#notegate

[tyrannuspitch]

maybe tumblr will give us the notes back if we put on the greatest talent show this website's ever seen

[discworld-heritage-posts]

FORCED HIATUS NOTICE UNTIL TUMBLR GETS ITS SHIT TOGETHER

Given the shitty change Tumblr implemented yesterday that turns reblog chains into quote-retweets where very single reblog with an added commentary steals all further reblog and like notifications from the OP, I've decided to put this blog on a forced hiatus.

If you are not familiar with the shitty new change I am talking about, visit the @staff blog and you'll see. Make sure to also visit @changes to voice your disagreement over this new feature. Don't just comment on their posts. Send feedback. Send emails. Send strongly worded letters.

I love Tumblr and I love running this blog. I love finding great posts (many of which are the result of funny, witty, or beautiful reblog chains) and reblogging them, but due to this new change, until reblogging and engaging with posts stops actively driving away engagement from their original creators, I'm going to stop doing it. This new change is a fundamental betrayal of one of the core Tumblr functions that have kept me on this site for... fuck, 15 years. It kills the "yes, and..." culture that makes Tumblr unique and also one of the reasons we are still here. And it gets worse, because this new change isn't just engagement theft, it also puts creators in increased danger by making them lose track of what other people are saying on their own posts. By disconnecting the OP from further additions to their posts by other users, this change encourages the wrong kind of engagement, disingenuous and vapid clout-chasing, and benefits only those with ill intentions since they will be able to harass or spread toxicity or misinformation without the OP's knowledge within a couple steps of a reblog chain. I have no desire to encourage such practices, hence... forced hiatus.

This shitty new change is a painful and merciless way to kill a core, unique, and beloved Tumblr mechanic. Knowing that adding a funny commentary, relevant addition, or blog gimmick will steal all further notes from the original poster will actively discourage people from engaging with posts. Moving jokes and conversations to the replies section won't work either, since this new change also fragments replies, and you will only be able to see the replies of the reblog you are replying from.

As a heritage posts blog, I know I could still keep reblogging posts without adding my usual commentary and simply relegate my gimmick to a tag. However, I want Tumblr to revert this change, and therefore, I believe that besides complaining and making our displeasure known, driving this site's engagement down is the second best way to send a message. That I won't be posting doesn't mean I won't still be here, so if you have any posts you believe worthy of this blog, keep sending them my way, and they will stay in my drafts until this new change is rolled back and I resume posting.

I don't know what choice other gimmick blogs will make. I don't think there is just one right way to deal with this mess, but this is the choice I am making. If you know of any other gimmick blogs wondering what to do, feel free to send them this post, or @ ing me so I can see the choices others are making.

Lastly, given the RETROACTIVE NATURE of this shitty new feature, I encourage all users that come across posts I have reblogged in the past to please REBLOG THEM DIRECTLY FROM OP'S BLOG until this new change is hopefully rolled back

Edit: yes I just saw they will be rolling in back, yaaay!

[runawaymarbles]

fundamentally, social media is a numbers game. part of what people like about posting on social media is seeing number go up. (not on everything, not necessarily on personal posts, but in general; we are talking here because we know people will see it. stuff we don't want people to see we say in private.)

all of which is to say

making it look like someone's post has no engagement makes them less likely to post

and for the site to exist. you need people to post.

[json-derulo]

going through my #muted tag and making all my greatest hits unrebloggable out of spite. if I don’t get user engagement when people reblog my jokes, then neither does @staff (or tumblr’s advertisers)

[muzzlesbian]

Staff only ever cares about their website when 80% of the userbase wants to tear them to shreds

[shitty-fanfic-prompts]

This blog is 99,99% original posts, and my most popular post is one reblog-with-comment removed from me. My whole system of looking through my notes and reblogging fanworks inspires by my prompts, even if there arent so many of them, will fall through.

To put it mildly, i dislike this update and it is going to nuke this blog.

And i am a bit account with shitty in the username, not an artist trying to get some reach. Can you imagine how much more dire it is for them?

[silvermoon424]

I think the thing about the tumblr reblog update and separating the notes into replies likes and reblogs is that they could’ve theoretically been ok updates…if it was something that you could do instead of being something your forced into. Like making it something you could toggle on and off on your own terms. I’m sure they’re could’ve been complications with that, but I have a feeling these updates wouldn’t have gotten the backlash they did if they were just features you could toggle on instead of features the site forced onto you. Or maybe they’d still be pretty unpopular idk

This is my beef with useless updates across the board. I HATE how they’re something that’s FORCED upon everyone with no exceptions and no way to opt out.

Like, I understand that UI updates are needed and if we kept everything the way people are already comfortable with every UI would look like it’s from 1999 and no real innovation would be done. But most of the time there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the core functionality of the UI and messing with it actively ruins the entire user experience. Many such cases!

From what I understand, a lot of these unnecessary updates are pushed by higher ups who want to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth out of the dev team. Instead of working on bug fixes and maintaining the system, devs are forced to “prove” they’re worth their paycheck by pushing out new features. Devs hate it just as much as we do and it’s another example of why people in the thick of the day-to-day grind are infinitely wiser than out-of-touch execs.

[latenightagain]

notes thing

so i can't post my huge magnum opus art piece that i've worked on for a month today because i won't see any of the notes engagement that isn't on the original post? did i get that right? i have to either sit on it until they revert it or accept that i will only be able to see a fraction of the engagement?