#sorry for the use of the tags but this site doesn't have an algorithm & my reach isn't great :(

[feral-lore-creature]

Okay, I'm in a bit of a pickle, anyone willing to help out/talk??? I can reach out here, or we can use Discord. Either is fine!

Long story short: there are times where I really don't feel human, and I'd like to express that physically. However, I run into two main issues: 1. I'd like to dress up in a way that lets me express myself the way I want to, but without haphazardly appropriating somebody's culture. (I know that seems silly, but I'm 100% serious, it happens more than you think…) 2. I don't always have the energy/time/money to do things like dye my hair, or wear makeup, due to my disabilities.

I guess I just need some ideas?

Important Note: I broke out of spiritual delusion/psychosis only a few years ago, so please keep in mind any spiritual talk is very sensitive for me! Thank you in advance.

[cowardstiel]

i think it should be mandatory that everyone watch The Social Dilemma at least once every six months

[t00thpasteface]

hey sorry i’m sure it’s a little dumb but how did you find a community/make mutuals on here? i swapped from twitter to here last year & haven’t been able to make friends like i did on twitter ;v; sorry if this is all silly but figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. love your art & blog !!!

as i like to say, it's like lifting an anvil: it's very simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy. as someone who's a 12+ year veteran that lurked for a couple years and remade a little while ago, really it all comes down to putting yourself out there!!! don't just sit around twiddling your thumbs and lurking. it's tough to do it without coming off as a pandering tryhard, but honestly as long as you're polite, upbeat, and posting regularly, then you're golden.

if you want a big list of wordy bullet points, here's what i've got, and i think you'll find it's pretty applicable to basically any site/community you want to get involved in:

post a lot. this is number one with a fucking bullet! POST! POST LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. but crucially...

post GOOD STUFF. don't bash yourself in the caption/tags, don't say "sorry this is shit" or whatever, don't self-deprecate, and don't admit to posting low-effort stuff just to hit a quota. imagine it's open mic night and go crazy. this is a good site to use like a journal and a scrapbook, but if you want to actually get some traction, you need to bring something interesting to the table. of course, just being funny and nice goes a very long way.

encourage audience feedback. people LOVE to tell you about themselves and give their opinions. get them responding and make the questions and calls for engagement so interesting or fun they can't help themselves.

tag effectively. use both fandom/content tags for searches, and organizational tags for your visitors' use. the tagging system is tumblr's bread and butter, so make it work for you.

follow a lot of blogs you like. then see who they follow, and add those to the list. build a good circle of engagement and keep your finger on the pulse of the site culture for whatever niche(s) you're in... or want to get in.

reblog a lot and be funny/kind in the tags. generally leaving a lot of comments/replies to post is kind of hit-or-miss, but tags are a good harmless "inside voice" to use that doesn't clutter the post itself and yet still engages with op and people seeing the post

engage with people when they ask for engagement. things like polls, ask games, etc... scratch people's backs and they'll scratch yours. and it's just a nice thing to do regardless :)

panhandling is not always the best route. people will balk if you look desperate or openly beg for engagement, like directly asking people to reblog something or being passive-aggressive about how much engagement you are/aren't getting on something. a genuine joke about it is fun and relatable, but snarky comments just kill the vibe and scare people off.

REMEMBER THERE'S NO ALGORITHM. lurking will not put you or any of the stuff you like out there!! REBLOG POSTS! SEND ASKS! this site will NOT SPOON FEED YOU ANYTHING. like taming a wild stallion, you can make this work for you, but you have to put in the effort first.

some people will think you're annoying, and that's okay. probably not very many, but they'll be loud. this is an unavoidable part of Being Known. you can be the sweetest peach in the world but there'll still be people who just don't like peaches. don't take it to heart, and if you do happen to drop the ball or rub a few people the wrong way, don't let that keep you from trying again :)

i've enjoyed the many friends i've made on this site in the past decade-and-then-some, even though both this site and my blog are both something of a ship of theseus. here's hoping you can make it work for you and your interests, too!

[daughter-of-sapph0]

look, I'm not desperate for attention or anything. I'm fortunate enough that my art is just a fun hobby.

but I do feel a little bit salty when the time I put into something doesn't match the reward I get out of it.

my post popular posts are stolen memes from twitter and bluesky, stupid shitposts, and my insane political ramblings. those take anywhere from 10 seconds to five minutes of effort.

my art, on the other hand, I put so much time into that. I've been working on a huge project non stop for all of October, my celestial playing cards. and even my most popular post from that doesn't even have the fraction of the notes from the stupid shit I post in like a minute. my most recent piece has been in the works for literally a week straight, and it took me begging people to reblog for it to actually get any traction.

like, to me, the fun I have making something is always more important to me than the attention I get. creating art is what makes me happy. not some stupid number. but I would be lying if I said I didn't care about that stupid number at all.

and then I feel like a bitch for constantly reblogging my own art. like I'm desperate for attention.

and then at the same time I have to deal with stuff like this on ig

scammers and assholes like this who take advantage of the little guys. they prey on people who get very little traction and do stuff like this. "please give us money and also the rights to post your art and take all the credit". eat a bag of dicks.

I'm sorry for acting like a cunt. there are people who deserve their art reblogged much more than me. people who rely on commissions for income. and here I am crying like a bitch over a stupid number.

but please, I'm begging everyone to reblog art. everyone's art. if you like something, please reblog it. likes mean absolutely nothing on tumblr. there is no algorithm, no trending page besides a few popular tags. if art doesn't get reshared, no one sees it.

I'm not talking about my art. fuck my art. I'm talking about every single artist on this site. especially people who do commissions.

I'm on my knees and begging. if you like someone's art, reblog it. don't repost it, don't take credit for it, reblog it!

[nothorses]

Heya, I had a quick question and you're like the only person I can think of that wouldn't mock me for asking, that said, I understand that this isn't really something you talk about, so please don't feel pressured to respond! I saw a post earlier that said it was for people who were on Instagram, tiktok, (I think also reddit?) before they moved to tumblr, and it was saying that you should reblog things instead of liking them. I then saw a reblog (I can't remember if it was from the op or not, I'm sorry) that said that people who like posts instead of rebloging them are ruining tumblr, and that's what staff wants people to do.

Is that true? I haven't been on here for long, and I never reblog things, only like them, because I just don't want anyone to see me talking about anything, or really know anything about my opinions, I just want to be invisible to other people on here, and I don't feel like rebloging would give me that. That said, I also really don't wanna ruin your guy's website. Is there anyway to like quietly (?) reblog things? Are there other rules like this on here that I'm not aware of? Because I keep seeing people say things like "duh, I've been hearing people say to reblog instead of like since I've been here", but like, I've never heard it and I'm a little worried there's other rules about this that I have no idea about.

Again, please don't feel pressured to respond to this at all! Thank you!

The reason people say that is because Tumblr doesn't have an algorithm, which is why most of the people here like the site; we get to "curate our own experiences", there's no magic mystical force determining who gets promoted and who gets buried, etc.

So the only way anyone sees anything is if it's posted directly, or reblogged, by someone they follow (or posted directly into a tag they follow, but that's less commonly used). Nothing and nobody else is promoting it, it's just other people.

So if you never reblog anything, you never promote anyone's work, and the content stops with you.

Now, I only explain all of this because I think it's not super well known, and for folks coming in from most other social media sites, that's not a thing they're gonna intuitively pick up. That's all just so you can make an informed choice.

And like, all of that's not actually that bad of a thing; you're not talking away anything anyone already had, you're just not adding anything new. It's neutral.

If you have your reasons for not wanting to reblog stuff, that's fine; you're not obligated to, and like, it's nobody else's place to judge! The whole point of this function is that we get to curate our own experiences, and you are curating your's. It's okay if that's different from how other folks use the site.

[maskedemerald]

Pre-Order The Last Straw Novella

So the Kickstarter didn't work out but that isn't going to stop me! The book still comes out on the 25th of November! I'm still planning to do a smaller print run so if you want Paperback its going to exist! Follow the link to my website to pre-order in either E-Book or Paperback format!

A Curiosity Piqued – The Last Straw Novella – Masked Emerald

Also If you are interested I have some thoughts about the Kickstarter experience below the cut! Just my thoughts going forward and not words from any kind of expert on the matter. In fact they are rather rambly, sorry about that.

The Numbers

Costs

Indie printing is definitely not cheap, the costs have gone up for pretty much everything. However the worst thing was the increased cost of postage. Everything I read said make 20% of the goal postage costs. The way things are now I found it was more like 35% which is not good. My original printing costs were £3000 but by the time I'd added on fees, postage for the physical books and taxes it was £7000!

The Problem with Social Media

One of the biggest adversaries I faced was the algorithm and social media. Discoverability is shit on pretty much all social media at the moment. Getting seen beyond my existing followers was a big challenge. The only place I found growth was Tumblr and specifically in the Writeblr side of it (Hi new writer friends! I appreciate you! I'm still catching up on the tag games from when I was ill!)

The Experience

Preparations

Definitely next time starting preparations earlier. There is a lot of preparations involved so I'm definitely going to give myself more time so I'm not trying to do it all at the same time.

The video was harder than I thought it would be, give me unscripted streams any day over trying to get that perfect take.

Shy Bens Get Nout

Is a useful phrase however my anxiety sometimes makes it hard to actually do but seriously if you don't ask then you don't get. While it wasn't me that asked, someone asked on my behalf and as a result I got to do a talk about the book on the radio. Pick up the courage and ask, it might just make a difference. The worst they can do is say no. Which yeah can be intimidating but I need to get better at it!

Stress

I've been describing the Kickstarter as a mad dash. That's what it felt like. I had to constantly be pushing it and then things got worse, I got ill. I was in bed with no capacity to do anything for a week. It tanked my ability to push the Kickstarter. I seriously think its a good idea to have a bunch of posts already written and scheduled to go out. That way anything I post is extra. I really didn't like the stress of it personally so if I try again in future I'll be working to keep the stress low.

Future Plans

Longer Term Funding Pool

I'm going to be tracking the money made by The Last Straw and any merch designs to count towards the next print run of either The Last Straw or the next book. I'm also thinking about the people subbing on Twitch and the people considering becoming a Patreon. These people by the time a book comes out have put money into the printing pool and I think it would be more fair if they can also get the physicals without needing to pay full price. Also without them feeling they need to participate in a Kickstarter to make the thing they want happen. So I'm planning to change my rewards! Subs and Patreons will get virtual stamps towards physical items. This lets me keep entry low and even based on how much I get across the Twitch subs and Patreons. I'll be posting a proper breakdown soon.

Plans for Trying Kickstarter Again

I plan to try crowd funding again if the long term pool doesn't get enough for the next book but I am also considering trying out other sites like Indiegogo. The flexible funding is interesting if I could work out the costs the right way. We'll see what happens in March/April when I need to start thinking about printing the next A Curiosity Piqued.

[the-nebula-sys]

Yo, I'm a r/196 refugee. And I'm rather confused with Tumblr as a site/app. And it seems like you've been using it for a long time, and are sympathetic towards myself and fellow refugees. Would you mind helping me/us out?

How do you use tags? It seems they're used to filter what you want to see, but people also just seem to continue their post in the tags? Which confuses me.

Is a blog the same thing as just a subreddit? Can there be multiple people posting to a blog? How do you find blogs? What is a blog? I'm confused

I heard someone say that reblogging functions the same way as commenting on reddit, is this true?

I also heard that reblogging is the same to the algorithm as upvotes are for reddit, is this true?

What's the difference between asking someone something (as I'm doing now) and just chatting/messaging/PMing someone? Is there a difference?

Are there any things that are frowned upon here that you wouldn't know if you just joined?

Are there any systems in place for separating certain posts similar to the subreddit system?

Do you have any advice for what I should do on Tumblr? Or is it just a wild west of people doing random bullshit?

Thanks, and I'm sorry if I'm being annoying with this. I just feel kind of lost with this app at the moment

Sorry this took so long, I never got a notification for this one (or any of the others).

Yeah, tags have the intended use (filtering posts) and the communal use (quietly commenting on stuff). They're used interchangeably, and unpredictably. If this doesn't answer you, then I'm sorry for being inadequate.

A blog is like a combination of a user profile and a subreddit. You can post there normally, or you can theme your blog around stuff. There can be multiple people posting to a blog, but that's soley reserved for a thing called a sideblog. Sideblogs are just normal blogs with a lot more emphasis on posting. You can invite other people to a sideblog too.

You find blogs by searching for them, or by clicking on their icon.

Yes, reblogging counts as commenting.

I don't know, my advice is to just turn off the algorithm in your settings. As I've said in my tumblr tutorial, "don't try to appease a god that doesn't exist. You asking for advice relating to the algorithm that isn't turning it off shows that you've failed to listen to that tutorial. Tsk tsk tsk.

Asking is moreso just a one-way communication with someone, while pm'ing someone is like initiating a discord communication.

Don't repost art. Reblog it.

You can block people, or you can block tags (or turn off your algorithm you tiktoker [derogatory]).

It's a wild west.

It's okay, tbh it should be me being sorry that I took this long to answer your questions. I hope these answers are still of use to you, and I once again apologize.

[lastoneout]

@sedewt Sorry to pull this from the replies but I figured I should clarify for everyone: Basically, people on tiktok have a habit of censoring specific "bad" words in their video captions bcs of a(possibly incorrect) belief that the site's algorithm will punish videos with those words. People will say "unalive" instead of "kill", for instance, but also they will use replacements like "seggs" for sex, l3$bi4n instead of lesbian, that sort of thing.

Regardless of the truth of the algorithm's programming, this behavior has become so ingrained that it is spreading to other websites, and here on tumblr censoring words like that means that people who have certain things blacklisted cannot reliably avoid content they find upsetting. Like as an example, body horror and gore are legit triggers for me, so I have those tags blacklisted. But, if someone decided to post some body horror art, and, to avoid upsetting the algorithm, tagged it as "b0dy h0rr0r" I would still see the post, bcs there's no possible way for me to have every single variation on "body horror" blacklisted.

In addition to that, people who enjoy body horror and gore WON'T be able to find that art, bcs they likely are following the "body horror" and "gore" tags, and posts with mangled tags won't show up in their feed or searches, and they don't have the time to search every variation on the tag to find the content they like.

As a further example, since I know people on Twitter will misspell "commissions" bcs they think the algorithm suppresses posts asking for money, if you do that here someone looking for an artist to commission by searching for "commissions" won't be able to find your info!! Or, on the tagging side, people with photosensitivities need to be able to blacklist "eyestrain" and "flashing lights", and so if you tag something "3y3str4in" they will still see it and potentially have their health conditions triggered.

So when tagging stuff, both for people who need stuff blacklisted and people who want to find your content, you should ALWAYS tag posts with the full, actual words. There's also no real algorithm here and the one that we do have, as far as I know, doesn't give a shit if you say kill or fuck or whatever. You're just making everything harder for yourself AND others for literally no benefit at all.

The only instance where you can, and are expected to, censor your tags is if you're posting salt/hate. Like if I wanted to complain about say, idk Sasuke and Naruto as a ship, I would use a tag like "sasu//naru" instead of "sasunaru" or "n4rut0" instead of "naruto" so that my post doesn't show up in the main tag, bcs it's kinda rude to flood tags with negativity like that. I would also censor the words in my post to avoid them showing up in searches in general, or use a readmore to hide the body of the post so people have to click through to read it.

That is the ONLY time it is acceptable to censor words. The rest of the time you should always just spell out words, especially "bad" ones, bcs people can't avoid upsetting content if they can't filter it reliably. If you're worried about the "algorithm" punishing you or people seeing your post who don't want to, one, stop caring about the algorithm most of us never interact with it anyway, and two, in addition to full tags being the best for blacklists, we also have community labels for several types of mature content, so use those to your heart's content, bcs people can filter stuff with those warnings too.

TL;DR: Censoring tags like people do on tiktok breaks the website and makes everything suck for everyone, if you want to warn for content just tag the post with the full word and a community warning label bcs that's the only way people can avoid content they don't want to see and/or find content they do.

friendly reminder for the new twitter refugees:

change your icon/pfp and put something coherent in your blog description or you're going to get blocked bcs people think you're a bot

this site is built around reblogs, so please actually reblog posts(especially art and fics!!)

you can set your likes and follows to private

checkmarks here are a meme and mean nothing

follower counts are private and we like it that way, so get used to not judging people by that metric

drama and discourse is boring, use your blacklist and block button liberally

DON'T CENSOR YOURSELF!! we can swear and say kill and make fun of corporations all we want, and if you tiktok-ify your tags people who have things blacklisted for whatever reason will still see them, and people who want to see that content won't be able to find it!! spell words out normally, you won't get in trouble!!

tumblr live is sketchy as hell and full of fake accounts, if you decide to use it anyway may god have mercy on your soul o7

be nice to the reddit refugees, they're our friends <3

[bun-z-bakery]

ˏˋ*⁀➷ 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐹𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤˚°

Now he’s thinkin’ ’bout me every night, oh. Is it that sweet? I guess so. Say you can’t sleep, baby, I know.That’s that me espresso. - Sabrina Carpenter

Please be aware of my rules and guidelines for this blog before you follow/interact. Not following rules will get you blocked! So please be respectful. I can't keep up with who follows me so please remember this blog is 18+.

‧ .˚₊ 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑻

This is a writing blog that will contain my work and reblogs of others' works! I also do reblog whatever I'm interested in too but it's mostly a writing blog.

My blog is mostly sfw but some of my writings contain suggestive content. I personally don't write nsfw stories however I might reblog something in that criteria so please be aware of that.

Some of my writing might be dark/triggering so please keep that in mind! I try my best to add content warnings but sometimes it slips my mind.

I do try to write for all readers (masc, fem, GN) however by default my works tend to be GN!readers.

I only write for fandoms listed here. Please note I don't write for every character so the character will be specified.

‧ .˚₊ 𝑫𝑶 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑰𝑭

You're a minor. Just because my blog is tame for the most part doesn't mean it's kid friendly. I also don't feel comfortable talking to anyone younger than me online.

You're a canon purist. I understand we all have our comfort characters, I'm autistic so I completely understand but everyone has their headcanons and silly little quirks they want to give characters. If you can't see your favorite character in written in a certain way then I'm sorry this blog isn't for you.

You're anti/hateful/negative. I'm aware my blog won't be for everyone and that's ok! You aren't my target audience and all I ask is you keep scrolling.

‧ .˚₊ 𝑹𝑼𝑳𝑬𝑺

MDNI. As I already mentioned if you're a minor please don't interact. If you're a new or ageless blog please add an indicator or age on your blog. It may seem silly but helps out alot of other users on the site know who to interact with or avoid.

Tagging. You can tag me! If there's something you'd like to show me and can't DM me for some reason feel free to tag me! I also enjoy being tagged in tag games too! All I ask if you don't spam tag!

My work is my own. do not: steal, copy, repost, reupload, modify, or claim any of my works as your own, regardless of credit given. And absolutely do not use my works for AI training and other related purposes. Alot of the people on here write to share their ideas with their fandoms so please respect mine and others' work!

Be polite! Please be polite when sending asks or commenting and don't bring up triggering/controversial or political topics.

Don't be shy! I love interacting with others be it asks, anonies, anything! Talk to me about your day, cute crafts you've made, art I love meeting new people so don't be shy, I love talking to others!

Sharing. I know some people don't like having their work reblogged but feel free to reblog my work if you like! It helps out alot since the algorithm is non existent.

Requests and time. You're welcome to send requests when they're open! Please note even though I love writing your requests not everything will be my taste so I apologize if I don't write yours, I do hope you find someone who will! Also the time I finish your request my vary. I have other projects I'm working on when I'm not on here and life does get in the way sometimes.

Once again, I only write for fandoms listed here. Please note I don't write for every character so the character will be specified.

[greengaybubbles]

FEDIVERSE INFO/GUIDE

TLDR: Info/guide about decentralized social media alternative if people would like to move away from Tumblr. Also I'm sorry for info-dumping.

### INTRODUCTION(ig i'm doing a chapter thing) Hi, it me, one of the little gay people in your phone. It's been a little since us 196ers have moved over to Tumblr. Over the first few months it felt like Tumblr became a place for our little community to settle down for the years to come but after the entire drama with Predstrogen getting banned by the CEO himself, life on this platform has seemed rocky to me. I was happy to see the community here was outraged and rallied against these actions but it feels like once again we are on a site that doesn't value or respect us. One question that I saw a few times during this event was if we should migrate to another platform and where to if so. This was met with not much of an answer because where else is there to go? Back to Reddit? Twitter? Somehow move to Instagram? To those who feel like there is no where left to turn let me introduce you, the two people who are actually read this, to the Fediverse.

### WHAT IS THE FEDIVERSE

In the most basic terms it's a group of individual servers that are connected to create a bigger social media platform. It's kind of like if you could view and communicate with people on Instagram and Reddit while on Tumblr and vise versa just with a lot of smaller independent servers.

This allows for a lot of smaller servers with unique communities and rules to mingle and thrive without needing to worry about advertisements, algorithms, or higher-ups from randomly banning your account for just existing(I mean that can happen if there's a bad admin but then you can just create a different account on a different server).

I feel like this corner of the internet would be perfect to harbor the 196 community. Below is a guide on how to set up an account and a little bit about the interface to anyone who would like to try. At the very bottom is also a great video that goes over everything here just better I would say. If you would, give it a try. It would make my heart warm to see the 196 tag on there.

### HOW TO MAKE AN ACCOUNT

# STEP 1: Pick a server

The first step in creating an account is picking the a server. This in the end won't matter that much as if you create an account on a niche server you will still be able to see the content on all other servers connected to the Frediverse. The two main things you will want to be looking at while choosing a server is: 1. Join or apply: Some servers you will need to apply to get in while others are open to anyone. I've never tried to apply to any servers so I can't say anything about the process, but it is something to keep in mind if you would just like to create an account and instantly start posting.

2. The rules: For rules that should be self explanatory. If some of y'all want to do hornyposting, which please do, then you should make sure the server you choose is okay with that type of stuff.

3. Character Limit: Every server will have a character limit for messages which is the only downside when switching from Tumblr. For most servers this limit is 500 character but it can be more. I don't know how to see this per server but if it's a bigger server it's more than likely it'll be a 500 character limit. Below are two links to help with server hunting: 1. The main page with some of the most popular servers.

2. A tool that can help you sort ALL of the servers.

For this tutorial I'll create an account on neovibe.app to demonstrate but feel free to join any one that catches your eye even if it's a general server like mastodon.social(that is a perfectly fine option).

# STEP 2: Fill out the info

Once you have picked a server go to it's page (so for me I'll put neovibe.app into my URL). Then once the page loads hit the 'create account' button.

Now you will be taken to the rules of the server. Double check they are good with you before hitting accept.

Now you will be taken to your usual social media fill out page. Fill the information and hit sign up. Next you will be prompted to verify your email and after that you should be ready to start posting.

# STEP 3: Enjoy

Once you've created your account you can now start posting. This works a little like Twitter but less toxic and isn't a in a spiral right now.

Here are some descriptions of the tabs you will use most: Home - Your home tab will show you things the people you follow posted along with tags you follow. Explore - The Explore tab I believe shows you what's trending today. Live Feed - The Live Feed shows you the newest things. It can be sorted between the server you are on, other servers, or all the servers.

When posting remember if something is NSFW or gory remember to add a content warning.

If you have any more question please let me know and I will help as much as I can. I love talking about open source projects that work towards a better and more open internet and helping people use this stuff.

For more info this video talks more in depth about how stuff works and how to use the platform:

[itwasthereaminuteago]

|| Engagement ||

Matt Murdock x gn reader

Tags/warnings: mild angst, mild smut, meta, sorry not sorry I had to!!! 😂

As always, I adore and appreciate any comments, reblogs, etc and I'm extremely thankful to you for reading my fics!

~

Matt's arms tighten around you as you lie snuggled up together in bed. He can pick up on your disconnected mood from your elevated heart rate and the way he hears your breathing change every time you think about saying something and then stop yourself.

"You know you can talk to me, if something's wrong." He says quietly.

You take a deep inhale, sighing it out as you nuzzle into his t-shirt at his shoulder. "I know," you reply, choosing to ignore the invitation to unload.

He pushes a little harder in response. "Sweetie, you've been off for a while now, you think I hadn't noticed?"

"Urgh. It's stupid."

He turns his head to kiss you on the top of your head, giving you another squeeze. "I'm sure it's not, and talking about might help? If you want."

You huff out another sigh. "I dunno, I've kind of talked it over with others but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I'm not sure it's something I can fix."

Concern washes over Matt's features. "Is– is it something I've done? Or not done?" He gently takes your face in his hands. "Sweetheart, you'd tell me if it was me wouldn't you? I'd want you to."

You smile, bringing your hand up to stroke through his soft, messy hair. "Of course I would, and no it's nothing you've done, so don't fret."

The worry melts from his brow. "Alright, but c'mon, try me. I'm sure we can do something about whatever it is that's got you down."

"Well… it's work related. I'm not getting anywhere near as much feedback on my stuff as I used to. You know how in the creative sector we kinda thrive on others sharing our work to bring it to the attention of others? I've been feeling for a while now that the sense of community that we had has just sort of disappeared. People don't seem to want to interact that much with what we make."

Matt groans. "Baby, is this about the lack of reblogs on Tumblr again? "

You can't help frowning. "It is." You admit.

He smiles and rolls over to cage you underneath him. "I could make you forget about it, for a while at least?"

"Matty!" You push him off with a frustrated sigh. "Are you honestly trying to distract me with sex? You know how important this is to me."

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't mean to trivialise the issue, I just thought I could take your mind off it, maybe make you feel better."

"So kind and selfless of you…" you smirk as he starts to kiss along the column of your neck.

"I try." He smiles. "Anyway, you were saying? And I'm gonna keep kissing you."

"Fine. Okay, so I know that I should create for myself and not for other people…"

"But it's nice to get some recognition, right?" You nod as Matt holds himself over you again continuing to make his way down your neck towards your collarbones.

"Right. I really do appreciate the likes, but if people are just 'liking' my work without sharing it, that means it just ends up dead in the water. No-one else really gets the chance to enjoy it."

"Any idea why they are not sharing?" Matt asks, lightly stroking your side.

"I dunno, maybe they're not familiar with how the site works, that it doesn't have an algorithm? Maybe they're embarrassed to let other people see what they're looking at? Especially if it's something a bit risqué."

Matt hums. "Yeah but didn't you tell me before that they could just create a sideblog that's not associated with their main account, and reblog things they like using that and no one would be any wiser?'

"Exactly! And anyway, it's not like everyone doesn't enjoy looking at and reading porn…"

Matt lifts his head up, a slight sly smile pulling up the corner of his mouth. "Mm true. So what else are you sad about?"

You sigh again. You can't seem to stop yourself.

"Well, people aren't commenting on works either. There's rarely any discussion, I mean even just a manic keyboard smash would be amazing for an artist to see in their notifications, but there's barely even that anymore. Commenting on a stranger's fan works is so much fun, it can really bring people together!"

"That's how a great community grows isn't it?" Matt asks you.

"Yep, and you end up making so many friends you would never have thought. I miss that aspect of it a lot."

Matt's swiftly moving down to lavish attention over your chest, and you momentarily lose your train of thought as his lips brush over your nipple. "And have you brought people's attention to this problem?"

"Of course! Many other creators have explained why reblogs and sharing are so important in eloquently written PSAs, but I guess that the target audience must not see them because they're perhaps only looking at the stories and fanart from tags and they maybe don't see the other dashboard posts. I dunno."

Matt starts to lick an achingly slow intimate path down your stomach and you feel heat spreading throughout your body, your heart rate now elevated for quite a different reason. Then suddenly, he stops.

"Have you thought about maybe incorporating the message into one of your creations? Maybe that might reach the intended audience better."

You close your eyes as you consider the idea. He shifts further down the bed and you allow him to spread your thighs apart and slot his shoulders inbetween.

"Mm, well… that's- actually that's a good idea. I mean, it can't hurt to try, can it? You're the devil on my shoulder Matty."

"Exactly. But leave it till tomorrow sweetheart. Right now this devil wants to make you feel good."

You bite down on your lip as he flashes you a smoldering look before ducking down to make good on his promise.

[superultrapop]

Damn, people really like to complain, uhn?

I've been on tumblr - as ohthati - since 2009 as well, coincidentally. Lets talk.

Saying a whole statement is corporate-speak bullshit is not only unpolite, but also unreasonable. Well, this is a corporation. Not your best friend. They can't just tell you "hey shit head, we trying to run a company here". They have to sound profissional. Good thing you don't, ain't it?

There has been research about the users and their habits lately, more than it ever had. If you missed, you're not using the site very much. I answered. Did you?

Things that seem simple and easily interactive for you on the site happen to be this way because you are here since 2009. The old way will always look easier. That's why older people have trouble interacting with new media. Don't worry. I also raise my hands and grumble "those damn kids" everytime I see a Tiktok edit 😒

"That 'small portion' of your userbase is your core userbase"

SAYS WHO? Where do your numbers come from? Where is your data? Do you have access to Tumblr user numbers? Or are you creating information out of thin air? FFS. Talk about spreading misinformation.

"Countless site have tried before" oh my god. Oh my god. Such a villain speak. My dude. They are adapting some functionalities they are not creating the Frankestein monster. Countless sites have tried to adapt to the new information flow and flourished, without losing their identity. Name me one site that has remained the SAME over the years. Damn.

You claim your "tags you might want to follow" are unnacurate. Well! That's what they are trying to fix, dumbass! They are trying to make it easier for you, that is oh so special, to find content! It doesn't mean this will turn into algorithm hell hole!

"Your users are not idiots", well, we can agree on that. I just think some might enjoy shitting all over the godamn plataform they use for over ten years more than others.

You claim you don't think tumblr is stale. Well, we used to have - back in the day, remember? - big events where we could learn what was happening as it was happening. Same as Twitter. In a way, we lost that - somewhere around the same time we lost Superwholock. I wonder if that was the price. But anyway, fashion, movies, tv show, MVs: I used to be kept up to date by tumblr. Now I have to open other platforms- such as Instagram and Twitter - to learn news about my interests. I wish I didnt. I hate the negative emotions both those platforms bring. I like being here. I wanna stick to being here.

If you can be kept up to date on news about your interest on tumblr... I just wonder what are those subjects.

Tumblr has a lot of things it could be better at - it should be better at. We shouldn't let our nostalgic and self centered visions react to change, otherwise we will be stuck in a vicious cycle of complaining when things don't work, and complaining when things are fixed.

"I will never be your creator", they claim, with a passive aggressive tone. Well, honey: you just wrote a whole lot for someone who is not interested in create. Creation and creativity is not limited to the uses of influencers on TikTok. They are what bring us together. Without creativity AND creators there is not a single reason to log on tumblr. You are either consuming or creating, even if its just discourse for the sake of discourse. Or, as we used to call it back in the day, good old wank.

*sorry for my bad English, it's not my first or second language

*this rant is aimed at Tumblr user @thatlittleegyptilogist, that I just can't tag. Hope you see it, honey.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[ragnarokcat]

Coming from Reddit, my experience with Tumblr has been interesting. I plan to continue browsing and posting here at least until Reddit figures everything out, though who knows, I might stay active here afterwards. I've always liked Reddit's ways of organizing their content. If you want cats, go to r/cats, looking for a specific breed of cats, there's probably a sub for it, looking for cats loafing? Go to r/catloaf. There are so many cat subs. There are, of course, non cat subs. Good examples would be r/therewasanattempt and r/facepalm. There are more, tons more, to the point where everything has a sub. You of course have a home page, but you can also browse specific subs if you fancy one kind of content.

(a bit of a side note here, this post has started to get longer than I thought it was going to be, so sorry about that. I'll add a read more after this so it doesn't take up a mile of your homepage. Though please read on)

(Thank you for reading on 🙂)

Tumblr doesn't have that. From what I hear, it doesn't have much of an algorithm either. And I kind of like it. Though I kinda miss being able to click on specific communities to see just content related to that. Yes, I know there are tags, but there are so many tags that are for the same exact thing, just some get used more than others. Which do I click to see stuff related to that!?

Also, Tumblr is filled with super talented artists and writers. Tumblr also has Neil Gaiman, a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

(Fuck, this is going on longer than I thought it would. I'm again sorry about that.)

Strangely enough, I'm posting here way more often than I did on Reddit. In the nearly three years I have been on Reddit, I've made a total of eight posts, each with months in between them. Here on Tumblr, if I continue at the rate I have been, I would pass that amount in less than a week from now. I'm a little more active commenting on Reddit, but that was mostly in the past few months, and still with large lengths of time in between. Here, I have not commented yet, but I have been posting daily things, something that I aim to continue doing, though I might miss days

I hope Reddit reverts the changes made, but until then I'll be here. A voice shouting her thoughts into the void. From what I hear, Reddit is staying strict in its ways, so I might be here for a while. I might never return to Reddit fully. The users of this site are definitely nicer than people on Reddit (haven't seen someone get down voted to oblivion and then posted on r/lostredditers yet).

Anyways this post has gone on long enough, sorry again for the long post, will probably happen again. This has just been another stream of consciousness post. See you tomorrow Tumblr folk.

[dannyslaysdragons]

Not to toot tumblr's horn or anything, but it's a really phobia-friendly site. Like, say what you want about infinite trigger warnings, the tagging culture of tumblr is thorough enough that I never have to be jumpscared by things I'm genuinely scared of.

You can block tags without having to search them up first. The dashboard can be curated precisely without any other garbage, usually. And I actually use the explore page a lot because it's so finely tuned for an algorithm that I'm not scared of seeing things I don't want to.

The only other social media I use is Instagram. It's a love/hate relationship. I deleted twitter from my phone (because all of it is bad) and I don't have a tiktok so I watch reels (sorry). And the only real way to see miscellaneous content on instagram is by scrolling through their explore page. Which sucks ass.

There's no way to say what you like without favoriting hashtags, and that makes it show up on your main feed. I don't want everything to show up on my main feed. So you just have to go off of their algorithmic assumptions which are really hit or miss. Because regardlesss of who you are, they pump out the generic popular content. Which includes shocking content.

The only way to kinda filter stuff out on there is by interacting with the photo or video you don't want to see for a significant period of time while using a window that doesn't cover up the whole thing. You then say "I don't like this" and you have to keep doing it until it's abyssal pit of evil gets the hint and stops showing it to you... for a while.

I'm just talking about the site functions here. On a fundamental level tumblr was made to be used by the people who would use a website like tumblr. A social platoform. Not the general "market", which is a disgusting way to think about people, in my opinion.

[thebellekeys]

hi! i'm a new tumblr resident. i've visited this site a couple of times in the past during the peak of a few of my hyper fixations but never stayed long enough to discover the other good stuff. now i'm trying my best to learn about tumblr etiquette and the culture of the communities that i would like to partake in. one of them, is book tumblr or bookblr (?) i'm not sure which is the proper term sorry. if you don't mind, can i ask for a brief guide on navigating the book community here? and how does it differ from say, booktwt or booktok? i am ignorant about this stuff and would really appreciate some help.

thank you for taking the time to read this ♡ i hope you have a nice day!

Hi hi!

In terms of the book community on here, I'd say to use the tag to find whatever blogs you may be interested in. If, for example, you like The Secret History by Donna Tartt, maybe try looking on the "the secret history" tag to find some popular blogs that are dedicated to the book. From thereon, you can send asks to get better recommendations for blogs that give you exactly what you are looking for. Don't be shy to send asks to your favorite blogs. If you're a minor, maybe say so in your bio as some blogs post NSFW content that they don't intend for minors to interact with. Other than that, you should be fine! Be sure to tag when you post and you'll gain some traction.

I, personally, would say to stay away from booktwt. Because you're limited to a couple hundred characters at most on Twitter, you see a lot of nonsensical "hot takes" that only consist of buzzwords and little criticisms. Also, Twitter is just far too... political in terms of how much identity politics play a role in the book community and even I have a limit. Plus, Twitter is like ten times the size of Tumblr, meaning there's way too much noise, way too much stuff going on, way too many users. And the algorithm always shows me the most toxic shit that's popular. I hate Twitter. Tumblr doesn't have a real algorithm which makes it suitable for me. I don't use Tiktok because it's a cesspool but most people have ridiculous opinions on there and they read the same five books over and over, so I can't say I recommend booktok.

I myself use bookstagram (link in bio) and Tumblr for my bookish needs. The former is especially great for recommendations, diverse readers, and pretty pictures.

[mistergandalf]

I was going to put this in the tags, but I think I want to actually say it out loud here.

I get the sentiment here. I do. I have a lot of feelings about this, too. But this is a badly-designed poll with specifically-engineered options to get a desired result. This is a "gotcha" poll that doesn't accept the nuances that tumblr is going for here.

The new post from @staff is about gaining and retaining new users. It's not about us, the tumblr olds who joined between 2010 and 2016. Many of us, despite our complaints, do use some of tumblr's already-implemented algorithmic options. If you've ever clicked on the "For You" tab; if you've ever followed a tag; if you've ever had "In Your Orbit" turned on; you've benefited from tumblr's algorithm.

But let's say you don't use any of those things. You've turned them all off and vehemently hate them. Okay, that's fine - but to reiterate here, the changes tumblr is making are to gain and retain new users. If they start changing our default chronological feed, maybe we have cause to complain, but from what I read in that post, they're talking about designing a user experience for new users to help them get their foot in the door. The use of algorithms is to help them FIND their community, not replace it.

I know we all like to complain. I know we all like our chronological, personally-curated feeds. I also voted for the second option on the poll above and meant it with my whole heart. I've sent an ask to @wip to ask for clarification, and I hope they answer my question or a similar one. But I think we'll be fine. This is our hellsite (affectionate) and as long as we hang on like roaches, I think they'll still cater to us, too.

And if you want to keep the site as is, you know what helps? Supporting the site financially. I pay for ad-free tumblr because I know that every dollar I contribute to this website from my personal bank account means one fewer dollar they have to get from ad revenue or from increasing site traffic. I know some people can't afford that, and that's fine. Get your friends to join your tumblr community. If you DO have the funds, gift ad-free tumblr to your friends. Buy them silly dash gifts. Whatever you an do.

This is the capitalism hating website, but that doesn't mean we've stopped existing in a capitalistic system. Tumblr as a company isn't going to survive by being anticapitalist - it's going to survive by its users supporting the website so they don't have to go to the evil lengths other companies have gone to in a desperate attempt to retain their userbase. Tumblr needs more users and more money to stay afloat. I'm sorry, but that is the way it is. This free website isn't actually free, and if you face the facts and are pragmatic about it, and do what you can to keep it going - instead of complaining about what they are trying to do to keep this site up FOR YOU - maybe it'll continue to be our beloved hellsite for years to come.

Because @staff is too cowardly…