#please for the love of god stay safe

[vee-lociraptor]

logging off tumblr for today. maybe a few days. if anyone needs me im leaving dm notifs on so you can ask for discord if you want. please stay safe. please find something worth pushing forward for. it's my pets for me it doesnt have to be anything big but it's good to have something i think

[mydirtyvalentine]

will wood was right, it’s fucking awful out here socrates

[coldmilkchoices]

murderbot going to stand in the corner so nobody can look it in the eyes while it tries to convince the humans to stay put in the secure zone for once in their lives

[katsu2ji]

in light of recent events with the election, i want to remind everyone to take care of themselves the best they can. i know that things are really hard right now for so many people—women, poc, lgbtq+, especially. but please do not forget that there are people out there who love you, who care for you, and wish nothing but the best for you. check in on your loved ones, and check in on yourself 🤍

i love you. we’ll be ok. it doesn’t feel that way now, and it might not feel that way for awhile. but we’ll be ok.

[tbsviovixx]

Virtual hugs from nexus

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Ok my inbox is about to explode with wholesome dirty fluffy filthy poly au stuff so I recommend you filter the poly au tag now if it's not your cup of tea because I'm about to get so annoying

(Like srsly it's going to look like this:)

[toothmarqed]

did not expect the reflection on chase to go that hard in house vs god. ‘why do you always do things you don’t want to do?’ hit right in the fawn response

[spookythesillyfella]

ur style is def the way u draw bodies?!? very boxy in a good way!! n then there r the eyes auhsjm yes i can automatically tell it’s you just by looking at the eyes?!?

as for ur tm when it comes to texts n all; very bubbly! bubbly yet very elegant!! u know tons of words spookz n tbh i have learned a few words from ur fics n tags!! ALSO UR EMOTICONS AUHSSJ THE LITTLE “:3” and “^_^” I CAN DEF TELL IT;S YOU JUST BY LOOKING AT IT!!

hii francesss :333

ive been keeping this thing in the inbox for a loooong while – i tend to read it over quite often . especially when im feeling down in the dumps . and i think i finally have an actual way to respond to it coherently

im rlly glad that you've come to appreciate the way i draw bodies . since i myself have a hard time with that aspect specifically – posing and such are always difficult and i tend to get the most frustrated when it comes to that

on top of that . eyes are also something i think are very meaningful ; i always try my hardest to make the eyes of a character reflect a part of themselves . whether it would be in shape . or style . or color . or just small details – working on the eyes is probably my favorite part about drawing ahaha ¥_^

and thank you for the kind words regarding my texting / speaking style – truth be told . im always embarrassed by it ; i feel weirdly disconnected from the people around me because of how i talk . since everyone seems to find it off-putting or bizarre – that's not even mentioning the fact i speak english better than my native language . but still can't seem to speak it well ahaha ≠w=

all in all . thank you so much for sending this ask and im sorry that it took so long for .e to finally get around to answering it 💌💌💌

[acourtofquestions]

Golden flame danced between her fingers.

Elide recoiled, and the fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"My name is Essar," the female said softly. "I am a friend--of your friends, I believe."

Elide said nothing.

"Cairn is a monster," Essar said, taking a step closer. "Stay far from him."

"I need to find him."

"You played the part of his mistreated lover well enough. You have to know something about him. What he does."

"If you know where he is, please tell me." She wasn't above begging.

Essar ran an eye over Elide. Then she said, "He was in this city until yesterday. Then he went out to the eastern camp." She pointed with a thumb over a shoulder. "He's there now."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's not terrorizing the patrons of every fine establishment in this town, glutting himself on the coin Maeve gave him when he took the blood oath."

Elide blinked. She had hoped some of the Fae might be opposed to Maeve, especially after the battle in Eyllwe, but to find such outright distaste...

Essar then added, "And because my sister--the soldier you spoke with--told me. She saw him in the camp this morning, smirking like a cat."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because you are wearing Lorcan's shirt, and Rowan Whitethorn's cloak. If you do not believe me, inform them who told you and they will." Elide cocked her head to the side.

Essar said softly, "Lorcan and I were involved for a time."

They were in the midst of war, and had traveled for thousands of miles to find their queen, and yet the tightness that coiled in Elide's gut at those words somehow found space. Lorcan's lover. This delicate beauty with a bedroom voice had been Lorcan's lover.

"I'll be missed if I'm gone for too long, but tell them who I am. Tell them that I told you. If it's Cairn they seek, that is where he shall be. His precise location, I don't know." Essar backed away a step. "Don't go asking after Cairn at other taverns. He isn't well regarded, even amongst the soldiers. And those who do follow him... You do not wish to attract their interest."

Essar made to turn away, but Elide blurted,

"Where did Maeve go?"

Essar looked over her shoulder. Studied her.

The female's eyes widened. "She has Aelin of the Wildfire," Essar breathed.

Elide said nothing, but Essar murmured, "That was... that was the power we felt the other night." Essar swept back toward Elide. Gripped her hands. "Where Maeve went a few days ago, I don't know. She did not announce it, did not take anyone with her. I often serve her, am asked to... It doesn't matter. What matters is Maeve is not here. But I do not know when she will return."

Relief again threatened to send Elide crumpling to the ground. The gods, it seemed, had not abandoned them just yet.

But if Maeve had taken Aelin to the outpost where they'd lied that the Valg prince had been contained...

Elide gripped Essar's hands, finding them warm and dry. "Does your sister know where Cairn resides in the camp?"

For long minutes, then an hour, they had talked.

Essar left and returned with Dresenda, her sister. And in that alley, they had plotted.

Elide finished telling Rowan, Lorcan, and Gavriel what she'd learned. They sat in stunned silence for a long minute.

"Just before dawn," Elide repeated. "Dresenda said the watch on the eastern camp is weakest at dawn. That she'd find a way for the guards to be occupied. It's our only window."

Rowan was staring into the trees, as if he could see the layout of the camp, as if he were plotting his way in, way out.

"She didn't confirm if Aelin was in Cairn's tent, though," Gavriel cautioned. "Maeve is gone--Aelin might be with her, too."

"It's a risk we take," Rowan said. A risk, perhaps, they should have considered.

Elide glanced to Lorcan, who had been silent throughout. Even though it had been his lover who had helped them, perhaps guided by Anneith herself. Or at least had been tipped off by the scent on Elide's clothes.

"You think we can trust her?" Elide asked Lorcan, though she knew the answer.

Lorcan's dark eyes shifted to her. "Yes, though I don't see why she'd bother."

"She's a good female, that's why," Rowan said.

At Elide's lifted brow, he explained, "Essar visited Mistward this spring. She met Aelin." He cut a glare toward Lorcan. "And asked me to tell you that she sends her best."

Elide hadn't seen anything that came close to pining in Essar's face, but gods, she was beautiful. And smart. And kind. And Lorcan had let her go, somehow.

[inkykeiji]

Clari, how you feeling after watching Sukuna slick his hair back and have three people instantly bowing? 🤭

uGH ANON LIKE I WAS ALSO ON THE FUCKING FLOOR FOREHEAD PRESSED TO THE TILES (or his toesies hehehe) oh my good god he is so insanely attractive i can barely handle it!!! i need him inside of me in some way, shape, or form NOW!!!!!!

[silvergyus]

eight hours interning on st patricks day..... I am so so dead

[jocelynships]

“You need to get out of Florida!”

How? Fucking how??? Are you people telling me this going to pay for me and my boyfriend to move??? We don’t have the fucking money to do so!

Stop telling people who are LGBT+, not white, anyone being targeted by DeShitstain to “just move!” ITS NOT THAT FUCKING EASY!

Now I get it, I’m a white cis “straight passing” woman, but fuck dudes. I’m scared for my friend who aren’t. I have a lot of friends who are trans or nonbinary who are at risk because of that fucking fascist. It’s scary and I worry for them. And not to mention, I have PCOS so I’m scared to get pregnant in the future because I’m at such a high fucking risk for a miscarriage, and I’m as good as fucking dead if I do here. And I need birth control to regulate it and if they go after it, I’m also as good as dead with the fact I can straight up get ovarian or cervical cancer.

Actually fucking support the people being put at risk who live in Florida instead of just telling them to move. And for the love of god. If that piece of shit runs for President, fucking get out there and vote against him every single fucking way you know how. We can’t let him get that much power.

[giantkillerjack]

Good afternoon! What kind of characters or tropes do you wish you could see more of?? [Ex. More Trans characters; More witches; More himbos]

AND/OR: What kind of characters or tropes would you like to see LESS of? [Ex. Less Trans characters who have to live lives of misery; Less "evil" witches; Less characters played by Mark Wahlberg]

AKA what i need in my life are anti-capitalist trans witches who live lives of joy and community and also some himbos are there! HELL YEAH!!! ....... *ahem*. You don't have to be that specific, but hopefully you get the idea!

[saaraofthesand]

*clutches your shoulders* stop oversharing on the internet. You are putting yourself in danger.

[the1trueanon]

ill probably private those last few reblogs in the morning or something (and possibly this post too), just cause i dont wanna be involved in a bunch of discourse right now (*especially* not right now, with all the shit im trying to juggle on top of this, and especially not with how volatile everything regarding all that is at the moment), but before i go to sleep i just wanna let you guys know:

its okay to love things. its okay to enjoy things. its okay to create. just be careful about what and how you share, and take others into account too.

stay safe everyone.

[ravenbreakswifi]

You know what no. I'm crawling out of the tags for this.

I AM NOT GOING TO STAY IF I GET FORCED TO SEE FULL ALGORITHM SHIT.

I don't use other apps for a reason and this is one of, if not THE biggest reason. I avoid and block things for a REASON. I like mainly seeing who I follow!!!! And I actively use tag search and For You for new people to follow!!! You do not need to push this!!!! If people are struggling maybe give them a tutorial.

Do not do this.

Do NOT do this.

So so many of us are SCREAMING for you to LISTEN right now.

DO. NOT. DO. THIS.

I DO NOT FEEL *SAFE* WITH AN ALGORITHM!!!!

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.