I'm still curious as to why the question of if a nerd was real or fake came up.
I really have no idea why the question got popular in 2011.
And
Why the question vanished in 2012.

Any thoughts or ideas on the subject would be great.
I still find the concept funny.
Is there an authority to ask on who's a real or fake nerd? (Joking.)
Is there a secret handshake? (Another Joke.)
Thanks.
Have a nice day.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

Different cultures and subsets of cultures rise and fall and the nerd thing became popular because television series' knew they had a built in demographic that would watch advertising because they enjoyed their shows.

New Girl and every thing Zoey Dechenel (or whatever) is in portrays her as awkward and nerdy and because she's female, she fulfills a fantasy of hundreds of thousands of males who want a girl to like them because they like video games, not despite them liking video games.

I don't think it's disappeared, either.  Nerd stuff is still out there with Comic Con, all the tv shows, even simple video games like Candy Crush, and other media are making it 'cool' to be nerdy.  It's a trend, like being a hipster, and it makes it socially acceptable to be awkward and uncomfortable.

Anyone who doesn't feel like they fit in to a basketball team probably considers themselves a nerd.  I personally like the graph I linked to my response.  It makes me laugh.

http://geeknation.com/circle-graph-geek-vs-nerd-vs-dork-vs-dwee/