Akadamia

[mychaotic-academia]

I want to basically go to an old school finishing school where I learn Etiquette and French and the Arts and Literature and Philosophy and History and Dance.

I want to be elegant. I want to be classy.

[zingring]

Hi. Can I ask... why does tumblr staff act like it's not inappropriate for users of the site to wish death on them, or to call people like yourself a "disgusting bitch"? Especially when — not always but often — it's in the process of them demanding you run the site according to their exact beliefs and desires rather than addressing objective problems (eg. the dashboard). But even when it's about real issues, don't y'all deserve a certain level of human decency?

It makes total sense that people are angry about trans women's posts being erroneously flagged as mature, but it's kind of odd to me that you don't take issue with them cussing you out for for it as though you're personally, maliciously doing it when you've repeatedly explained that it's a result of stuff from years ago and that it's actively a priority for the site.

This is a tough one. Yes, of course we all deserve to be treated decently. I don't want any of my staff to be attacked, ever. I would prefer to not be attacked myself! There's a certain level that once users cross, we do terminate their account (like, the Ask I got telling me to go kill myself, but with a lot more colorful language thrown in). We do the same when people reblog with that type of language, or comments, or whatever. Telling people to go kill themselves is never ok.

My personal approach is that our users really don't know me. They've never met me, spent time with me, had a meal with me... . It's not about me at all. What it's about is outrage over the victimization of a particular community, which I think is fair. I think the complaints could be delivered better, but I think that because of inconsistent policy application in the past on Tumblr's part, there's a subset of Tumblr that has been radicalized to believe that the only way to make effective change on the site is through bullying and harassment. That's a shame. They're actively hindering the ability of Tumblr to be sustainable, but I think it's a monster of our own making. We are only around 200 people, and moderation is so, so hard. I believe the path forward is to engage reasonably, patiently, and most importantly, consistently. We also have to follow through and demonstrate that we'll keep our promises and do what we say we'll do.

Additionally, I'm a pretty sweary person. I think swearing at someone in anger to make your point is a little bit junior high (personal take), but cussing itself doesn't bother me.

FWIW, I can't speak for anyone else on staff, this is all my take on it. But I am willing to bet that everyone on staff (especially our more visible members) would love to not get hate anymore.

[kat]

i remember before tumblr joined automattic, when i was still in support, we were expected to reply sincerely to tickets where people said really horrible things. hateful, abusive things. that was the way it had been since the day i joined. after a few years at tumblr, i interviewed at another company and somehow this expectation came up. i think i mentioned that i was pretty good at ignoring abuse or something like that (yes mentally i was totally fine and doing really good, why do you ask?). the guy interviewing me was really taken aback and said he doesn't tolerate that kind of stuff and anyone sending hate in support tickets not only wouldn't get a response, they'd be banned from sending more tickets. it was like a moment of shock for both of us. he couldn't believe i was expected to reply to hateful messages, and i couldn't imagine *not* having that expectation. like i didn't even know that was an option.

btw obviously i'm still at tumblr so i didn't take the job (sure they wouldn't make me reply to someone telling me to kill myself but they also wouldn't give me health insurance uhh lol).

that conversation stuck in my mind though and when we joined automattic one of the first things i asked about was abusive messages in support tickets and how other automattic divisions handled them. and i'll be honest: my expectations for automattic were very low, having already gone through the verizon acquisition a few years prior. but i was relieved to find out that i no longer needed to reply to people being rude and abusive. wow, what a concept.

and i think over time, that shift has made me feel more idk. comfortable? safe? i still get hate directed at me sometimes via asks or posts but at least i can block and move on. i know it's not about me.

people forget there's a real person on the receiving end of that dm, reblog, support ticket, whatever. it's not an excuse, it's just reality. and i think there are very real and legit reasons for tumblr users to be upset and honestly i love to see it bc to me it means that y'all care. it keeps me going. but targeted harassment and hate isn't okay and it isn't going to accomplish anything. from experience, you'll make that one person feel like shit (duration and intensity varies) and ... that's it.

if you want to enact meaningful change:

first, keep informed about what we are doing by following @changes (and chime in on posts there if you want). i have seen a lot of misinformation going around and causing a big uproar.

if you have some feedback, send it to support. this is the only real guaranteed way that someone from staff will see your message.

if you find a bug, send it to support. again, this is the only way someone from staff is guaranteed to see it.

and lastly, keep the discussion going. we do use tumblr so we see posts making the rounds. just don't be a huge asshole.

anyway i'd like to thank [REDACTED] for not providing employees with health insurance because i love tumblr in a way i could never love [REDACTED] and i'm happy to still be here ❤️

[blumineck]

I'm trying something different with this one! If you'd like to see a longer edit with a little more nuance and extra demonstrations, you can find it here.

I'll be posting more long videos to my Youtube when I can, because I'm trying to get them to officially recognise me as the originator of the videos!

But also, as always, there will be bonus tests and cut content on Patreon this week. Any support is greatly appreciated as it helps me make more videos!

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