Quitting Tumblr, step 0: Become a Netizen
"I can't quit tumblr because-" that's alright. No one expects you to leave overnight to a brand new platform that might not be a good fit, where your friends might not follow you or you don't understand how to use it properly or you don't like the people there. We all hate being moved around different social media, having to start over and deal with the jank and frustration inherent in indie platforms.
My proposal to you today is: Don't quit Tumblr, make it easier for others to quit.
For this, you don't need to make a new account on a new walled garden, or deal with Fediverse nonsense. Instead, take a day or two of effort to make this easier for you later!
For today, being a netizen means using tools to help you keep track of the broader web, apart from walled gardens. Playing around on Neocities or indie sites for a few days might be fun, but you'll eventually forget, because typing tumblr.com or opening the tumblr app is just! easier!
Please don't scroll away! The RSS experience can be clunky and weird because big corpos like Google decided it was better if people got used to logging in to 5 big services with ads all over instead. Now, it's way harder to use than it used to be.
But if you learn it, you're doing such a big favor to minorities, activists and NSFW artists who can't afford to be included in the big platforms. Even if you rarely use it, setting it up and checking it once in a while, it's so rewarding to be reminded of small blogs you found and then forgot about.
An RSS feed is just a file that writes down your latest posts in a universal, computer-friendly format. You can look at mine on https://ceets.tumblr.com/rss
If you toggle on 'custom theme' on your Tumblr blog settings, congrats! you're publishing an RSS feed.
RSS is cool because it lets people subscribe to you without having to make an account on a specific site. That makes it easier for people to publish to their own site, without having to depend on Big Bad Tumblr and fear they might be unjustly banned. But it only works if more people learn to use it!
You need two functions to use RSS:
An RSS detector on your browser, that lets you know if a normal site like prokopetz.tumblr.com has an RSS link attached to it. Browsers used to come with this built in, but then they scrapped it, 'cause they hate you!
An RSS reader that lets you put in the RSS links and builds you a feed
If you join an RSS service like feeder.co, you'll be nagged to get an account with them, which is exactly what we wanted to avoid. They might paywall features and screw you over with ads. But, at least you won't have trouble syncing your RSS to your phone...
Option 2: RSS extensions that combine detector + reader
Desktop, Firefox (recommended):
Install the extension "FeedBro". FeedBro comes with a 'Find feeds in current tab' button that finds the RSS feed automatically. Then you can click 'view feeds' and be redirected to a viewer.
Desktop, Chrome & every other big browser you know:
Install the extension "The RSS Aggregator". If you click it while on https://prokopetz.tumblr.com , it will automatically find his RSS feed. Then click the '+' button and you will be subscribed.
On Android: Install the app "Capy Reader". You need to copy-paste the URL to each feed manually, so you'll need the help of a separate extension on your phone's browser to find feeds on the web (especially on sites like Tumblr that try to hide RSS from the user.) It sucks, so you might be better off leaving RSS as a desktop-only adventure.
If this step in the journey is too much for you, that's okay. The point of this post is that you have options, and any movement outside of Big Social Media is a step in the right direction. If RSS is not part of your journey out of tumblr, that's okay. Just give it a shot, be patient, and feel free to ask for help!
