Okay. Let's give some feedback (politely).
In short, this is one of the most counterinuitive UI decisions I've ever seen a website make. It's clear it's been done on a business-end basis, rather than a user-end basis, and as a result it will harm the culture of this site to the point that people will stop using it.
Primarily, I use this site just to hang around and make goofy, collaborative posts with my friends. Under the old notes system, if someone reblogged a post from one of those friends and it went off in a different thread, with new additions, I would see those notes and get recognition on my post as the OP because they were cumilative. However, now, if someone reblogs it from a friend and adds something, I get a notification, but if I look at my original post, I cannot see that note. It's like it doesn't exist and disconnects me from the content I made.
The other reason I use this site is for scicomm. I'm a historian, I blog about Ancient Egypt, and I answer questions on it when I'm asked. Under the old system, I would be able to see all the notes/comments/reblogs/questions I've been asked on my OP and go back to answer those questions. As it stands right now, if someone reblogs and adds a question on a reblog that is outside directly reblogging it from me? I might see it in my notes, or I might not. If I miss it, I have no way of getting back to it from my original post even if that person was directly asking me the question. It only shows up for the person they reblogged it from. I cannot combat misinformation or answer peoples genuine questions because this update cuts me off from the community outside of the first reblog with a comment in a chain. It breaks it apart. Unless I catch the misinformation by chance, there could be whole iterations of a post I've made, where there's racism, misunderstanding, or harrassment and I've got no control over it because I can't see it.
Earlier, I made a post explaining how all these changes worked because the original post (above) was confusing for people. According to my OP, I only have 400 ish reblogs. According to my non-updated tumblr iOS app, I have nearly 10k reblogs. How is it remotely functional for the OP of a post not to know how many reblogs I have. I get all the notifications for them, it's been endless. But it's hard to separate them from 'this is a comment that'll show up if I look at my post' and 'this is a comment I can only see in my activity page and if I don't look at it immediately it's gone into the ether and I might only see it if that post shows up on my dash'. Commenters and rebloggers of my posts can see more notes than I can depending on when and where they're reblogging a version of a post from. That's just not functional. It also takes away control of my content and gives it to someone else. For artists in particular, a large part of your userbase, this is a nightmare. As someone with a larger following, I dare not make a comment on a post telling OP I like their art because I'm going to be taking engagement away from them. That shouldn't be happening, it's not my post, nor my art.
The final issue, which I've seen several other users mention is harrassment. I have a stalker on this website. It's been almost 5 and a half years since his harrassment campaign started. I blocked him. I turned off anon asks. I locked my blog down so he couldn't contact me or view my blog. I sent so many support tickets about the harrassment, and nothing was done about it. I did everything this site tells me to do to avoid it. Now it seems like he's going to be able to reblog a post of mine from someone else and continue his harrassment and I will be forced to see it. I won't be able to do anything about it. For others, this might mean that they say something stupid or out of pocket because they're young and people do that, and it might get reblogged out of their orbit by someone who has a much larger following and suddenly this person is humiliated without their knowledge unless someone tells them. In fact, the only way they might know of it is when they start receiving asks/anons that insult or belittle them. I've experienced this tonight as this update has rolled out. Not as harrassment, but as questions and anger at me for a reblog I cannot see and now have no control over. It doesn't seem that the function to block someone works anymore, nor does the 'turn off reblogs' function. All of this is only going to increase hate comments towards minorities who use this site, especially trans people.
As for the actual UI design of having notes displayed on each reblog of the post? I'm supposed to say something constructive here. I have a large platform, and my voice should be one of reason. But I have to be honest: it looks like dogshit. Posts just blend together, and it's ridiculous on a collaborative posting website that you can see which person got more notes. That's not what we're here for. That's not the spirit of Tumblr.
The only positive about this update was the ability to reblog from further up in the chain with ease if there was an addition you didn't like. However, this should not take away notes from the OP, and OP should still be notified. It's ridiculous that they're not.
As an educator, this was one of the last places on the internet where I could make long form content, with links and pictures. I'm able to explain things here and provide easily accessible sources. I cannot, in good conscience, continue to make content here if my ability to help educate people and to see their questions is decided by the popularity of the blogs reblogging from me rather than me being able to see and manage it all.
romaincrisis
prguitarman
kianamaiart
germansingergirl
baratheonpilled
izzy806
