So I just want to add to this because I’ve been on tumblr since 2008 and I’ve seen it through nearly all its phases, it’s best(before the purge) and it’s worst(right now).
5 years ago (just before I left tumblr) people were more than happy to reblog content. There wasn’t this hesitation that people seem to have now.
E.g - These are the notes on some of my posts from 5/6 years ago
The ratio of likes to reblogs was always around 50:50, it was great. Nearly all blogs that put out creative content grew and put out work consistently because people actually bothered to hit the reblog button and helped people to get their work seen and appreciated.
Now, I know a lot of people will be like “Well you should write/draw/make content for yourself” and yeah, to a certain degree, that’s true. But when you’re putting out content just to have it flop time and time again because people either remain silent readers or hit the like button(we all still appreciate likes, so thank you) it gets disheartening.
I’m lucky that my work gets notes, but let me show you something
These are the notes from what some of the fics I’ve written. Don’t get me wrong, I still appreciate the likes, but look at the ratio now. Not to mention I have over 16,000 followers (which I’m incredibly lucky to have) but something just doesn’t add up and it’s really disheartening for me and a lot of other content creators on here.
Tumblr has already fucked us over with their new bullshit tagging system, but then when we’re putting out (FREE) content for people and they can’t even be bothered to hit the reblog button…well…you can see why a lot of creators end up jumping ship to another platform.
Another thing I see a lot of is big blogs not supporting their fellow creators or only supporting a very tight knit group of mutuals. This isn’t anything new, I’ve seen it time and time again, and I hate it. I don’t know if it’s because people are worried about competition from ‘outsiders’ or what, but I t’s so shitty to see.
YOU SHOULD SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW CREATORS, NOT JUST YOUR FRIENDS!!! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEARCH THROUGH THE TAGS, CREATE YOUR OWN TAG THAT PEOPLE CAN USE LIKE I DID AND REBLOG REBLOG REBLOG!!!
You’ll have no one left to blame but yourselves when there’s barely any content left on here/your favourite writers give up because you didn’t want to reblog a piece of work they’ve worked hard on because it didn’t ‘fit your aesthetic’ or because you’re worried about competition.
I’m sorry for the rant, but as someone who has seen it all on this website, it’s just really shitty to see that this is the way things are going.
kianamaiart
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
