General Guidelines For New Users
(this is an ongoing list of just things I compiled from other blogs, so if you have anything else to add, let me know and I'll put them here)
Reblogs are everything. While in other platforms, likes help the algorithm find good posts to put on your recommended and stuff, here it doesn't really happen. So the only way for people to get recognition for their posts is to reblog them. So even if you have very few followers or whatever, reblog!!
Don't add your thoughts, comments, etc. directly onto someone else's post when reblogging, unless you're sure they're okay with it. Instead, just add your comments to the tags, or if you have something else to say about that discussion, either make your own post relating to it or ask first if you can add to the discussion. AKA:
This one seems pretty self-explanatory, but since some people still don't get it: don't go being a dick on someone's blog/in their inbox. Seriously, if you're even thinking about sending someone death threats, hate, or whatever, just don't. Find something better to do with your time, cause that's just not it.
Tags serve multiple purposes here: we use them to rant or add on thoughts sometimes, but also to just generally organise your blog. For example, I tag everything I write with #libby writes, that way if you're just looking for my fics, you can search my blog for that tag and it'll all show up, tagging makes it easier for you to find what you want in blogs. Tags also work as a way for others to blacklist content, for example, if you haven't watched a movie yet but everyone's talking about it, you can just blacklist content related to that movie and it'll all be hidden/show up with a disclaimer that it contains content you blacklisted until you take away the restriction.
Don't keep the default Tumblr images cause people will think you're a bot. You can change it to something as random as a Google picture of a park bench, as long as it isn't the Tumblr default picture cause most people have a tendency to block those. Just take the time to personalise your blog a little bit.
Don't be impatient when it comes to asks. Some blogs, especially the bigger ones, get dozens of asks a day, so don't be impatient or get mad if they didn't answer yours. At the end of the day, it's their blog, they decide what to post and what not to, and people have lives outside of Tumblr so they won't always have time to answer.
If you don't like something, don't interact with it, it's as simple as that.
Don't press people for information about themselves. Tumblr thrives on anonymity, so if people want to share, they do, but if they don't, you need to respect that. This isn't like Twitter where everyone has their names, age, picture, address, social security number or whatever on their accounts. Here, if you want to be faceless and nameless, you can, and that should always be respected.
Those are the ones I remember at the moment, but like I said, this can change and be lengthened as time goes on, but I hope it helped all you new users get a better idea as to how this works!
Also, if you're a Larrie or in the One Direction fandom, look these up as well, they're a bit more catered to our fandom.
-Love, Miah <3