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AccidentalGreed

AccidentalGreed

Sweet and bitter as chocolate.
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So guys. Tumblr. Yeah. Existed for two year if my brain isn't lying to me, and, like Twitter and Facebook, we've seen both the dark sides and the really really crappy stuff about it. Very notorious for an acclaimed image-based blogging system.

So for people who frequent Tumblr, out of pure personal curiousity (and perhaps a little temptation) here's some q's. Feel free to leave out some ones that don't apply to you.
  • Why Tumblr?
  • What do you use Tumblr for?
  • What sorta stuff do you search up or blog/reblog (at this point ultimate perfect forum is an uncanny valley, so don't be afraid to let loose)?
  • Is there stuff we should generally stay away from? Or just any tips in general?
And as a personal little note from me:
  • Is it a good alternative for art sites such as DeviantArt? As far as I'm concerned, the place isn't exactly the best place to get noticed these days.
Also if you won't use or just stay away from Tumblr for reasons, feel free to discuss it.
 
On AccidentalGreed's last question:

Tumblr really only caught my eye when I noticed artists moving from dA onto it. It's an option as a blog and social networking site, but I don't like it as much as a place to post art. Browsing an artist's gallery on dA is a lot more organized, in my opinion, compared to Tumblr--deviations, favorites, journals, and comments are separated, while on Tumblr, they're all in a list (that can be categorized, so that's a plus). It also feels like it's a lot more focused on the individual rather than works and concepts of art. Well, it's less focused on art as a whole. :P
 
Tumblr for me is fandoms: snk, naruto, lok, etc. It's a nice way to find cool art / text posts / RPs etc. Tumblr is like Facebook for me, except it's less personal (let's face it I don't give a fuck about 90% of my friends on facebook) and the people I follow are generally friends or nice fandom blogs that I can talk to.
Uhhh... don't repost and don't follow hipster blogs (dear god no).

Oh! Use XKit! It'll help alot in speeding up posting and making things more convenient. Don't send anon hate to anybody and just blacklist the stuff you don't want to see.
 
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i use it to reblog/post gifs from shows and to chat w/friends i've made there
it's a p nice site i just avoid the shitty people and the social justice bloggers and then it's nothing to worry about

i also use tumblr savior so i dont have to see posts about/from people or things i dont like it makes the blogging experience a lot nicer
 
I spend most of my time on Tumblr, and it's a truly wild place. There's so many different types of people there that you can't really put a solid description on it, but basically it's inhabited full of a shitton of crazy people who think everyone else is crazy.
Tumblr for me is fandoms: snk, naruto, lok, etc. It's a nice way to find cool art / text posts / RPs etc. Tumblr is like Facebook for me, except it's less personal (let's face it I don't give a fuck about 90% of my friends on facebook) and the people I follow are generally friends or nice fandom blogs that I can talk to.
Uhhh... don't repost and don't follow hipster blogs (dear god no).
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Fandoms are a huge part of Tumblr, and it's probably the most diverse part. You've got your Sherlockians, Whovians, Supernaturalists, Potterheads, Bronies, Otakus, Gif blogs, Gif makers, Fandom-specific blogs, Multifandom blogs, Anime blogs, Anime gif blogs, and so on. The fandoms are full of every type of person imaginable, from the crazy rabid fangirls to everything else. Fandoms aren't the only part of Tumblr though, there's band blogs, porn blogs, yaoi blogs, specifically gay yaoi blogs, photography blogs, art blogs, relatable blogs, and hipster blogs. Everyone basically hates each other to some extent for some reason, and as demonstrated above a lot of that hate is directed towards hipster blogs. There are many different types of hipster blogs, more than most people care for really, and honestly I don't give enough shits about hipsters to list the different types.

tumblr scares me
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Tumblr can be both a beautiful and scary place, mainly due to all the hate people love sending to each other. People like to romanticize insanity for some reason and therefor like to pretend to be insane, mainly by making a lot of questionable comments on posts. Thus the saying goes, "This site is full of psychopaths."
Another reason why Tumblr is scary is because of the society that it runs, where everything is literally some form of stuck-up sass, where it’s taboo to care about other people or activities because if thay can’t do it or if thay can’t socialize then you shouldn’t do it ever, where people think it’s cool to say shit like “i’m going to punch every cheery person in the throat” because they’ve become so self-absorbed they become absolutely miserable, and if they're miserable then everyone else should be miserable.
Anyways that's just the tip of the iceberg of which I've described, and despite what I've said Tumblr is a pretty fun place one you get used to it.
 
I've had a Tumblr for nearly two years now, and it's extremely multipurpose. There are essentially four corners (for those of you who don't give a shit like Outlaw, you can stop reading).

  • The "Fandom" corner is the most prevalent, and consists of people who are extremely enthusiastic about things - typically TV shows or movies, although podcasts, books, games, bands, Youtubers, and more are included in this category. The "big three" are the Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Supernatural fandoms - these are the most common and prolific ones, and the majority of fandom bloggers who have watched one of those three shows have typically watched all three. Other big TV fandoms are Hannibal, Merlin, Community, Arrested Development, Teen Wolf, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead. Movie fandoms include the Marvel franchise, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, et cetera. Fandoms include incredible original content, such as fan art and fan videos, but are probably also the most immature blogs on the website. Fandom bloggers can get really pissy and can inadvertently be offensive, and you may honestly find them annoying just because of how much they love their shows.
  • Then we have the "social justice bloggers", who post about real-world issues 24/7 - these include feminism, racism, LGBTQ discrimination, unemployment, third-world country discrimination, and just about anything you can think of. These are the bloggers that are in a fury over the Zimmerman verdict, that were fervently applauding Wendy Davis for her incredible filibuster a few weeks back to the tune of "fuck the patriarchy". These are also the bloggers that will always support a positive body image mentality, and will call other people out on their sexist or cisgendered or other bullshit. Social justice bloggers are often dismissed and mocked by many male internet communities, with the phrase "check your privilege" being used satirically and in a patronizing way. However, many of these people know their issues and are trying to make a difference. Many more are in it for the circlejerk that is unparalleled by anything except Reddit.
  • We next have the hipster blogs, foodies, fitness, and other miscellaneous blogs. Although they're all very different, they get lumped into the same category. "Hipsters" blog about indie music and Bukowski quotes - things that they're passionate about. There are blogs completely about food, others about staying thin and fit (and sometimes only about hating how fat you are). Here lie the black and white grainy pictures of scenery that inexplicably have 200,000 notes. This is where everything random that is safe for work falls, and is mostly just people talking about what they like.
  • Last but not least, there is an NSFW corner of Tumblr. The blogging website's organizational system, tag system, and ability to share quickly has made it the platform of choice for a lot of NSFW content providers. These results are filtered from the general search, but can be found and followed rather easily.
Various extensions (like XKit) have made it so that you never really have to see anything you don't want to by using the blacklisting feature. For example, if I followed a ton of my friends, but one person CONSTANTLY reblogged Doctor Who posts and I absolutely didn't want to see them, all I would have to do is blacklist "Doctor Who" and any posts containing those two words anywhere are hidden from my dashboard.

The vast majority of most Tumblr blogs are an amalgamation of the categories above, with random funny text posts thrown in (for reference, I'm throwing in a link to a specific tag on my own blog: the-average-gatsby.tumblr.com/tagged/nightblogging). Very few are strictly about one TV show, or only about feminism, although those certainly do exist.

Tumblr has been made fun of by most male-dominant communities mainly due to the fact that its population is connotatively assumed to be mostly female, and that the site itself is apparently filled with feminists and fangirls. These are misconceptions, and it's nice and extremely addicting site to be a part of - not only will you be able to stay connected with friends who have a Tumblr, you'll also be able to learn a lot more about real-world issues while also getting addicted to far too many TV shows than is healthy.

My two cents.

EDIT - As for your questions:

  1. Why Tumblr?
    Great tagging system. Great way to keep in touch with friends. Endlessly entertaining. Excellent way to get quickly updated on real world issues (shit spreads like WILDFIRE on that site). Posts that you see on your dashboard are user-based so if somebody is posting shit you don't like, just unfollow them. If somebody is sometimes posting stuff you like and other stuff you don't, just blacklist the stuff you don't want to see. The original content is absolutely incredible, especially concerning fandom blogs, while the popular social justice posts are capable of completely changing your mentality on the way you see the world.
  2. What do you use Tumblr for?
    I have nearly 1,100 followers, so my content needs to be fairly consistent. Originally, I made one to keep in touch with my high school friends (and it's fantastic at that, as long as you're all fairly frequent bloggers). I would also vent about feelings and such, and also got closer to what would eventually be my first girlfriend through the site. Now, it's more of a consistent fandom blog (shamelessly plugging the-average-gatsby.tumblr.com) and I post for entertainment.
  3. What sorta stuff do you search up or blog/reblog?
    I'm a fandom blog, so I consistently stick to posts about TV shows/movies/miscellaneous stuff that I like (with random funny shit thrown in). I keep personal stuff on a side blog. I don't really "search up" anything very frequently - basically, I find blogs that post stuff I like, and I follow them. If they post something I like, I'll reblog it. I currently follow ~170 blogs.
  4. Is there stuff we should generally stay away from? Or just any tips in general?
    I said it before in the body of my original post, but I'll reiterate. Stuff that appears on your dashboard is user-specific, so if someone you follow is consistently posting stuff you don't like, just unfollow them. If they're being inconsistent about it and/or you just don't want to unfollow them, download an extension and just blacklist stuff you don't want to see. Follow any rules you would follow on Reddit - don't get trolled, don't get sucked into pointless arguments, et cetera. Anonymous harass can happen, and should just be ignored. As for tips - download XKit. It's a Tumblr extension that adds a ton of useful features and generally has many QOL improvements.
  5. Is it a good alternative for art sites such as DeviantArt?
    The OC on Tumblr is really incredible. If you're passionate about your art for a certain category, it can get noticed - the big fandoms like Doctor Who, Supernatural, and Sherlock will spread original content relating to the show very quickly if it gets traction. This kind of traction is key and hard to get, though - like Reddit, you need to accumulate upvotes (notes in this case) quickly so you get momentum. Alternatively, get a friend with a lot of followers to reblog you.

    It's difficult to get your stuff noticed at first, but if you're good, you'll become popular. A good example is Noelle Stevenson (also known as Gingerhaze) who originally got popular off some side drawings about Hipster Lord of the Rings a few years ago. Now she runs a webcomic called Nimona, has tens upon thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of followers, and recently graduated from college with good future prospects.
 
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I have a tumblr but just follow blogs and don't post much, I'm mostly there to find art and stuff. A lot of it is bad, but as someone who was used to sifting through the garbage on 4chan to find worthwhile stuff it doesn't really bother me. I've met some people with similar tastes even if I have to ignore a bunch of posts about stuff I don't care about (I usually unfollow at the first sign of rabid feminism though).

I've stopped using tumblr as much easily when I realized I could make a second Twitter and follow the kind of accounts I wouldn't follow on my personal Twitter (Gaming, FGC, weeby stuff, etc) which is basically what I was using tumblr for in the first place.
 
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I can't help it, my privilege is pretty high and I don't want to be called cis male scum for disagreeing with tumblr :(
 
Outlaw said:
I can't help it, my privilege is pretty high and I don't want to be called cis male scum for disagreeing with tumblr :(
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Yeah, Tumblr really has a stick up their ass about white people. I try to ignore it because when I address their hypocrisy they just come back with say that I'm "privileged" and therefor I don't deserve an opinion. Like i said before, Tumblr is full of crazy people who think everyone else is crazy, and the way they handle racism towards white people is a great example. I find their feminist movement very controversial, considering 70% of it consists of teenaged girls who don't know what feminism is. There's actually a really good video I found that explains everything wrong with feminism here, and I hope some Tumblr users run across it so they can see what feminism truly is.
 
Many social justice bloggers are people who don't really know what they're doing and have a huge hive mentality - it is also like this on Reddit, and most sites that take equality seriously. Of the people who actually know what they're talking about, though, I would say that they would agree with the video ceelan posted - the more proper term for the mindset is egalitarianism, but feminism is used as a more mainstream label.

You won't get called out for being white or being straight or being a man - but if you start being openly racist or homophobic or sexist, people can call you out on your bullshit fairly quickly. I wouldn't necessarily say that they have a stick up their ass about white people, but rather that they much more prone to signal boost topics like the fact that the rate of abortion in black New York women is about 60% than the reverse discrimination going on between white people and minorities when it comes to college acceptances. The root problem here is, again, that there is inequality from both sides and that the problem is not focusing on "women's rights" or "black rights" but rather on equality as a whole, but the greater community chooses to focus more on the discrimination against the more frequently disadvantaged group (just like Reddit and most other sites out there).

In any case, I go for the TV show posts and the worst best puns I've ever seen.
 
Oh God the SJ movement... I agree with the motivations and the reasons behind it, but I just can't with them.
  1. They are SO quick to overreact about the smallest thing it's not even funny, they spend a lot of their time making the person who made the mistake look like a bigger douche than they are with over-exaggerated, questionably sourced facts, that are convenient for that instance.
  2. They don't teach people anything, in fact they usually get OP pissed or upset to the point where they refuse to take in or accept the information.
  3. It's very likely the OP's blog is deleted because they receive too much hate.
As I said before, the SJ movement is for a good cause, but it's executed horribly. I mean hell, it makes me afraid of saying the wrong things because anyone could jump on me at any moment.
 
As long as you're generally not an asshole, you're going to have a fine time. Tumblr's mentality also makes it a really great and accepting place for people who are struggling with social events in their life (sexuality, depression, et cetera) and need someone to talk to or just a place to fit in.

Again, I stay mainly for the other parts. I don't want to turn this thread into a social justice discussion.
 
Yeah despite what people like me say Tumblr's a pretty chill place once you get used to the humor and all. I do find it a little irritating how people who are new to the society Tumblr leads are subject-able to bullying, but I guess you can't feel bad for the newbs saying "lol" and "XD" there.
 
tumblr has the best Animal Crossing fandom. Animal Crossing forums are all bad for some reason, but there's a lot of good stuff posted in the Animal Crossing tag.

the more proper term for the mindset is egalitarianism, but feminism is used as a more mainstream label.
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People who describe themselves as 'egalitarians' ('non-discrimination' policies have a long history of failure because if you treat everyone the exact same then you are effectively advantaging the advantaged) or 'humanists' (humanism already refers to at least one or two different movements, you can't just co-opt it ...) all boil down to this: one person has one cookie and the second person has two cookies, but giving them both two cookies doesn't even it out. Feminism is a movement with a long history of actually getting things done behind it, there's no reason to abandon the label when it accurately describes what the movement is for: equalising society by improving the status of women (including women who are more marginalised than other women).

idk why people always want to euphemise things.
 
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It's probably worth pointing out that equality for women by necessity also implies equality for non-women. Because, you know, it's not equality otherwise. Rejecting the label of feminism tends to reek of insecurity, like you don't want to identify with those icky poo feminists because man, everyone knows they're just crazy Andy Warhol attempted killer feminazi lesbians or whatever.

Anyway, while tumblr absolutely does have something of a knee jerk reaction to social justice issues (including the occasional bullying of well-meaning idiots into being afraid to post anything on the topic), it isn't nearly as widespread or unmotivated as some people seem to think. I'd argue most of the time a widespread "attack" on someone is justified because they're saying the same old bullshit about how women shouldn't expect to not get raped if they drink, something about being a NICE GUY and why won't these stupid friendzoning bitch sluts put out or just the general sort of victim blamey bullshit that is entirely too common in any situation.

Also my favourite meme-sort-of-thing is from tumblr. These sorts of posts: http://thetalkoflove.tumblr.com/post/17550862386 where someone posts a pic of something but describes it as something horrifying/beautiful/whatever which is completely different from what it's a picture of. Dunno what it is but they make me fucking cackle every time. I saw one that was a pic of a horse dildo for furries but was described as an African American burn victim's arm and something something pigment not coming back post-burn, and another person who commented on the post described it as "SO BEAUTIFUL". I died.

Edit: Found it! http://abakkus.tumblr.com/post/48958415162
 
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jumpluff said:
tumblr has the best Animal Crossing fandom. Animal Crossing forums are all bad for some reason, but there's a lot of good stuff posted in the Animal Crossing tag.



People who describe themselves as 'egalitarians' ('non-discrimination' policies have a long history of failure because if you treat everyone the exact same then you are effectively advantaging the advantaged) or 'humanists' (humanism already refers to at least one or two different movements, you can't just co-opt it ...) all boil down to this: one person has one cookie and the second person has two cookies, but giving them both two cookies doesn't even it out. Feminism is a movement with a long history of actually getting things done behind it, there's no reason to abandon the label when it accurately describes what the movement is for: equalising society by improving the status of women (including women who are more marginalised than other women).

idk why people always want to euphemise things.
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I think the main problem with both of those movements when compared with feminism is that equality doesn't necessarily mean sameness. If feminists were to ditch the feminist banner and campaign under either of the other two movements, then it would be equality on a white, rich, heterosexual man's terms, which is equality by noone's terms and only serves to disadvantage women while expending their political capital.
 
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