#is too strong for some twitter and tumblr users

[smalltestaccount]

196 Migration

If you’re not aware, the subreddit r/196 is going offline tomorrow (the 12th) in a protest along with multiple other subreddits against a decision reddit has made to their API pricing. 196 is one of the largest LGBT centric meme subreddits. The deal being that 196 will be shut down until reddit backs down from their stupid decision. Other subreddits are only going to be offline for a few days. 196 held this massive decision to a poll where about 60% said the subreddit should be privated indefinitely. Despite what people say, this will be an almost certain permanent end to the Subreddit. I think that anyone who believes that the chance of 196 coming back after the 12th has not thought it through very much and I consider this putting this to a poll to have been very stupid on the moderators parts as a lot of people clearly do not fully understand the likely outcome.

In short, Reddit is going to win this no matter how it’s sliced. Reddit will only back down their decision if the money they can squeeze from API pricing is larger than the loss in ad revenue from the protest. Many large subreddits that are closing will only be down for a few days. This results in a small dip in site usage, yes, but it definitely won’t cause significant issue to Reddit. However when all these subreddits come back there will be an uptick in site traffic, generating Reddit more money. The only way Reddit will lose money is with a decrease in active users, which is why some people want the subreddit to go down indefinitely, they want to leave Reddit and take many 196 users with them. Reddit definitely will not be backing down, the chance of that happening is minuscule. Therefore 196 will not come back.

196 is a special community on Reddit as it one of the largest subreddits with a strong LGBT presence and unique culture. 196 leaving will have many negative effects on the Reddit ecosystem. There are other LGBT subreddits that will very likely be shutting down too (for other reasons) such as r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns which is one of the largest trans subreddits. 196 has a large overlap with circle jerk subreddits, over the past year or so the relationship between 196 users and circle jerk subreddits has been quite important as they essentially have formed their own ecosystem as a place that LGBT teens and young adults feel comfortable in when Reddit as a whole is more dangerous. When 196 closes some people will leave for Tumblr TikTok and Twitter due to their main source of posts going dry. Circle jerk subs will start to reduce down to the users that do not consume content from 196, a group of people that is on average more conservative than the subreddits as wholes are with 196 users. This political shift on circle jerk subreddits will cause two things, 1: lgbt people feeling less comfortable on circle jerk subs and 2: circle jerk subs doing less circle jerking, due to less users and also a reduced interest in calling out bigoted posts on other subreddits. That will very likely become a negative feedback loop where circle jerk subs become increasingly similar to Reddit as a whole. And the effect that this will have on Reddit is going to be a general trend to become more conservative as the socially progressive community on Reddit shrinks with 196s departure. It’s likely a new or existing subreddit will replace 196 (a subreddit with less moderation tools and none of the user blacklists from 196), but by the time that subreddit comes about it will not reach the size 196 did. 196 leaving will have a permanent impact on Reddit as atleast some people will be reducing Reddit activity of leaving permanently. Reddit likely won’t become a new 4chan, but I would not be surprised if it became more similar to Facebook.

And a trans woman I must also feel the need to say that with r/traa and 196 very likely closing a large community of transfems will be displaced online. In the past 6 years Ive been a trans woman on the internet I can say fairly confidently that Reddit has been one of the most popular sites for trans women to congregate at, along with discord. Trans women are very likely a majority of the trans community on Reddit however on other sites like TikTok and here on tumblr trans women are definitely a smaller minority of the community. I feel like I should’ve just put that out. Right now is a scary time to be a young trans woman and two of the largest online places of support for young trans women closing doors will have negative impacts on the trans community.

Many 196 users who are smart enough to see what lies ahead are finding ways of congregating outside of Reddit. Besides the small social media sites that will obviously die before getting off the ground, tumblr is the most recommended place to call a new home. I know this sounds familiar to what happened with twitter, and the idea of Redditors coming to tumblr is quite scary. But I assure that 196 users are not dissimilar to tumblr users.

196 users migrating here to tumblr are using the tags #196 and #r/196. I will be posting some of my 196 and old r/traa posts under these. As a pseudo archive. I’ll also reblog and post as some of my favorite posts I wish to remember. Hopefully a migration of 196 users to tumblr is successful (though unlikely), if that happens I will try to post memes in the style of 196 posts. I know that I am an incredibly small account that is mostly inactive, so neither this post nor future posts will get much visibility. But I want to be here to support those trying to migrate

[askagamedev]

Related again to Concord: back in 2016, when Overwatch and Battleborn released simultaneously, I read somebody online say that Overwatch succeeded not because it was a better game, but because it had characters that teenagers were horny about. I know this was a joke, but is there any truth in that? I imagine the main target user of online shooters is mostly male, and in their teens (or ok with juvenile themes). Do games with characters that male teenagers are used to find sexy sell more?

"Sexy" is a subset of the twelfth principle of animation that's applying here - "Appeal". "Appeal" generally means "visually interesting", which we can break down into different aspects. For things to be visually interesting, some things we want to consider are interesting shapes, exaggeration of key features, and paring down the unimportant details so the important stuff stands out more.

The first thing we want to look at is shapes. When we look at characters, the first thing we see is their silhouette. Silhouettes need to look different from each other or they're dull. Different shapes are much more interesting to look at. Our eyes are trained to pick out things that are visibly different, so having the characters be comprised of different shapes makes them stand out more. Look at how Hsien-Ko here has so many sharp angles and different elements to break up her design. The wide belt, the different colored tunic, and the enormous arms that show the broad A-shape of her body.

After shapes, we want to exaggerate their key features. Beyond than the basic shapes, we want certain details about the character to be memorable. It might be a fancy mustache, a waistline, a color swatch, a hairstyle, a particular bit of clothing that makes the character unique. The key features should stand out and draw attention to themselves! Hsien-Ko's attacks all come from inside her massive sleeves, which have the enormous yellow accent on the end. This is on purpose - you can tell at a glance where the attacks will be coming from when she fights. Her body also has extra detail - the belt and tunic stand out against the darker other colors to draw your eye and tell you that this is where she is vulnerable. The hat and talisman identify what she is - a Jiang-shi.

Beyond that, human eyes get confused if there's too much to look at. We want the signal to be as strong as possible. This means we want to pare down and simplify away extra unnecessary details. The important bits about the gameplay must stand out, and all the other stuff should fade into the background. Too much to look at feels overwhelming or "busy".

Look at what happens to her clean design when there are a lot of additional details added. She looks pretty, but there would be so much context lost if this were used in a game - how does she fight? What's important to look at? This takes us from a clean visual design that conveys a lot of information to a more generic "sexy" design that doesn't tell us much else.

Consider what this design looks like when built in the Soul Calibur character creator - the extra details from the hat, sleeve belts, hair danglies, shoes, etc. all break up the look and make things look messy. The "same" design here just doesn't work as well, because we can't apply these same principles as well.

Making characters sexy is a shortcut to making them appealing, since sexy characters lean into the principles of appeal in specific ways. Sexy characters do work these core concepts of appeal, but appeal is essentially universal. The main purpose of appeal here is to convey information quickly about the character in a direct visual way. We do this through using interesting shapes, exaggerating the important details, and paring down the unnecessary extras.

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[trinketfairy]

SQUISHMALLOWS/BUM BUMZ ALTERNATIVE MASTERPOST

After posting my warning on Jazwares for supporting Israel, I've been asked time and time again to make my alternative plushies brands available for non-Twitter users, to which I say "absolutely, fuck that site." It's well overdue at this point, so here's my list of plush brands that are way better than Squishmallows and Bum Bumz!

Unfortunately can't provide images due to Tumblr's image limit, but I'll provide websites for you to search through when available.

Complete list is under a readmore for convenience.

Squishables: If you want that same "kawaii" aesthetic and round shapes, Squishables is your best bet. They're great too because a lot of their plush are designed by fans who are given a cut of their sales. Sign up for their email notifications, they have sales very often!

Amuse/Amufun: If you're really into the "kawaii" aesthetic, then it makes sense to look directly towards Japanese brands! You may know them for their Alpacasso line. It can be expensive to get them imported, but I think they're very much worth it.

Jellycat: I can't say I 100% recommend their newer plush anymore considering their steep decline in quality, but their older plush are still so wonderful and full of character. You're bound to find something by them that you like from their catalogue. (Editor's note: This is what my original thread said, but it seems like Jellycat has improved their quality control, so I feel much better with recommending them again!)

Mary Meyer: If JC is too much out of your price range, then Mary Meyer is what I recommend next to them! Their Marshmallow Zoo line is a huge favourite of mine, I love how full of character they are.

Aurora World: Aurora World has plenty of brands under their belt, so there's bound to be something that tickles your fancy. Brands under the Aurora World company include Palm Pals, Eco Nation, Miyoni, and their baby line, Ebba.

Steiff: Ah yes, the OG teddy bear brand, the one that started it all and is still going strong. Be warned that they can get pretty expensive depending on what you're looking at, but I hear that they're so worth every single penny.

Douglas Cuddle Toys: Probably the quintessential plush brand when it comes to realistic plush, especially cats and dogs, but they have tons of other species available too! Pretty affordable too if you're buying them at retail price

Wild Republic: Another one that does more realistic-looking plush, but I think they have a wider selection of species to choose from. If you're looking for a niche animal, Wild Republic (likely) has you covered!

Shinada Morisaka Global: Another plush brand I have yet to get my hands on, but one that I hear fantastic things about. I mean come on, how can you not love these little guys??

Pokemon Center: Jazwares unfortunately holds the license to make Pokemon plush, but that doesn't mean they're your only option when it comes to Pokeplush! TPC has been making their own Pokeplush for ages now, and they have plenty of different lines to suit your tastes.

Sunlemon: They're expensive to get imported but oh my god are they worth it. The quality is truly umatched compared to American plushies, I adore my tanuki to bits. Please get more eyes on their stuff.

Prime Shiba: Definitely a more expensive option, but I think they're cute plushies for every dog lover. Their stuff often goes on sale often so definitely take advantage of them!

Plushie Dreadfuls: You've probably seen one of their mental illness-themed bunnies before, but have you seen their Pride and Zodiac collections too? They also have many generic-looking plush if the personalization isn't up your alley! Ok so this was in my Twitter thread but apparently since then some shit has gone down with the company CEO making some offhand remarks that got misinterpreted but he acted like an ass in response to it, I recommend doing your own research on it before you buy in case that's not something you wanna support.

StrawbunnyCake: Want to go more small business? Consider supporting a fellow disabled creator, StrawbunnyCake! Their stuff is adorable, and you're sure to fall in love with their characters.

Hannimations: Also on the list of small businesses is Hannimator! Easily best known for their Pride-related Colourful Puppies/Kittens plush lines

Paleoplushies: If you're super into dinosaurs and other preshistoric animals, then Paleoplushies is sure to have something you'll like! They're all handmade by a single artist, so please show them your love and kindness

Cirquell Curiosities: Another great small business to support, most known for their high-end demon goat plushies! A lot of their stuff is one of a kind too, so they're the place to go if you're looking for a unique plush.

Snughouls: The unique and elusive Care Weres line by McMadMissile is sure to win over your heart! It originally started as just being the werewolves, but has since expanded to all kinds of demonic creatures from the Kickstarter! There's even some designs waiting to be funded!

Next are a bunch of brands that weren't personally recommended by me, but get my seal of approval:

AfternoonFika

Creep Cat Toy Co.

Weighted Wildlife

Tasty Peach Studios

Bunnies By The Bay

Snoozimals

Smoko

ChottoBonita

Honeylambs

CraftedCuddlez

Cyborutchi

Fluffnest

MarDeLunaArts (+ on Etsy)

Bellzi

B Softies by B Toys

That's all I have to share, but if you have any other brands you think are worth highlighting then by all means I invite you to reblog with your additions. Please remember that this is a collective effort and we're all counting on each other to act. Keep your head up, don't stop talking about Palestine, and remember to prioritize the official BDS brands list. From the river to the sea 🇵🇸🍉🕊️🫒

[reasonsforhope]

Hi, where would you go tumblr does go (I doubt it will, the same has been said about twitter)? I mean, I have bluesky, but it gets too defeatist for me to check out often.

Hey!

If tumblr collapses or becomes too unusable, I'll be moving to either Mastodon or Cohost, barring some kind of big change in the social media landscape.

Why those two? Because they're the only other (afaik) social media sites of any prominence that don't have an algorithm. And algorithms on social media sites, as it currently stands, have a strong tendency to suppress good news and push bad news (because anger and sadness get higher engagement), so as a good news blog, I don't think I'd do very well anywhere else!

(Also because the big social media sites routinely hide users' posts from said users own followers to try to force people to buy ads, and I would like people to actually see my good news posts, weirdly enough!)

Sources on the social media bs things: x, x, and I can't find verification of the hiding posts from your followers bit, but I promise it's a thing - it's one of the reasons I stopped running a page for my business on facebook a year or so ago

[likeadevils]

welcome to swiftie tumblr here’s a style guide

are you afraid of people making judgements about the way your profile looks but you don't know enough about tumblr to tell what people might judge you about? then this post is for you!

this is mostly gonna apply to specifically swiftie tumblr, and even then like. you’re totally free to present yourself however you want, but these are just the dominant cultural norms

URLS

album and song titles are the most sought after

lyrics are also very popular (the shorter the better)

dashes are considered a bit cringe but slight misspellings or adding an s to words are fine

adding your name to your url will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

PROFILE PICTURES

you should have a pfp chosen before you start following people, otherwise people will go “oh fuck a bot” and automatically block you

pictures of yourself will also make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

gradient/one color backgrounds behind a picture of taylor are still very common, but plain pictures of taylor are also a vibe

if they have that one particular pale pink-ish with a bit of grain filter people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

displaying your pfp in a circle format on your mobile theme is more common but if you have it square people won’t judge you

BACKGROUND IMAGES

there’s lots of acceptable ways to do this but something unique to tumblr is playing with the border between the background and the rest of your blog

a few years ago it was super popular to add a ripped paper effect to the bottom, and that’s still hanging on

a curved border (either a wave or a bowl shape) is also fairly common

making the picture smaller than the borders has started to gain traction (i started noticing it becoming popular like, mid pandemic)

hiding the pfp from your mobile theme to make your background flow more is super common but the color schemes should still compliment each other

MOBILE THEME

you can use this handy dandy tool to make your background/text color match a color in your background/pfp

i’d say white or black backgrounds are still the most common but i’ve found the colored background with white text to be making a strong comeback

there’s not a ton of judgement about this, as long as it all matches

BLOG TITLE

blog titles can really be whatever but in general keep it short (less that one row)

a short lyric, a word, or an emoji are the most common options

DESCRIPTION

i’ve found getting on a computer and going to yoururl.tumblr.com and clicking on the little painting thing on the top right corner to be the best way to edit text but the mobile app works fine too (unless you’re adding links then you have to go on a computer)

in general 2-3 rows are the most common, and ideally it’s not just one big wall of text

general format is name (this is where you link your caard/about page) / age/age range / pronouns in the top row and a (short) lyric you like in the bottom

another popular format is everything being a lyric and adding links to stuff on important words

if you like to make edits/art/some other type of original content feel free to add a link in your description

you can add links (again only on desktop) like this

MISC BLOG SETUP STUFF

if your likes/following are visible (especially if both are visible) people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

some people show their most popular posts, some people don’t, to my knowledge there’s no judgement either way

your pinned post can be whatever you want it to be but it’s super common to have it be a short about/navigation page

most people have a tag they use for personal posts (“name speaks/rambles/etc” is probably the most common) but you don’t have to if you don’t want to

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE

follow for follows are not super common. it happens (if you follow someone people it’s common for that person to check out your blog but not in any way a guarantee) but for the most part being tumblr mutuals is a higher bar to clear than “oh this person follows me.” if you want to get peoples attention i would recommend this method, but even then the person can chose not to follow you without it being an insult to your character

blocking is more common than it is on twitter and not an insult to your character. repeatedly starting shit with other people will cause your followers to block you. if you want to start a fight with someone just block them instead

feel free to reblog old posts and spam like

while the mechanics and terminology are very similar, in terms of the way they are perceived a tumblr like is not equal to a twitter like, a tumblr reply is not equal to a twitter reply, and a reblog is not equivalent to retweet

likes are generally utilized as a little hello or bookmarks

reblogs are closer to twitter likes than anything else

replies have a fairly unique function in tumblr interactions but i think the closest way to describe it is like a semi-public dm to the op— chances are no one else is going to see it but the op (except if you replied through a reblog, then the reblogger will see it, but the reblogger will still likely read your reply as intended for the op)

if you have a comment put it in the tags. you know those old screenshots of tumblr posts that have a million “oh my god this is so funny”s breaking up the content of the post? that’s widely considered not only cringe but a bit rude now, please don't do that

if you like someone’s tags, reblog from them and say “prev tags”. every few weeks you’ll see someone from a different corner of tumblr say “prev tags is dead!” but on swiftie tumblr prev tags has never died and doesn’t show signs of dying in the near future

@-ing taylor in a post (edit: unless it’s a joke, @-ing taylor as a joke is very funny feel free to do that) will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

again you can present yourself however you want, tumblr is the home of cringe, these are just the dominant cultural norms that i’ve noticed on swiftie tumblr specifically

[instantpansies]

Haiii againn :3

Uhmmmm

I was wondering what your general mml hcs are :p

okay i think i'm finally prepared to answer this question!!! i'll preface this by saying i'm much more obsessed w phineas and ferb than milo murphy's law. i love mml very much but i don't have nearly as many Thoughts(tm) about it as i do pnf... even so here's what i've got

i'm not just saying this bc he's the voice actor, i think milo would listen to weird al. that and like '90s-'00s pop hits (basically canon anyway)

melissa has adhd and can't function without variety. she's always multitasking, fiddling, taking hard classes to keep herself occupied

definitely she's the type to really want one of those treadmill desks

that's part of why she gets along so well with milo, it's never the same with him. he's exciting

melissa is the most online of the main kids i think. she probably plays fps games and argues with people who disagree with her on twitter

i think melissa would be a vocaloid fan, lydia got her into it and she passed it on to amanda

btw lydia has been a miku stan since third grade

also melissa likes metal. i have no proof of this but i think she'd like it. good for studying

zack cannot stand metal though, it's grating and he can't hear the lyrics

on the topic of the main kids, i'm not super into shipping or anything but my philosophy is, they all have two hands. so casually speaking i really like the dynamic of simultaneous milo/amanda, amanda/melissa, melissa/zack (i'm not wild about them but if we don't go overboard zalissa is fine), zack/bradley, bradley/milo. they are in a circle holding hands and i like them a lot :3

however like i said that's just for funsies and i dont really really ship anyone there. i do like the dynamics of that particular arrangement though lol!

sara was a tumblr user during the equivalent of superwholock, now that that's not really a thing anymore she's gotten more into analysis and the more geeky side of dr zone fandom. she still watches the old edits though

okayyy i'm kind of obsessed w cavendish and dakota so they r always spinning around in my brain

i think brick and savannah are newer agents than dakavendish, which is why cav is kinda bitter. despite working for the agency for longer, he got stuck with the worst equipment and the most unfulfilling job possible

cav is probably a little frustrated at dakota because of this, but i'd think after so long working w him he's realized that it's not dakota's fault they can't seem to climb the ladder. they're just like that. but obviously he hasn't accepted his fate as we see in the show

dakavendish have been in the same semi-romantic semi-platonic situationship forever. neither of them has said a word. if they knew what a qpr was they'd really like that but they've never heard of it so instead they're just stuck Like That. hopeless idiots my beloved

cavendish watches ancient aliens and all those other sorts of shows about supernatural conspiracies. he half believes them. dakota watches them with him, ironically.

anyways back to the kids. lydia and buford met once at a concert for some famous orchestra, they don't really hang out but they email back and forth sometimes and exchange recipes.

lydia and amanda have been best friends for as long as anyone can remember. it sometimes seems like lydia is just amanda's sidekick, but she just prefers to step out of the way and do her part from behind the scenes. it's less stressful for both of them.

amanda hates candles. just can't stand them. they smell too strong, or never smell right, or they pose a fire hazard, or the shape doesn't fit the vibe she's going for.

related to that i think amanda has some pretty strong sensory aversions, especially to smells and certain textures

milo's backpack is essentially a pocket dimension. it's his hammerspace, so he doesn't need to think too much about what fits or not. he packs it every morning, but the stuff basically comes from already in that hammerspace. there are times when he packs the wrong things (which we see in one episode), but that's because they aren't stored in the backpack and are instead inaccessible to him

basically im saying milo is mary poppins and he can hypothetically access anything he needs at any time. issues only arise when he is caught unaware and unprepared, and that is very rare

milo and sara really like going to creeks. especially when they were little they would go to the nearest creek or pond and wade and look for creatures in the water

baljeet ran a boy bands fan blog back when the lumberzacks were active. he was shouted out once on their old social media and it's still one of his proudest accomplishments.

this isn't really an mml hc but baljeet kind of reminds me of a friend who runs a blog and a youtube channel about some really niche tech and programming stuff, and is also just a normal guy on the internet, so i think baljeet probably does smth similar

amanda and melissa have been academic rivals for a long time, but they have a mutual understanding and it's never gotten nasty. bradley thinks he's melissa's academic rival but honestly she doesn't see him as competition at all

bradley has a pretty big sweet tooth. i'm basing this off the whole carla thing if it wasn't obvious, but he definitely stops by coffee shops after school and gets the sweetest drink he can. ice cream fan as well

tbh i unfortunately do not think much about mort or chad. i dont have any hcs about them

same with the murphy parents :( i like them a lot but i dont have any thoughts abt them rn

elliot is bradley's older cousin who never really got along with him but their parents made them hang out when they were little. i'm going off vibes only here

okay so yeah that's all i can think of for now!!! i'm sure i will think of more later lmao but anyways. mml is such a good show

[rey-jake-therapist]

*sorry I think my ask cut off the first bit here so I'm sending it again (Haladriel reminds me of Darklina, in the sense that both characters are so loved by me individually and the dynamic is fascinating, but as an actual ship in fandom? I have to navigate through the misogynist takes that are reducing the female character to a trophy)

I saw this in the haladriel tag on x and I think I pinned down the reason why there are certain people who can't handle dark ships and won't stop invalidating them by screaming about abuse/misogyny. It's because in their minds, they take things very concretely, not being able to 'read between the lines', and thus it's hard for them to really think in abstract ways. They just can't divorce fictional characters from actual problems in society. Don't get me wrong, there is a parallel between them that exists as a fine line, and we should absolutely call some things out. But in the realm of fictional characters, shipping, and make believe? That's strictly a 'them/individual' problem, not an 'us' problem. There are SO many haladriel shippers. We get so many fanart by talented people, many of whom haven't even heard of Tolkien. Are they supporting misogyny or have they had to 'navigate thru misogynist takes' in order to draw two characters together because they like their dynamic? It's not our fault that these canon police antis can't separate fiction from reality, and see every aggression toward a female character (unless it's by another female character, or it's a m/m relationship) as misogyny, while ignoring actual inequality in societies around us, as well as ignoring the truth that men can also become victims of abuse/violence. It all goes back to the funny hypocrisy of touting a beloved female character with admirable traits like strong, fierce, powerful, but the instant a male character challenges her and shows any kind of aggression at her - because spoiler alert, he's a villain, it's literally how he was written - these canon police antis whine about misogyny instead of just saying they don't see what shippers see in a fictional pairing and leave it at that. Like, it's ok, you don't need a reason to not like a pairing. The funny thing is, for all their fascination on Galadriel and Sauron as individuals, they fail to comprehend Sauron's character beyond what is stated in black and white in front of them (going back to the concrete vs abstract thinking). I'm not even a huge fan of Charlie, and even I can understand the 'seeing Gal as a trophy' bit is just a very simplified jest at the comparison to Morgoth and the Silmarils. If they actually bothered to read more of his interviews, it's very clear he sees her as beyond just that. Oh, she's just another ring to him basically? Ok but then why do I keep hearing cosmic connection spoken by him anytime Galadriel is brought up in interviews? Cosmic connection flew over this person's head like a frisbee.

I hope you don't mind me saying I never liked Darklina 🙈 I don't know if it's because I wasn't a big fan of the show in general, of because of the actor I found too pretty, or the dynamic in general... It just never worked for me.

I'm probably significantly older than most Tumblr users, old enough to remember how Mulder and Scully shippers were shamed and mocked when Internet and forums barely started to be a thing anyway 🤣 If you ever heard of X Files or even better, watched it, you know that there isn't a ship that's more vanilla than this one. And yet shippers were being mocked for seeing romance where there was only "platonic friendship" (joke on them, 9 years later Mulder and Scully were endgame), when we weren't told that "Scully deserved better" because "Mulder was abusive towards her

Shippers were always made fun to and it'll never stop, I'm afraid. I've stopped caring about what anyone has to say about a fictional romance I like tbh. I don't know if you use social media such as Reddit and Twitter, as far as I m concerned avoiding these places help a lot. Haters don't seem aware of Tumblr's existence, and I pray every day that they remain ignorant because I really like it here 💜

The best we can do is to keep having fun with what we love... That won't change these idiot's minds, but it will probably piss them off ;)

[cursedvibes]

Cursedvibes, what are your favorite Kenjin fanfics/art/comics or just what is your favorite JJK fanfics/art in general

I don't actually read that much jjk fanfiction and most of what I read isn't JinKen, but I still have a few faves I'd like to recommend.

theft of witness by iamsomebody One of the first jjk & Kenjaku fics I ever read and I absolutely loved it. It follows Kenjaku through their transition from Kaori to Geto and gives brief glimpses into their experiences. Partially inspired me to write my own stuff. I absolutely love the writing style and the confrontation scene between Kaorijaku and Wasuke is my favourite. Might be responsible for why I like their dynamic so much. Also, you should check out the art that's linked in the fic notes, it's one of my favourite.

死的静观 by Innersol Jin/Kamojaku, background Jin/Toji (don't ship it, but it also didn't bother me much), sort of a Gothic Modern AU It's in Chinese, but I think with a translator you can still follow very well what's happening and not too much of the prose is lost. Jin is a medical student in his 20s aiming for doctor and Kenjaku (Kamo Noritoshi) is financing his studies, eventually inviting him to live at their house to collaborate at times with their research. It's not specified what exactly Noritoshi does, but you find out that some Death Painting-esque experiment is going on in the background. Since this is a ship fic, Jin and Kenjaku eventually go from studying to fucking. It's not too heavy on the feelings, but Jin does get attached and curious about Kenjaku and over time the same happens to Kenjaku, with them developing a strong wish to have a child with Jin, eventhough that's physically impossible for them in this AU. There's also some brainfuckery going on at some point, Jin just can't keep his fingers to himself. Really love this one for the creepy vibe and because I'm just happy to see more of Kamojaku.

Innersol is also a great artist with some exceptional jjk fanart. You can find them here @karama08 and on Twitter

Complicity by SenZen_Travers My favourite MahiKen fic. Characterization is on point, the atmosphere is calm but also so intense at the same time. I always get a bit dizzy when reading it. The smut is really juicy too and feels natural (I'm always a bit bothered when Kenjaku is shown as overly dominant, and Mahito as this dainty submissive bottom. That's not the case here, they're just having a fun time together)

King's Ascent by Anonymous (registered users only) A SukUme fic with ace Uraume. It takes place during the Nara period and details Sukuna and Uraume's first meeting and how they grew to be partners. The world building here is really good with lots of details to flesh out the setting as well as the characters. Really well written too and the best SukUme fic I've read so far. It has 5 chapters so far, I'm really hoping the author will continue it at some point.

light of a new morning by flyfreebird (@urostakako on tumblr) A Tsumiki Lives AU, mainly revolving around Tsumiki and Yuuji bonding over their past trauma and relationship with Megumi. It's so well written, I want to insert it directly into my brain. Tsumiki's struggle of loving her brother, but also being angry at him for how ignorant he has been of her and her emotions all her life is so well depicted here, makes me wish it were canon. This is the Tsumiki I wanted to see. It feels so satisfying to read this after the disappointment I felt over how her character was handled in canon.

Kissing Strangers by magrealism_conspirology Jin/Kenjaku, fanart not fanfic but since it was posted on AO3 I thought it would make for a good transition to other artists Always love it when Jin interacts with Kenjaku's brain and the pose here makes it look especially good. Very tender, as if he's just giving them a kiss on the cheek (but juicier).

For fanart recommendation, I'm gonna shout out

@trung-roi Currently creating a lot of TenKen art that makes me go absolutely insane. Can also recommend him for Mahito and Sukuna/Uraume fans. His art always manages to make even gore look beautiful and enthralling. I particularly like this Pixiv album. It has a lot of my faves. Kenjaku and Tengen playing Mario, Kenjaku swallowing Tengen, them holding hands, Edo era meeting, Tengen holding Kenjaku's brain (I particularly like this surreal style here) and a Barbie meme.

Twitter Pixiv

Warlock1000 or 1000YEAH Already love this artist for drawing all incarnations of Kenny. I rarely see this much EdoKen and Kamojaku in one place. They also really nail Kenjaku's personality, from the grotesque to silly. Just can't emphasize enough how amazing their art is. You should really check them out. Also have a lot on Sukuna and Uraume.

Lofter weibo

(My two strongest arguments for why you should go check them out right now. I also wanted to give you a glimpse of their art here because I know weibo links in particular can sometimes be difficult to open from overseas or on the phone and I want to encourage you try to seek them out regardless)

reynis var emrace I recently recommended her Kaorijaku (& Geto) art, so here is my call again to give her some more attention. She does a lot of stsg stuff too. What drew me to her was intense gory art. And I mean real gore, guts hanging out and everything. Every time I look at her art, I feel like I can actually smell the blood. Especially for a character like Kenjaku that is very fitting. Not gonna lie, the art where Kenjaku is licking Gojo's ripped out eyeball inspired me quite a lot. I like this one a lot as well.

Most of her older stuff you can find on vk

planetsandmagic I think if you're looking around the fandom here, you will have inevitably come across them, but I still wanted to highlight them. They draw pretty much anything jjk and every piece looks fantastic. Their art often has this melancholic, dark and eery vibe I really like. Recently I fell absolutely in love with their TenKen art (predictable as I am).

Twitter

There are like a dozen more I can think of , plus individual art pieces, but I'm trying to contain it to a manageable list

[skyburger]

LOVE when people reblog things but say in the tags like they disagree with the main point of it or "um op is wrong actuwlly" cause idk if its just how i personally see tumblr tags working but thats like. why did you re-share a post to your followers if you dont like or agree with it at all and you didnt even add commentary on it. Like why would u reblog a post saying "i hope u mean the opposite of this actually..??" no thats not what op meant hello. i havent seen anyone do this recently but i just remembered people do this and its a little funny to me like why would u do that.

Anyway unrelated but this is my official announcement statement whatever (most important of all time):

Just because i reblog a picture of some food does not mean i actually like the ingredients or the dish. sometimes i think it looks good until i read that they put fucking lavender or some shit in a cake. why would uou do that i dont want to eat lavender i dont really want to smell it most of the time but even if it was mt fave smell ever why would i want to eat that. hello? and also sometimes im like i know i would hate that hut it looks really pretty. Anyway this is my PSA:

Please do not assume i like such heinous foods as "mint" "peanut butter" or "asparagus" because i do not. sometimes i will reblog food becaus it looks nice and i do not endorse these ingreidents going in my tummy they are NOT yummy. to me.

i dont knwo why i would reblog asparagus because that Looks gross too tbh but. u know what i mean hipefully i got my point across

peace and love. here is an image i saved from cropped mgs memes on twitter when i scrolled through their entire account again the other day. i miss you twitter user bigbossbigmemes. i showed my mom some of them because i accidentiwlly said "i cannot believe i am living in a world"

↑ i cannot believe i am living in a world

and her favorite of the ones i sent her was this one

share if you dont think!

unrelated i asked my mom if she "kinned" big boss once as a joke like three years ago and i dont think she remembers this at all but i still think about it sorry to my mom. she said something like "yeah sure because he looks like a warrior and im strong too" which fair enouhh i just dont think she knows about the war crimes. i dont think she knows what kinning is either i dont remmeber how i explained it to her but i bet it was poorly. if she was big boss and me andnmy siblings were the shit twins + ex-president george sears i would be liquid snake my sister would be solid snake and my little brother would be solidus snake its important to me that you all know this. i havent actuwlly thought about thet in a while but its true to me ok.

unrelated: someone remind me to post a picture of my metal gear shower curtain at some point. idk if i ever shared it but its pretty awesome.

but thatse just abtheory. a game theory!!'matpat out!

[sevicia]

In 2035 there will be a way to connect apps to your heart rate monitor chip (they became mandatory in 2028) and you can hook it up to Tumblr and they introduce a function that like shows a person's heart rate on their blog (you can disable it but you have to do it again after 3 days) and obviously it bugs out a lot cause this is in fact Tumblr so when people get into discourse and they start watching other people's heart rate monitor blog widgets like HAWKS they'll see it flatline and start cheering all around ("🎉🌟 HOUSEKEEPER DOWN 🌟🎉") (there is discourse about "housekeepers" which is what landlords are called now because owning land became extremely common after the housing market collapsed in 2030) (actual housekeepers are mad as fuck and part of the discourse) and then the monitor just starts up again and everyone's mad as fuuuck not even impressed anymore because the first few times it happened people thought the bloggers who "died" just got revived via necromancy or something and all the "came back wrong" posts started going STRONG again and the x reader/imagine blogs were posting shit like "Imagine Jungkook being in love with you, but too shy to say anything because you are so radiant.... So he watches over you through your Tumblr blog and when he sees your heart monitor flatline he feels his own heart break he's crying so hard, and he DMs you confessing his love to you at last.... except it was just a bug and you get to read it right as your heart rate monitor connects properly again. He sees it start up again and is now crying tears of relief, even though the monitor shows a very high heartrate for some reason.... You decide to reply.... LIKE & RB FOR PART 2!!! 🫶" and then some guy figures out how to hack into people's heart rate monitor chips through reverse engineering the stupid fucking Tumblr blog widgets and starts killing people whose online personas he doesn't like via electrocution and this SUCKSSSS because his reading comprehension skills are like below those of the average Tumblr user (and the average Tumblr user's reading comprehension skills have gone downhill very quickly) so he just keeps fucking killing people and no one knows who he is because every other day there are like 10 to 12 edgelords claiming to be him until he lets his ego grow too big and blows his own cover when he answers an anon calling him a dumb fuck for being pro-widget killing (there's an entire community) by describing how the killing process works (the reply starts with "No. You know what? Fuck this. Fuck you.") and then he gets doxxed and put on the news and Tumblr faces a big fat lawsuit because staff just forgot 🥺 to nuke the post where he described how to kill people via their stupid fucking blog widgets that you have to disable every 3 days and everyone just started killing eachother and so it turns out that the real-life modern Light Yagami was always destined to be a Tumblrina instead of a Redditor/4channer and #monitorTHIS trends on Twxttxr (which is what Twitter/X was renamed to after a #girlboss #ally influencer won an arm wrestling match against Elon Musk back in 2028) (she replaced the vowels with x's to make it "gender neutral") (Musk was shot in the back of the head after he lost the match) (there are conspiracy theories claiming that she's actually on Elon's team and the whole thing was staged so Twitter could rebrand a 2nd time and be more "progressive" and make money off gays paying a monthly subscription that makes it so their tweets can only be read by people with the same labels as them on their Twxttxr bios) (the most used piece of "evidence" to prove this theory is the fact that Elon likes the letter X) for the next 3 weeks until a travel vlogger spots Elon alive and well on a cave near the edge of a cliff in Perú and then #PUSHHIMOFF trends instead

[3liza]

Tumblr protest action is incredibly difficult to conceptualize for a lot of complex reasons but the real hell money of this website is the Good Posts. the screenshottable posts that not only keep the reblogs churning (let's imagine how we could begin to calculate the pageviews and ad exposures generated by a single six-digit text post from 2013 that has been screenshot to reddit, iFunny, twitter and Pinterest. how many conversions is "randy your sticks" directly responsible for? i would love to know) but hold the entire reputation and social influence of the site in their cupped palms. that's the lightning that Tumblr owners actually want to put in a bottle, even if they're too dumb to realize it. those would be the people i would ask to go on "strike", by using a script to shut off reblogs on every original post they could still edit and stop posting for several months. other sites with a "talent" class and a huge disparity in content generators vs content consumers turns that talent into site partners. i don't think Tumblr realizes it but this site is a lot more like twitch than it is facebook

thinking out loud here though. it's impossible to predict what would change, if anything, if the Tumblr Big Accounts took their ball and went home. nothing, is a strong possibility. i think it would surface other talented people and cause some sort of a slight change in site culture which would be interesting, but I'm not sure Tumblr users have enough control over our own content to have any sort of leverage against management at all.

[boreal-sea]

What is the Purpose of Mastodon?

I'd say there are 4 main purposes of mastodon (and the rest of the fediverse).

The first purpose is the same purpose as tumblr or twitter etc. It's social media. It's meant for people to find other people, connect with them, and post and share content that matches their interests.

To decentralize social media. This is the big pull of mastodon that makes it very different from twitter, facebook and tumblr. It's also the feature that is most confusing to understand. I'll explain it more below. It also leads into #3 and #4.

To be a place where you can be in control of the rules. Don't want Nazis? You can ban them, or join a server that has strong rules against them.

To get away from commercialized forms of social media so you aren't constantly bombarded by ads, and your data isn't being fed to advertisers, and so you know the platform you are on won't cave to advertisers and do things like ban porn.

1: Social media

This is the easiest to understand: it's social media, we all know what that is. If people think the fediverse is only about #1, they go "ok but the internet is full of places to meet people, I don't need another website to do that on". And they'd be right! But it's the other three purposes that make the fediverse unique.

2: Decentralization

In my opinion this is the key to the fediverse. And it seems really complicated and too difficult to understand but it's really not.

Imagine you could download tumblr's code, then upload it to your own website, and run your own copy of tumblr. As a bonus, you could still follow anyone over on the main tumblr website and they could follow you. It would be exactly like using Main Tumblr; the experience would be seamless.

But there would be advantages too. Like if Main Tumblr decided to cave to advertisers and ban porn, for example. YOU wouldn't have to stop posting porn, because you're not on Main Tumblr, you're using your copy of Tumblr on your site, and your rules say porn is A-OK. So you could keep posting all the porn you wanted, and anyone who followed you could see it, and no one could stop you (as long as you're following the laws of the country your server is set in obviously).

And what if Main Tumblr decided to shut down? Not a problem for you - you're not using their site, so all your data is safe! If Discord goes down, every single Discord server also dies with it.

Twitter is dying; every single Twitter community and everyone's followings they've built are all dying with it because there's only one Twitter. A lot of artists and other people who depend on Twitter due to the followings and the communities/brands they've built on there are literally losing their livelihoods because Twitter is dying, and there's only one Twitter.

But if they'd been on a mastodon server that was dying, they could just move to a different server and all of their followers go with them - they wouldn't lose their audience and they wouldn't have to rebuilt it. Or, even better, they could just host their own server for their own brand and never have to worry about it going down on them, ever.

Now yes, hosting a website does cost money. And if you don't have money, that's ok! There are a bunch of servers out there already that are running and funded and accept users for free, and most of them have a set rule that if, for some reason, they have to close the server, you will get a 3 month warning to pick somewhere else to go.

All you have to do is read their rules and see if it's a community you jive with. Then after you join, you can follow anyone anywhere. It's that open, and that easy.

3 Rules and moderation

Another huge advantage of the fediverse is that every server can have its own rules, just like Discord servers can have their own rules. Many servers have extremely strict rules against nazis, racism, homophobia, spam, etc.

And the best part is, these server admins can actually enforce these rules because most of the servers are small. This means there's not that many people to deal with and moderation is actually a feasible task.

4 Commercialization

You might have heard "on facebook, you are the product" and it's true. Your data (and your identity) is the product being sold to the advertisers on those platforms. With no ads, there's no one trying to buy your data. The server your are on is the product, one you can choose to donate to if you wish.

[feaftlikeabeaft]

I genuinely think @staff’s big mistake (or trick, depending on how you want to look at it) is pretending like growing your blog is a zero sum game where everyone is out to be the biggest and the best. 

What they are saying is that introducing algorithmic content will allow smaller users to spread their posts more widely by getting the algorithm to give them the first step on the ladder, which gives them a bigger slice of the pie.

What they’re missing is that Tumblr doesn’t work like that.

1. No one is trying to be the biggest or the best. What we’re trying to do is curate a small circle of users (a community, a group, a collab, whatever).

2. Lots of “big” blogs regularly reblog from “small” blogs. I’d even guess that most blogs are more reblogs than original posts.

3. To reiterate, it’s not a zero sum game. One user’s blog being bigger than another doesn’t mean they’re sucking up some sort of precious resource from the other. You might think at first glance that the bigger blog is somehow hoarding all the followers but... people can follow multiple blogs and big blogs reblog from smaller ones all the time. So it remains the case that following a new blog (big or small) will likely lead you to new ones.

4. No one wants to have every user on the site following their blog. Maybe if you’re on YouTube or Twitter, you might want that if you want the fame, attention, and money that comes with it. Here, we actively curate our feed (what input we recieve) and our audience (who gets our output). Bigger isn’t better because we want is a community of like-minded people. That might limit a blog’s growth severely because there are certain users that the owner of the blog doesn’t want to interact with. On this site, that’s ok.

5. Think of it like a fungal network, to paraphrase a famous post. Each blog is a node in the network than can reach out and connect with others. Thanks to the lack of an algorithm and no tangible reason to get too big, we can create strong connections and bonds as we reach through the soil (our blessed hellsite) to make contact with others. Yet these networks are limited and they can be purposefully isolated from each other. This is ok, as we all know that diversity in the soil is best for its longterm health. We could all try to regress into one big mass but we’d suck the soil dry of nutrients. Does that make sense or should I have dropped the fungus metaphor? Basically, I’m saying that @staff is making it sound like we’re all trees competing for light and space while in reality we’re funky lil mushrooms

6. Every other site has an algorithm. This one doesn’t. I am here and not elsewhere because I don’t like algorithms. You do the math.

[jmdbjk]

Hello everyone

Lots of new people joining us here in the last 24 hours... I am assuming from Twitter? Welcome to my little corner! 

Honestly though, I am leaning toward Twitter not going anywhere, however, it might be a little different over there eventually. I guess we’ll see how it all shakes out after this weekend/week when they turn the lights back on in their corporate headquarters.

Here in my space, I will sometimes talk about BTS news and often highlight Jimin and Jungkook but I do talk about all the members. I will not cover every miniscule bit of news and I am not very timely sometimes. There are other blogs who do that better than I do. 

I usually just blab about inconsequential things, my observations or musings or just frivolous things just because I can. 

Jimin is my first bias. Jungkook is my second bias and my spirit animal dude. I have strong feelings for Yoongi. I love Hobi. Namjoon is very relatable to me. Jin has captured my heart via The Astronaut and Tae is a little rascal.

If you are totally new to Tumblr, it can be a frustrating, non-intuitive little app/website...here are some tips:

Depending on the device you are using, touch/click a Tumblr user’s name to see their “home page.” If you are using the Tumblr website, touch the 3 dots in a circle to see those options. You can follow/unfollow, get notifications, view that blogger’s archived posts amongst other things.

If you are on a small device/phone and want to access those options, touch that little “person” icon in the top right corner.

Tumblr has a feature called “Ask me Anything” and if the account you follow has this turned on, you can send in a question or a rant or whatever. Then that account can choose to answer or post your question. A lot of times, the blogger will have the anonymous feature turned on and you can ask/rant anonymously.

Personally, I will answer some asks but not all. I do not delve into shipping wars/dynamics. I am not a shipper. I don’t analyze every touch or glance between Jimin and Jungkook. I am a jikook lover/supporter and I sometimes talk about that but I don’t address every little concern/insecurity that some people tend to fall into. There tends to be a lot of drama in that area and I really am not into drama though if you go through my archived posts, you can see I have felt the need to offer my perspective here and there occasionally. There are other bloggers who answer every ask more consistently than I do. 

But I do read everything you send in, even if you just need to say something into the void, know that I am seeing and listening. If I feel like you have a legit thing I can address, I might. More often though, I might see the humor in what you are saying and run with it... we are here to have fun, so don’t take it personally. 

If you really want to talk about something and keep it off the public blog, then send me a DM and I will be happy to talk to you but I also have a day job so I might not reply right away.  To send me or another blogger a private direct message touch/click that little chat bubble with the + sign.

I love each and every one of you and I hope the troubles at Twitter are not stressing you out too badly. BTS stan twt is a huge community and has made it possible for all of us to connect with each other, communicate the latest news, support BTS as a group as well as the individual members, and each other for so many years. Hopefully it will all settle down very soon. 

[stereax]

Hi , i see you always posting news and stuff about every team amd i’m new to hockey and want to know more about the sport and the teams so do you know how could i do that or what should i watch?? ^^

Hi there anon!!! Nice to meet you :) I'd love to impart a little wisdom on you!

Unfortunately, you're going to have to be a little more specific here.

Are you primarily interested in the NHL? (Or do you want to follow minor leagues in the Americas such as the AHL, or the major junior leagues such as the CHL or USHL, or would you prefer European hockey leagues like the Swiss NL, German DEL, or Russian KHL?)

Do you want to follow one team extremely closely or have several favorites you track? (Like personally, I specialize in Devils hockey and can tell you way too much about it, but I track most of the teams of the NHL to some extent so I can analyze and discuss them if prompted to. Some people only really care about one team; others choose to enjoy one team from each division, for example, so as to always be rooting for someone.)

Do you prefer the analytical side of hockey or would you rather follow the narratives? (Cap structures, rulebooks, drafts, and all that can get quite complex but they're super rewarding - at least for me personally. Other fans choose not to worry too much about the analytics and prefer just to watch the games and enjoy the narratives of teams.)

Personally, I picked up a TON of knowledge from my Discord friend groups. TheBrattPack, noted Devils Twitter user, has a Discord server and it was a MAJOR reason I fell so in love with hockey. Great people, great atmosphere. Another Discord server I really like is the Reddit Panthers server - I don't know its invite status, but a Cats friend shot me the link because one of the people there livestreams the games a solid 90 seconds before my high seas sites. Really nice and welcoming community as well.

Another place to learn hockey is YouTube. Steve Dangle, who recently left SportsNet, is one of my personal favorites - his Dang-Its and Hat-Picks videos are really good to show you some of the things considered Really Bad and Really Good. He also has LFR (Leafs Fan Reaction) where he goes over every Leafs game and points out highlights and lowlights. There's also The Hockey Guy (Shannon) who talks about everything NHL - he is really strong breadthwise to learn about many teams and their strengths (and he does videos for every game), but depthwise you might want to look at other sources. If you want funny, try UrinatingTree's NHL videos - his commentary is hysterical.

Even here on Tumblr, though, there are a couple of super informative blogs. I'd like to think I'm one of them, and you can always drop in my inbox with questions! No question is "stupid", really; we all have to start somewhere. @nhlupdate is really good for general updates on the league and questions, and I recently discovered @reavenedges-lies as well - Ren has some great takes and analysis on the sport, and even taught me a thing or two about goaltender interference :).

But yeah, I think that's the basics of it. See what you're looking for in your hockey fandom and go from there. I can't answer what you should watch without knowing what you're interested in - what teams catch your eye? You might root for a local team, a team who has players you like, or even just pick a logo and go from there. Every team is unique and has its own strengths and challenges. You might find, for instance, that rooting for a team like the Flyers, who are entering a rebuild and won't be successful for a few years, is unrewarding. On the other hand, maybe you want to choose an underdog and avoid a team like the Oilers for that reason. It's all up to you. So let me know what team(s) you're interested in and we can go from there!

[jechristine]

I’ve had those thoughts about class distinction (and perception since it’s all about how people perceive Tom and Tim and not really reality) and how its rooted in some elitism in a way as well. It feel like ‘film twitter’ forgets there are many kinds of types of intelligence and I hope that Tom knows that as well - since looking at what Dom’s said, I don’t particularly think that he was encouraged in his intellectual strengths (he does certainly seem to have them) in the right way by his dad (which is a big generalization that disclaimer, might not be accurate either since I’m only going by what Dom’s stated in his blogs - he could be a much better or different father than he comes off as, who knows).

But looking at that twitter drama and knowing you’re a teacher, have you noticed social media interfering with education over the years? It just seems ironic to me that these accounts that preach intellectualism actually their voice arguments in a very anti-intellectual way. Looking at someone and reducing them to a failure lacks as much critical thinking as ‘stanning’ them, but all these people act like their opinion is fact and they’re often not interested in an actual debate where both sides are open to new info.

I feel like twitter might have benefits in making friends and also for sure spreading knowledge of social justice, but I also think that the short word count and engagement discourages critical thought and nuance so often that idk if the benefits outweigh what it might be doing to users. I know that when I take a break from twitter I feel less reactive and angry all the time, I can focus more - which is personal since I’m sure not everyone gets that way but for me the difference is huge.

This is a long and slightly disorganized way of asking your thoughts on twitter as a platform - do you think a short form app like that could be contributing to critical thinking skills shrinking too? Tumblr is more of an echo chamber with niche communities but I also feel like the extended word count gives the opportunity for complex discussions

Hey, Anon!

This is probably not what you’re asking for, but there are so many angles from which I want to think about your question. They’re all sort of related.

As a former medievalist & early modernist: the parallels between current outcries against social media and the 16th/17th century outcries against print culture and the printing presses are strong. We’re seeing just so many more people contributing their voices, languages, and ideas to the public space, and consuming so many others’. It can be messy because people don’t all have great things to say, and there are so many of them, but also the democratization of social discourse is so consequential. The printing presses in Europe (which is what I know) changed the course of history, leading as some have argued to the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and…capitalism. We don’t really know where social media will take us, but probably someplace new.

As a high school English teacher: I’ve been immersed in PD lately in what’s being called “the Science of Reading.” A lot of the American education system has fucked up the way we teach kids to read in the last 20 years, and we’ve created a huge problem, especially for our students furthest from opportunity, i.e. the majority of my students at a high-poverty Title 1 school with many English-language learners. (If interested, this podcast is so illuminating/horrifying.) I know this is American-centric, but that’s what I know. Problems exist in terms of who has access to knowledge and ideas that are so much deeper than character count on social media. I’d bet this is true in other parts of the world, too.

And I think one more layer, connected to that one, is that lots of people are engaging with subjects on such a superficial level, just kind of repeating what they’ve seen said elsewhere without the knowledge background or frame of reference to dig deeper or be critical. I’ve seen a ton of really excellent Twitter threads from which I’ve learned a lot—so I don’t think character count is really an issue. I think lots of people don’t use the thread function because they simply don’t have much to say.

(Finally, I know what you mean about tumblr being an echo chamber but also I do think my mutuals and I disagree plenty without being shitty about it. Sometimes disagreement is really narrow. In fact, I think the best disagreement is when “opponents” share values and thoughtfulness but come to different conclusions. I also think tumblr would be just as bad if it had as many users as Twitter does.)