so i have a mildly popular “reblog and put in in the tags” post going around and its. very clear how many people don’t know how to interact with a tumblr post

so, first of all, tumblr’s culture has changed a lot in the past couple years. there’s a genuine community effort to not start any drama, and ironically a lot of the current hostility is an effort to keep things calm. there’s also a change in how people interact with posts, so if you haven’t been here in a while please skip down to the tags/replies/reblog with text section.

for newcomers: you should be reblogging posts about as liberally as you would like something on twitter. if you only like stuff, people will think you are rude/a bot. you’ve probably heard people talk about “cultivating your dash,” and thats because this platform is 100% centered around your dashboard. trending matters less, unfollowing and blocking in order to shape your dash into it’s best form is widely accepted, the majority of the content you’ll find and interact with will be because of your dash, and the only way to put things on your dash is to reblog them. tumblr users are deeply distrustful of algorithms and have largely turned off the “see posts your friends have liked” function (i recommend you also turn of the various algorithms in settings → general settings → dashboard preferences).

so, once you’ve reblogged a post, there’s three ways to add content to it. the tags, replies, and reblogging with text. all of them have different connotations

the tags: an inside voice. originally they were meant for organizing your blog (and they’re still used for this), but they’ve also morphed into a way to share thoughts that aren’t funny/insightful enough for non-followers to be interested in. when in doubt, put your comment in the tags

replies: basically talking to your friends in class. your followers have no way of finding your replies (they don’t pop up on the dash, nobody gets notified except for the original poster) so chances are, only the person who made the post is gonna see your comment. it’s for quick one-offs that you’re okay with other people overhearing, but really is only made for one person. they’re like a public dm

reblog with text: an outside voice. you’re getting up on a stage in town square and entertaining people. make sure it’s funny or insightful— bottom line, add something new to the conversation. you should use this the least

general rules of thumb: 

Finally real advice for new users. This is a solid guide for how to make the transition from Twitter to Tumblr.

In particular, artists need you to reblog. A reblog helps them get seen. A like doesn’t help them at all.

And I would like to add image descriptions and audio/video transcriptions can really help increase reblogs. Please remember to make your posts as accessible as possible.

Since the people most vocal about wanting trans men/mascs to stop using our own language seem to care so much about etymology...

---

"Theyfab" = the pronoun a person uses + a way to refer to them by their birth sex instead of their gender (ie. misgendering under most circumstances)

"Shemale" = the pronoun a person uses + a way to refer to her by her birth sex instead of her gender (ie. misgendering under most circumstances)

---

"Cuntboy" = the perceived genitalia of a trans man/masc based on his birth sex + a diminutive of his gender

"Dickgirl" = the perceived genitalia of a trans woman/fem based on her birth sex + a diminutive of her gender

---

If you're cool using one of these to derrogatively refer to trans men/mascs, but think the ones referring to trans women/fems are off limits unless being reclaimed... Why is that exactly? Or does etymology only matter to you when you can dismiss what trans men/mascs have to say, and not when you’re slurring us?

this post will blow up

how do I know? I’ve rigged it with high explosives. You have 25 minutes. Good luck.

You’re not a real gamer unless you’ve wasted countless hours of your life purposefully walking in the wrong direction to make sure you’re not missing any content

I’ll stop doing when they stop putting chests full of mid-tier armor in the opposite direction of the clearly marked endgoal

That feeling of “oh crap I triggered the plot I wasn’t done fucking around yet”

“Dammit, I thought this was the wrong way and now the plot’s progressing.”

Alright, I need to have a chat with the teenagers that follow me, specifically regarding lying about your age and nsfw content. This isn’t directed at anyone, but I think it’s a convo that needs to be had in general.

I was a teenager once. I get it. Everyone lies about their age online. Maybe not to other people, but I’m sure every minor has clicked a ‘yeah, sure, I’m 18+” button at some point in their lives. I’m not here to shame you for that.

What I am here to say is it is vital that teenagers understand the difference between engaging in sexual content independently (ie, entering a fake birthday to access 18+ content), and lying about your age to engage in sexual activities with others online (joining discord servers/using nsfw channels intended for adults only/lying about your age to talk to nsfw content creators/commissioning nsfw art/etc).

Lying about your age to a website so you can look at porn is one thing. It’s an entirely independent experience, where the only consent that really matters is yours. Nobody has any power over you in this situation, and there’s about no chance of legal consequences.

However, lying about your age to other human beings is extremely different. If you’re engaging in nsfw roleplay with a friend about the same age as you, talking about sex with other teenagers, sharing nsfw fics among friends, that’s one thing. But do not lie about your age to engage in sexual activities/discussions. Not only is something that could have actual legal ramifications, and very serious ones depending on what’ going on, but it’s a violation of the other people’s consent. The moment other real people are involved, you need to be respectful of their boundaries & what is and isn’t appropriate for you to be engaging with. If they say no minors, I don’t care if you’re 17.5, you stay out until you are 18 years old.

Examples of situations where it is never okay to lie or mislead anyone about your age online include:

I know that adult websites have basically trained teenagers to just say they’re 18 and move on, but it is vital that teenagers understand that it is never okay to lie about your age when directly engaging in any kind of sexual activity. Knowing people’s age is a vital part of consent, and if an adult is found to have been engaging in sexual activity with a minor, they could face life long legal consequences. Not only that, but a basic facet of consent is clear, honest communication. If you are lying to a partner, then you do not have consent. Lying about your age is a huge violation of consent.

That’s not to say you can never mention sex around adults online. There are times and places where you may be asking for advice, or even just making jokes about sex or whatever. That’s all well and good, so long as everyone is on the same page. It’s on adults to make sure that we are behaving appropriately around minors online, and make sure that we’re setting boundaries in those relationships. But it’s on minors to communicate that they are minors, and respect those boundaries that are set.

So, tl;dr,

Lying about your age to access a porn site is fine. Lying about your age to engage in sexual situations/adult-only spaces where other real human beings are involved is not.

I know a lot of people don’t like the show because the premise makes them uncomfortable and that’s fine but since teachers in Florida are being interrogated by the police for giving students mainstream YA novels that are now considered child pornography I need to say.

Big Mouth does not normalize pedophilia but does normalize being gay and trans (literally the best trans rep I’ve ever seen in a cartoon) so please be suspicious of anyone calling it “child pornography”.

It also normalizes feminism, sex education, abortion, mental health, and stabbing rapists and child molesters in the dick. So if you like Adult Cartoons but wish their politics weren’t so reactionary then maybe check it out? But if a shock comedy about going through puberty isn’t your thing then that’s fine too.

i get the point of the polls informally showing that the vast majority of tumblr users have been here for years and barely anyone is new. the problem is that the suits don't look at that kind of data and go "ah, we understand. the majority of our users are oldheads who want things to stay the same. we misunderstood our audience." they absolutely have hard numbers on these things. they surely know most active users have been here forever. but they look at these stats and go "wow, our growth rate really IS shit. we're still relying on an ever-dwindling pool of users who have been here since they were teenagers in the early 2010s. we need to be working even harder to make this place appeal to new users"

the higher ups and investors on sites like this want infinite growth forever. this is why they keep changing the layout to make it look like other, more popular sites, even though we hate it. this is why they try out shit like tumblr live that doesn't appeal to the established core userbase in the slightest. it's not for us. it's also not for the ~5% of active users (if the poll going around is to be believed) who signed up within the last year. no, they're chasing after the hundreds of millions of people who use twitter and the BILLIONS of people who use tiktok, hoping to appeal to them and make tumblr more popular again

this is, of course, deeply stupid. nobody is leaving tiktok to hop on tumblr live. they already have tiktok. and we're on tumblr because we like tumblr, not because we want it to morph into something else. but i'm sure automattic's got venture capital investors breathing down their necks going "why isn't tumblr more like twitter or tiktok or facebook or instagram or" etc. etc., and so here we are

I genuinely think this is the best anyone has summed this up- Staff ain’t doing any of this out of ignorance, they know exactly what they’re doing.

Doesn’t make it less stupid, but they genuinely do not care about what their old userbase who earn them a grand total of “negative income” want. It’s just the culture of this silicon valley nonsense to play follow-the-leader until you either succeed or burn, because Line Must Always Go Up, no matter how unfeasible that is.

The witch begs your forgiveness for cursing you as a baby; she was young and hot-headed, and would you like her to undo the curse? You aren’t sure what to say as this is the first you’ve heard about any of this.

You stare at the witch. “I wasn’t aware that such a thing happened.”

“Oh, your parents must have never said a word then. I’m not surprised; it was quite an awful curse.”

“Did they do something?” you ask, hesitant.

“A great many things,” the witch sighs, “but those are not your burden to carry.”

“Well, I’ve led a relatively normal life. What even did you curse me with?”

She gives you a remorseful look. “I cursed you so that you may never find a true love.”

You glance at the two flags hanging on your wall. One, black and white and gray and green, the other, black and white and gray and purple.

You smile at the witch. “You may see it as a curse, but it has become a part of who I am, albeit it unknowingly.”

“You don’t see it as a curse?” The witch furrows her brows in confusion.

You continue. “It may seem a curse to you, but it is not to me. It is my identity, and I wouldn’t give the world to change myself.”

it's never too late to start brushing your teeth again. i basically never brushed my teeth for a whole 10 years. a decade. A DECADE. i still struggle to brush my teeth once a week, but it all started with brushing my teeth once every few months. so i mean it when i say brushing your teeth once a week, a month, a year, or even a decade, is better than nothing.

and still, nothing is not shameful. it is not immoral to struggle with self care. and it is also not pointless to keep trying. anything you can do, even if its wiping plaque off with a towel, is enough. it is good to take care of yourself however you can, even if it's just trying to muster the will to. reading this post is good, too.

i believe in you and i am proud of you, even in the smallest of steps. it's okay. you can give yourself grace.

plagiarized your carbonara call that a copypasta

this being in my top posts is crazy

Not to be controversial B U T. I think 3rd/2nd shift public buses should be a thing. If you work the graveyard or a 2nd shift with weird hours you deserve to be able to get home regardless if you have a car or not.

I also think that there needs to be (a) bus line(s) to and from the cities to the rural areas. Yes this also means “rural” as in those ‘southern gothic aesthetic’ rural areas.

People should not have to be locked in the cities or in rural areas, they should have the freedom to be able to move around. If you’re low income, older, disabled, or can’t afford a car (bc it’s car + insurance + gas $$) then you’re kind of stuck where you’re at and this is coming from real life experience.

I know mail carriers are infamous for delivering mail through even the 'toughest weather' but maybe they should not do that. IDC if I have to wait an extra week for my package. 116°/ 46°C real feel outside should not be considered 'non-dangerous weather' it does not matter if they have AC in their car, they shouldn't be forced to deliver non-essential packages at all. "but what about medical equipment/medicine" deliver it early in the morning at in the evening after the sun has set. They should get paid for these days too. I am so tired of seeing videos of mail deliveries collapsing on someone's ring door camera.

Same for construction workers, roof workers, window cleaners, road workers, tree cutters and any other job that puts you outside for a long period of time. It is TOO HOT for people's safe health and if that pushes back a project or delays it then so be it, if it's a job that can be delayed then fucking delay it until it's safe outside.

And if it's a job that can't be delayed like utilities and transportation ect ect then I hope they get paid $100000% more and has all the AC and cold drinks and popcicles.

Good morning Mr. Jigsaw I noticed that this trap has a time limit of 60 minutes but as per my accommodations through the school Center of Disability Resources I get time and a half on exams and quizzes is that still something I can apply to this game right now? Thank you for understanding have a nice day

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

26/26

Image ID:

A tweet with a photo of a feminine mannequin with a tiny shark head instead of a normal head. It's captioned "yet another unrealistic body standart for women"

End ID

you're making me so sad

One fallacy, I think, of anti piracy arguments is that a lot of them seem to assume that if I'm unable to pirate something I'm going to pay for it instead rather than going "oh! that's a terrible shame" and then quickly forgetting about it

"If you were not pirating [media] you'd be paying for it and therefore piracy is evil 😡" actually if I were not pirating that media I would be thinking about something else. I have made the decision to not spend any money on this and even god himself could not shake it

the research on this was already done decades ago and then quickly squashed because the record labels did not like the finding that people who pirated music were spending way more money on actually buying music legally than people who did not pirate music. it turns out people who care enough to pirate media are generally big fans of that media and willing to spend money on it if they have the money to spend

article is from 2009 so we have known this for a LONG time.