Roll It Back!

Created on 3/16 to collect various complaints about the new notes update. @staff @changes you're breaking the joy of Tumblr, and I'll have you know that is OUR job.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[tumblr]

Let's talk about reblog notes.

We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise. 

First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.

We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.

In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that,  including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.

Keep an eye on @staff for updates to come soon. 

[stop-it-staff]

Thank you! I’d like to repeat the idea of allowing multiple likes per post and/or making a new kind of like specifically for reblog contributions. That could fulfill the goal of rewarding really great comments without derailing core site functionality.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[changes]

It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.

[stop-it-staff]

Putting aside “strong feelings” and “the heart of Tumblr” for a second, let’s talk business. A lot of creatives do business here, and they needed the old, centralized notes system for it. Here are several fairly common use cases:

Users need analytics for market research. What styles perform best? What content do fans like, but not reblog? To answer these questions efficiently, creatives require access to their total notification count as well as to the full set of tags/comments. Those should all be collected in one spot and (if desired) reported live in users’ activity pages.

Clients used to eyeball past posts to estimate someone’s platform size+the demand for similar content.

When a simpler post- a story pitch, a sketch- gained unexpected traction, the original poster could reblog with a later version, and it would be visible via the notes for all versions of the post. These reblogs could directly generate sales (“just added to my redbubble!”, “full-color on Patreon!”).

When an initial idea got misinterpreted, the original poster could find out fast and add rebuttals/context/sources in a single reply or reblog, which would again be visible across all versions of the post. This is vital for reputation management in a famously fractious social media environment.

Decentralizing notifications is bad for business- ours, and also yours.

[stop-it-staff]

i would like to clarify to @staff that “beautiful post, no notes” is not a design philosophy-

[stop-it-staff]

"someone's funnier than me on my own post" just became an actual horror story

[stop-it-staff]

This Breaks Tumblr Culture*

The artificially lowered amounts of notes will chill some jokes:

"Investing early"

"Breaking containment"/"Don't you DARE get this to [comically large number of] notes"

"Wait why is everyone reblogging this" (Ides of March example)

The increased self-consciousness when reblogging with comments (because you'd better deserve those notes you're stealing the people before you) will kill other forms of hilarity:

No, you're thinking of Sephiroth! A Sephora is an angel ... (x)

"Sensible post" vs. "?! response" (x x x)

Those posts that just smack you with increasingly heavy frying pans (x x x)

Pointing out unfortunate (or fortunate) wording/usernames (x x x)

The fragmentation of notes will do loads more damage by decreasing visibility into activity outside your particular reblog chain. We will likely lose:

Note/reaction collections, sometimes known as peer review (x x x x)

Posts where OP makes their point via multiple self-reblogs (x x x)

"XYZ will happen if people reblog this" posts (x)

In general, posts will get less collaborative and less viral- kind of a downside for a social media platform.

Additionally, the new note format will make it harder to document Tumblr history. Deactivation and deletion can wreak particular havoc by orphaning subtrees.

*I previously compiled these links in a reblog chain of @staff's posts, aka where no one will ever find it.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[stop-it-staff]

[Please copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes]

You all need to review your internal decision-making practices. Check that your managers have an understanding of the product, its market niche, and its consumers. Stop stapling random features from other platforms onto this Tumblr. You aren't 2020 Meta cobbling together a generic clone of Twitter. You're running a nearly 20-year-old business with a very particular user base, much of which is deeply loyal to your product ... or at least deeply repulsed by your competitors.

So maybe do some user research before you overturn the entire interface in a race to copy those competitors (a race that you've already totally lost). Just a thought!

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[stop-it-staff]

[Please copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes]

In addition to screwing over creators and their fans, this update spells disaster for Tumblr's site-wide sense of humor and culture.

The artificially lowered amounts of notes will chill some jokes:

"Investing early"

"Breaking containment"/"Don't you DARE make this viral"

"Wait why is everyone reblogging this" (Ides of March example)

The increased self-consciousness when reblogging with comments (because you'd better deserve those notes you're stealing from the person before you) will kill other forms of hilarity:

No, you're thinking of Sephiroth! A Sephora is an angel ... (x)

"Sensible post" vs. "?! response" (x x x)

Those posts that just smack you with increasingly heavy frying pans (x x x)

Pointing out unfortunate (or fortunate) wording/usernames (x x x)

The fragmented interface for notes will do loads more damage by decreasing visibility outside your reblog chain. We will likely lose:

Note/reaction collections, sometimes known as peer review (x x x x)

Posts where OP makes their point via multiple self-reblogs (x x x)

"XYZ will happen if people reblog this" posts (x)

In general, posts will get less collaborative and less viral- theoretically a downside for a social media platform.

(Additionally, the new note format will make it harder to document internet history. Deactivation can wreak particular havoc by stranding subtrees.)

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[stop-it-staff]

[Copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes]

The execution of this update is dreadful, like December 2018-level-bad vibes, but there's a shadow of a good idea in here. Indeed it would be nice to provide more recognition to good contributions further down in a reblog chain. Here are some compromises that could salvage part of this project *without* infuriating your user base:

Flowers/applause/kudos. Continue aggregating comments, reblogs, and likes at the post level and sending all those notifications to the OP. Just introduce one new metric that *is* at the level of a specific reblog, to provide likes-by-any-other-name specifically to that contributor.

Provide two views- one that gives the post-level statistics, and one with reblog-level statistics. The most visible version should be the post-level statistics, while reblog-level statistics could be fun to add into the "reblog tree" feature.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[changes]

It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.

[stop-it-staff]

[Copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes)

Ew. The example UI is confusing, unintuitive, and genuinely uncomfortable for long-time Tumblr users to use. Many of us love to chatter in our reblog chains, yet we're horrified by the possibility of diverting- stealing?- notes from the amazing OPs who inspired us.

You've managed to turn reblogging- the core of this supposedly "social" network- into an ethical dilemma.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[stop-it-staff]

[Please copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes]

Right now, if there's a controversial post, it takes one click to see everything Tumblr users have said about it. Yes, that includes the bizarre misinterpretations, but also the thoughtful rebuttals, the clarifying questions, the moving personal anecdotes, the receipts and bibliographies, and- dare I say it- a rare glimpse of nuance.

This update destroys that functionality. Users will see a single reblog chain, their own personal slice of the conversation curated by their own echoey corner of Tumblr. They'll need to click over and over, potentially at random, to break out of their own chamber and find all those alternate points of view.

Severe weather alert: the poor will be pissed on indefinitely.

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[stop-it-staff]

[Please copy or paraphrase this freely when contacting @staff and @changes]

This change is going to screw up user psychology.

Right now, reblogging is a straightforwardly positive gift to the OP (aside from cases of criticism). Reblogs are a show of love and a way to funnel more attention towards OPs for their good work. And because rebloggers and OPs both see notes on our activity page, we benefit together and are not in competition.

If you do this, reblogging becomes a mixed signal, even a way to compete against or attack the OP. Deeper reblog chains will make OP's analytics nigh-unusable and massively dilute the praise and support they receive. Rebloggers will frequently siphon notes away from an OP, either on accident or on purpose, a la stolen glory.

Etiquette-wise, the choice to reblog will become fraught- should we reblog directly from OP, to avoid making a deep, unusable reblog chain? Should rebloggers track and yell at their followers , making sure they leave likes for OP, not just us? Should rebloggers refrain from discussion entirely?

This change adds all kinds of friction. It punishes OPs for making reblog-worthy posts, and it punishes rebloggers for trying to interact with OP.