![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I have a lot of conflicting emotions about Tumblr. I've had an account there for roughly two years--though I've only been an active user for one year--and though I enjoy a lot of things about it, it can also be incredibly frustrating. I know I'm not the only person who feels like this; I've seen plenty of posts by others detailing their complaints about the site. At first, I wasn't even sure if I should write a WAAAAAAAHHHHH TUMBLR post; what could I add that hasn't already been said?
And then I decided I DON'T CARE I'LL DO IT ANYWAY.
I'm not going to spend too much time on what Tumblr is good at and what it's not; most people are familiar with its pros and cons. (In short: Tumblr's pretty good for microblogging, not so good at sustained or insightful discussion.) Instead, I'm going to complain about a few unique-to-Tumblr annoyances that really kill my enjoyment of the site. I'm sure others have brought up these issues before, but um...I'll repeat them anyway because why not.
Shared tags makes tracking tags a hellish experience.
I once tried to track tags for fandoms I liked. Let me tell you, internets, that was a terrible mistake. The shared nature of tags on tumblr means that tracking a tag exposes you to every single post with that tag, and the sheer amount of downright terrible posts is unbearable. For every unique gifset or fanart or interesting opinion, there's like, twenty posts with uncut spoilers, 'reaction' posts that consist of nothing more than keyboard smashing and lots of overused, unrelated gifs, unsourced and uncut NSFW art, and the same five or so images from official sources being reposted over and over again. Unless the tag you're tracking doesn't see a lot of use, crappy posts are basically impossible to avoid--and good fucking luck if someone decides to troll a tag with, IDK, tons of bestiality pics or something equally hideous. The only answer is to not track tags in the first place.
There's also the option of Tumblr Savior, but that's not a perfect solution. Which brings me to my next complaint:
Tumblr Savior only works when people tag consistently...
...and nobody does. I mean, I'm absolutely awful at it, and I complain about inconsistent tagging all the time. I have a hard time keeping track of which tag variants I've decided to use, (I have a 'fanart' tag and a 'fan art' one, and I can never remember which version I used last) and when it comes to reblogging I often forget to tag altogether. Every blog I follow has similar issues. The common refrain to complaints about seeing unwanted posts on your dash is "Use Tumblr Savior!" but since it relies exclusively on the tag system to filter posts it can only do so much.
And really, the above issues just highlight a deeper problem with the way Tumblr operates.
The dependency on tagging makes filtering unnecessarily difficult
Ultimately, tagging is the be-all and end-all of Tumblr. It's the primary way to discover new people and interesting posts, and the main way to interact. The problem is the lack of tools available to filter the massive amount of content. To my knowledge, there are only a few ways to avoid posts: blocking a user, adding tags to Tumblr Savior, and Missing E's 'Safe Dash' option--which doesn't filter posts, exactly, but does hide all images until you mouse over them, which is a clumsy but useful workaround. Two of those options require installation of third-party apps, so the only option Tumblr itself offers users is the block feature. If you want to browse tags to find new stuff, you have to hope Tumblr Savior and blocking catch most of the stuff of what you don't want to see, and/or accept that you're likely to come across something...unpleasant.
On a semi-related note, I really hate that there's no way to sort 'liked' posts. I've been pretty selective about the posts I like in the hopes of keeping it browse-able but even so it's well over a thousand posts deep. And that's tiny compared to the numbers most users have. (10,000+ is the norm, from what I understand.) It's almost impossible to like a post and be able to find it after a few days.
My last complaint has nothing to do with tagging, but it's one of the biggest problems I have with Tumblr.
The site documentation is terrible.
Tumblr's user friendliness is almost non-existent. The tumblr FAQ/help area is badly organized, and honestly I have no idea where new features and changes are announced before they're rolled out. Every single dashboard update has come as a total surprise to me, and I swear promoted posts were just like, a thing that happened one day. A major, paid feature just...appeared on my dash with no explanation. I *still* don't know exactly how promoted posts work. Even basic information, like how to keep long text posts from being cut short and reading through a post's tags if they're too long for one line are not things that are universally known, or easily discovered. That tumblr's become so popular despite being so opaque is...well, I dunno. I find it a little uncomfortable.
The strangest thing about Tumblr is that the more I use it--the more blogs I follow, the more tags I browse--the less enjoyable my experience is. When I first started using Tumblr, I loved everything--OMG look at all these cute pictures! Look at all these fantastic gifs! dfjadsklfjdskjl SOMEBODY ELSE HAS PLAYED THIS OBSCURE GAME I LOVE! But as I became more involved, I exposed myself to more and more stupid stuff, and it has become progressively harder to filter out the boring and crappy stuff to get to things I like.
I feel kind of bad for all the complaining; I've met some wonderful people through Tumblr that I wouldn't have found elsewhere, it's kept me in touch with people who abandoned LJ but didn't move to DW, and for the really small and obscure fandoms it's a godsend. But in the last two months I've been way more annoyed than not...and since everything is public and rebloggable on Tumblr I didn't want to post anything there.this is me being passive aggressive, oh no
And then I decided I DON'T CARE I'LL DO IT ANYWAY.
I'm not going to spend too much time on what Tumblr is good at and what it's not; most people are familiar with its pros and cons. (In short: Tumblr's pretty good for microblogging, not so good at sustained or insightful discussion.) Instead, I'm going to complain about a few unique-to-Tumblr annoyances that really kill my enjoyment of the site. I'm sure others have brought up these issues before, but um...I'll repeat them anyway because why not.
Shared tags makes tracking tags a hellish experience.
I once tried to track tags for fandoms I liked. Let me tell you, internets, that was a terrible mistake. The shared nature of tags on tumblr means that tracking a tag exposes you to every single post with that tag, and the sheer amount of downright terrible posts is unbearable. For every unique gifset or fanart or interesting opinion, there's like, twenty posts with uncut spoilers, 'reaction' posts that consist of nothing more than keyboard smashing and lots of overused, unrelated gifs, unsourced and uncut NSFW art, and the same five or so images from official sources being reposted over and over again. Unless the tag you're tracking doesn't see a lot of use, crappy posts are basically impossible to avoid--and good fucking luck if someone decides to troll a tag with, IDK, tons of bestiality pics or something equally hideous. The only answer is to not track tags in the first place.
There's also the option of Tumblr Savior, but that's not a perfect solution. Which brings me to my next complaint:
Tumblr Savior only works when people tag consistently...
...and nobody does. I mean, I'm absolutely awful at it, and I complain about inconsistent tagging all the time. I have a hard time keeping track of which tag variants I've decided to use, (I have a 'fanart' tag and a 'fan art' one, and I can never remember which version I used last) and when it comes to reblogging I often forget to tag altogether. Every blog I follow has similar issues. The common refrain to complaints about seeing unwanted posts on your dash is "Use Tumblr Savior!" but since it relies exclusively on the tag system to filter posts it can only do so much.
And really, the above issues just highlight a deeper problem with the way Tumblr operates.
The dependency on tagging makes filtering unnecessarily difficult
Ultimately, tagging is the be-all and end-all of Tumblr. It's the primary way to discover new people and interesting posts, and the main way to interact. The problem is the lack of tools available to filter the massive amount of content. To my knowledge, there are only a few ways to avoid posts: blocking a user, adding tags to Tumblr Savior, and Missing E's 'Safe Dash' option--which doesn't filter posts, exactly, but does hide all images until you mouse over them, which is a clumsy but useful workaround. Two of those options require installation of third-party apps, so the only option Tumblr itself offers users is the block feature. If you want to browse tags to find new stuff, you have to hope Tumblr Savior and blocking catch most of the stuff of what you don't want to see, and/or accept that you're likely to come across something...unpleasant.
On a semi-related note, I really hate that there's no way to sort 'liked' posts. I've been pretty selective about the posts I like in the hopes of keeping it browse-able but even so it's well over a thousand posts deep. And that's tiny compared to the numbers most users have. (10,000+ is the norm, from what I understand.) It's almost impossible to like a post and be able to find it after a few days.
My last complaint has nothing to do with tagging, but it's one of the biggest problems I have with Tumblr.
The site documentation is terrible.
Tumblr's user friendliness is almost non-existent. The tumblr FAQ/help area is badly organized, and honestly I have no idea where new features and changes are announced before they're rolled out. Every single dashboard update has come as a total surprise to me, and I swear promoted posts were just like, a thing that happened one day. A major, paid feature just...appeared on my dash with no explanation. I *still* don't know exactly how promoted posts work. Even basic information, like how to keep long text posts from being cut short and reading through a post's tags if they're too long for one line are not things that are universally known, or easily discovered. That tumblr's become so popular despite being so opaque is...well, I dunno. I find it a little uncomfortable.
The strangest thing about Tumblr is that the more I use it--the more blogs I follow, the more tags I browse--the less enjoyable my experience is. When I first started using Tumblr, I loved everything--OMG look at all these cute pictures! Look at all these fantastic gifs! dfjadsklfjdskjl SOMEBODY ELSE HAS PLAYED THIS OBSCURE GAME I LOVE! But as I became more involved, I exposed myself to more and more stupid stuff, and it has become progressively harder to filter out the boring and crappy stuff to get to things I like.
I feel kind of bad for all the complaining; I've met some wonderful people through Tumblr that I wouldn't have found elsewhere, it's kept me in touch with people who abandoned LJ but didn't move to DW, and for the really small and obscure fandoms it's a godsend. But in the last two months I've been way more annoyed than not...and since everything is public and rebloggable on Tumblr I didn't want to post anything there.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-20 05:16 am (UTC)From:It does make finding awesome fanart really easy, though. I love that part of it!
no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 07:47 am (UTC)From:The communication part of Tumblr gets pretty stressful sometimes! On DW, it's not uncommon to comment on old entries, and people have the option to spend a lot of time thinking about and composing their responses. On Tumblr there's a lot more pressure to respond to things quickly, and it can be hard to stay on top of everything. :c
no subject
Date: 2012-11-21 07:52 pm (UTC)From:And the "Reaction" and "ZOMG! PRECIOUS BABIES" posts; I could swear down all of Texas and Utah because of those posts and primarily because the superiority complex within me would be reinforced tenfold and I would fall back on school rhetoric ("don't babble, use your indoor voice, use your brain, write a thesis, tell us what you thought in a clear and concise manner.") The headaches from the slow loading times from all the .GIFS are immeasurable.
Fandom behavior in general is worse than it is here @Dreamwidth or LiveJournal; here it's a little more controlled because there's a system of rules in which you have to follow in you're a community. @Tumblr most people who are blinded with "greatest fandom here" are often inconsiderate of other opinions and viewpoints that are backed up by concrete arguments or grievances. It's "Us or Them" mentality that drove me away from being an active participant in anything fandom related on the internet as much. It's the ONTD mentality which is largely ignored, even by the people who are on the receiving end of that nastiness (the ones who don't decide they've had enough and disappear).
The primary problem with Tumblr is that whoever is running the site doesn't know how to do it properly. You follow a tag about the tumblr staff, people are reported being hacked in alarming frequency, tumblr deletes blogs without warning, they don't help those who are being harassed by others, they crash frequently and on a general basis, most of the people on that site you aren't friendly with are absolutely rotten to the core. There's just poor management all around, sort of like FF.Net and LiveJournal have devolved into (albeit in a stable pattern).
the more blogs I follow, the more tags I browse--the less enjoyable my experience is
This my experience the first time I joined; I stayed within my preferred circle, but as time went on I visited less and less because I didn't want to put up with the headaches I got from searching the site or coming across something in a blog I'm following that I didn't agree with. I was avoiding more problems than I was enjoying the experience of communicating with people who knew about the obscure stuff I still happen to like.