getvalentined

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.

relaxxattack

“oh they’re not taking away chronological dashboard, well everything’s okay then” they also said in the post they’re making reblogs collapsed (like comments on twitter) so you won’t see the full conversation in a post. they also won’t get rid of tumblr live despite it being an annoying and cancerous data-miner that isn’t legal in much of the world. they won’t even let you opt out of tumblr live for more than seven days. they implemented a terrible photo viewer that mimics tiktok and makes it so you can’t zoom in on images. they took away the ability to view prev tags. they’re making it so you have to sign in with your email to view almost any thing on tumblr. they’ve already made it so you have to sign in to send asks, even on anon. they’re slowly phasing out custom blog themes.

the things that make tumblr at all usable and favored by us– the older web blog features, the anonymity– that is still being taken away. it HAS been being taken away for some time now. i am urging you people to reveiwbomb the tumblr app. force them to acknowledge that users do not like these changes.

darkwood-sleddog

Because @staff is too cowardly…

notquiteaghost

re: that fucking staff post. obviously death to algorithms, but i also wanna interrogate the wider underlying assumptions of their logic there cuz. is 'success' having lots of followers & lots of popular posts??? why is that the end goal of using this website. i don't open tumblr to get attention from strangers, i open tumblr to read funny jokes and interesting commentary and to see cool art. encouraging clout-chasing will only increase user engagement if you successfully get people literally addicted to the associated dopamine hit. what if we didn't have to do that!!! what if a website could be a place you went to on purpose because you had fun there!!!!

notquiteaghost

also christ the point abt not wanting being popular to be a bad thing...... the reason being tumblr famous sucks is cuz there is a set percentage of people on this website who you do not want to interact with. and if it's 1% and 100 people interact with your posts then that's One Single Blockable Guy Who Sucks. but if it's 10'000 people! that's more Guys Who Suck than could comfortably fit in your house! there is no way to website-design out of it being annoying and terrible when there is a high school graduating class number of people interacting with you who you do not want to even know exist.

this is, in fact, a problem on every website! this is a problem offline! tumblr's userbase is just the most honest about it, because there's no ~upsides. the solution isn't to invent upsides. the upsides on other sites are shitty exploitative brand deals and a warm fuzzy feeling. i don't need those! does anyone!

the sole ~user-friendly change we actually need, imo, is to be able to mute notifications for specific posts. maybe to mute notifications from people you don't follow. but again it is not a bad thing if having 20k followers on a microblogging platform isnt really that fun. because the goal is not for everyone to have 20k followers. because nothing works like that. all the numbers cannot just keep going up. you do not want people to leave if their numbers do not keep going up because you cannot at all guarantee that. a microblogging website shld be like a children's playground! not like a fucking meth dealer!

staff

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

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

The Diagnosis

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

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

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

Our Guiding Principles

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

1. Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.
2. Provide high-quality content with every app launch.
3. Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.
4. Retain and grow our creator base.
5. Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.
6. Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Keep reading

cryptotheism

If you change the chronological feed in the name of creators, I'm hunting your dumb asses for sport. This is one of the only websites that isn't actively pumped full of infuriating algorithm bullshit.

This slate of changes is moronically out of touch with how people actually use this website, and what makes it popular.

notallmensheviks

no it's not fucking outdated it's the thing that makes tumblr not shit make recommendations not suck instead of taking away our dash

exene

if they take away chronological posting Then this will finally be a completely unusable platform. it’s literally one of the only functions

old-flesh

yeah if chronological feeds get taken away i'm done with all social media sites forever and i'm finally going to stop using this place sadly

buried-in-stardust

OP: "So it turns out the plucking of the hairpin and the hairstyle falling apart the way it does in novels really is real."

jasminesapphires

“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

skulandcrossbones

this new reblog chart feature is FASCINATING and it is also highlighting how much people on this website fail gifmakers and other content creators. you NEED to start reblogging gifsets and art if you want this site to continue functioning and being a place content creators WANT to be on. look at this

there are almost NO reblog chains!! the majority of reblogs are directly from me, and then it just. ends. the like to reblog ratio is almost 1:4.

this is why posts die. this is why artists have left, this is why gifmakers are giving up. this is killing tumblr.

reblogging is the ENTIRE POINT of this website, and you can't just like something and move on and expect gif/editmakers and artists to continue putting in the effort to make content FOR YOU.

REBLOG. POSTS.

brighterflowers-deactivated2024

everyone's talking about how "prev tags" is an integral part of how people use the site and now the update's ruined it and blah blah blah, but you can't fool me! I remember back when everyone was griping about how it's a degenerate innovation from twitter migrants and that real tumblr users write out the tags themselves

triviallytrue

let it be known that i still hate it

sotrias-labyrinth-deactivated20

#copy pasting out the tags is still just better

absynthe--minded

my favorite game, “is this AI art or are you just uncomfortably straight”

absynthe--minded

This is about a specific Tumblr account that I’m 99.6% sure is posting AI-generated “art” of Silm characters (because a lot of the choices feel procedurally generated rather than artistically inspired), but it’s sadly becoming more common across the board

my favorite game, “is this AI art or are you just uncomfortably straight”

person-first language is some kind of crime