#if i want your algorithm's opinion i'll fucking ask.

[crystaltoa]

Me: I should make some blorbo playlists! Nobody makes blorbo playlists anymore!

*opens Spotify for the first time in years*

...Oh so THAT'S why.

#what do you mean you just... add your own songs to my playlist... #that's not why i made a playlist... #if i want your algorithm's opinion i'll fucking ask. #apparently premium does not have this feature. It's not opt-out. it's just not there at all #so this feature was added purely to make the free product unpleasant to use #tech useability peaked at around 2013 and it's all been downhill from there

[jen-with-a-pen]

If people aren't comfortable reblogging fics to their blog (which I am not, due to a personal history of being doxxed and humiliated to my irl friends and family), are comments sufficient enough engagement or would you rather that reader not engage with your work at all?

I feel like that came out sounding passive aggressive but I truly mean it as a genuine question and am just not sure how to rework it to sound less snarky! I see this discourse on and off from different fic writers and respect both opinions and think everyone should be able to curate interaction with their fics as they see fit.

Hi, anon.

I've been thinking carefully on how to respond to this. I can tell you're not trying to come off as snarky– which i say as someone who can't read tone for shit most of the time and whose own tone can come off aggressive or bitchy when I don't mean it to be.

I'm gonna address your ask as thoroughly as I can, if that's cool. Sorry if it's a long response. I'll put a cut in so I don't interrupt feeds ✂️

First, I want to pose a question to your question, which I mean genuinely with no spite whatsoever: why are you on Tumblr if you're not reblogging or don't even reblog?

As I've stated in other replies to the post I made a few weeks back, from the way I see it, Tumblr is literally built upon the foundation of sharing creations and content. There is no dead-set algorithm here like there is for Instagram or TikTok. Sharing is, quite fucking literally, caring here. We are able to form communities of all sizes because we share things. Reblogging is essential to the upkeep, and quite frankly the existence, of fandom and communities. Without sharing, our communities crumble and become ruins. We are actively seeing this as we speak: many mutuals and authors I follow are starting to quit writing due to passive, demanding consumption patterns and 0 engagement.

I know you probably know this, but I thought I'd restate it for answer's sake.

To answer the meat of your ask, I will pull from both personal experience and mutuals' experiences and input.

In my own personal opinion, if you are solely commenting on fics and are not engaging in anything else (no likes, no reblogs, etc.) then I personally think that Tumblr is not the site you should be on and, frankly, you should go sign up for AO3 if that's all you're going to do.

And I mean this earnestly. If all you want to do for engagement is commenting, then AO3 needs you because sharing does NOT affect authors nearly as much over there as it does here. In fact comments on AO3 are the literal equivalent to reblog on Tumblr: we don't get any and when we do it's like finding an oasis in a never ending desert.

Now in terms of what mutuals and other authors have said on the matter, it seems the consensus is that commenting without reblogging is a case-by-case basis. I'm going to quote a mutual of mine here:

"...if someone is commenting on my work but not reblogging… I'd say it's case by case. If it's just MY fics they aren’t reblogging, then it'd be a problem, but if they don’t reblog ANY [fics] I'd be more okay."

Another mutuals also put it this way:

"... I feel like there *is* both sides in this sense; yes comments are nice and engaging even though they aren't the preferred and most helpful way to boost writers..."

I feel like both of them put it into words where I struggled to. I will also say that I do agree with the point being that if you're not gonna reblog ANYTHING– no art, no content, no photos, no other fics, nothing– AND your profile adheres to the guidelines set forth in basic Tumblr etiquette (not looking like a bot and not a minor) then sure, comment away.

The verdict, in summary with my opinion and mutuals': it depends on your behavior and your interactions with other works and content.

I hate the word content but I couldn't think of another one.

But, my question still stands: why are you on Tumblr when you don't even participate in the basic fundamental function of this site?

I also wanted to take the time to address the other part of your ask regarding the doxxing and people finding out your identity.

It has been very widely known for (close to) two decades now that Tumblr is the place where you can have an anonymous identity. Truly. I've been on here for the collective half of the last decade and have been on the Internet for a little more than half my life, now, and Tumblr and fandom are literally the biggest and best places where you can be someone else. You can be completely anonymous.

The common denominator, however, is you.

The amount of information you have on your blog is what you choose to put on it. If you state your real name, your state and city, have one of those (imo stupid) carrd things or whatever, then honey– and I mean this in the nicest way possible, truly– that is on you. I know for a fact (from good and bad experiences) that you have all of the power in the world to annonymize yourself while still maintaining yourself on the Internet. That make sense?

A couple of mutuals made very excellent points regarding this:

"...I have a best friend irl who has Tumblr and is so close to the fandoms I'm in, and she doesn't know I write here. I am anonymous on here. I'm suprised she hasnt connected the dots because my aesthetics are the same in real life..."

"...I personally think its pretty easy to be anonymous on tumblr. Especially since usually all we ask is you have that you aren’t a minor at the top of your blog..."

"...it's really easy to be anonymous on the internet [...] you can be an ENTIRELY different person on the internet..."

From that last mutual, I'll paraphrase and go off of another point they made: the fact that you do want to participate and comment negates your ENTIRE arguement because someone– anyone– can find you and your blog through said comment(s).

Your digital footprint is what you leave behind. So if you have your city and state and grade and real name and all this other shit in your blog or carrd or whatever, then you are the only one who is responsible for having put said information out there.

Hell, I've been mutuals with some people going on 2-3 YEARS at this point and the only other things they know about me is my state, general city vicinity, my cat, and what I do for a living. That's it. And we span from early twenties to married with a kid or two.

We are in charge of what we share and I implore you– as someone with a certification in legal information technology– to please educate yourself on your Internet privacy and digital footprint. Please take the time to think about your actions and the information you have online. I STILL do this to this day, even after getting certified and being on the Internet for half my life.

I am sorry that you've gotten doxxed in the past. Truly, I am. It's a horrible act and I hope you never have to experience that again. Please know I am not being dismissive of that nor trying to blame you for said acts.

But it all comes down to you at the end of the day. In general, it's you, your actions, and the consequences of your actions. And if you happen to be a minor, then I strongly urge you to rethink your decisions and maybe step away from social media and utilize critical thinking in order to asses your situation and who you surround yourself with, both online and offline. I wish I had someone to tell me that when I was 14– fuck, even when I was 18.

And I mean it when I say AO3 might suit you more than Tumblr. If any fandom site has more capabilities to be anonymous than Tumblr itself, it's AO3.

Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for you. My DMs and ask box are always open and I am open to more commentary on the matter and related ones so long as it is civil and respectful. I refuse to stop having this conversation.

Thank you for listening ❤️

#jen speaks #commentary #ask #answer #long post #long response #i hope i addressed this enough for you anon #and others who kight have similar questions #this conversation is LONG overdue and i want to spearhead the effort to try snd build back fandom and engagement between reader and writer #anyways #i read this a million times and even had my boyfriend's input lmaooo #he doesnt have a clue about fandom but he assured me i wasnt coming off as an asshole 😅 #im hoping i can continue the conversation with yall bc once im passionate theres no turning back #and idk about yall #but it fucking sucks seeing your friends lose interest in their hobbies and you look up to them and i hate seeing them so defeated #its an epidemic

[commiicc]

Hi. I'd like to talk a little about my time on social media as an artist. I'm sure a lot of this has been said by a ton of artists before me, but I'm going to say it again anyways.

My online handle is @ commiicc. I've gone by the alias Comic for a few years now. I was extremely active of Twitter during the height of the DreamSMP fandom. My time in this community brought me many memories and experience. Both good and bad. Today, I just want to focus on the art.

In my opinion and experience the art community of the DSMP fandom was so incredibly toxic. Artists were the backbone of the community. It was said time and time again. But this held many artists to unfair expectations. The turn around on art was insane. If art was not posted directly after or the day after the stream/ event it would flop. Posts would circulate about the perfect posting times, which I would memorize, then be so sad when I'd post at those times and a price would still fail. I'd blame myself. I'd internalize it and think I just wasn't good enough. It was never my art. It was simply the shit algorithm that is any social media, but that didn't stop me of course.

And I watched so many young artists beg for followers, because validation meant everything. And we all wanted to be mutuals with the popular, big twitters because that meant we'd made it... right?

I watched followers drop and people ask if they'd done something wrong to deserve it because canceling was so common. It was usually just bots being deleted, but "what if I did something wrong" was always everyone's go to.

Going back to artists being the backbone of the community and pumping out content. I used to say how thankful I was for the community because it made me grow and find my style. But in reality, I only found my style once I stepped back and took time on a piece. I was just slapping shit together back then. I hated most of what I made during that time. It was all rushed. Because no one gave me time. I always felt so rushed to post something so it gets attention. Post something so my followers don't think Im leaving. Because if you took too long to post (more than a week) you'd start losing people. I was a small artist and craved that attention... So I forced myself to create, even if I had no ideas. It's pushed me into burn out.

I'd compare myself to other artists who somehow created masterpieces in like two hours when it took me ages to do anything. I compared myself to everyone and hated everything I did. It was incredibly unhealthy.

I've only just now started making things I enjoy again.

Even when I switched fandoms I was still in the mindset of pushing out art, so I hate it all.

Only after burning myself out can I now restart and find my style... Can I now actually create again.

And I know that's just the culture of social media. and people used to tell me "just don't care" "just don't look at the views". do you know how hard it is to be a 16, 17, even 18 years old and NOT look at that??? to be a new artist and NOT care how much attention your art gets??? when a content creator that you love can see your fanart and has actually seen it.. all humans want is validation. Social media prys on that toxic need. On that innate human need. Cause yeah, we all want to know that what we're doing looks good, but holy shit was that place bad.

And I KNOW I'm not the first person to say this. I'm just trying to share my experience and I'm putting all this disclaimer here in case... So please just check yourself and remember we're all human. Social media is kinda awful and this is literally just my blog to share long thoughts and archive who I am. My time on social media fucked me up a little and I'm just now realizing it. That's what all this is.

So yeah all this to say, I'm done posting my art on social media for now. I'm done pumping out art just for the sake of it. When I create something worth sharing, I'll post it. But for now, I'll be in my comfortable void. I'm around and always willing to chat about the art making process or just chat in general. I'm creating. I always have been. I'm just not sharing it. It's not for your eyes.

It will be when im ready.

And new artists, young artists, any artists; your worth is not determined by the views or likes a post gets. Your art is worth more than any amount of attention it gets on social media. Don't create for attention. Create because you enjoy it. Create for yourself. That's where the magic happens.

thanks for reading. sorry this is long. I'm very wordy. thanks for being here.

- Comic

#dsmp #dsmp fandom #<- for reach #art community

[asksoldieron]

WTF Are We Doing Here? (Pinned Intro Post!)

This is my website!

My comments are broken! You know what works slightly better than WordPress comments? Tumblr! My few readers are already here and I'm lookin' for more! So, screw it, time for a side blog!

HEY, TUMBLR! FREE BLORBOS RIGHT HERE! AND NARY A ONCELER AMONG THEM!

"Are they traumatized?" I hear you say. YES! God, yes.

"Are they neurodivergent?" I hear you say. YES! AND SO AM I!

"Do they fuck?" I hear you say. YES! But not here, because the algorithm will eat me if they do. I want to be seen! There will be language and probably violence and queerness and political opinions, but don't get me in fucking trouble, Tumblr. I'm gonna get enough flack for the queerness. I'm very fragile. Be nice.

So! Let me babble for multiple paragraphs trying to explain myself to strangers on the internet, like usual!

This is Milo. If this blog functions the way I want it to, I'll make you some nice reaction images eventually, but Milo in shadow-puppet form will suffice for an example.

Milo says: I don't want to be an example!

Too bad! If you want to talk to Milo, use the ask button and address him by name. He lives in my brain, they all do. I'll get him for you. I'll make him talk.

Milo says: WHAT? *faints*

Well, Milo prefers to communicate in text and images for the time being, so we'll omit the quote marks for him, unless something changes.

Milo says: What? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY CHANGE?

Who knows? It's a very long serialized story and there's lots of character development. That's the fun part! Fixate on, I mean, be very normal about a character and get more and more and more content about them, watch them grow and change and develop relationships, scream at me and at them when you feel like it, and just keep doing that until I get bored or die. What's not to like?

For the moment, I'm the only one working on this story, and I can't afford to hire help, so we're not talking about flawless quality here, but it's free! (Or pay what you want.) So, please,

🌈Lower Your Expectations!🌟

Yay! There are a lot of site issues and there's only so much I'm able to do to fix it. Typos that look like words are my moral enema. If something is so broken you can't read it or understand it, or if I've really hurt you, please drop me a line (via the message box, if it's not for publication) and I'll do what I can. Otherwise, if you like this content and want more, be kind.

I'm autistic and high-masking so you will be speaking to the public-relations version of me. It's as buggy as my site! I'm just gonna be relentlessly positive about everything! Unless I can't. That's not necessarily your fault, but sometimes I can't. So if you're a little ND too, and a lack of response makes you crater - If I don't answer it's probably not because of anything you did. I got a lot on my plate and social ability is always the first thing to go.

Milo says: Preach, Sibling.

The versions of Milo and the others you'll meet will not be the canon versions, nor will their interactions here affect the story. So go nuts!

Milo says: What? No! Be nice to me too!

And, naturally, these versions exist in a context-free void where they can chat happily with strangers from another universe, even if the real ones would freak out and scream

Milo says: You can't mess around with my brain so I can't feel fear! Oh, my gods! I NEED my brain!

No, no. I'm only making sure you don't have an existential crisis due to the context-free void.

Milo says: Oh. Yeah. That's not a big deal. The context-free void has hot chocolate and snacks.

Right, so we're not hurting them. It's fine! It'll be perfectly safe!

Milo says: Yay❤️!

I'll do another post and give you the lowdown on myself and the main cast, including aliases and pronouns. Or, if you've tripped over this out there in your feed, you could always just go read the darn story. It'll take a while. There's a lot of it already. But we'll be here waiting for you! (Don't comment at the site. Are you reading me? You're on Tumblr, you are here to read. Maintain your reading comprehension at all times! The comments are fucking broken.)

[prismatoxic]

glancing on twitter for a post someone links to and finding that a bunch of your friends are using it almost exclusively is... a weird feeling?

i'm always going to be sour about the state of modern social media. i think some are worse than others, and i'm especially bitter about ones that try to replicate the tumblr format but maintain the restrictive NSFW content rules. but twitter...

i don't know. i knew i'd lose a lot of mutuals when i left it for good. it was the right move; twitter was stressful, and its algorithm makes it more of a cesspit than it might be otherwise. not even getting into the absolute piece of shit who currently owns it. i hope he gets hit by one of his fucking polygonal trucks.

maybe i'm still sensitive from 2018. when i got banned from tumblr around the nsfw purge, it stung to have a lot of people not... leave it. people who were my friends. i wanted solidarity, but you can't really ask that of people when it comes to social media, because they're all so different and fill such specific needs. but it did feel dismissive. maybe that's the bpd talking. a lot of times it's the bpd talking, in general.

when i got banned from twitter after that, i already had a second one to move to full-time. that time was absolutely mass-reporting, but i didn't want to fight it. i was tired. being on the forefront of discourse was exhausting.

but this time, i left twitter of my own volition. the "post rationing" was what broke me, but that being walked back didn't make me want to return, because i'd been gearing up to do it anyway. it felt like such a toxic place to be. people are still there, though. sometimes they're only there. or mostly. and why not? you can still post NSFW. all your friends are there. why wouldn't you stick around?

some part of me tries to chalk it up to a moral failing on their part, but. that's not it. i'm not better for still using tumblr. so what is it, really? well, it is the bpd: i feel left out. like i left a party to sit on the lawn but everyone else is still inside. it's a me thing, it's no one else's issue to deal with, but the nature of how bpd works means it twists me up inside nonetheless. do i compromise my personal morals to return to twitter? or do i stick it out and stay only here and on aethy? does it even fucking matter at this point?

i wish it was easier to move people to the fediverse. i really do. but if you've been on the 'net long enough, sites like twitter and tumblr and all their derivatives are some degree of intuitive. the fediverse isn't. you can sand down as many sharp edges as you like, but it's always going to look too complex for most people to even try. feditips can help, but only so much, and it's a lot of reading.

why trial and error a new thing when the old thing works fine? when all your friends are still there? i'd have jumped ship from discord ages ago, but all the competition kind of fucking sucks, and all my friends are still on discord, so genuinely, why bother?

i hate the modern internet. give me 2012 tumblr back. give me myspace back. let me use livejournal when livejournal was still good. sure, there's dreamwidth now, but no one's on it.

... it's loneliness, really. it always is. feeling left out, feeling unwanted; these are things my brain loves to force on me. no amount of rational thought can dispel them entirely. i try, but. it's hard.

i guess i'll think on it. my twitter still exists. i just feel like trying to go back would be making a mistake, or if nothing else, people whose opinions matter to me might be disappointed. maybe i'll get over this and not think about it again. i don't know.

#one of those “talking out my feelings until i reach a conclusion” posts #tox.txt

[wilvia]

Hear me out please!

I KNOW THAT DILFOYLE IS THE SHIT OK?

But also Gilfoyle and Martin Starr in general is just, let's say very pleasing to look at, in my opinion, so given the very scarce content on him I decide to write a little fanfiction, now based on the reaction It can be either a one shot or I can make it in chapters.

THIS A GILFOYLE x OC

TW: drug use, brief mention of sexual intercourse.

* * *

"Gilfoyle, listen I have a thing to finish here, I can probably be there in a few days"

You said as you were talking on speaker phone while finishing your latest work, more like an illegal hacking job.

"I'm going to be honest, we need somebody to help with the ingestion engine"

I stopped typing and picked up my phone

"Okay give me two days max and I'll be there"

If what Gilfoyle told me was true Richard created a great compression algorithm, and they needed a pair of extra hands to get the platform ready for Tech Crunch,

let's do it.

I arrived a the incubator, I wish it was my first time here but that would be a lie, I have passed numerous nights in this place and some I regret more than others, I knocked on the door waiting for someone to open it.

I was beginning to lose hope as the door sprung open.

"Mae, it has been a while uh?"

"Not long enough, Erlich"

I handed him my car keys.

"Can you get my rig from the backseat? Thank you"

I squeezed passed him and went into the house, seeing all the boys, all apart from one.

"Hey where is Big Head?"

"He moved, welcome back Mae" Dinesh said to me while looking at Richard.

"Oh well okay, Richie tell me everything I need to know" I said as I was about to sit down.

"No, backyard, grab the weed" Gilfoyle said as he pushed me in the direction of the pool, well,

I'm so glad to be back.

I grabbed the weed and the bong, selecting the one that Erlich preferred and went outside, not before earing Dinesh muble to himself "Fucking Gilfoyle".

I went to sit in the chair next to Gilfoyle as he handed me the beer.

"Well somebody is stressed" I said while smiling down at my friend, friend with benefits, occasional benefits.

"I'm not stressed I'm exhausted, we are working day and night for this thing, but I'm glad you are here, we needed another pair of competent hands. "

"So you are calling me competent, wow, this is the first time you complimenting me Gilfoyle, it's kind of scary"

I said as I took a swing of my beer, and started packing the weed in the bong.

"Fuck you Mae"

He said as he took a swig of beer and handed me the lighter.

"Fuck you Gilfoyle" I said as I light the bong, and inhale a couple of times.

I give it to him drinking my beer.

"So how are things with Tara?"

"Like always, she was here a couple of days ago"

"That's great, did you tell her about what happened between me and you?" I looked at him.

"It was already established that our relationship was open, so there was no problem"

"Good to know" I nodded as I try grabbing the bong from Gilfoyle, I had to lean out of the chair to grab and without realising it I was centimeters away from his face.

"Shotgun?" he asked, I nodded and he inhaled and got even closer, blowing the smoke in my mouth, and for some reason being either the long journey, the beer, and the weed or a combination of all the aforementioned things, I kissed him.

He kissed back immediately pulling on my shirt to get me on his lap as we were making out, the sound of the door being opened made me jump up in surprise.

"Mae I've put you computer in the room, but you have to set it up, because... Well I don't want to, also did any of you see my bong?"

Erlich said as he was still standing in the door.

"Yes Erlich we were smoking" Gilfoyle said as he pointed to the bong on the table.

"ah! Great!" Erlich exclaimed as he made his way towards us, I was still standing and to disperse the tention I grabbed the beer and started drinking it, Gilfoyle just stared and smirked at me, I mouthed a "fuck you" his way.

#bertram gilfoyle #silicon valley #richard hendricks #dinesh chugtai #erlich bachman #Gilfoyle x reader #jared dunn