How to "Move" Tumblrs You Have Blocked From One Blog to Another
Introduction: I will be going through the process of how I was able to do this for myself. I will include photos and gifs, because some of the stuff may be a bit confusing if you're not familiar with coding jargon, etc. Please note, the simplest way for this to be done is on a desktop. I hope someone finds this helpful! (:
Introduction, continued: Hello! I created a new main blog yesterday (this one), and I was curious to know if there was a simple way to export my blocked list from one blog to another. There isn't- at least nothing as simple as clicking a button or two. When searching for a method on how to accomplish something like this, I found this Reddit post (Thanks to OP for the heads up on this! It's a little off, maybe something changed since the post, but we'll get to that). Like the two commenters, I was confused. The only coding I know is very basic html, you know, just what I've learned through having a Tumblr for over a decade.
I wanted to give this solution the good ol' college try, though. So, I dug in some more. One, because I really wanted to be able to have the same 'security' that my other blog had, and two, because I wanted to make this process accessible to other people who may need it.
With that being said, the set up for this will not take a long time. However, depending on your blocked list, the middle portion may be a bit time consuming considering you can only "retrieve" 20 blog names at a time. Not sure why, it's just what Tumblr says. Yes, the post is a bit intimidating, but it's just because I was trying to give as much information as possible haha. Anyway, here's your how-to.
Step One- Register Application
Make sure you are on a desktop. Again, this is the most efficient way.
The first thing you are going to want to do is sign in to your account, of course. You must be the admin for the blog you are using in order to access the information you will need. After you sign in, go to this Tumblr page. You are going to want to click the big, green button that says "+ Register Application".
**The reason you have to do this is to retrieve two (out of four, the other two will be covered in a minute) credentials, or "keys", that you are going to need**
Now, you will be filling out a form. Only six fields are required, I will walk you through them.
"Application Name": This can be anything you want it to be! You can name it 'blocklist' if you want. Anything.
"Application Website": Fill this box with your blog's URL, being sure to include the https:// before it. Like so: https://yourblog.tumblr.com
"App Store URL" and "Google Play URL": You can leave blank
"Application Description": You can also put whatever you want here. Something like, 'to transfer blocked list' is enough.
"Administrative Contact Email": This should be pre-filled with the email that is associated with your Tumblr account. It is required.
"Default Callback URL" and "OAuth2 redirect URLs (space separate)": I put https://tumblr.com for both of these boxes.
Every other box isn't required, and you don't have to insert any images in the icons section. Click for the CAPTCHA, and then click register.
You should be redirected back to the initial page, and your "app" should be there, along with the first two keys (yellow underlines below) that you need.
Yay! Easy, right?
Step Two- Tumblr API Console
Now to find your next two keys. Click on "Explore API" (you can see its location above) on the bottom right of your app's info. It will redirect you to Tumblr's API Console, which you will need your first two keys to access. Copy and paste each key in their corresponding boxes. Continue.
Click "allow" on the pop up. After it authorizes you, you will see a box with different code "language" options in tabs (it should have Java Script selected by default), and a side bar with various categories regarding your blog. Click on the item 'info' under the "Blog" category.
"Token" and "Token_Secret" have your last two keys, and your first two are conveniently listed there as well. Keep this tab open, you will need it.
Step Three- Postman
In a new tab, go to this website. Unfortunately, you do have to sign up to access the web version of the application. Just in case you have to step away, make sure to keep "stay signed in" checked, as it will auto-logout if you are inactive for 30mins.
Now that you're logged on, click the plus symbol next to the "Getting Started" tab to add a new one. The new tab will look like this:
Next you want to click the "Authorization" section, click on the drop down box under "Auth Type" and select "OAuth 1.0", as the gif below shows (sorry for the quality lmao):
On the right, there will be four boxes that you need to copy and paste your keys into. Note: your keys are highlighted in green on the Tumblr API Console next to their corresponding credential, don't copy the whole line, and don't copy the single quotes.
"Access Token" is the same as "Token" from your Tumblr API Console. The "Signature Method" should be HMAC-SHA1. Make sure the green GET is selected on the left side of the URL box (it should be by default). With those boxes filled in, now you have to type out the URL you will be using. This is the format it must be in:
**Just copy and paste the above text, and replace "yourblog" with your blog's name. I.e. if your blog's name was JessePinkman, it would read "https://api.tumblr.com/v2/blog/jessepinkman.tumblr.com/blocks?offset=0"**
With the URL in the box, hit enter, or hit the blue send button. In the "response" box (the bottom half of the page), lines of code should pop up. This is what you need, and where it may become a longer process if you have a lot of blocked blogs.
**If you copy and pasted (and changed the Tumblr URL) as directed, you shouldn't get an error message. If you get one and you did copy and paste, check your keys and make sure one wasn't accidentally put in two boxes, or the wrong box, etc.**
Step Four
Copy the code by clicking the copy symbol on the top right side of the response box.
Open up Notepad on your computer and paste the text. You're going to be making a string of all the usernames to be blocked on the new blog (or side blog). This is going to be done with the code by selecting and deleting information that you don't need. Starting at the top, select and delete everything before the curvy bracket in front of the text "blocked_tumblelogs", and delete the circled brackets pictured below:
Next, scroll to the bottom of the note. Select and delete everything after the last listed Tumblr's "name" line.
You're going to keep every "name": "blogname", (including the comma). The { "blocked_tumblelogs": (including the colon) stays at top. Delete everything between "title" and "can_show_badges" as well as the },{ as shown in the above photo. All quotes and the "name": (including the colon) attributes will have to be deleted, but there's a simple way of deleting those things all at once, so it can wait until the end.
You will end up with this. Yours may be longer, 20 will be there if you have 20 or more people blocked. I didn't use a lot for the sake of the how-to.
If this is the end of your blocked list, this text (in yellow rectangle below) will not be present at the bottom of the code, only the closing brackets will be.
**If there is no text there, go to Step Five.**
If it is not the end of your blocked list:
Look for the number on the "offset" line.
This is the new offset number you will type into the pasted URL (on Postman) from before. This one:
This means it's going to offset your blocked list by the blogs you already have on your Notepad, and show you your next twenty.
Replace the zero with the new number.
Hit enter, or click send.
The new response will load, and you will repeat this section of steps until your response has no text before the bottom of the code's closing brackets.
You will repeat:
Copy response code from Postman
Paste in Notepad (use same note)
Delete excess code- don't keep { "blocked_tumblelogs": every time, only keep the one from the beginning
⋆ Clean up note some more
Replace URL offset number on Postman with next offset number (found on bottom of your current response code)
⋆ You're going to want to line the names up after each edit to make it easier on yourself in Step Five. The names should line up like:
Step Five- Cleaning Up String/ Your Note
You're on the penultimate step, so close! Here, you will be cleaning up your note and adding a few punctuation marks.
Cleaning Up:
On your note, go to Edit -> Replace, or hit Ctrl+H.
In the "find what" box, type in "name":
Leave the "replace with" box blank
Click "replace all". Your note will look like
Open the Replace window again.
In the "find what" box, type in "
Leave the "replace with" box blank
Click "replace all" again. Your note will look like
Now, remove all the extra space and make those names like this:
****I forgot to do it before taking a screenshot, but remove the comma at the end!****
Be careful not to delete any letters from blog names!
Adding Punctuation:
Re-add the double quotes around blocked_tumblelogs (closing quote before colon)
Add double quote before the first blog's name
Add double quote after the last blog's name
Add end curvy bracket at the bottom
Select all, and copy if you're adding your blocked list to a side blog connected to the main you are currently logged into. If you are copying from main to main, or to a different main's side blog, hold off on copying!
Step Six- Finishing up in Postman
Main you're currently logged into-> Side Blog:
Go back to Postman, and click the drop down box to the left of the URL where it says GET, and select POST. Under the URL box, select the "Body" section and click the "raw" bubble.
On the top line in the box of the body, paste your string
Even if you have a long list, the body should only have 3 lines
Replace "yoursideblog" with your side blog's name. I.e. if your side blog's name was WalterWhite4evr, it would read "https://api.tumblr.com/v2/blog/walterwhite4evr.tumblr.com/blocks/bulk"
When you're done editing the URL, hit enter, or click send. Your response box should load, and then pop up with this code
That's it!! 🎉 Check your blocked list for your side blog, and it should be full!
Main Blog -> Main Blog/ Different Main's Side Blog
In order to transfer this blocked list to another main, you have to create an app for the second main. Again, you must be an admin to do so. Please follow Steps One and Two again to create your app, and find your keys.
Now that you have your new set of keys for your second main, you will want to copy and paste them into the four boxes just as you did before (please refer to Step Three for quick overview- do not repeat that step again, though). After pasting, go back to Notepad and copy your string. Then follow the directions at the beginning of this step (Main you're currently logged into-> Side Blog section)
That's everything!! I tried to make this as detail-oriented as possible so that anyone and everyone would be able to understand it. I hope you guys get some good use out of it, and thanks again to the person from Reddit! 😊
#1 having flashbacks of high school math because of the line function
I always wanted to learn how to code, and the idea of code always seemed both very easy and very hard at the same time. Now, trying my hand at it for the first time, I realize that I was 100% right in my assessment. This shit is based on very simple concepts, but my mind was not made for math of any kind. Not even the very simple kind.
The way Khan Academy decides to teach people code is incredibly good, as far as I'm concerned. All the times I tried to learn code before it was always based on just writing things and hoping for the best and my head cannot deal with that. I have to actually see things, see results, see the process, so going for a Processing/JS form of teaching actually makes this something my brain can at least attempt to process.
I'm not a complete beginner when it comes to the concepts of coding — I know what a function is, I can understand for loops, and stuff like that —, but I never really tried to code. And how easy this thing proves you know shit even if you think you do. They start by just telling you to create a simple snowman, without ever needing to call more than the ellipsis function and define it's parameters, and you think "but that's too easy".
And then you realize that you actually need think about how ellipsis function works to draw it, what are the coordinates you need to use so it appears in you canvas, and make the math on where the middle is. Let me be clear about something: I can't do 2+2 without a calculator. My bachelors degree is in film studies.
They actually tell you where to draw things, and give hints on the parameters for some stuff, and I thought "nah, I'm gonna just think it through, this is definitely mean for kids".
The actual snowman itself turned out alright, doing that...
Like, it looks okay. I had to go through the parameters a couple of times to get it right, but it worked and my brain wasn't even screaming.
But then they tell you to put arms in the thing.
It turns out that the line function works in a completely different way than the other things you've learn so far. You have to tell it the coordinates of both starting and end point.
I have slight discalculia. Math in high school was a legitimate trauma, and this thing just threw me back into the hell that was analytical geometry. Fun.
From now on I'm just gonna take the hints and use the numbers they tell you to use and spare my brain from the pain of having to understand where things go. I'll just trust their method.
Between trying to remember the size of the canvas, where the coordinates start, and how each function take it's parameters and how they work, this is a lot of information. It will probably get easier as time goes by and I get used to all of it, but for a first time, it's a lot of things to remember.
Coding is one of those things that can have a pretty steep entry barrier, actually, even if you're starting from literal kids stuff, unless you're someone that has an easy time with math.
Hi! I few days has passed and I didn't post but I did study, just not as much. This is a recap from the last few days. I finally finished the landing page project which I chose Howl's Moving Castle to style the page, and also I finished another landing page project to practice more flexbox. In the weekend I went out to celebrate the Lunar New Year and ate delicious chinese/japanese/korean food. I ate tteokbokki for the first time and almost died from how spicy it was . And I finally started the JS section, I'm sure things will be harder from now on but I still hope I will manage to learn well and make lots of cool things!
