Emily Webber

tumblr is apparently rolling out a beta for a new post editor that essentially makes it so there are no longer post “types” (text post, audio post, photo post, etc.), and instead all types of content are better integrated into a single post. pretty neat, right?

…until you read the fine print.

The maximum number of total content blocks allowed in a single post is 250.

i emailed support and asked whether each paragraph counts as a content block. i received this reply:

SO. each paragraph counts as a content block, and i’m only allowed 250 content blocks in one post. the solution provided was to reformat my fics by using shift+enter after every paragraph instead of simply enter. which is already unnecessarily annoying in of itself, but then you come to the second hurdle: 

The maximum character length of a single text block is 4096 characters.

so–what?? besides spending my time writing thousands upon thousands of words, i’m expected to copy-paste it and then reformat everything, counting every single one of those words to make sure they fit within the restrictions? or i’m supposed to chop my fics up into multiple parts, even when i don’t want to? how exactly are writers supposed to write on this platform?? as you all know, my style tends to run pretty dialogue-heavy, so i start new paragraphs (and, thus, content blocks!!!) pretty damn often. i did a quick check, and let it snow, at almost 19k, is 550 paragraphs. with this new system, i would be forced to upload it in three (3!!!!!) posts! even my shortest chapter of ego, at 8.8k, is 350 paragraphs, and i’d have to split it in two.

this is honestly a formatting nightmare as a writer, and this is a decision that is liable to drive content creators away from the site and change fandom culture as a whole. 

If you click on the question mark besides the [BETA] and the “Let us know” it’ll take you straight to the feedback form.

It’s really easy!

XKit is amazing and is an absolute godsend, but not everyone uses it. People are going to be limited by the new updates regardless of whatever fix XKit can provide and this hurts the creators on the platform.

The staff won’t know that it’s a problem if we only complain about it on our blogs. But maybe, just maybe, they’ll realize that it’s a problem if a ton of people give them feedback using the official form saying that it’s not working for them.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the small chance over a 0 chance.

I’ve reported a couple things I didn’t like about the Beta and I did get some sort of personalized-ish response from the staff.

I don’t know if they’re listening, but it’s a lot harder to ignore people screaming in your ear compared to people complaining about it under their breaths.

If any part of this beta upsets you, don’t get complacent.

I don’t have the Beta options but I am signal boosting this like heck.

⠀  ⠀  ⤷ ♔ ;⠀❛ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗚𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗦​, ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀  𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗥𝗢𝗣 𝗜𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗥​. ❜

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