxX_The_-Mouse_Killer_69_XxX" should receive an Oscar.

It’s scary how all the answers the audience gave are exactly my answers. It’s scary how similar one group can be.

Ironically, how 'weird' someone rates themselves appears to be normally distributed.

I didn't even know that there's such thing as "two spacers".

The smell question is really interesting. Never thought about that. There are some smells I can imagine, e.g. smells of certain spices or flowers or drinks or fruits and so on but it is harder than imagining a picture or a song. However, I cannot imagine complex smells like perfumes, not even those that would be familiar to me when I'd actually smell them and that's probably because I cannot associate them either. Sometimes I smell a perfume and I know that some person I meet more often is using it as well since the smell is very familiar to me but I won't be able to tell which person that is. Smell is not an attribute my brain stores together with a face if you know what I mean.

Lmao the graph of weirdness 8:26 , Tom's audience literally gave a middle finger in the last question

The mere fact that almost no one thought they were normal, makes the people who said they are very normal, weird.

If I ever get an owl I will certainly name it "Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon."

In reference to your audience being more likely to be a cat person, this is common among internet polls. Several theories exist for this phenomenon, although none are confirmed obviously Namely whether an individual is an introvert or extrovert. Clearly both use the internet, but the internet caters better to introverts as do cats Good dog ownership is relatively urban locations almost guarantees a good bit of social interaction with strangers, while cats are often content lounging around the house with their caretaker. Dogs are also are more severely impacted by bizarre sleeping schedules that often plague internet users than cats Cats also understand personal space. A cat will leave you alone for several hours in a day more often than not, while a dog is more often attached to their caretakers hip at all times

The second question is phrased somewhat weirdly, as some people in the general public might think of ‘imagining’ as a childlike make-believe situation where they literally see their loved one or are singing a song, rather than just relaying it back in their head.

I never knew two spaces after a full stop was even a thing.

Congratulations to whoever named the Owl "Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon" for managing to break One Take Tom Scott

So nice that you credited your animator. I was admiring the graphics and animation all the way through this video and wondering how it was done. 💛 Also, cool video!

I hope Tom does more things like this and the 'what is the best thing' poll. I love data, and seeing these results are so interesting that I even came back to watch this again.

I was 100% expecting "Owly McOwlface" to be an answer

*We don't want to refer us "very weird", because we've seen the weird side of youtube.*

I love the editing of this video, it reminds me of the Dexter’s Laboratory episode “Dos Boot” with the Computer Desktop motif Also Mr. Scott’s app icon being a red shirt is brilliant

Finally watched, this was incredibly interesting to see the results of! Thanks for asking the interesting questions Scott.

"Hey look, there's a Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outside my window"

I didn’t even know 2 spaces after a period was a thing.

1:46 I have a theory on the cat person thing. A study from Carrol University, Wisconsin showed “cat people” to be more introverted, open minded and sensitive, as well as scoring higher on intellegence tests than “dog people”. Other studies have shown similar results. I would think that someone more extroverted, close-minded, and somewhat less intellegent would be less likely to be sitting at home watching academic youtube videos about surveys.

I’ve never in my life heard about anyone using two spaces after a period.

So answering that you are “slightly more weird than average” is actually the least weird thing to do

Tom, do you have a more formal red tshirt, for like interviews, funerals, fancy dinner clubs, etc?

You know, Tom, in the Netherlands, there is a series called "Wie denk je wel dat je bent?" ("Who do you think you are?"). Its main focus is sociology and spychology, and in one of the episodes the theme was "Cat-people vs. dog-people". Apparently, whereas dog-people are more extroverted (like it is shown that Americans in fact are, compared to many other countries in the world), cat-people are more introverted. And I think that may explain why your followers tend to be cat-people. :D

these statistics videos are my favourite videos of yours. i find them fascinating, i have always wanted to take part in one but never see the tweet on time.

I actually answered your survey as a member of the general public. That's wild.

Top tip, infrastructure should never win by a "landslide"

I think describing oneself as "slightly werid" makes sense. People have a limited perspective on other peoples inner and private lives so are going to possibly overestiamte how weird they are, especially as everyone will deviate from the norm on some things, but you don't know most people well enough to know where they deviate. But at the same time, we are our own baseline, so you will be less likely to think of yourself as "really weird"..

I strongly remember in middle school, when we were writing a report on something or the other on the single computer in the classroom, I used three spaces after the period because "it looked right". My teacher promply and in no uncertain terms explained that one space was well enough, so I get my experience therefrom. Must've been at least 15 year ago now, I still remember you Mrs Jeppsson.

Clovenhorn, Destroyers of Mars is definitely an underrated owl.

People who would name the owl "owl" were definitely underrepresented in the survey.

It is common for older people to put two spaces after a period. This is because of typing classes. Typing on a typewriter, you were taught to put two spaces after a period. And, even after the typewriter fell out of popularity, computer typing classes in schools were based on typewriter classes, and so much wasn't changed, including the instruction to use two spaces after a period. I know this because my 53-year-old mother still has trouble not putting two spaces after a period, even after regularly using a computer for work for over a decade. Just thought I'd share her thoughts.

I would've said Henry for the Owl question too, before I even saw the results, I was just like: "Yes, this Owl is HENRY! It just makes sense!" Isn't that spooky?

I wonder how many people named the owl Blathers

I learns a lot here 1. People can imagine smell. 2. Some people use 2 spaces. Edit: can I just say that as a Brit it is so off putting for people responding with period.

I've only recently subscribed, and the last question can be answered by the many different topics that you cover, which, to me, is interesting. YT tends to serve up so much of the same content as the video just watched, it gets boring fast. Being all over the place is a strength in my opinion - so far.

I love how you didn't have a bunch of distracting background music and noises behind this video! Thank you so much.

I like how the Tom Scott.exe logo is just a red shirt

"Name this owl" Me: Scruffy! "This is a scruffy owl" Me: EXACTLY!

Fascinating! For the smell question, I note there wasn’t an option ‘It’s easier to imagine a smell’ (certainly my experience - anyone else?)

Congrats to the editor (assumedly WIlliam Marler the animator credited at the end) for making the time in the top right corner move along like a real clock!

idk why when i saw the owl i instantly thought "Jackson" edit : Michowl Jackson

"The Mist Challenge" sounds so ominous and it genuienly makes me feel scared, I don't know why.

The graphics and editing are amazing omg

Actually regarding the spaces after a period, I'm not sure if others have experienced this, but in school (in California at least) we are specifically taught that it's always 1 space after a period, and that two spaces is the "old" way of doing it. The reason being, as stated by Scott, that the computer will reduce it to one, and thus during typing classes we were taught to avoid it as it was doing nothing but introducing inefficiencies to our typing and slowing us down.

For those wondering, using two spaces after a period was standard practice on typewriters back in the day. Usually when someone uses two spaces on a computer, they either originally learned to type on a typewriter, or (like me) were taught to type using standard typewriter rules. The computer has negated the need for the two spaces, but many still use it. I use it to help make my papers for school longer ;).

tom breaking down into laughter is probably one of the best things i've seen all week

Absolute banger of a 2021 last hurrah video

MOAR PLS! I could watch these comparisons for hours!…

My mind is completely blown right now. Before you gave the polling results I answered "Henry" for the owl. xD

I saw the owl and immediately thought "Henry" I'm stunned.

we need more of these

I really enjoyed this, I'm now looking for more vids about funny surveyz

Genuinely surprised that "Owly McOwlface" was not in the top ten audience names.

Jimmy Talon got me 😂

the visual elements in this video are phenomenal. great editing edit: shoutout to william marler

We need more of these

Classic Tom, his comment is already a week old. Master of time

My favorite poll result is that 94% of american college professors rate themselves as better than average at their job. Those numbers dont add up :D

7:56 Why is this blurred out? I can still read it cause you dint blur it while moving.

The smell question is super interesting! I can easily imagine the smell of cinnamon but I haven't thought of another scent I can imagine as easily

The people who chose The Mist Challenge were time travellers who witnessed the event in the future but came to 2020 because it was dystopia out there

Alternate explanation for the weirdness scale: Your audience are citizens of the internet, and rated themselves a perfect 5/7.

wait, you can litterally imagine an image?! my world is broken!

The “how weird are you“ one got me. I said I wasn’t normal because I know nobody is except One, but then I didn’t want to say completely weird because I know there’s a few creeps out there, so I was aiming for right about where the highest bar fell.

Tom: "How weird is my audience" Me, just coming from a video about pokemon edibility: *sweats nervously*

Me looking at the owl: henry Sees its the top result. THE WHAT

I've just noticed that the time in the top right changes with the video! Great attention to detail!

Great idea! Thank you for this experiment

I want the list of 3000 alternative names for UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

Is nobody else going to recognize how Tom and Jerry were tied for 18th place in the owl names?

I had literally never imagined putting two spaces after a period before watching this video.

Mom: He's gonna be a doctor to save so many lives! Dad: No, he's gonna be a lawyer and help innocent people not be unfairly jailed! Me in my room laughing at "Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon":

As soon as Tom said “think of a name for this owl” I looked at it and immediately thought it looked like a Henry. That is so interesting how so many people thought Henry.

Can we just appreciate how good Tom's editor is with all of this. This must take a lot of time

I Love this Computer-like Presentation Like How the Time Slowly Moves It's Grate

"Clovenhorn, Destroyer of Mars" almost made me choke to death laughing. Same with "Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon".

I’m curious about how “weird” this audience is relative to other RU-vid audiences.

Really cool style and animations. A-tier. :)

"Perfectly weird, 5/7"

"School of advanced study" sounds made up somehow

The fact that a LOT of people watched this video, saw the owl, and thought "Henry" is UNCANNY.

Rating yourself as "very normal" is a strange catch 22, because almost no one does it - which automatically makes you weird.

I wish I knew about this, but such is the way of life. Very good video, none the less!

For the record, I would have named him Gerald. I name everything Gerald, except my cat. His name is Wormy.

Yep, that Henry definitely looks like an owl.

1:40 maybe it's coz everyone on the internet loves cats and all your audience is from the internet

I forgot about chuck testa, now ive been laughing so much remembering it that ive missed half your video.

While it didn't exist before, something tells me that "The Mist Challenge" will be something that exists in the very near future...

Dude. I just want to know Tom's answers to the questions. How do we, his audience, compare to Tom?

This is a cool video I enjoyed it. I feel like you should do more of these. What books you like?

I was really about to Google whatever the hell the "mist challenge" was just before Tom said it didn't exist

Whenever I feel down, I’m just gonna think about the fact that someone named the owl: “XxX_The_Mouse_Killer_69_XxX”

A possible guess regarding the "Mist challenge" could be that some people confused it with the "Bird box challenge" instances that happened when the homonymous movie came out. People would go around either with their eyes closed or blindfolded, trying to recreate moments of the film or similar. I can definitely see people associating the two

Nowadays two spaces after a full stop still has a use on smartphones! You can press space twice to put a period and space and automatically capitalise the next letter, so far all phones I had came with this function on default and honestly I love it. Saving milliseconds of my life with every sentence. .

Okay. I thought that I was tripping for a moment when the Mist Challenge was listed as an option. Good to know my 10+ years on the internet was not a waste.