we need to talk about spoilers and tumblr etiquette
hi all. i've noticed a rising problem in the ssmy/hrkg fandom with people getting spoiled against their will on a website that used to be pretty good about spoilers, particularly in the hrkg side on account of the more frequent chapter updates, plus the influx of people coming from twitter, etc. i'm gonna go out on a limb and assume a lot of you are new to tumblr. i don't fault you for not being familiar with how things work here but we need to talk about how to post in a way that is mindful to others as to not disrupt people's experience, especially with the new chapter schedule and so we don't have to be here every month.
there are really only 2 basic things to keep in mind:
tag your spoilers. tumblr has a pretty functional tagging system, with the option to filter/hide certain tags and key words. if your post contains spoilers it is the most basic of rules to tag them so tumblr filters can do their job. to tag effectively, it's recommended to use #(series name) spoilers. you can use as many tags or variations as you want for more effect.
hide all spoilers under a Read More. tumblr has a function when creating posts where you can add a "cut" and put stuff under it. this will hide the content in the dashboard and people have to click manually to see it. this is also ideal for images, as merely putting a text warning at the top of the post unfortunately does nothing, since our eyes tend to go over the text and land directly on the larger visual. this way, people won't see the spoilers unless they actively choose to.
honestly, that's it. these two things are all you need to do to post spoilers safely so everyone can have a good time.
Q: why should i tag and hide spoilers?
A: because not everyone likes to get spoiled! some of us want things to be a surprise, and we don't want the experience ruined for us by people posting spoilers out of context. even for the people who don't mind spoilers, they deserve the option to choose whether or not they want to see them. it's just common courtesy and allows people to curate their own experience.
Q: shouldn't people know not to go into the series tag if they're avoiding spoilers? why should i use additional tags?
A: if you tag your posts with the series name or use certain keywords, it doesn't just show up when people explore the tag, but tumblr may put that post in their dashboard or for you tab as a recommended post, so they may end up seeing it against their will even if they stay away from the main tag. also, it's just pretty basic etiquette and provides context.
Q: why is it necessary to hide spoilers under a read more if i already tagged the post?
A: it's possible that posts may bypass tumblr's filtters for whatever reason. maybe it is not the exact same tag as the filtered one (ex. "#hirakagi spoilers" vs "#kagihira spoilers") or someone who reblogged failed to tag it properly, or they didn't have spoilers filtered. hiding under a read more is just an extra safety measure that goes a long way to ensure people don't get jumpscared by unwanted spoilers or images.
hope this helps! honestly other than this the ssmy/kghr community here on tumblr has been amazing and it's been wonderful to see this side of the fandom grow. i just want all of us to blog safely and have a good time. anyone is free to add to this post if there's anything i missed.
dailybridgerton
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