IDB

timtam wrote:

swofro wrote:More

Maybe Dan had dreamt of marrying Phil so long time ago and subconsciously calling himself DanLester in his head. And one day he said it outloud and it becomes their little inside joke. Lol. confirmed.

In all seriousness, maybe the letters after the tall one (the one we say is t from lester) is just some scrawl you do to make your signature look fancy or something? It doesn't have to be letters.

I figured that Dan's handwriting is just so bad it makes the tall letters look small because he just scribbles at the end. Plus signatures don't even need to be your real name or look anything like your real name. When I sign the first letter of my name it looks nothing like its supposed to because I changed it to make it easy to sign.
I gotta admit tho it looks a lot like Dlester

But then how do you explain the tall letter in the middle of the word? This was my theory too, but as I kept tracing the signatures I just gave up trying to explain it like that, because whatever he wrote requires you to write a tall letter and THEN short letters, and if he's writing Howell it should be the other way around.

Oh god. Dan Lester. It really does look like that, unless Dan has one of those weirdo signatures where the letters are odd. Why can't I unsee this! You guyyssssz.

oqua wrote:
Actual Image Of Dan's Notebook

I can NEVER unsee this...

Things will never be the same.

(I should also revise for my exam)

huh.
I mean, I don't even need to like try very hard and I do actually see it and can't think of a fitting alternative and you guys have RUINED ME.
also, the radio show: "do you know what I would call my child if it had your last name" WHAT EVEN, that is a *very* specific way to phrase that, actually actively fuck them both, dear god
(if anyone actually wants it on tumblr, I can do that, but it'd feel uber-weird to gain notes from your hard, important work, so maybe someone who contributed more should? will definitely reblog it though, as I am a shameless piece of garbage )

phamnotof wrote:huh.
I mean, I don't even need to like try very hard and I do actually see it and can't think of a fitting alternative and you guys have RUINED ME.
also, the radio show: "do you know what I would call my child if it had your last name" WHAT EVEN, that is a *very* specific way to phrase that, actually actively fuck them both, dear god
(if anyone actually wants it on tumblr, I can do that, but it'd feel uber-weird to gain notes from your hard, important work, so maybe someone who contributed more should? will definitely reblog it though, as I am a shameless piece of garbage )

LOL I'll consider making a Tumblr post. Omg.

Don't worry, we're all ruined and we're all trash.


On a serious note:
If indeed it does say "Dan Lester," why would they display "The Rules" so prominently? Wouldn't they be hyper-aware of the fact that it's a bit incriminating?

I mean, maybe it just became a piece of the scenery and they kind of forgot about it. And it only really appears in two videos and two vyous, and in one of the videos you can only see the half with Phil's signature and in one vyou it's totally illegible. (And tbf, it isn't very legible even in the DITL and that one piano vyou where it's close to the camera). But still....

Edit:

IF it does say "Lester," that basically means one of three things.

• 1) They are married
  2) They (or at least Dan) wanted to be married / fantasized about Dan taking Phil's last name
  3) They did it as a private joke, possibly because the rules were #domestic af, or because they find the idea of Phan funny, or because they are in a relationship but find the idea of Dan taking Phil's name funny/ridiculous, or something

I want to believe it's Dan Lester, all i can see is Dan Lester… But logically speaking, they are a same sex couple, why would they even change their surnames? A lot of women these days don't even change their surname anymore.

Btw about Dan's waist-butt-thigh ratio is just unscientific.

Everything is unscientific, everything about them is illogical, irrational.

I'm gonna go have some zoloft with wine for dinner brb.

oqua wrote:
Actual Image Of Dan's Notebook

Totally legit.
Count me in on the club who can't unseen the Dan Lester writing.

maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

akui wrote:I want to believe it's Dan Lester, all i can see is Dan Lester… But logically speaking, they are a same sex couple, why would change their surname? A lot of women these days don't change their surname anymore.

Btw about Dan's waist-butt-thigh ratio is just unscientific.

Everything is unscientific, everything about them is illogical, irrational.

I'm gonna go have some zoloft with wine for dinner brb

Maybe Dan is just a sappy chap.
Or maybe they are actually alien who makes up their own name and them going to vegas is just checking in with area 51

omg. i decide to have an early night and wake up to this
i can't un-see dan lester! i'm 90% certain that's what it says now, you've all convinced me. dan howell doesn't fit, danisnotonfire doesn't fit, dan howl doesn't fit.
god, i really want this to go viral. imagine if a random screenshot from years ago is the thing that exposes the phan marriage amazing

daphenaxa wrote:maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

This is a funny idea. I actually kind of like it.

Maybe Dan's mum/dad made him follow similar rules (bedtime, do your homework, don't watch too much TV, etc.) and Dan told Phil that, and signed it "Dan Lester" to make fun of the familial/chore-list vibe the rules give off.

Though signing his name as though his roommate is his father is a bit...er...kinky.

phamnotof wrote:(if anyone actually wants it on tumblr, I can do that, but it'd feel uber-weird to gain notes from your hard, important work, so maybe someone who contributed more should? will definitely reblog it though, as I am a shameless piece of garbage )

Go ahead and use anything I've contributed if you want. oqua should get the credit for seeing it first though.

grannypants wrote:god, i really want this to go viral. imagine if a random screenshot from years ago is the thing that exposes the phan marriage amazing

My thoughts exactly. The funniest part is that wasn't even why we were looking at that paper in the first place and it took so long to notice.

daphenaxa wrote:maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

1) Firstly, this was written by Dan, right? Secondly, It seems much more like a Dan-thing to do esp because people who procrastinate a lot seem to make lists to make themselves feel more productive.

2) And now the has been ruined for me... Completely... Need a new thing to sign off with now.

oqua wrote:

daphenaxa wrote:maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

This is a funny idea. I actually kind of like it.

Maybe Dan's mum/dad made him follow similar rules (bedtime, do your homework, don't watch too much TV, etc.) and Dan told Phil that, and signed it "Dan Lester" to make fun of the familial/chore-list vibe the rules give off.

Though signing his name as though his roommate is his father is a bit...er...kinky.

No no no, occam's razor, Phil is Dan's biological father.

Is this fanfiction or real world?

spider wrote:

grannypants wrote:god, i really want this to go viral. imagine if a random screenshot from years ago is the thing that exposes the phan marriage amazing

My thoughts exactly. The funniest part is that wasn't even why we were looking at that paper in the first place and it took so long to notice.

Tbh I noticed right away that it didn't look like "Dan Howell." As I traced his signature, I just kind of wrote "Howell" in the place where it was "supposed to go."

It wasn't until this morning that I looked at it again and "Lester" stuck out to me. It like a lightbulb. lol

I also want it to go viral, and I'm going to make a tumblr post. I'll keep you all posted on that.

Anonymousse wrote:

daphenaxa wrote:maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

1) Firstly, this was written by Dan, right? Secondly, It seems much more like a Dan-thing to do esp because people who procrastinate a lot seem to make lists to make themselves feel more productive.

As a procrastinator, I can confirm, making millions of lists and never adhering to any of them is a thing.

I agree that these rules seem like something that Dan thought up by himself, with maybe a minimal amount of input/encouragement from Phil. He obviously wrote them down himself: It seems like if Phil were the one pushing for them to make rules, he would have written them himself. I feel like Phil probably signed to be supportive / to be a good sport / to humor Dan. But of course this is just the ravings of my sappy mind and I have no idea what really happened...this whole scenario I just described sounds like something out of a phanfic lol. someone write it, I would read that fic

Haha as a massive procrastinator I can totally agree with the compulsive writing of lists. However its usually lists with dozens of points of what I have to do in the day, month, life. It's not an organised 6 points "rules" doc. I think it's Phil who pushed Dan to stop making countless lists that he is never gonna do and make a clear 6 point rules that are kinda easy to follow.
So I still think it's Phil's idea even if Dan wrote it.

yeah pretty much fanfic at thi point

daphenaxa wrote:Haha as a massive procrastinator I can totally agree with the compulsive writing of lists. However its usually lists with dozens of points of what I have to do in the day, month, life. It's not an organised 6 points "rules" doc. I think it's Phil who pushed Dan to stop making countless lists that he is never gonna do and make a clear 6 point rules that are kinda easy to follow.
So I still think it's Phil's idea even if Dan wrote it.

yeah pretty much fanfic at thi point

Awwww, this is actually so cute.

That's true, my lists are also long lists with dozens of things to do, not a list of "Rules" for my life in general. So maybe Phil was influential in that respect.

akui wrote:

oqua wrote:

daphenaxa wrote:maybe he signed it as Dan Lester as a joke to say "ok mum". (or daddy). After all Phil as told us before Dan is actually his son. And we can think that THE RULES were a Phil idea, so Dan signed Dan Lester to be sassy.

This is a funny idea. I actually kind of like it.

Maybe Dan's mum/dad made him follow similar rules (bedtime, do your homework, don't watch too much TV, etc.) and Dan told Phil that, and signed it "Dan Lester" to make fun of the familial/chore-list vibe the rules give off.

Though signing his name as though his roommate is his father is a bit...er...kinky.

No no no, occam's razor, Phil is Dan's biological father.

Trigger Warning :

The following post is a lot of BS about Phil being Dan's biological father, enjoy

I remember, back when I wasn't a social wreck only interested in the semi-fictional lives of some random British dudes on the internet, that my friends who were in romantic relationships would often joke about the other person being their husband/wife in like an affectionate, adorable, please-let-me-punch-you-in-the-face way. Surnames where a thing, too. It's like that kind of humor where you laugh, blush, laugh some more, and then bask in the idea of it someday being a real thing, and then call each other stupid. Which is what I think this is, if it actually says Lester and we're not all just losing our marbles.
And a sidenote: LGBT+ people do totally still choose to take one another's surnames, it's a thing, and it can be lovely when it's a choice. Esp. people planning on having kids generally at least consider it as it makes things easier. (It's also a huge thing amongst people who were rejected by their families after coming out, but that's not the case here, just bringing it up as a point to show that there are many, many reasons why two dudes would share one surname after getting married.)

oqua wrote: Also, the age gap between Dan and Phil is much bigger than we previously thought. Hm.

MAYBE IT IS TRUE?

(obviously not but...)

phamnotof wrote:I remember, back when I wasn't a social wreck only interested in the semi-fictional lives of some random British dudes on the internet, that my friends who were in romantic relationships would often joke about the other person being their husband/wife in like an affectionate, adorable, please-let-me-punch-you-in-the-face way. Surnames where a thing, too. It's like that kind of humor where you laugh, blush, laugh some more, and then bask in the idea of it someday being a real thing, and then call each other stupid. Which is what I think this is, if it actually says Lester and we're not all just losing our marbles.

I actually think this is very true (if it does say Lester) because it seems the most probable.

remember this? maybe Getty Images knew something we didn't

Oh, this is just great. The one time I get seriously sick, people pull Phil's The Weakest Link episode out of the depths of the deep web and Dan Lester is #confirmed.

Can someone tell me the context in which that The Rules sheet was shown to us? In the picture I've seen, it's on the music rack of a keyboard and that's... kinda confusing.
Anyway, it's kind of admirable how committed Dan seemed to getting crap done back in 2013(?) - he even had his biffle? bf? fiance? husbando? sign it. The last time Dan openly made a promise like that was when he said he'd pick up running in early 2015 and we all know how that turned out. (i don't blame him tho, I'm not any better)

oqua wrote:

mintsans wrote:if the lester theory is right then i'd imagine he would have spent some time practicing the signature like

mr daniel lester

dan lester

daniel james lester

danny lester

Actual Image Of Dan's Notebook

oqua, I know I've told you this before but I'm pretty sure I love you.
Still, there's a part of me that isn't sold to the #DanLester theory. Maybe I'm just a cynic at heart but the way he wrote the "t" doesn't make any sense to me. It's one thing to connect two letters in one motion (e.g. two "l"s) but I don't know why he should've made two strokes where only one was needed.
But I should probably stop criticizing your hard work since I am but a simple peasant.

mez29 wrote:remember this? maybe Getty Images knew something we didn't

So Phan is out to the industry after all!!

mez29 wrote:remember this? maybe Getty Images knew something we didn't

Truly amazing.
There is more proof to be found; I am sure of it.

daphenaxa wrote:Haha as a massive procrastinator I can totally agree with the compulsive writing of lists. However its usually lists with dozens of points of what I have to do in the day, month, life. It's not an organised 6 points "rules" doc. I think it's Phil who pushed Dan to stop making countless lists that he is never gonna do and make a clear 6 point rules that are kinda easy to follow.
So I still think it's Phil's idea even if Dan wrote it.

&

phamnotof wrote:I remember, back when I wasn't a social wreck only interested in the semi-fictional lives of some random British dudes on the internet, that my friends who were in romantic relationships would often joke about the other person being their husband/wife in like an affectionate, adorable, please-let-me-punch-you-in-the-face way. Surnames where a thing, too. It's like that kind of humor where you laugh, blush, laugh some more, and then bask in the idea of it someday being a real thing, and then call each other stupid. Which is what I think this is, if it actually says Lester and we're not all just losing our marbles.

All it took was these two posts and an entire phanfiction has crystallized in my mind... oh god.

I just wrote a whole post "summarizing" it but in the end it was getting really long and I realized I was basically just writing the phanfic itself. I've never had any desire to write fanfiction in my life. What are these rules doing to me. Lol

Winterbury wrote:Can someone tell me the context in which that The Rules sheet was shown to us? In the picture I've seen, it's on the music rack of a keyboard and that's... kinda confusing.

Every time we've seen them, they're by that keyboard. As far as I know, they appear four times:

• Manchester DITL
• Dan's video about getting fired
• Two vyous where Dan plays the keyboard

The clearest shot is from the Manchester DITL. Here's the basic scene:

Winterbury wrote:oqua, I know I've told you this before but I'm pretty sure I love you.
Still, there's a part of me that isn't sold to the #DanLester theory. Maybe I'm just a cynic at heart but the way he wrote the "t" doesn't make any sense to me. It's one thing to connect two letters in one motion (e.g. two "l"s) but I don't know why he should've made two strokes where only one was needed.
But I should probably stop criticizing your hard work since I am but a simple peasant.

To be honest, I'm not completely sold on it either. It still seems a bit implausible, for many reasons.
(Can you explain what you mean about "the way he wrote the 't'"? I'm very curious to know what you mean.)

But dammit, the more I look at it, the more I see it, and the more it all makes sense.

Also, when I make a tumblr post about this, should I mention IDB at all? And should I include an image of the other transcribed rules (the first three, which are pretty certain), or just focus on the "Dan Lester" aspect of it?

oqua wrote:

Trigger Warning :

The following post is a lot of BS about Phil being Dan's biological father, enjoy

Dan was adopted by the Howells. They later had a biological son whom they loved more than Dan, which is why Dan hates them.

They adopted him when he was six, so that's why he has no videos of himself as a baby. The page in TABINOF is all made up okay? don't question it.

Phil is Dan's biological father, whom he met for the first time at age 18, after tracking him down earlier that year on the Internet. This explains why Phil said on Formspring, "he is my son." This also explains why, when someone asked what Phil's dick tastes like, Dan countered with "what does your grandma's vagina taste like?" For Dan, to have sex with Phil would be like having sex with an older family member.

2012 was rough because the honeymoon-stage of their relationship was over, and Dan was starting to test boundaries and be rebellious. Now they've settled into the rhythms of life as father and son and all is well in the Phan Lester household.

Also, the age gap between Dan and Phil is much bigger than we previously thought. Hm.

The truth is out there now.

mez29 wrote:remember this? maybe Getty Images knew something we didn't

The finebros too


Dan's videos, twl, buttcrack and now married!phan? This has been a good week.