Changes

{{Quotation| I also am fascinated by Tumblr culture and how it’s changing fandom and online interactions.  Tumblr has its pros and cons but I love how it allows for rapid creation. For example somebody will make a GIF set and then a bunch of people will write  ficlets and create fanart about it. Or someone will have a meta or a thought, and then a lot of people will respond with images or art or other things. I love this easy multimedia collaboration and the fact that you can end up with all of these different ways to get all of these conversation branches that go interesting places about the same thing. <ref> [[A Birds-Eye View of Fandom -- Destination Toast]] </ref>}}

{{Quotation| I also am fascinated by Tumblr culture and how it’s changing fandom and online interactions.  Tumblr has its pros and cons but I love how it allows for rapid creation. For example somebody will make a GIF set and then a bunch of people will write  ficlets and create fanart about it. Or someone will have a meta or a thought, and then a lot of people will respond with images or art or other things. I love this easy multimedia collaboration and the fact that you can end up with all of these different ways to get all of these conversation branches that go interesting places about the same thing. <ref> [[A Birds-Eye View of Fandom -- Destination Toast]] </ref>}}

{{Quotation2|“In Tumblr, you follow people, not conversations. If I’m following A and B, I will never know that person E has shown up unless A and B find it worthy of a reblog. Neither will C or D. If F replies to A or B, E will never know about it, because the chain of replies has branched, and E isn’t on the same branch as F. C and D are still out in the cold.

{{Quotation2|Here is a thing that you could do in zines, and mailing lists, and Usenet, and bulletin boards, and Livejournal, and Dreamwidth. I'm talking 50 years of fandom there.

It is hypothetically possible that A and B are reblogging all replies, but it isn’t likely. I want to be able to have a conversation in which new people can participate, and in which people hanging on the pool can see the whole thing. I don’t want a conversation whose continuation is entirely up to the choices of the person who started it.  

Person A and Person B are talking about a topic in the fandom.

Person C and Person D are listening but not saying anything.

Person E adds to the conversation.

Persons A, B, C, and D all see person E's addition. Any or all of them can reply to what E said, and so can Person F, who just showed up.

You may say “Well, use another platform”, but the point is that the new platform where many fandoms have moved lacks, by design, a feature provided by all fandom platforms before it provided. Each of the previous platforms valued extended, branching conversations. Tumblr prevents them. I used to make new friends by entering into existing conversations. I can’t do that now, unless the initiators of the conversation follow me back. I can’t easily tell one of my friends “Look, there’s an interesting conversation about X going on”, because following just one conversation between two or three people isn’t practical given Tumblr’s insistence that I individually follow each person, and its inability to say “I want to see what Jane and Joan say about X” instead of “I want to see everything Jane and Joan posted during the period they were also talking about X”.  <ref> {{source| url = http://mresundance.tumblr.com/post/136055016412/why-im-still-posting-to-livejournal-and | title =   Why I'm Still Posting to Livejournal and Dreamwidth | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/6e7AiaJnO | archivedate = 2015-12-28 }}, December 27, 2015 </ref>}}

 

 

You may say "Well, use another platform", but the point is that the new platform where many fandoms have moved lacks, by design, a feature provided by all fandom platforms before it provided. Each of the previous platforms valued extended, branching conversations. Tumblr prevents them. I used to make new friends by entering into existing conversations. I can't do that now, unless the initiators of the conversation follow me back. I can't easily tell one of my friends "Look, there's an interesting conversation about X going on", because following just one conversation between two or three people isn't practical given Tumblr's insistence that I individually follow each person, and its inability to say "I want to see what Jane and Joan say about X" instead of "I want to see everything Jane and Joan posted during the period they were also talking about X".

 

Somebody in this thread thinks I should just go play bridge like the olds (WTF? My parents are in their 80s, and even they haven't played bridge since the 1960s. My dad's a poker shark, thanks.) but I think I have, with luck, another 20-30 years of fandom, and I'd like to be able to continue to make new friends and to be educated and delighted by other people's conversations.  <ref> anonymous comment at {{source| url = http://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/174341.html?thread=946477573#cmt946477573 | title = fail_fandomanon | FFA DW Post # 344 - Zero Hour |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/6e7B9g4Jy |archivedate= 2015-12-28 }}, December 26, 2015 </ref>  

{{Quotation| This has a lot of great points! And it’s a lot of the frustration I have felt on Tumblr. There aren’t conversations in reblogs, for instance, not really. Depending on the fandom, certain power users dictate a lot of the content – what is relevant, important, interesting, funny – simply by virtue of following certain people and reblogging certain posts. There’s no malicious intent behind it, of course, but the cliqueish nature of Tumblr closes conversations many times, and creates a sense of power imbalance between power users/”Big Name Fans”. I think this imbalance is possibly much greater than on other sites I’ve used, to be honest.  

{{Quotation| This has a lot of great points! And it’s a lot of the frustration I have felt on Tumblr. There aren’t conversations in reblogs, for instance, not really. Depending on the fandom, certain power users dictate a lot of the content – what is relevant, important, interesting, funny – simply by virtue of following certain people and reblogging certain posts. There’s no malicious intent behind it, of course, but the cliqueish nature of Tumblr closes conversations many times, and creates a sense of power imbalance between power users/”Big Name Fans”. I think this imbalance is possibly much greater than on other sites I’ve used, to be honest.  

Another thing about Tumblr: visuals are always privileged over text. You could write a beautiful fic or meta and post it, but it will never ever get the same amount of reblogs as a picture or .gif set. Never. Even if you put in the same amount of work – sometimes more – as someone who has posted a gif set. The only way text posts usually get many reblogs is if they are sort. A whole paragraph is often too long.  

Another thing about Tumblr: visuals are always privileged over text. You could write a beautiful fic or meta and post it, but it will never ever get the same amount of reblogs as a picture or .gif set. Never. Even if you put in the same amount of work – sometimes more – as someone who has posted a gif set. The only way text posts usually get many reblogs is if they are sort. A whole paragraph is often too long.  

Tumblr is a micro-blogging service, which means it was never meant for sustained anything. Ideally a post should be short, simple, and to the point. Hence another reason text posts and conversations wouldn’t take off here, but pictures and visuals thrive. But it also further subordinates the value of text, and the value of conversation via text.

Tumblr is a micro-blogging service, which means it was never meant for sustained anything. Ideally a post should be short, simple, and to the point. Hence another reason text posts and conversations wouldn’t take off here, but pictures and visuals thrive. But it also further subordinates the value of text, and the value of conversation via text.

On the other hand, you have to work harder to form actual relationships with other users. I think this is a good thing. In order to learn about people and have more substantive conversations, you have to move beyond placidly reblogging and following whoever is popular, and into writing asks, sending messages, exchanging emails and what-have-you. When you have to proactive I find that kind of relationship more valuable simply because 95 % of the people who follow you and vice versa won’t be interacting on that level.  <ref> {{source| url = http://mresundance.tumblr.com/post/136055016412/why-im-still-posting-to-livejournal-and | title =  Why I'm Still Posting to Livejournal and Dreamwidth | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/6e7AiaJnO | archivedate = 2015-12-28 }}, December 27, 2015 </ref>}}

On the other hand, you have to work harder to form actual relationships with other users. I think this is a good thing. In order to learn about people and have more substantive conversations, you have to move beyond placidly reblogging and following whoever is popular, and into writing asks, sending messages, exchanging emails and what-have-you. When you have to proactive I find that kind of relationship more valuable simply because 95 % of the people who follow you and vice versa won’t be interacting on that level.  <ref> reply by [[mresundance]] to the fail_fandomanon comment: {{source| url = http://mresundance.tumblr.com/post/136055016412/why-im-still-posting-to-livejournal-and | title =  Why I'm Still Posting to Livejournal and Dreamwidth | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/6e7AiaJnO | archivedate = 2015-12-28 }}, December 27, 2015 </ref>}}}}

==Common Tumblr Terms==

==Common Tumblr Terms==