Tumblr... grr.

[gremdark]

For those who aren't active on Tumblr right now, a tl;dr. A new update to how notes on reblogs work, which has so far rolled out on desktop and to some mobile users, is breaking the way most people use Tumblr. Each reblog-with-text now has its own likes, comments, and notes section. This means that not all interactions on posts are visible to the OP. Artists are in an uproar, but this also breaks aspects of the block function and removes the ability to turn off reblogs on posts that have been reblogged with text.

With that in mind, I've tentatively offered to give mutuals and longtime followers of my personal tumblr access to this account if they DM me. I'm nervous about that, because I like keeping my online identities pretty siloed. I'd previously only connected this account to my fandom identity. I have a good group of followers over there, though, and I'd be sad to lose them. 

I don't think this is The Big One where everyone flees the Tumblr site like rats from a sinking ship, but it does feel as big as the 2018 porn ban, with the added uncertainty that these changes rolled out the day they were announced. The Changes blog on Tumblr has blithely said that they can see the userbase has strong feelings, which they claim they'll monitor over the "next weeks" of this rollout. I'm certainly concerned and making backup plans.

Those of you who use Tumblr, what do you think of all this? What are you planning?

Comments

[tresfoyle]

tbqh, I've been phasing out tumblr for a Bit now for a number of reasons (site culture in my circles turning rancid is the big one), and this has really only cemented for me that I made the right move looking for more deliberately constrained socmed like dreamwidth. I tried doing the whole "neatly partitioned personae" thing for a long time back when I was p much using tumblr exclusively, and the longer things went on, the more absurd it felt—the more I formally divided up my presence, the more I recognized that the people I saw on one feed continued to be relevant in all of the others. By the time I made the move to cohost (RIP) I decided I was done compartmentalizing, and I feel like I have my priorities straighter now for choosing that.