#lurking is a ok but i think everyone has become lurkers

[electraslight]

i always hate when i see people make posts on tumblr saying 'i hate it when people say they dont like the like button, blah blah insert funnypost about how you like seeing cute hearts or whatever' like artists and creatives on tumblr havent been struggling to get any sort of interaction or have any fun with this site for a while because no one reblogs anything or even sends asks. like i know youre trying to be silly but likes really are causing the downfall of interaction on the site. a lot of you guys are artists, and i bet you remember getting a lot of asks and interaction a year or two ago, even when you werent actively pandering to fandom interests (i know some of you do this now, i see you, i feel you, that's not healthy because it doesnt work either), and now most people's like to reblog ratio is crazy small. look at any art post, and you can see ratios like 17 to 100, 5 to 150, etc etc. and of course no asks, at least not from people who arent telling you to tag 'food warning' or tell you youre a horrible human being for shipping a one year age gap or whatever. and i get a lot of the point of those posts is that you shouldnt be upset that youre getting more likes than reblogs, because you should be happy that anyone likes your art enough to show you they like it, but i think an artist's urge to grow isn't as clout related as these people assume. its wanting more people to see your work, to interact with it. to feel something from it, and the dry well of interaction has made a lot of people move away from the site, because tumblr interactions always felt so personal and so community driven, and now there's no interaction besides harassment. it's not a sin to want your art to be seen, and it's not 'clout goblin behavior' to want members of your community to interact with you and your work. 'likes are interaction too' doesnt matter, because no one gets anything from the interaction besides number go up, which you may find cute and funny, but cute and funny didnt help me meet my best friends, come up with new concepts, have my art feel wanted. Interaction did. And this site has no algorithm, so reblog things you like, type everything you can think of in the tags, comment, send inane asks, or a lot of your favorite artists, creatives, even mutuals just blogging, wont hang around for long