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Comment by lambertsimnel | Hacker News Reader

"Sending lots of love to Vi Hart. May the world someday become a safe place for you to share your videos once again. Our students love you." https://x.com/ChurchofMath/status/1886860186452943001

Edit: I was going to post only this tweet, but I couldn't get it to fit in the character limit. It now occurs to me it might be unkind to circumvent the removal of all but one of Vi Hart's videos, presumably in response to an adverse experience. However, I also think the withdrawal of previously published videos is a problem with streaming video platforms.

I suppose I should point out the one remaining video (On Gender, from 9 years ago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmKix-75dsg

I don't know exactly what happened, but judging by the video that remains, maybe gender-related harassment prompted ViHart to make the mathematical videos private.

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Hey, I was looking for a video from her today and just happened to realize they were missing. They are set to private because I managed to find a now defunct link. Never been on this forum before but I'm as saddened as any of you to see that she must've felt this was necessary. I loved her silly videos and when I was younger she helped bring great joy to mathematics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svq2Kscmmwc

That was one of the original hexaflexagon videos.

I have no idea what happened here, but this saddens me. Vihart was my first ever "favorite YouTuber," back around 10-15 years ago. (I don't have a specific favorite YouTuber now.) I remember the first video I watched on her channel, which was the one about hexaflexagons.

ViHart was one of the earliest creators I subscribed to and I didn't notice when her videos stopped turning up. That's such a disappointment. How do you know she was harassed? Could it have been something else like a personal or professional matter? Does anybody here have an insight?

> How do you know she was harassed?

I don't. When I posted I was (mis?)reading between the lines, based on Vi Hart's new YouTube bio.

> Does anybody here have an insight?

Other commenters have some ideas, but there seems not to be much to go on. See awwaiid's comment, for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42983899

I'm more confused and concerned after seeing those. Thanks though!

It's truly disheartening to see Vi Hart's videos being removed or made private. Her unique approach to mathematics has inspired countless students and enthusiasts. The remaining video, "On Gender," offers a glimpse into her perspectives beyond math. It's concerning to think that harassment or negative experiences might have led to this situation. I hope that, in the future, creators like Vi can share their work without fear, and that platforms can find ways to preserve and respect such valuable content.

Yeah, see also Kathy Sierra[1], who had an excellent blog[2], and was intimidated and harassed away. If we can't have a safe space for people, we can't enjoy and benefit from their perspectives and the things they create because stunted, immature toxic-faecal-waste people like to shit all over anything that's any good.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra

[2] https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/

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