My spouse pointed this out to me:

Female Science TikToker Asks Viewers to Stop Tagging Hank Green (insider.com)

I have thoughts.

First, yes, it sucks that people tagged Hank Green specifically instead of SciShow in general (which has female and male presenters).

Second, I know who Hank Green is and I don’t know who Ashley Williams is. It is natural to trust a familiar face.

Third, having a PhD does not mean you know what you are talking about (I have too many friends & relatives and funny stories). It also immediately has me thinking about the Dunning-Kruger effect and also an appeal to authority.

If people are asking for Hank Green/SciShow to explain – the next step is to ask WHY.

Is this a case of trust but verify? Do people want a second opinion to verify what Ashley is saying?

If the trust thing is not the issue, is it the explanation? Do the folks on SciShow explain things differently – faster? funnier? easier to understand?

Telling people to go do their own research is like tossing the problem back in their faces. If they could, they already would have. They are asking for something, and maybe asking the wrong question, but the way to get that to stop is to figure out the right question and answer it (NVC – find the need). Most people do not have the time or energy or ability to verify every piece of information. That explains why we build a network of trust to simplify. That’s how our brains work as well.

The simplest solution is to do a collaboration together with SciShow.

YouTubers I would trust and only verify if something sounded wrong (I experienced the sensation of cognitive dissonance in regard to something they say).

Jessica of How to ADHD

Therapy in a Nutshell

SciShow

Kurzgesagt

TEDed

Those are the ones I can recall off the top of my head without checking my subscriptions.