#// BLOCKED BLOCKED BLOCKED the only content on this blog (which doesn't seem like a bot) is from yesterday and it's a handful

[furby-organist]

> "Welcome, new listeners! What's my audience demographic like this evening?" (cw: ment of like... underage/inc*st kinks)

> "I don't know what my broadcast has to offer you, aside from the meth, but have fun!"

[bobbiedebruyn]

So you just joined Tumblr?

Tumblr basics + Fandoms/Gifmaking

Congratulations, you just landed at Tumblr! This hellsite (affectionate) can seem intimidating and complicated at first, but once you grasp the basics of it it’ll quickly turn into your own personal little hut in the forest. Tumblr is a website where you and only you curate your dashboard, you’ll see the content that you seek on your own. In this post, I’ll explain the basics of Tumblr and the basics of how fandoms function here with the help of Bob. Okay, let’s get started.

1. Blog customization

The first thing you should do as soon as you land on Tumblr is add a profile picture and header before you interact with people. You want to be distinguishable from bots and therefore avoid getting blocked. You can also add anything to your bio, there's no character limit. Some folks add their name and pronouns, but there are no rules about that. There are also no rules about profile pictures. It can be a picture of you, a picture of your dog, a picture of a rock, or a picture of your favorite character. If you plan on staying on the fandom side, you might notice that a lot of fandom blogs have colorful-looking icons (a cutout of a character on a colorful background), for these icons and also headers I suggest checking out source blogs that make those icons. For starters, @iconheadersource is a goldmine where you definitely going to find something that’d suit you and your blog.

Tumblr on mobile and Tumblr on desktop are two different creatures when it comes to customization. On the desktop, you can customize your blog with coding (HTML + JS). Now Bob will demonstrate to us some examples of blogs on desktop.

If you want to customize your desktop blog, I suggest checking out @phantomcodes and @glenthemes for the codes.

Tutorial on how to install themes

Using javascript on Tumblr pages

2. Search Engine

Nice! You've made your blog look pretty! Now, let's shift our focus to the search engine and ways to discover content. As mentioned earlier, you curate your dashboard by looking for things you enjoy and like. Search using hashtags or the names of your interests (TV shows, movies, birds, music, etc.) to find your piece of cake. For instance, folks who create posts about TV shows you like use tags to ensure their posts reach others interested in the same thing. So, let's go ahead and search for something right now.

Once you search for that specific tag, you are redirected to the corresponding tag page. Here, you can see that posts are sorted by "Latest" or "Top" (indicating posts with the most notes). On the right side, you will find related tags and blogs which are frequently using the searched tag. By following the tag, both the tag itself and the posts tagged with it will automatically appear on your dashboard in the "Your tags" section. You have the option to filter tags according to your preferences. In the settings, you can choose to block specific tags if you prefer not to see content related to some particular topics.

The only method for sharing posts and content on this website is through reblogging. On Tumblr, reposting others' content, including art, gifs, and fics, is not accepted. Reposting means downloading art, gifs, etc., creating your own post, and then sharing it. And that's a big no-no, strongly discouraged. Your likes essentially function as bookmarks, and you have the option to set them to be private. When you save something, it doesn't appear on your friends' dashboards.

We don't censor things here, and I advise you not to do so too. If you need to mention a word that might be potentially triggering or could be flagged on another social media, feel free to say it. Many users have specific topics and tags filtered out, so if you use variations like "K!tKat" instead of "KitKat" in the tags, it can bypass the tag filter, potentially causing more harm as people will see content that triggers them. And remember to always tag posts that have flickering or flashing!!!

If you want to organize your reblogs or make comments on a reblog, use the tags section and not the comments section itself. This is called "#add tags." Feel free to type whatever you want, but keep in mind that the original poster receives notifications when someone reblogs their post and adds tags. Yes, all tags are visible to us.

Okay, so let's quickly recap this information with the help of our dear friend, Bob.

3. Social interactions

So let's move on to one of the crucial topics - how to make friends on Tumblr? Personally, I don't think there's one particular formula for that. Sometimes you just see a funny bloke posting about something as random as desert rain frogs, grab them, and go "You're my friend now" and that's how you become mutuals. 

However, there are other, more common ways to become friends with someone. You can start by reblogging someone's post, adding tags to the reblog, and then following the person. Create your own posts, tag them to ensure they reach the folks who are interested in the same things as you, and participate in fandom events and challenges if you're into that. Interact with people you want to befriend, message them, send them asks. You will eventually find your crowd. You'll also find swifties, and fans of supernatural who never moved on from that destiel love confession four years ago, they also can be your friends, at some point, you will become friends and chill with each other. Be open to new interests to make sure your dashboard is not dull and boring.

Tumblr doesn't have the supposed hierarchy, and you don't have to listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, you curate your own experience and blocking is pretty normalized here. Notes and followers (which are private for everyone) don't really matter, stick to your beliefs and your vibe and you'll be fine. We're all equal losers here.

4. Fandom / Gifmaking

Fandoms play a significant role on Tumblr, they're closely tied with gifmaking. As a fellow creature of fandom, I'm adding this part because we don't gatekeep - more gifmakers and fandom enthusiasts mean a better fandom experience. As I mentioned earlier, everything has its tag, making it easy to find your favorite TV show fandom by searching for the tag. This is also how you can connect with people who share an interest in that specific TV show. Upon entering the tag, you'll stumble upon numerous moving pictures – these are GIFs. People create GIFs of everything, from their "blorbo" (the term for favorite character) to beloved ships and favorite moments. There are also plenty of creative GIFs with different coloring and complicated effects. And the best part? You can do it too!

There are a lot of ways to make GIFs. Some people use Photoshop, and some use Photopea which is an excellent accessible option. I'll be linking posts for Photoshop under this text. For Photopea tutorials and guides, please check out @photopeablr.

I've been making GIFs for three years at this point, and those are the tutorials I used when I was just starting out:

how to make a gif:

comprehensive guide 101

basic gif making tutorial + mvp player installation 

gifmaking for beginners

how to install MVP player on a PC

film downloading & screen-capping tips

correct photoset dimensions 

coloring

how to fix orange-washed characters

how to: coloring east & southeast asian celebs

channel mixer

colored background

color manipulation

vibrant coloring

how to brighten dark scenes

color isolation

effects

glitch effect

blending

crossfade transition

gradient effect in the text

gradient text

red colour accent on the b&w gifs

how to add a gif in a template

blurring gif backgrounds

using templates

text

text tutorial 1

font resources

understanding fonts and typefaces

split text

subtitles

other

icon tutorial

gif headers 

For more tutorials, inspirations, and resources - please check out @usergif. It's a good source blog for all gifmakers.

Wait but what's a source blog? These are blogs that center around a specific theme, creating content for a particular topic. They are managed by multiple editors, these blogs track their own tags to reblog content related to the theme. They can be source blogs dedicated to gifmaking (just like @usergif), a TV show, a movie, a character, a celebrity, a sports team, or literally anything else. Typically, these blogs incorporate terms like "network," "source," "central," "creators," "hub," or "daily" in their usernames, making them easily distinguishable from regular personal blogs. Examples of source blogs that come to my mind right now are @dailyanakin, @heartstoppercentral, and @nancywheelercentral.

Let's also talk about tracking tags, which are often included in blogs's bios, whether they're from source blogs or solo gifmakers. You can add these tags to your posts when creating a gifset related to a specific source blog or something you know a particular gifmaker would appreciate. Basically, the gifmaker can search their tracking tag, much like a regular Tumblr tag, and view the most recent sets in which someone used their tag.

The last thing I want to talk about are usernames, and main and side blogs. On Tumblr, we have two types of blogs: the main blog and the side blog. The main blog is the initial blog created when you sign up for your account. This blog has full functionality and all features, allowing you to follow other blogs, like posts, and send asks to other blogs. In addition to the main blog, you can create side blogs on your account. Side blogs lack some of the features of main blogs; you can't like posts, follow other blogs, or send asks from a side blog. They have slightly different functionality – a side blog can be password-protected, have multiple users, and allow you to send direct messages to people. Other users can follow your side blog, and you can receive asks from them.

Many people use side blogs as URL holders. For instance, when a new TV show is announced, someone might be the quickest to save all canonical character names. You can then message that empty side blog to inquire if they're willing to trade that specific URL or if it's available for a giveaway. Canonical URLs are often challenging to obtain, so many people add letters in between or at the end or use symbols like "-", and they also mix names and surnames of different characters.

5. The End

Okay, so we've just covered how Tumblr works, how fandoms operate, and how to get into gifmaking. I hope this guide by me and Bob has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to my ask box or simply ask Bob. I hope you enjoy your stay here, and that your experience with this website will be a positive one.

[zazzedcoffee]

There are polls on 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐫 dot com

Quite a few people have been asking how I have been making these polls. To make them I have been using the Tumblr API. While it is currently undocumented – there is a polls API route that allows you to post and get poll data. While the Tumblr UI puts quite a few restrictions on how many polls can be in a single post and when polls finish, the API currently has no restrictions on this*.

Poll Behaviour

Each poll and poll answer has a uuid tag (a "client_id") that should, ideally, uniquely identify each poll and poll answer. Silly things start to happen when you make a post with two polls with the same client_id, or one poll with several answers with the same client_id. This is how I made this monstrosity.

Polls also have an "expire_after" tag that allows you to set the deadline for the poll. While the UI restricts this to one day or one week, you can put in any time you like for this. This is how I made the 50-year horsie poll and whatever this is.

There are other fun things like being able to put newlines in polls which only display on mobile for some reason.

Can you make polls like this too?

Yes. In fact, from the beginning, I have had a python package that handles posting polls in a public GitHub repository. All you would need to do is register an app on the Tumblr API to get the various necessary authentication tokens and go ham**. Just be warned, I don't intend for this to be a fully-fledged implementation of the Tumblr API, but it gets the job done and will be useful for a few other projects I'm working on. I don't know when they are planning on adding polls to the API docs, or the official Tumblr clients – but I presume that by the time they do, these zany polls will sadly be no more. It seems like the polls API is still being worked on and I can imagine a lot of these issues (I call them features) being fixed. So let's have fun with it while it lasts.

Making your own fun poll

Let's try to recreate this post using my tumblr-dot-com package. Following the example on the readme to set up a tumblr object for your blog with the necessary auth tokens, the post can be constructed as:

# ... snip content = ( Content() .poll( "Wie cool ist das bitte?", [ "Jetzt zocke ich Fortnite", "und trinke Cola", "YIPPEE!" ], option_uuids=[uuid4()] * 3 ) )

res = tumblr.post( content=content, tags=["Yippee!!", "polls"], )

# ... snip

Here, the post content is being constructed with a single poll block – the option_uuids is an optional list parameter that allows you to pass custom uuids for the poll options. Here, the option_uuids is being set to the same uuid repeated three times – which causes votes to be counted for all three options at once.

I hope you enjoy this fun little tumblr client – again, it doesn't implement everything from the tumblr API but should be good enough a least to have a play around. Just a final note – since the polls API is not yet final, I am expecting some of the poll-specific behaviour of this client to break at some point – so be warned.

Notes:

* Beyond the other API post restrictions. And, this is probably going to be patched (see this comment).

** This may make your Tumblr account look suspiciously like one of the pretty lady spam bot accounts causing your account to get blasted like mine did.

[gregorycasket]

Hello.

It's been a long time no see, hasn't it. This is going to be a long one, and I apologize in advance, but I want to try and get everything I can out there.

If you were active in the VT fandom at any point from 2017 to 2020, then you may remember me. If not, that's okay. I used to run an account under this URL when I was 14, it was just a general VT blog, and I was friends with a pretty popular blogger in the space... We are not friends anymore. I deactivated the account sometime in 2017 as my interest in VT was waning, only to come back in early 2018 I want to say with the URL "gregorycask3t" (as the original had been snatched up by a bot. obviously that bot is gone now, considering I have it again.)

The exact details are fuzzy, that time in my life was particularly rough and naturally my brain's blocked a lot of it out. I do remember being victim to a particularly nasty harassment campaign. I don't even remember how it started, just that it happened. The reason for the campaign, to my knowledge, was in regards to an AU I had been working on for the better half of three years at that point in time, that featured some heavier topics and changed character ages and relations and what not. I made sure that my stuff had an easily filterable tag, and I made sure to tag anything potentially triggering accordingly... but it seems like my AU just existing and me talking about it was enough to set people off. I got told repeatedly to "just make OCs" but my attachment to VT as its source was far too strong at the time for me to do so.

My own personal attachment to the AU, which I started developing to help me cope with the absolutely insane amount of trauma I'd been through between the ages of 12 and 14, made the sudden vitriol being thrown my way all the more painful. An attack on the AU felt like an attack on me due to how grossly intertwined I was with it. It was my coping mechanism, it was my biggest special interest, it was the only thing I had that I could say was certifiably mine and that no one could ever take away from me after I had lost everything.

I don't know who exactly was responsible nor do I remember if anyone involved came forward off of anon or not. I do know that at least one person behind it was an adult at the time, and I only know this because someone I would befriend after the fact informed me, having witnessed three people saying some negative things about me in a discord server. That someone, btw, is now my wife. We've been married for a year. I don't know who, and she hasn't specified because frankly, idk if she remembers who exactly it all was either. Just that one of them was an adult. Need I remind you that I was 14 at the time.

I have still not received an apology from ant party involved, anonymous or not.

Harassment aside, Gregorycask3t was an askblog. whether it started as an askblog or became one, I don't remember. After Gregorycask3t kind of took off more than I expected it to, I made a separate blog under the name "doesjohnnyghostisgay" wherein I would post out-of-character stuff for VT, and talk more at length about my AU and my interpretations of the characters. I would also frequently post other people's headcanons in the form of anonymous asks... which leads right into the second issue: The NSFW.

This was all prior to Tumblr's porn ban, and I, stupidly, had agreed to take NSFW headcanons and post them. They were tagged, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that I, a minor, was near consistently posting written pornographic content for other minors in my following to see. Being 14-15 at the time, I had no way to exactly verify who these anonymous asks were coming from. I do remember someone reaching out to send me a NSFW fic over DMs that they'd written for wattpad, but they had no age listed on their account anywhere. I can only hope that they were a dumb teenager like me, and not an adult knowingly interacting with a 14-15 year old in sexual contexts.

I acted incredibly blasé about me posting nsfw, brushing off the concerns of my friends and strangers at the time that I could end up in danger doing that shit. And for that, I sincerely apologize. I was stupid, and I wasn't thinking clearly, and though I didn't know it at the time, my nonchalance and belief that what I was posting was just run-of-the-mill fun was a direct result of me having been groomed when I was 11 and also being groomed at the time of the posting by one of the people I was dating. I had to re-learn a lot of boundaries and what is and isn't okay to share and post about, because it was all just normal to me. I'm not attempting to hand-wave my actions, merely providing a context as to why they happened. Me being a minor at the time myself is no excuse, and considering most of my sexual abuse comes from COCSA, it'd be hypocritical of me to pretend that I didn't cause any potential harm. I am incredibly sorry, and I have seen to it that it has not, and will not, happen again.

While I'm clearing things up and apologizing, I'd also like to clarify some things regarding my friendship with a user named "r*ntless" (censored for safety, I have no desire to ever be in contact with him ever again, negative or otherwise.) I'm going to preface this by saying that I do not remember a majority of the conversations I had with R, most of them being repressed or lost entirely. As such, I may not provide context or answers for a few things, or I may just get some information wrong. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, but know that my feelings on him currently are very, very real, even if my recollection is faulty.

R had DM'd me out of the blue one day on doesjohnnyghostisgay and began talking VT with me. I had actually had R blocked on my main, cause I saw him perpetuating the rumor that T/homas S/anders was a pedophile in the notes of another post, a smear campaign started by ace exclusionists who were upset about him accepting asexuals as members of the LGBT+ community. Should go without saying, R was a massive fucking aphobe, but he kept that hidden from me very well. Because Tumblr is a broken website, he was still able to DM my sideblog directly and because he had presented himself as friendly and approachable, I figured I had made the wrong call or something and unblocked him from my main to avoid any future conflict. I remember we used to talk often, and I divulged some personal stuff to him.

I had been chased out of another community prior. I'm not going to go into the details, but to act like I was an angel who didn't do anything wrong would be incorrect. I was a massive dickhead, I hurt people, and I perpetuated beliefs that I honestly have no idea why I did, I didn't believe in them then and I certainly don't believe in them now. I was also, y'know, 14, and processing a fuck ton of trauma, and not coping with suddenly having stability for the first time after a near year and a half of instability very well, and I was also fully processing for the first time that my mom was abusive.

I was left alone and scared after getting chased out for committing yet another stupid thoughtless action, having people stalk my main acc and wait for me to slip up again. I was isolated, and felt I had no one to turn to because the people around me irl sucked, and the people online wanted me gone, I felt like everyone hated me. R reassured me that I didn't deserve that, and that he'd been through something similar within the VT community itself, though he conveniently left out a lot of details. He reassured me that he accepted me, and I clung to that. He gave me support and I desperately needed it.

The rest of our interactions are largely fuzzy, but I do recall venting to my friend (now wife) that it felt like he was getting really cold and distant with me. After deliberating on it for a while, I finally decided to block him. I can't tell you how much weight left my shoulders the moment I blocked him. I felt free, not constantly worrying about if I was gonna say the wrong thing or reblog the wrong post and have him passive aggressively interrogate me about it in our DMs.

I wouldn't actually find out the extent of what he had done to become such a controversial figure in the VT community until just last year.

Needless to say, I fucking hate r*ntless. I hate that I was ever friends with him, I hate that I was so easily taken advantage of by him, and I never want to see or hear from or about him ever again.

Moving off the topic of owning up for things, throughout running doesjohnnyghostisgay, of which I had changed the URL to i'd still get the occasional hate anon shitting on my AU. This motivated me to continue working on it out of spite, even after I had began having second thoughts maintaining it. I began conversing with a good friend (who was best man at my wedding) @overthinkingtaleblr, and realized through learning about 'canon' VT stuff through them that my attachment to the AU was long dead. I didn't need it anymore. I was still in a bad place at the time, don't get me wrong, but clinging to it wasn't helping me at all. So I let it go. I changed my URL at some point to "venturiantale-au" / "venturiantale-aus" (I can't recall exactly.) and then later to "enbyspooker."

I don't... remember when, how, or why I deactivated enbyspooker. Could've been waning interest, could've been a spur of the moment impulse. I just know that it was there one day and then wasn't. I made attempts to get back into VT after the Frye brothers were exposed and fans had rebranded to taleblr, but I could never find my niche. I do believe I've found one now, working on my own universe of these characters again... this time without the emotional baggage and trauma attached. It's just a story. Thought that doesn't mean it won't get dark at a few places, but so did VT, didn't it?

I won't lie, when I saw everyone rebranding to taleblr and rejoicing about canon being dead and being able to do whatever they want with these characters now, I felt a quite bitter. I still feel bitter. Feels stupid still being upset about something that went down when I was 14, especially now that I'm 21 and married, but it was traumatizing and it fucked me up and it led me to doing things that made it worse. Of course I'm going to be bitter that potentially same people who bullied me over an AU were now rejoicing that canon was dead, and that I was probably going to get bullied again if I ever came back with anything new.

... But I am willing to try again. I won't be too active, as this is just a fun side project and not something I have a special interest in. I'm more of a tag lurker than anything, but that may change down the line if I get more comfortable. I don't expect anyone to forgive me for anything, you don't have to. Block me if you must, it's okay. I'm a big believer in curating your online space, do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable, okay?

... idk. I'm probably making a big thing out of old news.

Anyways, I should re-introduce myself.

Hi, my name is Kenning. I'm 21 years old, and I use he/it pronouns. My favorite characters are the Acachalla Thatchery family, who my story focuses on. My specific interpretations of these characters are my OCs, but due to the collaborative nature of taleblr, I will be tagging them as such and with their canon-counterpart names for reach.

Enjoy your stay.

[intrepidacious]

hi! ok I just wanted to ask someone who knows how tumblr works haha

so I found someone who writes amazing content so I decided to follow them. I binged lots of their fics earlier today and when I checked their profile again later, their profile doesn’t show. It seems they might have blocked me and I don’t know why :( I commented that I loved their fics and the comments are removed. my profile has my age and I am decently active on reposting & commenting on fics. This happened to me one other time too so I just am confused I guess :( I tried to message them but it said it wouldn’t go through so that makes me think I’m blocked? I guess I don’t know why a couple people blocked me? Just kinda made me sad bc I really enjoy their work but now I won’t be able to see anymore ☹️😢

happy to!! 💛

first thing you gotta remember that in all likelihood, your getting blocked is nothing personal. reasons for blocking someone on tumblr include but aren't limited to:

you don't have your age (range) listed in your bio/clearly visible on your blog

the age you have listed doesn't adhere to boundaries a blog has set (f.e. you're a minor, or it only says "18+" which i know many writers don't accept)

your blog is completely empty i.e. you don't post/reblog stuff

you don't reblog other people's writing

you spam like posts

you've never changed the default icon/header to something else

people don't vibe with the things you reblog

your theme is a colour they don't like

a lot of the time, it comes down to everyone's preferences. god knows i've been blocked by people and didn't understand why, but frankly it's none of my business. most likely, you won't ever find out, either. everyone is creating their own online space, and sometimes that means having a quick blocking finger. i'm sorry that you won't be able to read those stories anymore but you have to accept creators' boundaries.

however, there are some things you can do and try to prevent getting blocked in the future. these are only a couple of suggestions around tumblr etiquette i've picked up on over the years; if anyone else wants to chip in here, please do!!

1. make sure your blog is, by all appearances, that of a human being

this might sound stupid because of course, you are a human, but with the recent bot wars it's all the more important to double check for red flags.

check your url. does it include a random string of numbers, lots of dashes, just a name and an adjective? all of these have been indicative of porn bots and people might block you on sight.

change your icon and your header. yes, both of them. there are lots of creators on here who make wonderful fandom related headers and icons, or you can create your own with canva. just be sure to follow creators' rules and preferably reblog their creation

change your blog title. if your account is new, it will just say "untitled", which is another indication you might not be a human. use quotes, song lyrics, anything you enjoy

add a bio. this is where you put your name or nickname (you can make one up) age, age range, links to second blogs (if applicable), more quotes, whatever. i prefer my bio short and to the point, but that doesn't have to be you.

important: do this for all blogs and side blogs you use regularly. if you have a second blog for reblogging fics, you need to put up your age there as well, or at least visibly link to your main blog so creators can see you're not a minor. the harder it is to verify that you're an adult, the more likely it is that you will get blocked

2. know the different kinds of interactions on tumblr and navigate them well

there's a difference between liking, commenting, reblogging, and reposting, and it's important. lots of people use reblogging and reposting interchangeably, but that's actually incorrect and can lead to serious mishaps. let's dissect them one by one.

liking.

you're familiar with the like from other social media platforms. you tap a post twice or hit the little heart at the bottom of the post and it's added to your likes. wonderful, right? well. tumblr is a little different.

tumblr doesn't have an algorithm. let me say that again. there is no algorithm on tumblr. i guess there is, on the for you page, but that doesn't count because it's really shit. the only important thing on tumblr is your dashboard, and your dashboard only shows original posts and the reblogs of those posts from people you follow.

no one cares about your likes. your likes don't do shit. that's why creatives on here keep talking about reblogs. you need to reblog things on tumblr in order for them to get seen. it's a snowballing effect. likes are nice and all, but they're private. they're not contributing to a story or an artwork being seen by more people. they're essentially empty interaction. what's more, should a post get deleted for whatever reason, that post is gone for you forever.

i know some people use their likes as bookmarks for things they want to look at later, but i would strongly urge you not to do that. people block serial likers, because most of the time it is, sadly, very unlikely that they will come back and actually interact with the post again. that's just the way it is. we can thank tiktok and instagram for that. again, tumblr doesn't have an algorithm. if you want to genuinely support and encourage people on here, you need to do more than liking.

commenting.

this is a step up from liking, because you're actually interacting now. a comment will show up in the activity of the person whose post you left it on and of the original poster (op)—more on that distinction in a minute. comments are encouraged especially on ask/answer type posts, or as a reply to an earlier reblog.

when it comes to fanfic, there are, again, pros and cons. you can only leave a comment from your main blog, which means that even if you have a second account where you reblog fics, there's not necessarily a link between the two. this can lead to your getting blocked if you've never reblogged a fic to your main blog. on the other hand, if people comment on your fic without reblogging it, but they do reblog other people's fics, that can also rub creators the wrong way because it creates a strange sort of hierarchy: why those fics? why not mine?

important thing to note: i am not saying that to make anyone feel bad about "just" commenting, i just want you to be aware that this might go on in a creator's head. it has in mine. i'm very aware that this is a me problem, but it's also a reason why people might get blocked out of the blue, which is why i wanted to bring it up.

reblogging.

ah yes, reblogging. reblogging is the thing that makes tumblr tumblr, and it's so easy to do. you just hit the little 🔁 symbol at the bottom of the post, and boom, it's reblogged to your own blog. everyone who follows you can now see it on their dashboard, and if they reblog it, their followers can see it, and so on and so forth. every time someone reblogs a post from you, you will get a notification in your activity, and so will the op.

reblogs are the heart and soul of tumblr. yes, original posts are (usually) individual creations, but the community aspect of this site is born through the reblog. there are different variations on how to reblog. all are valid, because all help spreading posts around.

the empty reblog is the quickest option. there's literally a quick reblog option on mobile: if you hold your finger on the reblog button for a second or so, you will see your icon appear. if you swipe in that direction, the post gets immediately reblogged to your blog. something similar can be done on desktop with the xkit browser extension. it's fast, it's easy, it gets the job done. it's perfect for when you like a post but don't have anything specific to say/reply.

the reblog with tags is the second fastest option. tags, on tumblr, are sort of the sotto voce version of comments. yes, you can use tagging to organise your blog and make your posts easily findable (is that a word?) but the real fun begins when little asides are added. you can keysmash in the tags. you can put your thoughts in the tags. you can go full caps without it looking overwhelming in the actual post. if you're just starting to comment on things, the tags are a great place to start, because the actual post will keep looking the same; the tags are just a little additional bonus for both you and the creator. this is what you would use for the majority of posts that aren't works of art in any way, too, like text posts you want to find again, polls, photographs etc.

the reblog with additions though? oh boy. that's the real stuff. imagine it as clipping on your thoughts to the post, right there for everyone to see. you can add gifs, and memes, and change the font, and change the colour, and scream, and keysmash, and ramble without limitations. it's like catnip for the op. if you reblog a fic, a moodboard, a piece of art, a gifset, whatever it is, and you put your thoughts underneath? man, it's amazing.

side note: if you're new to commenting on people's fics and you don't know what to say, i highly recommend referring to this post. (btw i linked my reblog so it can act as an example of the different forms of adding to a post: there were other reblogs before mine, and i've added tags. useful in its content and as an example!!)

reposting.

this is where we need to be careful. reblogs are great. reposts are theft. where's the difference? reposting refers to you copying another creator's work, whatever it may be, and creating a new post without any indication to the original person's efforts. even if you do include their url, you will most likely get reported and blocked. because now, you've become the op of this copied post, and the actual creator will get absolutely nothing.

you will most likely have seen banners in fic communities that state something along the lines of "don't copy or translate any of my work to this or any other site". that's what this refers to. this would also include the following:

posting another writer's story to ao3/wattpad/another fic site of your choice without their permission. you can absolutely never do this. "but what if"—NO. never. fullstop.

some creators allow translations of their work, but you can only ever share those with their explicit permission and proper credit.

saving a gif to use without linking back to the artist. this is maybe my biggest gripe. yes, i know this site sucks at making gifs searchable, but still, you can't do this. and no, "credit goes to the original artist" doesn't count, where did that bullshit even come from? it makes me so mad. that's not giving credit, that's being lazy.

3. be nice, and have fun

this is fandom, and it's supposed to be a hobby. this is supposed to be a good time. none of us are getting paid for any of this. yes, we're all passionate about what we do, whether we're looking at other people's creations or we make them ourselves. we're fans of that common thing, and isn't that great?

just a little more internet etiquette that's not really tumblr specific but could be a good reminder for everyone:

not everything is for you, and that's okay

if something's not for you, scroll away

if you don't like what someone is posting, ignore them. mute them. block them.

do not ever, and i mean ever, send anyone hate. you don't know who's on the other side of the screen. block them and move on. life's too fucking short.

don't correct people's grammar/spelling. only assholes do that. if you can't help yourself and they're a person you've interacted with before, shoot them a private message and be nice about it.

don't offer unsolicited advice. i don't care if you want to give constructive criticism to help the other person. unless they've explicitly asked you to do that, don't. you'll get blocked so quick, and you'll ruin someone's day.

if you're reading a fic that's not finished yet, don't ask for an update. yes, you're excited for the story to continue. but "part 2", "when's the next chapter out", "more please" and so on are all things that put pressure on creators whether that's your intention or not. it gives us the impression that what we've already put out is never enough. and that sucks. by all means, be excited about what comes next, but not like this.

read!! old!! fics!!!! the beauty of tumblr being the way it is is that there's zero shame in interacting with older posts. it's not like you're liking a seven year old post on instagram. in fact, if you're commenting on a seven year old fic/gifset/moodboard/artwork on tumblr, i can guarantee you're gonna make that creator's day.

i'm absolutely positive that i've forgotten something in this post even though it's longer than several of my wips, so if any of my moots want to add something that'd be great!! in fact i'm gonna tag some of you because you know what? if you've read all of this you deserve a kiss. have a wonderful day 💛

@marvelettesassemblenow @barnesafterglow @imaginearyparties @aphrogeneias @brandycranby @writing-for-marvel @foreverindreamlandd @sanguineterrain @demxters @wildlivelychild

[fanfictionjumbler]

The Bot Situation AKA the Tumblr Hydra

Ok, I'm pretty sure we're all aware of the bot situation right now- heck I might be getting more bot notifications as I'm writing this. Blocking and reporting one bot only brings a few more some time later- like cutting the head off the hydra and two more heads coming back.

But, it is getting real bad. As in like straight explicit content- the p*rn bot blogs actual have p*rn, little videos that I have thankfully only seen the top sliver of when I go to the blog to go on my hydra-head block report routine. But sometimes that top sliver does not spare you from seeing what you don't want to see. They all seem to be reblogs originating from a deactivated account, basically them carrying on the will of their banned brethren. Plus these ones leave NOTES (thankfully only likes) on posts, which makes me so glad that I do most of my original content on a side blog and this one is mostly reblogs, so the false hope notes sting less there.

The bots still have some of the basic Google search for "attractive woman" design schemes and just having the first girl name the dart landed on as their name and blog description, so easy to pluck out the bots. But still the frustrating parts:

Even if I stay scrolled up at the top, I still may get a glimpse in that one still visible sliver of some unsavory explicit that personally makes me squick (and from what I'm gathering is unlabelled so minors who really shouldn't be seeing this might be getting exposed to this posting, which is a SERIOUS PROBLEM).

I have to report them TWICE, once for being explicit and once the usual bot report. Sometimes a bit pesky on mobile since it doesn't have the report form that lets you report and block in one act. With those, even though you can report and block in any order, I feel like I always have to block them first so I don't have to see that one sliver of the explicit stuff.

Also, if you leave spam notes like these unchecked, sometimes you'll get them in a big enough batch that you'll get the "and (insert number) others" condensing, which means you'll have a whole little list to comb through.

As you can probably tell from how long I rambled on, I'm tired.

EDIT:

First note on this post was a BOT

[spideyladman]

Hii, I'm doing a research project abt tumblr and I wanted to ask around what tumblr users think are positive (& negative) aspects of this hellsite. Like what do you think of the community, why do you think people keep using it, why is it different from other socials, etc.

I'd love to hear different opinions about this :)

Oh cool!! I always wanted to tell my opinion about this hellsite lol

Well, first we start with the Positives and then the Negatives on how the hellsite functions, then my opinion about the community and why I think they might be using this hellsite, and then how is it different from other socials!! If I missed some things then I am sorry ^^"

POSITIVES

It has a Staff that can interact with people and even a Secret Staff blog!

Most people are nice and are actually chill, unlike other socials *cough* Twitter *cough* *cough*

Even if it seems hard to try and work around this hellsite, it's kind of like AO3 (only more colourful lol) so no worries about trying to work around it, you'll get your head wrapped around it soon!!

Polls. Just. Just polls in general.

There's a trending page where you can possibly find a new media to look into!! If you don't like it, it's okay, you can just move on.

There is something in Settings where you can block tags and it's honestly amazing and I am thankful for them putting that.

NEGATIVES

In a lot of users' cases, they get shadowbanned for no reason. Which means if you activated notifications to them posting prior before that, you can't anymore. Plus you can't search stuff on their blog because they are shadowbanned for some reason, and they also delete the chat button on their blog. Also if you get notifications but when you click on it and see nothing, that is quite surely a shadowbanned blog. Which means if you have a mutual who has been shadowbanned and they try to reblog something from you or tag you in a post, you legit can't see it >:[

This hellsite is broken most of the time from what I hear, and I honestly can't blame them, I too have experienced a part of it: there was a time where I was trying to reblog something from my IPad and the post button was at the bottom of the post. If I switched my IPad off, when I switched it back on I legit couldn't see the bottom of the post and I tried and I tried, but I couldn't scroll to the very bottom of the post, which made me feel really frustrated. I'm honestly happy i got the app on my new phone (which I am currently using to write this post). Idk if it happens to other Tumblr users but I'm putting this here just in case.

It's more of a user problem then a hellsite problem but users don't put triggers in their posts even if their life depended on it. It really sucks because it can ruin a person's day completely.

There's a tag limit (30) and it sucks tbh xd

Some users harrass a lot of people and I think Staff don't bat an eye on that issue sometimes.

Bots. Just. Just bots everywhere.

COMMUNITY AND MY OPINION

This community can bring both joy and anger on this site, just like in any other website, though I wish that sometimes they didn't make something really infuriating start trending *cough* Taylor Swift *cough* Helluva Boss *cough* *cough*

Despite all of that, I can see that there is care and love for other types of content and they can help people cope with problems they might have at home, which is why I think is why they keep using this site, because they now have mutuals (online friends) and it's honestly sweet seeing how people can vibe about a piece of media together :"]

WHY IS THIS SOCIAL MEDIA SO DIFFERENT?

I believe it's because it helps people get into a zone of comfortness. While yes we joke about there being Twitter refugees and we must kick 'em out, sometimes I believe that the community doesn't remember how they got here. This hellsite is a place where people can get out their excitement over a piece of media without people judging them (though sometimes it is much to people's dismay *cough* Serial Killers *cough* *cough*).

I personally think of myself as an Instagram refugee. Even if I haven't used any kind of social media apart from YouTube after getting rid of my Instagram account and before getting my second Tumblr account, I believe so because, Instagram made me feel pressured on posting because what if people unfollow me for not posting enough content? Do they hate me or something? What would they think if I like Steven Universe? What would they think if I don't post enough? ...What then?

When I actually put my entire body inside of hellsite water I started feeling more comfortable and I realised that compared to other websites, even with this hellsite, even with its ups and downs, I call this hellsite my true home. I can scream, I can shout, I can feel like my true self, and that's what really matters :"3

-

I hope you like my response!! ^^

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

@kyuji @that-wasnt-so-bad judging whether they're a scout bot account, what I remember are the following:

1. They never tag anything, add commentary, or make any of their own posts. It's all reblogs with no additions of any kind.

2. Will ususally be in your most recent list of followers. (Within the last few months.)

3. Blog description doesn't make sense/seems off. May have random words or letters or numbers. This was the big one that tipped me off that the account I was looking at might be a scout bot.

4. The blog seems fairly new and doesn't have much in the way of content. This point should only be considered in conjuction with other criteria.

5. Will always have numbers at the end of their url. This point should only be considered with other criteria met.

The blog I just blocked and reported had an icon+header that were related to one fandom, had a url based on a character from another fandom (with a string of numbers at the end), but all they reblogged were posts of a completely different fandom from the other two with no tags or additional commetary. They had no posts of their own. Or any post related to the fandoms that were part of their header or url. Now these things don't necessarily mean they were a bot but it did seem a bit odd. But the tip off forwas that their blog description was a seemingly random string of letters and a mention an entirely different fandom from their url, banner/header and what they reblog which was like???? But you don't have any posts about that??? And what's with the random letters???

I think they are a bit different from previous waves of bots I've seen but it's hard to articulate.

Basically: Check your recent followers and see if you can find one where it seems like the way they behave/post doesn't add up. Does that make sense?

[theladyyavilee]

I see loads of the blogs I follow say they check their followers and block inactive ones and im like... my blog may appear inactive but thats because I like things with my main to reblog on my second blog later when I have time, and I stopped posting to my main in 2020. I'm always worried I'm gonna get blocked. Can I genuinely ask why people block blogs that look like bots/are bots? Half my followers were bots at one point and it was annoying getting the notifications but ultimately I ignored it and nothing bad happened. It seems like a lot of effort for no reason I guess, but I've always been a more casual user anyway so maybe I'm missing something.

hmmmm I don't think there is an easy answer to this and I think it probably greatly varies for people, so I can only give you my own reasoning!! (also edit from after finishing: whenever I sound a little angry here I promise it is not @you anon, your question is super valid and I hope I could answer it sufficiently, I just get a little pissed about the low engagement in fandom!)

to my knowledge you are correct, there is no active harm that comes to you, the blogger from having bot followers! but the thing is these bots use the connection to your blog, which they create by interacting, to create a false impression of being 'real' accounts and therefore creating 'real' traffic for various porn and/or ad-heavy sites from my understanding (which I have to admit is limited) and maybe that doesn't hurt me, but I personally also do not enjoy the thought of it, so I block them! (also there is that thing where if we just let them do it and someone profits from it, there is a good chance it will increase and I imagine this could have gotten A LOT worse over the years if most people DIDN'T block!) another thing is that for a while there the spam-liking from bots was pretty intense to the point where I had posts where 60-70% of the notes were likes by bots and that was just extremely disheartening on a website where you are hoping for actual, real interaction so that was when I started to really diligently block all of them, even the ones that weren't following me, because they were genuinely drowning out everything else!! and then of course there were the bots that would reblog popular posts or personal posts and add links to it, which was also extremely annoying, so yeah, for bots my general rule has been to always block them when I notice them, because it just makes your life easier and also hopefully decreases the value of creating them!

now inactive blogs are a different topic! when I say inactive blogs I mean ones that NEVER WERE active (so if you were active before on your main, just aren't anymore these days, at least to me you are absolutely fine, and I assume to most other people as well, because if you have mutiple posts that actively show you were engaging with something, I will always assume that is a real person and leave it alone and also most people nowadays are aware of the whole main-blog/side-blogs thing!! so I think you don't have to worry too much about that, but if you are really worried, you could always pop a note about it being a semi-inactive main-blog into your header to be 100% safe ❤️❤️) the thing with completely inactive/empty blogs is that there has been an influx of them, especially ones that will only interact by liking posts, and I think a lot of people have already pointed this out, but LIKES DON'T DO ANYTHING FOR VISIBILITY ON TUMBLR, they are a little nod at the person who made the post and that's it and with how interaction especially on content posts in fandoms has severely decreased and if nobody reblogs our posts NOBODY WILL SEE THEM, it is just extremely annoying to see people who will only like posts! and if you have reblogged posts on your dash, just not mine, because maybe you don't like mine enough, then whatever, do you, that is fine to me, everyone has the right to reblog only what they want to, but if you just on principle never reblog anything, then I don't actually wan't you to be able to follow me and get easy access to my content, because you are making fandom worse by skewing interactions even further to likes instead of reblogs! and then I will absolutely block, because the low reblog-rates are REALLY FRUSTRATING for content creators!

quick sidenote for whoever may read this: REBLOG CONTENT YOU ENJOY OR CONTENT CREATORS WILL STOP CREATING IT FOR YOU, I can promise that is not an empty threat, that is a reality, because it is so so so fucking disheartening!

(in the overlap between these two categories exist A LOT of blogs that are a lot harder to judge, because from my experience a lof of pornbots would also variously just reblog popular posts with no rhyme or reason and then there were also the ones that would have like three reblogged posts, where one was like a super popular meme post, one someone's random fanfic and one a random personal post from someone with 2 notes, which to me for some reason was always really unsettling, but also makes it harder to distinguish between bots and people who are only sporadically reblogging random things 😬 and whether or not I block those depends kinda on what mood I am in 😅)

[snowwestallens]

Calling Barry, Iris and Caitlin shippers!

Hello Flash fandom!

I’m sure you’re all well aware of the Snowbarry/Westallen ship war. I’ve been trying to think of ways to deal with this as a multishipper who's been a big fan of Snowbarry, WestAllen, SnowWest and their polyship for a while, as even fics seem to often have tones of bashing one ship over the other, or worse sometimes you can't even have content of one without it being attacked.

So, as part of my project for adults in fandom: I thought I would make a server and blog dedicated to harmony of all the ships that involve Iris, Barry, and Caitlin together in various ways.

What are we?

We are an 18+ server and Tumblr blog for multishippers by multishippers. No ship wars or anti-Candince bullshit here.

We feature:

- Channels for Snowbarry, Snowwest, Westallen, Snowwestallen, and adjacent ships (Like Savisnow, FrostWest, Flashfrost etc). As well as other topics that don’t involve a combonation of Barry, Iris, or Caitlin, though that’s our main focus

- A sprint/writing bot + Places to collaborate with other creators on your next fic or project!

- The Pipeline which features smut areas, a channel to vent about ship wars, the fandom's racism, and more.

- General areas for talking about things like gaming or sharing cool pics.

- Inclusive atmosphere.

Who do we think would this server Interest?

18+ SnowWestAllen poly shippers.

18+ Fans who ship Barry/Iris/Caitlin adjacent rarepairs ex: e2 WestAllen, Savisnow, SaviFrostWest, FrostWest, and other combonations!

18+ fans who ship some combonation of Barry/Iris/Caitlin but not all who are looking for a chill judgement free atmosphere to gush about their ships or promote their content! (Ex: Only ships one Barry/Iris/Caitlin ship but doesn't want to be involved in the ship war. Only ships Snowbarry but respects that WestAllen is canon, is a big Savisnow fan but a multishipper, etc.)

If you're ready to dive on in and share your love of these ships and characters with us, follow this link to the server! Racist comments on this post will be blocked.

[nocherryblood]

PLEASE REBLOG FOR AWARENESS- S*X BOTS:

So, only recently, in the past week I've been getting a lot (and a lot, for my blogs, is six) of random followers, and it was making me a little suspicious, so in the end I just decided to check everything out and see what was going on.

I mean, did a post of mine do really well or something? Did someone tag me a bunch of times? Did someone reblog something?

NO.

I checked who had followed me recently, and, low and behold, it was: bots! How great.

But what was even worse, was that these were s*x bots (I'm censoring some words to keep my blog somewhat safe). S*x bots.

So since I've seen a lot of these over the past few weeks, I've decided to put together a little of what I've found. It's nothing new- and it's pretty much common knowledge- but hopefully it might help a few people out (especially since I'm one of many people who try to keep their blog safe from harmful, or 18+ content) and maybe even help keep some people a little safer here on Tumblr

So, here we go:

PROFILE PICTURES AND USERNAMES:

First of all, check the pfps and usernames. Sometimes they'll be something like "d3rtyg1rl", but not always. Other times it'll be something like "sangdori" or "jpi011" (those are two real accounts that followed me, I've just changed one or two of the letters in them)- so something that sounds like a regular Tumblr account to tebe average user. So if the username checks out as 'normal', the next thing to look at, is the profile picture.

These, similar to the usernames, and all the other things I'm going to mention, may seem normal at first. Some of them may be fluffy kittens (a lot of them are "generic"), others may be a seemingly innocent selfie, a few of them are just blank Tumblr and some are just... straight-up 18+ photos. So be aware that not all of them are going to be easy to spot right away.

LIKES, FOLLOWS AND UPLOADS:

Right, so now we've come to the part where you've checked out the usernames and profile pics, and they both show no signs of anything sinister. Good- now, if you're still suspicious, it's time to check the actual account itself.

The first thing you might want to take a look at, is the content they've uploaded, or in some cases haven't uploaded, onto their blog. This is where things can get deceiving. Many of these accounts have just one "generic" post- such as slime, kittens, glitter, etc (usually these are eye-catching things, which means it can draw people, especially children, in)- immediately followed by some sort of sexual content underneath that, usually in the form of a nude photo or p*rn (some are obscured, though most aren't), which catches you off-guard, to say the least.

Now, as I said before, not all of these bot accounts are the same. Some don't have any uploaded content at all- this is where checking their Likes page comes in.

(And I'm aware that this may sound like we're stalking someone's account at this point, but trust me, we're not. We're just trying to keep ourselves safe- and these are not people, remember, they're bots. Bots don't care, bots don't have feelings. Bots don't care if we block them). So, back to the point, the next thing we check is the Likes pages.

Now, some of these pages will be purely 18+ content, as you would expect. Just straight-up p*rn links, or nude photos. But others, however, seem innocent at first... that is, until you scroll down the page. Usually, it's just liked photos of (again, the generic, and eye-catching stuff) some cute animals, a GIF of slime, or a popular meme, but if you scroll down a little further underneath that, you'll see that same innapropriate content all over again.

Though again, as with all the other things I've mentioned, some of these liked pages seem fine upon inspection, which is where we move onto the final thing to check if what you're seeing is a bot account: the following page.

To be quite simple... this is where you'll need to look at a bunch of accounts all over again... hooray! If you find that some of the accounts seem suspicious from just looking at the pfps and usernames, then great, that usually means you know that the account you were originally looking at is a bot account, and you can block them and be done with it (and even if you're not entirely sure, blocking them will keep you safe, and besides, it doesn't hurt anyone- believe me, your safety takes 100% priority over having that one extra follower).

But, if you can't tell just by looking at them, and you're still suspicious, and you don't want to just block the original account you were looking at... then this would be the time do all of the above again (checking likes, following pages, and content) just to make sure.

If you don't find anything else suspicious, then congratulations, it's probably not a bot account, and you don't have to worry about it. But again, if you ARE worried, then PLEASE do just block and/or report, the account. It's better to have one less follower, than be unsafe, or have to feel uncomfortable.

SO, I THINK IT'S A BOT ACCOUNT, NOW WHAT?

Now, if you've been through all of the above, and/or you're pretty sure that what you've seen is a bot account, then it's time to either block it, or report it.

To block an account, simply tap on the little 'human/person' icon in the top right of that specific account, and tap 'block' (note: this will only report them from one of your blogs. If you want to block them from another, or all of your blogs, you'll have to add them to the block list for taht specific blog). To report someone instead, just tap 'report'.

So, you might be wondering: what's the difference between reporting someone and blocking them?

Well, I'll tell you as best as I can. Blocking someone means:

They won’t be able to follow your blog, or send you fan mails or asks to your blog, and they won't be able to see your blog’s posts in their Dashboard. In addition to that, neither will they be able to like, reblog, or reply to your posts, and your blog won’t show up in their search results. It's a really good option.

They'll still be able to read your posts if they somehow come across them, but they can't interact/reblog them- at all. The only way people would even know you've blocked them is if they find that they get denied permission to interact with your blog- but remember, the chances of the finding out that youve blocked them is VERY slim, if it even happens at all (though remember we're talking about bots here though, not actual people, I just thought it would be useful information to include anyway).

Alright, so now onto reporting someone. Reporting someone means that:

The account will receive an email stating that they've posted banned content and must take it down. Tumblr will then still automatically take it down, and the account either gets suspended or deleted.

I would say that reporting the s*x bots would be the best thing you can do in this situation (you can still block them afterwards), seeing as the account will hopefully then be taken down (instead of just blocked on your blog) after being reviewed, which could help keep Tumblr at least a little safer once it does.

And just in case you were wondering: no-one will know if you've reported their account. The only way they'll know they've been reported (and they won't know who reported them) is if their content gets taken down or if their account is deleted- so don't worry about people accusing you of reporting them, as Tumblr keeps it anonymous anyway.

(Again, I've only added that part as useful information, seeing as s*x bots aren't real people and therefore won't care if they've been blocked or reported.)

There's more information about reporting and blocking people, along with Tumblr's policies and guidelines here, if you need it:

https://iheartmob.org/resources/safety_guides/tumblr_guide

Right... so I think that just about covers everything I wanted to say. If there's anything I've gotten wrong, or you think you could add on to, just drop a note or reblog this to help. After all, I don't know everything about these s*x bots, and just writing from my experience and what I've noticed about them. So help and/or additional information would be greatly appreciated.

I'm just fed up of seeing them everywhere and them making me think I've got a new follower who's actually interested in the blogs I make, when it's actually just a not trying to take me to some random p*rn website. It's wrong. So I just decided to write about my frustrations.

Now, Tumblr, if you could please sort your shit out, that'd be great, thank you very much, and we can all get on with our day.

If you've read this far, thank you very much for your time, and I hope I've managed to help you at least somewhat when it comes to dealing with these types of things in the future, or maybe just given you a little more awareness about how to stay safe on Tumblr, and other similar sites.

Anyway, I hope y'all have a wonderful day, and that you stay safe. Happy new year, too! 💛💙