How to Avoid Reblog Bait on Tumblr (as someone who is distressed by it)
(cw: discussion of reblog bait, demonstrative use of compulsive language)
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Reblog bait is Tumblr's main form of share-bait, which is content online that pressures users into sharing post content to avoid harm to themselves, to avoid harm to those they care about, or to avoid being seen as a bad person.
Post content to filter out or be aware of if you are also distressed by reblog bait include but are not limited to:
reblogs > likes
follows > likes
I know you see this
keep reblogging
please reblog
please share
must reblog
obligated to reblog
sample size
reblog if
obligated to reblog
ignore for
Tumblr posts will often tag reblog bait with the tag "#reblog bait" or similar tags like "#tw reblog bait", "cw reblog bait", "reblog bait tw", and more.
Reblog bait content is unfortunately most common on awareness posts, which often have important information to share but unfortunately end up inaccessible to those distressed by reblog bait due to the moral pressures put onto these users to avoid being a bad person.
With this, and especially as someone who's all too familiar with what it's like to feel pressured by share-bait (which I've had to manage since my first exposure to share-bait when I was 12 years old), I would say these messages to those who are also affected by share-bait:
You are not a bad person for not sharing reblog bait.
You will not get harmed in any way for not sharing reblog bait, nor will anyone you care about get harmed either.
You do not have to share online posts of any kind if you do not want to, this post included.
I hope that this post can help users with this because I know that a post like this would have helped me if I came across it when I first started using Tumblr.