#i also know tumblr is curated by yourself so it might not be that bad

[heavenknowsffs]

.

[genericpuff]

I'm curious - how many unanswered asks do you have in your inbox? Or do you just delete the ones you don't plan on answering?

do you feel good anon

do you feel good about yourself with this question

targeting me like that

geeeeez

ok but more seriously LMAO i have an embarrassingly large amount of unanswered asks but i do read all of them <3 a lot of them honestly are just from folks like, sharing their anonymous opinions about either LO and LR, with the odd one about comic advice, sharing webtoon recommendations, and other things of that nature!

In the case of the LO asks, it's stuff that often has already been spoken about at length before so I don't really have anything to add (but trust me, I'm usually in total agreement, if I heavily disagree with a take I'll usually try to respond to it but it's rare that that's the case because most of the takes are just things like "wow the art in this panel sucks" like yep it sure do LOL) and often it just feels like my inbox is just like, a comment box for people to get their feelings out anonymously and honestly that's fine, I just also can't really respond to every single one unfortunately, but I do read them and I love y'all's takes!

With LR asks, y'all are way too sweet to me and send me just the kindest things about LR, and I hope y'all know that even if I wind up not getting back to your ask about it, I do read everything you send and appreciate so much the amount of support you've all shown for this project since I took it on <3 A lot of those asks are literally my version of "do it for her" where I read them and it reminds me of why it's so worth doing what I do :') <3

Whenever people recommend me other works to read, I add them to a list and I am currently trying to tackle it :) (honestly that list isn't as big as you'd think, a lot of the recommendations are for the same stuff, like other Greek myth retelling comics or otherwise just bad webtoons that people want me to suffer thru LOL) I just recently finally got a physical copy of Song of Achilles and while it's slow going, I'm gonna be sharing my extended thoughts about it, either in a big Tumblr post or maybe a video if I can motivate myself to do it 🤔

And of course, the comic advice asks... these ones admittedly I do tend to actually move into my drafts because I really, REALLY do want to respond to them, but I'm also not someone to half-ass responses to questions like that. That is a bit of a bad habit on my end because it often means I'm spending crazy amounts of time going over topics that can be researched, but I also just really love talking about comics so it doesn't feel good to get a comic advice ask and just leave it at "idk just start" like yeah, do that, but also I want to pass on all the things I WISH I had known when I was first starting out and I'm glad people see me as someone to learn those things from! So when it comes to those asks, don't worry, I'm picking away at them <3 (but also man, I should probably just like... put together some kind of hitchhiker's guide to comic making or something huh LOL)

Anyways! I do have a lot of unanswered asks and honestly, I'm not really one to delete them, even if I don't get back to some of them it is still nice to read them in their own little curated space separate from my main blog, it's kind of like a personal comment section between myself and those of you who took the time to write <3 The only asks I tend to outright delete are ones that are just like, way too bad faith to even want to give any attention to, or bot spam lmao But for the majority of y'all who have sent genuine asks to my inbox and never saw a response and worry that I might have ignored it or deleted it, I hope you can have reassurance in knowing that they are all still there and even if I can't make time every day to respond to them, receiving all your personal takes about LO and your amazing feedback and kind words about LR is something I'm always excited to see whenever that little notification pops up in my Inbox tab. I see you and appreciate you <3

[rainbowredcrayon]

This blog is entirely SFW but I'd like to keep it adults-only for my comfort please! ☀️ I'd prefer heavily NSFW blogs to just look as well. Please do not interact with me if you post NSFW content with stuffed animals

If you're against age regression or like-minded communities or are a generally close-minded & judgemental person then this blog probably isn't for you 🌈

Hello there! 👋 My name is Nate, welcome to my Tumblr page!

I love rainbows and incorporating them into my life is very important to me. I love wearing colorful outfits, collecting stuffed animals and coloring with crayons 🖍️

I also work full-time as an illustrator professionally, you can find my art under the username “natedraws” pretty much anywhere online 🎨

✨ My Favorites ✨ 🌈Color: Rainbow, blue, pink, red 🦐Animal: Shrimp, pangolin 📚Book: The Velveteen Rabbit 🎞️Show: Spirit Riding Free 🎥Movie: Mr.Magorium's Wonder Emporium 🖍️Hobby: Coloring, reading, cross-stitch

For as long as I can remember I have struggled with being different from everyone around me, having interests in media and toys that are much younger then I should be. What causes this I don’t know, but as I’ve gotten older I am learning to embrace it instead of wishing I was different. It’s so important to be yourself even if others don’t understand! ✨

And again; if you are against age regression, littles, babyfurs, ect. Or are generally a close-minded & judgemental person then this blog probably isn't for you! This includes people who use labels you personally find "icky" ( despite them doing the exact same thing as you - just with a different word attached to it ). This is not specifically a blog for that, but themes / imagery of it might appear as it's apart of who I am that I do not categorize or seperate

🌈My Blogs: ( This is my main so follows come from here! )

🎨 @natedraws - My artwork 🧸 @rainbowredcrayon - My original photos, mainly pictures of toys, teddies, coloring pages, ect ( you're here! ) 🌈 @iloveteddiesandyou - Where I re-blog things, post photos that aren't "good enough" for here, and may occasionally personal posts 🐺 @dogsoulhumanbody - Otherkin related 🍃 @mayornate - Animal Crossing related 🐎 @spiritridingfreeblog - A blog dedicated to my main special interest; Spirit Riding Free 🍌 @rainbowminionlvr - A blog dedicated to my special interest in Minions

If a blog is not listed above 👆 it is not me

☀️My Tags:

All of my posts will have the tag of that specific teddies name, so if you search it you can find all posts that friend has been shown in

#others photos - Photos that other people have taken of my plush

#friends teddies - Photos including my friends plush

#partners teddies - Photos including my partners plush

#for me - Posts for me by others

#ask - Asks I have been sent

🛑 Do Not Interact

I do not have a DNI list. If I don't want you interacting with me I will just block you! ( This being said, if you do find yourself blocked by me it doesn't mean I think you're bad or anything, not everyone is meant to be friends with each-other. I take curating my spaces for myself very liberally ) In general as long as you are not a mean or judgemental person & don't stand for things that are harmful towards others then we should be good to get along : D If you do not want me interacting with you, you’re free to send me a kind message asking me to stop & I will ☀️ Or you should use the block button as intended ( no need to contact me at all! ). If you feel the need to be rude or cruel about it I ask you to take a step back and ask yourself what exactly it is you’re trying to accomplish. I do not check the source of everything I interact with because that’s just unreasonable : )

[hellsite-detective]

*sighs in relief* (anon looking for the red blog with a blue eye pfp)

My most notable post, and the one this blog reblogged multiple times that brought our paths across each other, was a "do you love the color of the sky" post, but I made it extra long. Like, several times as long as the original. It was evil, I know. It was for April Fools. The blog I'm looking for reblogged it from me en masses, a good 20-40 times in a row. That's what made me take notice of them. Most of the time I just reblogged posts, but that one was a special occasion. I also had a bunch of back and forth posts with a different mutual, tagged #homeskillet, which might be unique enough to be of use? Oh, and one of my most popular posts was a Awsten from the band Waterparks that I edited to have transparent hair so it would change color with your blog theme (made that for a friend). Maybe that would help? The blog I'm looking for never reblogged that post, but it still might be worth something?

My old blog used to be ftinally (currently on anon because my new url is extremely similar, but I've had too many bad experiences with sending asks off anon and then getting a bunch of hateful asks in response that I'm wary of attaching my url to asks).

The title of my blog was "don't write yourself off yet", like the Jimmy Eat World song. It was only deleted around September/October, so the trail isn't too cold yet. Hopefully some of that information is useful? Thank you so much for looking into this!

finally... a lead. first thing was first, i saw the mention of "do you love the color of the sky" and jumped for joy. see, i'm very close with Madame Curator, @hellsite-hall-of-fame. and dare i say she is the Queen of the Sky. i went to her and asked for any extra long color of the sky posts, to which she sent me two different variants. however, neither of these were gettin' me where i needed to go. luckily, i was provided a blog name i could track! doin' quite a bit of diggin' i managed to stumble across the aformentioned Awsten post. now, i know that i was told that the missing person hadn't reblogged this one, but at least i could confirm this was what i was lookin' for.

so, i went down to my ol' pal, Google, to see if they knew anything about "tumblr ftinally." and they handed me a whole laundry list of links. it was time to meticulously check every single one of these. i was hopin' to stumble across the color of the sky image that my client had mentioned. unfortunately, i wasn't findin' the color of the sky post. however, i went back to the Awsten post and thought i might be able to use that as a lead. problem was, that wasn't gonna do me much good. usin' the Wayback Machine and searchin' for the blog's address also wasn't doin' me much good, and i was gettin' worried this was gonna be a dead end.

i hate to do this again, but is it possible you have any defining characteristics of that color of the sky post you made? any accompanying text, tags you may have used, or even original image files and could reverse image search? and of course, feel free to message me this information in private if it's too personal to share in an ask, or not mention it at all if you're not comfortable!

additionally, when you say "red blog" do you mean the blog had a red theme, or the blue eye was on a red background in the actual image? that also may help to narrow the search!

i will not give up on you, anon. i will find your mutual if it's the last thing i do!

Post Case: Under Investigation

[ramorazinn]

I am an Ignorant White Person™ and also an Ignorant American™. (That's not pride in ignorance you're reading, that's acknowledgment of privilege and the inability to fully understand no matter how much I know theoretically, OK?) And my dash is curated such that 99% of what I'm seeing re: Palestine is in line with what the tiniest bit of critical thought would produce, including, but not limited to:

Genocide is bad (and this is genocide)

War crimes are bad (and Israel is committing war crimes with the tacit or outright support of most of the rest of the world, especially the US)

"Israel" is not the same as "Jews" or "Jewish people," whether they be inside or outside Israel (so suck on your antisemitism)

"Hamas" is not the same as "Palestinians" or "Muslims" (so suck on your racism and Islamophobia)

Terrorism is bad (but does not happen in a vacuum)

And I don't want to hijack any of these posts, because this is so very Not About Me, and I know I am treading dangerously close to the Tone Argument regardless. But I do want to scream out into the void because I see so much stuff that is just... tailor-made to shut down USAmerican sympathy/engagement and I don't understand,

because I really genuinely thought the rest of the world had some concept of American culture – not because I subscribe to Americentrism, but just out of self-preservation, because the USA is the big bully around here (or at least the one that's out and proud about it).

Stated-or-implied, there's a strong sentiment of "every individual USAmerican is culpable," including such flavors as:

You voted for these people

There was not a Non-War-Criminal option on our presidential ballot (and there hasn't been in the average Tumblr user's lifetime)

Even if there were, majority vote does not determine the president

Politicians are not afraid of losing their next election over this (most positions are effectively predetermined by demographics)

You aren't protesting loud enough

Only three years ago, "I can't breathe" (George Floyd edition) was international news and prompted global protests and still wasn't loud enough to do anything in our own country

The USA is vast and cannot be disrupted by protest in the same way as smaller countries

The media is owned by the same corporations that own the government and will not be covering protests in an unbiased way if at all

Our police and in-country military are encouraged to do things to our citizens that would violate the Geneva Convention if performed on enemy combatants (we have to walk into any protest willing and able to sacrifice our bodies/lives and by extension our families' safety and security)

You need to educate yourself

This is true, but also

USAmerican media is propaganda

The average USAmerican does not have even a passing relationship with someone who can speak to the issue personally

The average USAmerican is starting at ZERO in this educational journey (Terrorism bad! Palestinians whom? Gaza Strip where? Colonialism what?)

I get what you're saying, Blogpost Written In Justified Anger, but you are speaking to a group that already has trouble distinguishing between criticism of a part and criticism of a whole, so when you skip right over "your country is culpable" and start at "you, as an individual, are culpable," you lose half the people who might have been willing to listen. And I am afraid that the pervasiveness of this sentiment is actively pushing USAmericans to support the actions of Israel.

[compassionatereminders]

controversial opinion(?) i wish there wasn't an expectation to use super curated language all the time even with your friends. I'm talking about like "I need to reinvest my energy elsewhere" or "have you considered these thoughts would be unhelpful" type of things.which people weren't down for years ago with the "I'm at capacity" text getting made fun of online a few years ago (I dont' think making fun of it is good either sometimes intentional languaage is extremely important but still, the general opinion of it has changed a lot) i wish people would just talk to me like a human being instead, to me the intention of your words matters much more than the specific ones u actually use. the most comforting thing i heard from a friend recently was (not exact words but along the lines of) "what? that's an awful way to to think about yourself. you're being stupid right now" said out of concern and kindness. sometimes I'm not valid and if I'm told i'm valid it will just give my worst thoughts more power. it also makes me afraid people aren't being honest with me when they say something good or bad because well they will try to talk around it either way or won't be honest because they don't want to hurt my feelings (if I'm acting out because I'm struggling in a way that's hurting others and I don't realize I'm doing it I want to know yk?). I don't know. I know it's nuanced and this might be just me not liking it and that's ok. i am curious your thoughts on this though

also I don't think it's bad or want to judge if this helps anyone, if any of my friends prefer it I will talk to them this way and I don't mind, I want to do what's best for them. I just wish it wasn't universally seen as like the better way to do things because it isn't for absolutely everyone

I don't use super curated language with my friends nor do they use super curated language with me, so this isn't a trend I've noticed or been bothered by. But I think it makes sense that you want people to be clear and direct with you! (And I want to quickly note the irony in me often using super curated language here on tumblr, but not in my actual relationships)

[anantaru]

Hi Yoru! I was wondering if you have any tips on growing your blog? For someone just starting out or in general?

some overall things i think are important:

— figure out what fandoms you want to write for, if you want to be a single fandom only kind of blog (like me) or a multifandom one!

— have a nice theme, make your own rules, your byi, tag system, make sure to have these out of the way first so when someone comes across your blog they can find your rules and know what you‘re comfortable with etc.

— once you got more writings, make sure to have a masterlist for people to go back to!

— tag stuff accordingly, if you write dark content, please tag it, mention it. Mention who your writing is catered to, for example: fem! reader etc. etc. + also filter things that make you uncomfortable so you don‘t get triggered.

— write for yourself and don‘t be discouraged if you aren‘t getting much interaction in the first few months of writing. You can‘t expect to post 2-3 fics and already have a steady influx on asks, for example for me personally, it took me like 1-2 months until i had a steady influx of asks coming my way. I just want to get this out there because sometimes i see writers be discouraged about that (while they’ve been on the app for less than 1 week) but sadly you can‘t expect it to happen so soon. (also i hope this doesn‘t sound like me being as asshole, but it is simply the truth.)

— don‘t look at followers, notes etc. as long as you like a fic you wrote, that‘s enough reason. If you write for validation, you do you! but don’t be surprised if you get burned out afterwards.

— tumblr doesn‘t show your followers anyways so why focus on them + even if they would, it doesn‘t mean anything!

— don‘t be jealous of other writers, this is tumblr, no one‘s better than you and you aren‘t better either! be a nice person. (also if you see a writer you don‘t like, block them and move on, don‘t subpost and be desperate, please don’t be toxic and mean, you don‘t know anyone on here irl, we all have our own dealings, we have feelings, so just be a nice person and nice things will come back to you) + the amount of people coming into my askbox showing me stuff which only made me block them too because it‘s just childish, don‘t be like that, please be nice 💗!!

— this might be a hot take ?? but mutuals are not important, follow who you like, that‘s it. Don‘t expect follows back, you can make connections with people on here without following each other. I know it can be seen quite clique?? i suppose? i personally am not really someone who likes making mutuals because i‘ve sadly had a couple of bad experiences and they have traumatized me greatly so i might come off as shy! 🫶🏻

— with that in mind, block people freely, don‘t feel bad, again you don‘t know them. The moment someone makes you feel irritated, block them! if they complain? that‘s on them, whatever! this is supposed to be your safespace so you curate it how you like!

— last but not reast, "growing your blog" shouldn‘t be something you should prioritize, ever. Again if you‘re only here for followers, okay why not?? but keep in mind you‘re going to get very burned out some day, just saying.

— have fun, seriously, this is supposed to be a nice experience, writing about your favorite characters while sharing your creativeness 💗

— writing has become a very important hobby for me and i‘m very fortunate enough to be able to use it as an additional source of income now in my real life as well, (because tumblr has helped me sharpen my writing skills) you never know what will happen, let yourself move freely and enjoy the process! 🌸

[niuniente]

How do you survive fandom for so long? I used to heavily be in fandoms, making fanart, fanfics, participating in zines, celebrating characters bdays, etc. But now I struggle to stay in a fandom. Maybe I'm just seeing to many bad sides of fandom these days. Like I recently got into SpyxFamily but when looking through fanart, discovered 18+ fanart involving the child Anya, while I know this is the internet and I can't escape seeing things that make me uncomfortable, I just haven't had the urge to try to join the fandom after it. I'm sure there's a wonderful side to it, but I just don't have the energy for it anymore. Idk I always feel like I have to keep up with the fandoms artists, writers and everything or else I'm not a part of it. Sorry if this sounded ranty, I've just been following for years and envy your ability to hop right back into a fandom you haven't touched in a while or into ones that are new.

Big fandoms are always difficult to be in. The more people, the more problems there are, and you'll encounter things you wish not to see. You have to then weight things; can I handle encountering something I don't want to see and immediately block the thing and the person posting these things I don't wish to see (and report it, if needed) or will they throw me out of the loop so much that it is better not to wander into there? You need to curate your own internet experience (as we all need to) but it is challenging when things aren't tagged. Then, you have to weight the pros and cons and decide what to do.

I'm not part of any big fandoms and I grew up in the so-called dark ages of the internet, when nothing was tagged, warned etc. so when you go to see or read things, it can be anything. Then you just go "Nope" and click away. Fandoms were smaller back then as internet wasn't a common thing in your pocket available 24/7 so chances of running into something you do not want to encounter all of the sudden have grown since those days.

How I handle ALL fandom things is that I mainly mind my own business and don't wander too far. A good rule of thumb is to find a small group of nice people (or just a few of them) and hang around with them. Follow just certain artists. Follow just certain fanfic authors. Hang only in certain Discords. Mute and block posts and people freely - you don't have to justify this to anyone. Black list in Tumblr words you don't wish to see (New Xkit is excellent for computers, mobile should have its own blocking system but I don't use phone to scroll anything unless necessary).

You can't control a fandom or other fans (not even the twisted ones) but you can try your best to control yourself - and if it means not wandering into certain fandoms & tags or not wanting to take a risk of seeing something you don't want to see (as it will be pretty inevitable in big fandoms no matter what safety measurements you take), then it is the best not to go there. As sad as it might be.

Also, the second worry; if you like a thing, congratulations, you are part of the fandom :3 It really is as simply as that. Fandoms aren't some social activity you have to perform to earn your fan badge. You like the things = you are a fan.

[the-blaze-empress]

hey twitter users, sorry for the rent lowering gunshots

i get it. this is. kinda scary, in a spends-too-much-time-online sorta way. what's essentially your online home, your family, is being destroyed and there's very little you can do about it, if anything at all. i want to say you are welcome here. because you are. everyone needs a place to stay and if you've chosen tumblr, then welcome, we're so happy to have you.

what you need to understand, though, is that this isn't your house. not yet. we have different rules, different customs, different things that are acceptable and aren't. if you want to stay, youre gonna have to take the time to get used to this. be patient, learn from your mistakes, and ask for help. its worth it in the end.

i hope this is a bit of a break from all of the hostility and scarier stuff. and here's a few quick tips and reminders under the cut to get you started :D

have fun!!

- change your icon! tumblr has a massive bot problem, you'll probably find this out if you stick around long enough. changing your icon means we recognise you as human

- discourse isn't really a thing here. yeah, you're allowed to have your opinions and that's very valid! what we don't endorse is the needless harassment/arguing over said opinions, it's not fun for anyone involved

- you don't need to censor yourself. yay!! you can say things like kill and die and shit and fuck as much as you like! censoring trigger warnings or content warnings is a bad idea too, since it'll bypass people who have the actual word blocked (which is. anyone who wants to block that topic)

- there is no algorithm. this can take a bit of getting used to, i know. but what this means is that you only see what you want to see. you have to go out there and find what you're interested in, and then you have to interact with it. tumblr is powered by the people, not by an algorithm. reblogs are the most useful tool, they mean that if you see something cool, you can reblog it so all your followers see the same cool thing too! likes are useful for bookmarks or reminders that you've seen something, but functionally they do very little otherwise

- step outside your comfort zone, but curate your own experience. block liberally. block tags or people who say things or post things you don't like, and move on! but also, especially for mcyt people, explore a little. give things a try. who knows, you might find something you love

[iamafanofcartoons]

i'll be real. you blazed a post onto my dash. i'm gonna block you. rules are rules. figured i'd help you out before i do.

you really want to know why the youtube algorithm is bad? positive feedback loops. not positive as in good, but positive as in they grow larger over time.

youtube's recommendation algorithm is partially based off of what it learns from users. it takes in all kinds of data on what users watch--the uploader, the title, the tags, the thumbnail, the description, anything it can glean from the audio and visuals, whatever. you name it, google's probably holding it. they dont have yottabytes upon yottabytes of data for nothing.

importantly, though, is that they also keep track of what the user watches Next. see, google (as with most social media that uses an ad revenue model) will run studies, where they try out different experimental algorithms created from viewership data on different users and see what is more likely to get users to click through. how they create these experiments is pretty complicated, and i'll save you the technogore. think of it as making tons of algorithms that each think different combinations of aforementioned viewership data at different amounts are the reason why that viewer made their choice, then projecting that onto all users to inform future suggestions. trust me, that's the easy way to think about it.

what makes it a positive feedback loop? well, recall that i said the algorithms are created on viewership data. the successful one(s) is/are then used to inform future recommendations. that data is then used to further experimentally tweak the algorithm. the choices user make influence the algorithm. what influences the choices users make? the algorithm. as time moves on, the algorithm becomes more and more biased until youtube decides to make more dramatic changes to influence things in a different direction (remember the change to favor runtime? then to favor watch-through?)

here's where i get all communist, and why i felt compelled to write all this. youtube isn't fixing shit about this system. why would they? people are clicking through recommendations at insane rates! they're watching more videos! and sure, a general societal right-wing bias might have positive feedback looped into turning the website into a facism pipeline, but google is making so much fucking money from gathering an insane amount of information from users that can be used in ad targeting the whole time. even if youtube itself struggles with profitability, even if people like. kind of say stuff about the problem but never really do anything about it at a large scale, even if people are being redpilled, why should google care when they make more money than anyone could even comprehend? until capitalism is overthrown, there will be a shit algorithm.

blocking channels is a start, but there will always be more shitty things to block (just like how there's always blazed posts for me to block the OPs of). apps that bypass youtube accounts and privacy loss (youtube vanced and newpipe) are privacy tools first, kind of hit or miss when it comes to the algorithm. never looked into the source code of them, but, if you ask me, it's either some amalgamation of everyone's recommendations who use those apps, a "default" algorithm, or one that's kind of tailored to you as youtube slowly worms its way into identifying you by your device and ip address.

point is, dont hold your breath waiting. keep looking for tools, keep spreading the word, keep finding ways to support content you like so the artist isnt reliant on ad revenue. dont keep throwing your money at tumblr, though, they really dont need it. they really never needed it. buy yourself a nice fuckin sandwich. everybody deserves a nice sandwich.

god, i'm going to look dumb if my ask gets deleted when i block you in five seconds. you have a good night.

Soo...yeah....this was based on this post

Basically I'm sick and tired of people like Manga_Kamen, Vexed Viewer, WatermelonCube, and other people raging about how they hate something that others like, and how people are supposed to hate what they hate.

I just wanted to give people the opportunity to remove those hate videos from their search results, so that they can at least find what they're looking for, using Youtube search.

[wajb]

thoughts on tumblr’s next steps:

- a good algorithm is necessary for new users. the current new user experience is bad, especially for finding what makes tumblr really valuable (cutting edge posts, thoughtful content). current algorithms are.. it would really help to have these hand selected by people who actually know what’s funny. the algorithm has to be up to date with what’s happening Right Now

- don’t remove multiple of the same reblog in the following feed. it’s not only a beloved part of the current user experience (think mishapocalyse, holding r button to spam mutuals) but it lets users know when a post is very popular among the people you follow + mutuals. notes aren’t a good indicator of what people in your circle find funny/interesting

- when suggesting posts, the top reblog should be suggested as well. often the for you or trending pages will show the origin of a multi-part post, without showing why the post is so popular (a funny reblog or a punchline to the joke). this also demonstrates to new users how reblogs are used

- no tutorials, but a tumblr tips and tricks page might be hepful. the less you start new users off with the more likely they are to stay. nobody likes a long tutorial for things you can figure out by yourself

- engagement options on individual reblogs and replies is good. reactions to replies should definitely be implemented - it follows what people expect from bereal, instagram, discord, and allows for new and exciting interactions

- expand the trending page! swiping to a second page (6-10) or including constantly trending tags (artists on tumblr, meme, etc) would allow for more scrolling and more engagement for smaller creators!

- a huge problem creators talk about is likes vs reblogs. this stems from blog curation- liking the art enough to engage, but not enough to put it on your blog. introducing a solution to this would make current users very happy and increase engagement- sideblogs can be very useful for sharing posts that you don’t want cluttering up your main blog, but the way they currently exist is a hassle. listen to users on this one

- co creation could be really cool. giving users ways to collaborate on blogs/posts could lead to innovative content

- tumblr posts should be able to be embedded as links, but should not notify the original poster. if you want them to know you can tag them

- get a better brand persona. emporium is disliked by many influencial users. i understand it hits a niche, but it helps to be on better terms with the people who’s posts you’re selling

- stay away from live/anything that involves users putting their real faces and indentities out there. tumblr should remain anonymous to stay funny

- logged out experiences: offer up similar blogs to the one they landed on. if they end up making an account, encourage them to follow these blogs. please make the new account experience more seamless. get them to the dashboard as fast as possible, put an alogrithm or trending page in front of them, MAYBE offer an introductory post explaining what makes tumblr unique, but expect them to know the basics of social media. odds are this isn’t their first rodeo

tldr i care about this website and want it to succeed while retaining it’s identity and i think @staff do to

[sabrinatvband]

A Comprehensive List of Essential Comic Making Resources

It's very easy to get surface-level information about the art of making comics. But if you want the real shit, some curation will help. Some of these are neat informative images. Others are books that you'll have to find yourself. There will be some links to videos. Let's get into it.

[Link to a WordPress version of this post so you can share with your friends who don't use Tumblr]

ESSENTIAL BOOKS

There are enough books by professional, highly regarded comic artists and writers out there that you never need to buy a "How To" book by someone without industry experience; something to keep in mind.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud Scott McCloud is maybe a little too afraid of making definitive statements, but otherwise this is an incredible macro-level overview on the subject of making comics. Understanding Comics is also essential; Reinventing Comics is more of a time capsule. Perspective for Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea A comic artist who doesn't know perspective is like a guitarist who can't do alternate picking. This book, which is itself a comic, is a very effective resource on the subject of perspective. I made a short video about a cool trick from this book that they don't teach in art class:

This book has a sequel, Extreme Perspective for Artists, which is good at being what it is, but the advice is a lot less widely applicable. Framed Perspective Vol. 1 and 2 by Marcos Mateu-Mestre Going to be honest, these books are mostly redundant if you've already read the [imo] superior David Chelsea book, but they aren't bad books in isolation and if you get the perspective sickness like I did you'll probably want to read them anyways.

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis Andrew Loomis wrote a bunch of highly regarded illustration books, but this one is my favorite. It has a lot of great practical advice related to drawing figures in perspective together, which begin with the iconic "John and Mary Problems". Here's another essential Loomis diagram:

Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes by Jack Hamm I really need to re-read this one, and take it seriously this time, because my rocks look like shit. The other Jack Hamm books [Cartooning the Head & Figure, Drawing the Head & Figure] are also good. Writing for Comics by Alan Moore This is a very brief book, and it's maybe not super revelatory, but none of the advice within is bad. Writing for Comics & Graphic Novels by Peter David Nothing groundbreaking here either, but also not a book that will teach you wrong lessons. PROTIP Remember that any books about writing craft will be applicable to writing comics in many ways; books about writing comics specifically might have a few specialized tidbits, but 90% of writing advice transfers across mediums. Chuck Palahniuk wrote a series of essays on writing that I really enjoy that are floating around in a PDF somewhere; I'm not sure if that PDF turned into Consider This. Eclipse Tips from Top Cartoonists by Various This book is long out-of-print and rare, but you can see a flip-through of the book here. There's a lot of great stuff in it, but the most essential part is probably Scott McCloud's bit. [PROTIP: Using an upscaler on a screenshot of a book can make small text a lot more legible; the image below was upscaled.]

Will Eisner Books by Will Eisner I'm going to be honest, I once read Comics and Sequential Art and found a lot of the information within to be very pointless musings about things [e.g. "What if I drew some panels over a skeuomorphic drawing of a comicbook?"]. But Eisner's books are held in high regard by a lot of people, and obviously he was a talented cartoonist. Maybe I read his worst book on the subject. How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by John Buscema Read this historically significant book, absorb the four or five nuggets contained within, and take everything else with a grain of salt.

Morpho Art Books by Michel Lauricella I find these art reference books a lot more useful than equivalent resources. A lot of comic artists could definitely benefit from reading Fat and Skin Folds; it's not always about muscles! How to Draw: The Best of Basic Training by Various Wizard Magazine used to have a feature called Basic Training where various comic artists would give tips on how to draw. A lot of these tutorials were perhaps too short to be good, and some of the gross ones reek of an assumption that women won't be reading them [see: Sultry Women by Adam Hughes], but there were some real gems in there. Artists such as Joe Kubert, George Perez, Kevin Maguire, Scott McCloud, Steve Lieber, Mike Mignola, and Brian Bolland contributed. The image below is from a piece on drawing realistic women by Terry Moore.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel by Nat Gertlet and Steve Lieber I've never personally read this book, but Eisner-winning Steve Lieber is a highly respected cartoonist and Gertler had been Eisner-nominated before writing this book. I imagine it's a solid resource. How Comics Work by Dave Gibbons and Tim Pilcher Another book I haven't personally read, but obviously Dave Gibbons is a master of the medium. Frank Santoro wrote a mixed review about this book for The Comics Journal. Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis I remember flipping through this for a while in a Barnes & Noble and thinking it was entertaining. The Art of Comic Book Writing by Mark Kneece Kneece doesn't have a very substantial bibliography as a comics writer, but this book is highly regarded by many people. The DC Comics Guide to . . . by Various DC made a whole series of books related to various facets of comics craft. I haven't read most of these myself, but they're all well-regarded and were written by top talents such as Dennis O'Neil and Klaus Janson. The only one I have read is The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics; solid book, implies good things about the other books in the series, but this specific volume is only really worthwhile if you use Photoshop. The Art of Comic Book Inking Third Edition by Gary Martin et al I've never read the third edition, but I have seen the first edition and that was a good book in itself, with the subsequent editions being more highly regarded. The third edition features contributions from a murderers' row of comics professionals: Terry Dodson, Adam Warren, Brian Bolland, Kevin Nowlan, Mike Royer, and many others.

ESSENTIAL BLOG POSTS AND SUCH

Jesse Hamm's Writings on Alex Toth I can't tell you how many times I read Jesse Hamm's LiveJournal posts about Alex Toth [and a handful of other artists] during class in highschool. Unfortunately a lot of the images are now broken, and so you'll need to pull out the Wayback Machine to make sense of some of these. Don Simpson on King Kong Don Simpson, across his various blogs, has made a lot of neat process posts, but these two posts about his King Kong comic are probably his most essential. Rough Riders: Kong Art from Concept to Finish First Kingdom: Kong Thumbnails from 1990 Shit I Wish Scott McCloud Told Me This old Tumblr has been ravaged by time; the formatting has been ruined after years without updates and inactivity, and much of the advice was written by people without credibility [cough]. But there were some real nuggets here. Jim Shooter on Comics Craft There's a website that compiles Jim Shooter's opinions on various facets of comic craft. Shooter was mostly known for being an editor, but he did write and layout some highly regarded comics in his time. Probably worth watching these videos as a companion piece of sorts, especially if you're not familiar with Shooter's ethos. Kelly Turnbull Tutorials The most useful tutorial is Let's Draw Abs, but you might find some use in the other ones. Matt Fraction on Daredevil: Born Again The triangle stuff here sounds made up, but apparently it was intentional. The Schweizer Guide to Spotting Tangents You're going to want to avoid tangents, which can make pictures look visually confusing. Jim Rugg's Octobriana 1976 Process Zine This PDF costs $5, but it's worth it to see over 300 pages of sketches, breakdowns, insights, etc.

THE BEST CARTOONIST KAYFABE EPISODES

I do realize that Cartoonist Kayfabe was a divisive Youtube channel; if you'd like to hear more of my thoughts you can read an article I wrote about the channel on my blog here. In short, I think Cartoonist Kayfabe was one of the greatest educational resources on comics craft. Here are the videos from the channel I found the most educational:

Thumbnails, Layouts, and Roughs Dark Knight Returns Original Artwork Watching the Watchmen The Charlton Comicbook Guide for the Artist / Writer / Letterer Frank Miller's Conversation With Will Eisner Templates for Faster Comic Making The Killing Joke Brian Bolland Layouts How to Draw Comics the Bill Griffith Way How to Ink Comic Books Absolute Batman: Year One Famous Artists Course: Composition Full Make More Comics Playlist

OTHER NEAT YOUTUBE THINGS

Helioscope PDX Helioscope PDX is a large studio in Portland shared by many cartoonists, and they have some neat videos. Terry Moore's Youtube Channel The guy who wrote and illustrated Strangers in Paradise has a Youtube channel where he posts neat, often wholesome videos. Strange Brain Parts Not actually a channel about making comics, but as far as analysis goes Strange Brain Parts is the best comics channel on Youtube. Neat!

COMICS WITH PEAK CRAFT

This list is obviously far from being exhaustive, but I think all of these comics are at least a 9/10 on a craft level, if not also a dramatic level.

OMAC by Jack Kirby A lot of Jack Kirby's 70s books with Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry on inks are really impressive visually, but what makes me recommend OMAC so often is that it's only eight issues long. There's an incredible panel in issue 2 where OMAC is standing outside of a door and listening to a conversation, and it has an amazing foreground-background element. One of my all-time favorite panels.

By the 70s, almost every panel Kirby illustrated was a masterpiece. So many incredible compositions designed to guide the eye in a circular motion; check out this late-period composition from Captain Victory, which not only guides the eye in a circle but also has a lot of depth.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller The 16-panel grid this book uses is masterful; really absorbs the reader into the world and creates a special, often intimate atmosphere. Weapon X by Barry Windsor Smith The compositions, atmosphere, pacing, etc in Weapon X are perfect.

Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli At least as good as Batman: Year One on a craft level, but also a more entertaining story.

Sim Hell and Fatal but Not Serious by Adam Warren These comics are very effective at creating a sense of space, and also the lettering in these books is incredible. I wrote an entire article extolling the formalism of these books.

Wonder Woman: Earth One by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette If you want to see what modern 3D-model assisted fastidious comics craft looks like, check out this book!

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Do I need to say anything?

ODDS AND ENDS

Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work Wally Wood made a reference sheet detailing 22 visually interesting panels to help him work through dialogue scenes and meet deadlines, and it wasn't long before every working comic artist had a copy of it taped to a corner of their drafting table. Here's the original, as well as a visually cleaner remake by Michael Avon Oeming.

Jim Steranko's The Laws of Action Solid advice on how to liven up figure drawings.

Alan Moore on Word Counts Moore recounting a guideline from editor Mort Weisinger: What he said was: if you’ve got six panels on a page, then the maximum number of words you should have in each panel is 35. No more. That’s the maximum. 35 words per panel. Also, if a balloon has more than 20 or 25 words in it, it’s going to look too big. 25 words is the absolute maximum for ballon size. Right, once you’ve taken on those two simple rules, laying out comics pages — it gives you somewhere to start — you sort of know ‘OK, so six panels, 35 words to a panel, that means about 210 words per page maximum… [so] if you’ve got two panels you’d have 105 each. If you’ve got nine panels, it’s about 23 – 24 words — that’ll be about the right balance of words and pictures. On the subject of drawing stuff digitally; -Krita is a highly regarded piece of open source software. I personally use Medibang Paint Pro, but I wish I didn't, because Krita has a lot of useful features. I'm unfortunately too used to the way Medibang feels. Clip Studio Paint is a popular paid piece of software that's still quite affordable. -I own a Cintiq and Intuos [drawing tablet with screen, drawing tablet without screen]. Granted I've only used my Cintiq a handful of times because my computer doesn't have enough video outputs, but I actually find that I enjoy the Intuos a lot more; a computer monitor is generally going to be a more pleasurable screen to look at than a Cintiq screen, you don't need to worry about your hand covering or touching things accidentally, and for most people it will be more ergonomic. It also doesn't take up as much space and it's a lot more portable with a laptop. Oh, and it's way cheaper. Remember that art tablets use drivers; it's my understanding that a computer can't have, say, Huion and Wacom drivers installed at the same time. So, if you're planning on getting a screenless drawing tablet and upgrading to one with a built-in screen [not something I recommend for the reasons I've established], consider the driver situation, because you'll probably want to be able to use both at different times, and also probably won't want to regularly uninstall and reinstall drivers. Carapace There's a free piece of software called Carapace that can be used to create perspective grids from photographs. A download link can be found in the description of this video.

Using Blender A lot of modern comic artists use 3D software to position complex items for tracing purposes [e.g. spaceships, cars, etc]. Blender can also be used to build locations you'll revisit a lot , and the grease pencil tool can be used to place skeletons within a space to stage complicated scenes while maintaining perspective. As you can see below, checkerboard textures can be applied to objects to try and make it easier to make sense of perspective

A thing I was working on for a one-page dungeon Blue-Line Pencils You should buy some non-photo blue pencils if you don't already have them. They're designed to be visually unobtrusive, which makes them great for drawing perspective grids and skeletons, and the color is designed to be easily filtered out of scans. They can also be erased.

EPILOGUE

I've been reading about making comics for over a decade, and I think this post more-or-less contains everything worthwhile I've seen on the subject. Remember that the most important thing is actually sitting down and practicing your craft. I do have one big thought relating to comic craft philosophy; a lot of people really love heavily premeditated comics by guys like Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, etc, but they also want to make as few iterations as possible and / or draw directly onto the board. I'm a firm believer that the only way someone can really create a book like The Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen is by creating a lot of concept art, illustrating detailed layouts, making a lot of notes, etc. You have to adopt the same seemingly impossible working methods that these artists used in order to get a similar end result, or at least I think so. If you can't get anything finished while using such working methods, that's a workflow issue, and there's nothing wrong with that. Jack Kirby did everything improv and he was one of the greatest comic artists ever. But I do think studying and emulating the ways people made great comics, while taking into account advancements in tech, is very important.

[fanfabled]

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗜 𝗕𝗘 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐, 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈?

          this is an independent ,   selective ,   and private rp blog for  𝙺𝙴𝙸𝙺𝙾 , a kyoshi warrior oc from 𝙰𝚅𝙰𝚃𝙰𝚁: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚃 𝙰𝙸𝚁𝙱𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁 .   adheres primarily to the cartoon and comics with some personal interpretation . contains themes such as violence , torture , death , war , colonization , and prisoners of war .   adored by viv, 26, she/they .

a study in : tba .

pinterest .   playlist . interest tracker .

==RULE I.== Please don’t pressure me into replying or interacting. Roleplaying is my hobby, not my job, and I have a life outside of the internet that is more important. I work full-time and have ADHD and a chronic illness, so I will reply when I reply. If you bother me about threads then you’ll get yourself soft-blocked.

==RULE II.== No god-modding. That's obvious. Don’t make decisions on my character’s behalf and don’t write for them. They’re mine for a reason.

==RULE III.== This blog is private, meaning I only interact with people who follow me and whom I follow back (aka MUTUALS). It’s nothing personal, just for comfort reasons and for me to curate my rp experience how I like. Please don’t send ask memes, like starter calls, or spam-like my posts if I have not followed you back, or this will get you blocked.

==RULE IV.== Absolutely NO insta-shipping. We have to have at least talked about it because I want the muses I ship with to have chemistry with mine. If you're interested in shipping, please fill out my interest tracker or message me directly, as I prefer for us to first plot out their dynamic and then get into the shipping aspects later.

==RULE V.== Keiko is underage through the duration of the show, therefore I will not write NSFW on this blog, even if I am writing in a verse where she is an adult. This is a personal preference and not meant to shame those who enjoy writing NSFW. It is for my comfort and I know how to curate my experience on Tumblr accordingly.

==RULE VI.== Considering the nature of this blog and the universe it lives in, this blog will contain darker content. This includes mentions of violence, torture, death, war, colonization, and prisoners of war. Please be cautious if you follow. Direct mentions of these things will be tagged accordingly.

==RULE VII.== I do not reblog callouts nor do I participate in the action of calling people out via post. I struggle with a lot of anxiety and dash-drama is very bad for my mental health, so if you are a person who reblogs a lot of callout posts, I will unfollow you for my own sake. I will not engage with dash drama. I also reserve the right to unfollow anyone who is engaging persistently in drama.

==RULE VIII.== I will not interact with any characters from 13rw, ahs, billy hargrove, or historical figure roleplay blogs.

==RULE X.== I understand the need for DNI lists for one's safety, unfortunately I might miss your list on your blog when I do my initial scan. If we are mutuals and I follow or interact with someone who makes you feel unsafe, please reach out to me directly and I am open to chat about it!

==Mun info.== Howdy! My name is Viv, I am 26 years old and use she/they pronouns. Timezone is PST. I currently work full-time and am managing a chronic illness and ADHD so unfortunately my activity on tumblr is not always consistent. I am very responsive on Discord and that is the best place to contact me!

[fanfought]

               𝙰𝙻𝚆𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝙰𝙽 𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 , 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝙰 𝙶𝙾𝙳 .

          this is an independent ,   selective ,   and private rp blog for  𝚂𝚄𝙺𝙸 , from 𝙰𝚅𝙰𝚃𝙰𝚁: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚃 𝙰𝙸𝚁𝙱𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁 .   adheres primarily to the cartoon and comics with some personal interpretation . contains themes such as violence , torture , death , war , colonization , and prisoners of war .   adored by viv, 26, she/they .

a study in : tba .

pinterest .   playlist . interest tracker .

==RULE I.== Please don’t pressure me into replying or interacting. Roleplaying is my hobby, not my job, and I have a life outside of the internet that is more important. I work full-time and have ADHD and a chronic illness, so I will reply when I reply. If you bother me about threads then you’ll get yourself soft-blocked.

==RULE II.== No god-modding. That's obvious. Don’t make decisions on my character’s behalf and don’t write for them. They’re mine for a reason.

==RULE III.== This blog is private, meaning I only interact with people who follow me and whom I follow back (aka MUTUALS). It’s nothing personal, just for comfort reasons and for me to curate my rp experience how I like. Please don’t send ask memes, like starter calls, or spam-like my posts if I have not followed you back, or this will get you blocked.

==RULE IV.== Absolutely NO insta-shipping. We have to have at least talked about it because I want the muses I ship with to have chemistry with mine. If you're interested in shipping, please fill out my interest tracker or message me directly, as I prefer for us to first plot out their dynamic and then get into the shipping aspects later.

==RULE V.== Suki is underage through the duration of the show, therefore I will not write NSFW on this blog, even if I am writing in a verse where she is an adult. This is a personal preference and not meant to shame those who enjoy writing NSFW. It is for my comfort and I know how to curate my experience on Tumblr accordingly.

==RULE VI.== Considering the nature of this blog and the universe it lives in, this blog will contain darker content. This includes mentions of violence, torture, death, war, colonization, and prisoners of war. Please be cautious if you follow. Direct mentions of these things will be tagged accordingly.

==RULE VII.== I do not reblog callouts nor do I participate in the action of calling people out via post. I struggle with a lot of anxiety and dash-drama is very bad for my mental health, so if you are a person who reblogs a lot of callout posts, I will unfollow you for my own sake. I will not engage with dash drama. I also reserve the right to unfollow anyone who is engaging persistently in drama.

==RULE VIII.== I will not interact with any characters from 13rw, ahs, billy hargrove, or historical figure roleplay blogs.

==RULE X.== I understand the need for DNI lists for one's safety, unfortunately I might miss your list on your blog when I do my initial scan. If we are mutuals and I follow or interact with someone who makes you feel unsafe, please reach out to me directly and I am open to chat about it!

==Mun info.== Howdy! My name is Viv, I am 26 years old and use she/they pronouns. Timezone is PST. I currently work full-time and am managing a chronic illness so unfortunately my activity on tumblr is not always consistent. I am very responsive on Discord and that is the best place to contact me!

[aspen-of-the-gentry]

I saw your post on the main tag... as far as I know, the only genuinely Bad People who hate queers are Alasse and her spouse and one of their close friends (husband and friend are on tumblr but they don't interact with the LU fandom on Tumblr much or at all (I had a hard time finding them to block them)). There are a few people who are conservative and only tolerate queers. Most everyone else is fine. That being said, I'm a little cautious of anyone with "Christian" in their bio but in my experience, most of them are okay as long as they don't post about their religion.

99% of people you'll see in the main tag are fine and don't hate queers or hate you. But if you get scared or suspicious of anyone, it's ok and completely harmless to block them. You gotta curate your environment. Surround yourself with people who you know will accept you.

Yeah I have been mostly blocking on sight for my own mental healths sake, it just sucks that I feel more unsafe in this community that I love now.

I also think I might be more sensitive because I live somewhere where it can be unsafe to be openly queer, so I tend to be a worrier and want to avoid everyone like that since I'm around people like that ALL the time

[wherenightmaresroost]

just gonna go through the @staff update post.

"Tumblr is not easy to use"

Create a tutorial for new accounts, or an official, up-to-date, easy-to-find FAQ and guidelines. Both would be good.

"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."

Nearly everyone using Tumblr for the longest time had been praising the site's commitment to user-curated feeds as one of its advantages over other social media sites. Listen to them. Listen to your users. They are not just "a small portion". Do not repeat Coke trying to taste more like Pepsi.

"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. "

Highlight the site's customization ability - Tumblr is one of the few remaining sites that allow this level of customization - and encourage your users to use it, so that logged-out visitors can be enticed to join in.

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

That will probably also improve user experience and increase user activity, so it's good for everyone.

"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."

Listen - Tumblr is great exactly because it shows me only the things I decided I want on my dash. It is great even if I'm getting bad content, because that means it is within my power to remove that bad content from my Tumblr experience.

Again, no one wants algorithm-determined content. We want 'better' content in the form of images actually loading and being easy to zoom in, videos loading in and being easy to pause and seek, minimal format fuck ups, and not losing our place in the dashboard scroll.

I understand wanting to show relevant interests to new NEW users (saw a few people complain that there's nothing on Tumblr, not knowing you have to fill the feed by yourself) but we'll probably better off by letting the users select interests from a broad variety of topics, and then recommending posts and blogs based on their choices.

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

This is good! I think this will actually improve discussion somewhat, and prevent OP from repeatedly receiving the Same Points when they've already addressed it in a different reblog chain.

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

There are people who view this as a feature - so might be better to give people the option of collapsing them, instead of removing it for everyone.

"However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  "

Improve the search and tagged functions of the site. Focus on the development of multiple dashboards - so we can group our interests, especially those from slow updating blogs. Focus on the development of followed tags, because I swear to the gods above and below, it does NOT update properly. The followed tag dashboard usually tells me the most recent post was one week ago, when in fact more than 10 posts had been created over that time. Remove that weird feature where posts with links do not show up in either reblogs or search or tags - plenty of artists like to link to their other accounts or personal sites in their post.

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

This is a good thing lol I only had the misfortune of having my dashboard unusable (2010s) / having my activities unusable (2015s) like thrice and. Never again.

"Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery."

This could be good opt-in feature, especially if we get to choose which blogs it applies to. Slow-updating blogs often get lost in the dash. But again, this is only good if it's a feature people can choose to use, and not use. I think a lot of people want to separate their e-mails from their social medias, or have a hard boundary between Tumblr time and Other Things time. This is also something a multi-dashboard feature / better tag-tracking can easily solve.

"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."

No.

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Again, NO.

If someone has their push notifications off they likely just straight out do not want to ANY notifications about it, especially e-mails, which are typically already clogged to begin with.

I am begging you guys to actually listen to your user base.

Principle 6 atm is the only point I have no issues with.

"You deserve a digital home that works for you."

Then do not focus on algorithm-determined feeds. Let your users build their own homes. Provide them with the tools to do so.