#so queued

[haruka89]

adding my signature

An open letter to @staff

I already submitted this to Support under "Feedback," but I'm sharing it here too as I don't expect it to get a response, and I feel like putting in out in public may be more effective than sending it off into the void.

The recent post on the Staff blog about changing tumblr to an algorithmic feed features a large amount of misinformation that I feel staff needs to address, openly and honestly, with information on where this data was sourced at the very least.

Claim 1: Algorithms help small creators.

This is false, as algorithms are designed to push content that gets engagement in order to get it more engagement, thereby assuring that the popular remain popular and the small remain small except in instances of extreme luck.

This can already be seen on the tumblr radar, which is a combination of staff picks (usually the same half-dozen fandoms or niche special interests like Lego photography) which already have a ton of engagement, or posts that are getting enough engagement to hit the radar organically. Tumblr has an algorithm that runs like every other socmed algorithm on the planet, and it will decimate the reach of small creators just like every other platform before it.

Claim 2: Only a small portion of users utilize the chronological feed.

You can find a poll by user @darkwood-sleddog here that at the time of writing this, sits at over 40 THOUSAND responses showing that over 96 percent of them use the chronological feed. Claiming otherwise isn't just a misstatement, it's a lie. You are lying to your core userbase and expecting them to accept it as fact. It's not just unethical, it's insulting to people who have been supporting your platform for over a decade.

Claim 3: Tumblr is not easy to use.

This is also 100% false and you ABSOLUTELY know it. Tumblr is EXTREMELY easy to use, the issue is that the documentation, the explanations of features, and often even the stability of the service is subpar. All of this would be very easy for staff to fix, if they would invest in the creation of walkthroughs and clear explanations of how various site features work, as well as finally fixing the search function. Your inability to explain how your service works should not result in completely ignoring the needs and wants of your core long-term userbase. The fact that you're more willing to invest in the very systems that have made every other form of social media so horrifically toxic than in trying to make it easier for people to use the service AS IT WORKS NOW and fixing the parts that don't work as well speaks volumes toward what tumblr staff actually cares about.

You will not get a paycheck if your platform becomes defunct, and the thing that makes it special right now is that it is the ONLY large-scale socmed platform on THE ENTIRE INTERNET with a true chronological feed and no aggressive algorithmic content serving. The recent post from staff indicates that you are going to kill that, and are insisting that it's what we want. It is not. I'd hazard to guess that most of the dev team knows it isn't what we want, but I assume the money people don't care. The user base isn't relevant, just how much money they can bring in.

The CEO stated he wanted this to remain as sort of the last bastion of the Old Internet, and yet here we are, watching you declare you intend to burn it to the ground.

You can do so much better than this.

Response to the Update

Under the cut for readability, because everything said above still applies.

I already said this in a reblog on the post itself, but I'm adding it to this one for easy access: people read it that way because that's what you said.

Staff considers the main feed as it exists to be "outdated," to the point that you literally used that word to describe it, and the main goals expressed in this announcement is to figure out what makes "high-quality content" and serve that to users moving forward.

People read it that way because that is what you said.

[beaft]

a small child came into the café today and asked to buy a chocolate truffle. he tapped a credit card on the reader and it did not go through, mainly because it was not a credit card but in fact a junior cinema pass. i gently explained he couldn't use that to buy things in shops and he looked so gutted that i was like "...but just this once you can have it for free, don't tell my boss though" he said thank you and walked out with his truffle and as he went i heard him chuckling to himself and saying "yes..... yes!!!!!" like the sickos comic

[gerrykeay]

did you know there's a day-by-day timeline of the plot in the dungeon meshi adventurer's bible and TODAY is when it all kicks off

happy falin gets eaten and the gang starts eatin' day :)

[random-fun-polls]

There is a way of washing your body where you stand use just a damp wash cloth to clean yourself, and you don’t stand under water or in a bath. Do you call this a:

- top and tail

- pta/ pits tits ass

- dry bath

- other (put in tags pls)

- never heard of this

[actual-corpse]

Gi tumbly

I drinker too much

[storm-of-feathers]

I'm very fond of this video

[sanjiafterhours]

being a sanji fan is an intense experience because it takes you like 200 episodes to finally understand why sanji's eyes turned lifeless for a flickering moment at those words

[haruka89]

also, re the last point, at some point teenagers (which is the minimum what every single person on this site has to be to join) have to learn to a) curate their own online experience and we haven't done them any favors by apparently not teaching them, b) take responsibility for their own actions, including clicking on links that might show them content they don't want to see (not exclusive to nsfw content), and c) that there are places on the internet where they shouldn't go and things they shouldn't do, just as in real life. The world isn't a safe place, it can't be, and the internet isn't any different. Pretending that it is, instead of teaching teenagers how to navigate the dangers, is already causing a lot of issues. Also, unless there are security measures in place that will destroy any privacy we have left while online to lock them out, teenagers will go where they want to go. I certainly didn't keep to sfw content while I was a teenager. Which brings us back to the point of teaching teenagers how to make informed choices and how to deal with anything they might see.

but no yeah lets have the conversation:

"the CEO doesnt want to run that kind of website" Excuse, shouldnt have bought the 'go nuts show nuts whatever' website if thats the case. APPEAL DENIED

"we have to follow the TOS of the appstores we're hosted on" Excuse item one, no you dont, item two, you have since those days implimented infrastructure that would allow pornography and sex work on this platform Without violating TOS of any applicable app store. APPEAL DENIED

"we own the site we get to make the rules" Incorrect, this site has only ever made profit when the users willed it. we collectively own the site as a hive mind and no legal change in ownership will change that. APPEAL DENIED

"we have to keep this website safe for the children who use it" Argument based on fallacy banning pornography and sex workers does not prevent pornography and sex work from occuring on the site, it only forces aforementioned users to hide and avoid labling their content appropriately, which REDUCES the safety for children and sex workers alike instead of increasing it, this has been shown to the point that making this argument at all is tantamount to admiting fascist intent APPEAL DENIED

[floweroflaurelin]

As soon as they announced six new PCs for Downfall I planned to do this with my first paintings of each 🌈 Its so satisfying to see them all side by side!

[counting-stars-gayly]

I’m going a little wild over the fact that Percy started feeling the effects of the chimera’s poison two minutes before he collapsed. I thought this part of the episode was weird when I first saw it because the camera focuses on him when it seemingly should be focusing on Annabeth, but then, I realized Percy’s odd behavior while he’s in focus.

He also turns abruptly, and a little late, to Annabeth, as if he just remembered to listen to her, as if he’d been distracted by something.

Then, this boy starts cracking jokes to cheer her up instead of saying, “Hey, something’s wrong; I could literally be dying.” And you can see on his face a few seconds before he collapses that the poison’s starting to really get to him, and still, he doesn’t attempt to get her attention and ask for help.

Then, when they’re at the fountain, he tells her and Grover that he’s feeling better even though he obviously isn’t, because he’s hoping he’s physically strong enough to pretend. (He falls on his ass.)

100% Percy just didn’t want to worry them and thought there was no way to find a cure in time anyway. I’M SCREAMINGG

[haruka89]

also, there are literal criminals out there. any information collected can be accessed. any backdoor built in can be used. any surveillance equipment that is installed can be used. with the right skills or enough money to pay for those skills, anybody could hurt you.

[fungalnebula]

What I love most about Gandalf big naturals is how much it eases my chest dysphoria. I can sleep without a shirt on now because of Gandalf Big Naturals. Knowing that the artist made the original image while recovering from top surgery and said the image was like a final parting gift from their boobs makes me feel even better about the image's effect on me. Men with big naturals makes me feel much more good about my body than those old posts on here that were like "trans men! Some men have pecs!!! So don't feel dysphoric <3". It's much more meaningful to see a hairy, bearded man with a huge H cup rack not letting his tits get in the way of his masculinity.

Most of all, Gandalf Big Naturals helped me love my body the way it is instead of hating something that's a part of me. Of course I still want top surgery but the fact that I can live with my own big naturals until then without wanting to guillotine them off is really important.

[sabeedraws]

In a single lumpy bed, they huddled together for warmth and encouragement and, Glinda told herself, protection. […] Glinda would start as if from a frightful dream, and nestle in nearer to Elphaba, who seemed at night never to sleep.

Ik I didn’t draw the quoted scene from the book, but I just remembered that gelphie cuddles are canon!!!! So!!!

[haruka89]

any idea if using something like pi-hole would register as using an adblocker?

[machveil]

silly thoughts for the wee early morning hours

Retired!König low-key becoming a cryptid in a small town. he’s finally retired and is done with dealing with people regularly. he moves out into the country, buys up a fixer-upper. the house’s driveway is nearly unnoticeable in the tree line and foliage. the house itself? it really should be condemned, it’s completely abandoned and crumbling apart. there’s mold, rotting wood, half the roof has collapsed in on itself. but König likes working with his hands, having a project like this will keep him happily busy

unfortunately, Retired!König walking around in the woods becomes a small town story. “Mama— mama, I saw somethin’ in the trees!”, “Hey, did you see that? No— no, c’mere, what the hell is that?”, “Guys— you wouldn’t believe what I saw! I was taking a walk in the woods this morning and I saw this massive figure! No, it wasn’t a bear, I know what a bear looks like, Nathan.”, König isn’t even aware people have been spotting his hulking figure in the woods. he chops his own wood, forages, hunts when he can

Retired!König goes into town as little as possible. he only goes if he needs something he can’t make, grow, or find in the woods. so… yeah, a store run here and there is necessary. but what he didn’t expect was to be talking to the cashier. König doesn’t engage in small talk often, a rarity, but when they mention the small town cryptid he chuckles, “I doubt it, there’s nothing out there.”. König elaborates a little when the cashier raises an eyebrow, tells the kid working the register that he lives out there

Retired!König being told, “Hey man, just saying. Be careful out there, who knows? Could be a monster out there.”. when König left town that day he scoffed to himself, a monster in the woods. what a joke, monsters aren’t real - humans are worse than any imaginary creatures. well… he thinks that until he saw a newspaper a month later coming out of the store. a photo slammed on the front page, a blurry shadow moving through the woods. he only paused because he recognized the hood the ‘figure’ was wearing

[haruka89]

shouldn't there be something we can do on a browser level? (not chrome, obviously, that was their fucking idea,) even if mozilla doesn't do anything themselves, add-ons should be able to help mitigate the damage. I'm thinking along the lines of ad-blockers or those that remove the tracking stuff in links or prevent redirects or even just something as simple as userstyles/greasemonkey. and maybe we should switch to alternatives for zip-archives for now. I can't believe they managed to make one of the ways to check if a site is legit less safe.

New Things to Beware on the Internet

On May 3rd, Google released 8 new top-level domains (TLDs) -- these are new values like .com, .org, .biz, domain names. These new TLDs were made available for public registration via any domain registrar on May 10th.

Usually, this should be a cool info, move on with your life and largely ignore it moment.

Except a couple of these new domain names are common file type extensions: ".zip" and ".mov".

This means typing out a file name could resolve into a link that takes you to one of these new URLs, whether it's in an email, on your tumblr blog post, a tweet, or in file explorer on your desktop.

What was previously plain text could now resolve as link and go to a malicious website where people are expecting to go to a file and therefore download malware without realizing it.

Folk monitoring these new domain registrations are already seeing some clearly malicious actors registering and setting this up. Some are squatting the domain names trying to point out what a bad idea this was. Some already trying to steal your login in credentials and personal info.

This is what we're seeing only 12 days into the domains being available. Only 5 days being publicly available.

What can you do? For now, be very careful where you type in .zip or .mov, watch what website URLs you're on, don't enable automatic downloads, be very careful when visiting any site on these new domains, and do not type in file names without spaces or other interrupters.

I'm seeing security officers for companies talking about wholesale blocking .zip and .mov domains from within the company's internet, and that's probably wise.

Be cautious out there.