what exactly does it do and how does it affect the culture of tumblr
Blocking on tumblr -
- Thread starter autisticdragonkin
- Start date
Blocking is an end all. If they get pissed for misgendering, being cis or anything troll-like, you get blocked.
Until recently, blocking a user just removed your ability to see what they did, meaning they could reply to and like your posts and you'd just never get notified. Recently tumblr changed it so blocking makes it so a given user can't see what you have posted or liked, meaning on mass a fandom/group could blacklist users from said group or fandom if they had enough individuals putting that person on ignore.
And knowing Tumblr's mob mentality, that would surely work, just make call-out/witchunt post with someone's username because he/she/xir did something problematic and there you have it.
It's just that mega block of this proportion has yet to happen.
Shh, don't give them ideas.
You now cannot reblog a post if the OP has blocked you. You'll get a pop-up saying "this message cannot be reblogged". It's kind of frustrating because you don't get to yell at people who are wrong, but at the same time anybody who has the block-on-sight mentality is not worth arguing with.
The problem with the new blocking system by the way is this.
Say you see something hilariously dumb, such as someone claiming that they're transdiabetic and you have to use diaer pronouns or else you're just cisableist scum. You reblog this while adding a witty caption, and then OP gets extremely butthurt. While furiously injecting their grandmother's insulin into their arm, they rage in the lulziest, unintentionally bigoted way and then they slam the block button down.
What does this mean?
Well, you can't show off the second response to your followers to show how stupid they are. It also cuts off meaningful discussion. This kid clearly has no interest other than to get attention and when that attention is negative they don't want to accept it so they flee backwards. On a forum such as this you really can't do this without leaving the forum all together.
I honestly think it's bad side is exaggerated, I don't think it's the end of the world, but I do think it's very flawed.
Tumblr in of itself is a terrible social justice blogging platform because any meaningful debate can be hidden from your followers by simply not reblogging the opponent's response (and if you're popular, the flood of notes will bury that response very quickly). But this is really just the icing on the cake. Honestly, I'm not sure what the best solution here. If you have the old ignore feature, you would not be able to receive any notes or messages about their activity, but they could still encourage others to harass you if they posted behind your back (quite a few lolcows on Tumblr have done this to me). The block feature on the other hand obscures meaningful discussion because any wannabe oppressed person can just hit the block key and continue living in their special snowflake echo chamber. Either way you're encouraging seriously bad practice. I think this may be a fundamental flaw in Tumblr's core design. The reblogging thing works really well for photos or fandoms or shitposts but ultimately forces a one sided narrative in social justice or political discussions.
Say you see something hilariously dumb, such as someone claiming that they're transdiabetic and you have to use diaer pronouns or else you're just cisableist scum. You reblog this while adding a witty caption, and then OP gets extremely butthurt. While furiously injecting their grandmother's insulin into their arm, they rage in the lulziest, unintentionally bigoted way and then they slam the block button down.
What does this mean?
Well, you can't show off the second response to your followers to show how stupid they are. It also cuts off meaningful discussion. This kid clearly has no interest other than to get attention and when that attention is negative they don't want to accept it so they flee backwards. On a forum such as this you really can't do this without leaving the forum all together.
I honestly think it's bad side is exaggerated, I don't think it's the end of the world, but I do think it's very flawed.
Tumblr in of itself is a terrible social justice blogging platform because any meaningful debate can be hidden from your followers by simply not reblogging the opponent's response (and if you're popular, the flood of notes will bury that response very quickly). But this is really just the icing on the cake. Honestly, I'm not sure what the best solution here. If you have the old ignore feature, you would not be able to receive any notes or messages about their activity, but they could still encourage others to harass you if they posted behind your back (quite a few lolcows on Tumblr have done this to me). The block feature on the other hand obscures meaningful discussion because any wannabe oppressed person can just hit the block key and continue living in their special snowflake echo chamber. Either way you're encouraging seriously bad practice. I think this may be a fundamental flaw in Tumblr's core design. The reblogging thing works really well for photos or fandoms or shitposts but ultimately forces a one sided narrative in social justice or political discussions.
Honestly, I wish this wasn't true. Like it could be good if it was just used for sharing pictures and cute videos. I stopped following a lot of the blogs that were posting that garbage, the problem is that you never know when you're going to get one of THOSE blogs. A lot of fandoms are unsuspectingly super SJW so it just leaks into everything. What does a blog about birds or pokemon or homestuck or steven universe have anything meaningful to say about fucking anything other than their respective fandom? Yeah, I'm just gonna look at bpd-gem to get peer reviewed studies on the subject of self diagnosing...
There's no point to it and it's pushing users away from the site. There are some cool blogs that actually don't shove that crap in and that's what keeps me sticking around, but honestly I'm just blessed that I'm into some relatively small fandoms that thankfully have a few non-political members.
Whatisevenhappening
kiwifarms.net
I have to agree with a lot of people here about Tumblr.
Although I don't hate tumblr, because it has taught me a few things here and there, I don't completely love it either.
There's just a variety of people there, and it kind of reflects how (extreme?) some people can be in their veiws in real life.
Some bloggers are pretty good, posting some sj things, here and there just for you to glance at or maybe think about, but never completely in you face how other bloggers can be.
Especially the super "sjw" blogs that basically convey almost all their opinions in a belligerent and rude way, like they just want to start something , almost like they like arguing with people. (which they probably do.)
And then when someone actually brings up a good point or brings their own opinion for speculation, they either; A) lash out completely at them or B) get butt hurt and block them
Or a combination of the two
Sorry for the long post , just my experience.
Although I don't hate tumblr, because it has taught me a few things here and there, I don't completely love it either.
There's just a variety of people there, and it kind of reflects how (extreme?) some people can be in their veiws in real life.
Some bloggers are pretty good, posting some sj things, here and there just for you to glance at or maybe think about, but never completely in you face how other bloggers can be.
Especially the super "sjw" blogs that basically convey almost all their opinions in a belligerent and rude way, like they just want to start something , almost like they like arguing with people. (which they probably do.)
And then when someone actually brings up a good point or brings their own opinion for speculation, they either; A) lash out completely at them or B) get butt hurt and block them
Or a combination of the two
Sorry for the long post , just my experience.
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