#and these recommended posts are all because of the fucking algorithms picking and choosing which posts to push

[herefortheships]

Hey Tumblr (and subsequently, all other social media while we're at it), I don't want to see these "recommended" posts "for you" posts or "based on your interests" posts or whatever the fuck. I want to see posts from people I FOLLOW.

I had no problem finding new blogs to follow on my own before the "for you" and "recommended" posts became a thing. I would read additions to reblogs, I would go to the tag page of whatever I'm interested in finding blogs to follow about (like I'd go to the Destiel tag, for example, and read around for interesting posts and then check out those blogs and decide if I want to hit "follow"). That's how I decided if I wanted to follow someone or not.

Just because I liked a post about... say, a political figure or a dog or whatever, doesn't mean I want to see politics crap or cute dogs all over the place as I scroll just because I liked that one post.

[inconveniently-discorporated]

I've also posted this and submitted feedback but I cannot express enough how much I HATE that most social media has devolved into exclusively using shitty algorithmic feeds with no options for chronological order anymore, and how much that has driven me away from those platforms.

I specifically joined Tumblr because I was unhappy with other social media platforms and the inability to see content I actually WANTED to see. I am constantly served stale content that OTHER people are looking at, but isn't what I want to see. Lord help me if I curiously search one thing one time, or accidentally leave a video on loop while I go do something -- my entire feed is then taken over by shit I don't actually care about.

Would I mind there being better options to find things I might like outside of the bubble I've created? Sure -- but those would be good options, not good replacements.

Having a self-curated feed that I can review chronologically has allowed me to build up a rapport with mutuals and followers in a way I have NEVER been able to on any other platform. Not even on Facebook (anymore) on which I'm ONLY friends with people I know and want to keep up with -- I simply can't use it for that, because 80% of my feed is populated by the same "top posts" I saw five hours ago and assorted promotional bullshit, so I really don't see my friends' everyday content, and I'm not going to go to everyone's individual profiles every day just to try to keep up. So I just don't go on there.

The way Tumblr works has allowed me to build an organic network based on who I choose to follow, and what those people are reposting. I enjoy being here and recommend this site because it's been the most beneficial social media out of all the other ones.

I don't have to worry about the algorithm sending me to "the wrong side of tumblr" like what happens on other platforms. Sure, someone might reblog my content to an audience I did not intend content for, but the nature of how this site works makes that fairly unlikely to happen. Meanwhile, I've seen content creators bullied off other platforms because one of their videos got picked up by the algorithm and shown to "the wrong side", effectively throwing them to the hornet's nest of social media bullies.

And, finally, gaming human psychology for profit is fucking gross and a huge reason why social media is often so toxic. I do my best not to support platforms that do this. People naturally engage more with content that is upsetting, but it doesn't necessarily mean that's what they WANT to see. That is what they are being manipulated into interacting with. I like that I can take care of myself by curating my feed and only following content that is beneficial for me.

An open letter to @staff

I already submitted this to Support under "Feedback," but I'm sharing it here too as I don't expect it to get a response, and I feel like putting in out in public may be more effective than sending it off into the void.

The recent post on the Staff blog about changing tumblr to an algorithmic feed features a large amount of misinformation that I feel staff needs to address, openly and honestly, with information on where this data was sourced at the very least.

Claim 1: Algorithms help small creators.

This is false, as algorithms are designed to push content that gets engagement in order to get it more engagement, thereby assuring that the popular remain popular and the small remain small except in instances of extreme luck.

This can already be seen on the tumblr radar, which is a combination of staff picks (usually the same half-dozen fandoms or niche special interests like Lego photography) which already have a ton of engagement, or posts that are getting enough engagement to hit the radar organically. Tumblr has an algorithm that runs like every other socmed algorithm on the planet, and it will decimate the reach of small creators just like every other platform before it.

Claim 2: Only a small portion of users utilize the chronological feed.

You can find a poll by user @darkwood-sleddog here that at the time of writing this, sits at over 40 THOUSAND responses showing that over 96 percent of them use the chronological feed. Claiming otherwise isn't just a misstatement, it's a lie. You are lying to your core userbase and expecting them to accept it as fact. It's not just unethical, it's insulting to people who have been supporting your platform for over a decade.

Claim 3: Tumblr is not easy to use.

This is also 100% false and you ABSOLUTELY know it. Tumblr is EXTREMELY easy to use, the issue is that the documentation, the explanations of features, and often even the stability of the service is subpar. All of this would be very easy for staff to fix, if they would invest in the creation of walkthroughs and clear explanations of how various site features work, as well as finally fixing the search function. Your inability to explain how your service works should not result in completely ignoring the needs and wants of your core long-term userbase. The fact that you're more willing to invest in the very systems that have made every other form of social media so horrifically toxic than in trying to make it easier for people to use the service AS IT WORKS NOW and fixing the parts that don't work as well speaks volumes toward what tumblr staff actually cares about.

You will not get a paycheck if your platform becomes defunct, and the thing that makes it special right now is that it is the ONLY large-scale socmed platform on THE ENTIRE INTERNET with a true chronological feed and no aggressive algorithmic content serving. The recent post from staff indicates that you are going to kill that, and are insisting that it's what we want. It is not. I'd hazard to guess that most of the dev team knows it isn't what we want, but I assume the money people don't care. The user base isn't relevant, just how much money they can bring in.

The CEO stated he wanted this to remain as sort of the last bastion of the Old Internet, and yet here we are, watching you declare you intend to burn it to the ground.

You can do so much better than this.