Sheepy Following.

Deal with it! ♥

like, i used to have an art blog with 340 followers. not a ton but not a small amount either given how this website works with creators. and in my experience back then even the ones who only left likes still reblogged other things or at least posted their own stuff. literally the only empty blogs were clearly bots.

but on this New art blog, i've had so many people with fandom-specific headers and icons with actual usernames as urls and some kind of title or description, but have. Nothing. no posts. all they do is like things. and it's always public, too. their following list and their likes list.

and honestly all it makes me think is that these people are New and also don't know how tumblr works. how likes don't give exposure. not even in a "oh, i know it doesn't give exposure, but i'm still going to reblog anyways" way, but in a genuine honest to god straight up doesn't realize tumblr likes don't work like twitter's.

PLEASE please if you're from tiktok or twitter or whatever please reblog people's art both fandom and original if you like it!! and maybe actually pad out your blog's content in some way so people won't potentially see you as a bot and block you.

Likes do not show up on people’s feeds. There’s no notification to your followers that you liked something. Likes are a bookmark for yourself. They show you if you’ve liked a version of the post before when it shows up on your dash again.

The only people who get a notification are OP and the person who’s reblog you liked it on.

If there was a funny reblog chain where people had added to the post, none of those people even know you interacted at all.

Not to mention, having your likes visible doesn’t mean anyone else is gonna see them. If you’re not rebloging anything then there isn’t really any reason for people to look at your blog. People won’t know there’s all these posts in your likes. You aren’t even turning up on their dashboards. Unless you’re posting things yourself no one has any reason to look. And even then, people here don’t really go looking at each others’ likes.

Reblog and repost are two totally different things - reblogging is just as described above, a way to share something you enjoyed or had an opinion about. Reposting is copying art or content from some other person and making a new post on your own account that no longer links back to the original creator. It's like stealing credit, don't do it. The reblog function automatically means the original poster is credited! That's why reblogs are good and reposting is bad.

The reason older tumblr users block "empty" blogs is because they are concerned about bot-followers. "Bots" are created AI-blogs that use liking or reblogging from legitimate, "real-person" blogs to boost their visibility and get people to click on their offerings - often p0rn or scams. Bots are also a way to spread viruses - if you don't block them, tumblr counts them as a follower and they can message you, etc. (ask anybody who's been here a little while about the rayban sunglasses sale lol) Clicking links in those messages can get your blog hacked and forced to spam your other followers - nobody on here wants to risk it.

If you're shy or only want to lurk, just put up a header and a unique icon and maybe a blog description like: "I'm an introvert and I like cartoons" or something to show you are a person. You can also pin a post at the top of your blog with things you're interested in, or just reblog a couple of posts so people see *something* when they click on your blog. Then continue on lurking and liking if that's your preference.

There are different kinds of interacting on tumblr now with the new update:

Comments (text, reaction gifs, photos) are what you add to a reblog when you have something to say that you want everyone to see. Anyone reblogging from you will always see your comment or addition as part of the reblog chain and your username will be there so people can always see who made it. It will also show in the notes.

Replies are a newer thing that older tumblr users aren't as used to. You can talk in replies on a post by @-ing other users, but only the OP and those you @ will always see your response in their notifications. The only way to see all replies is to click on the notes of a post and scroll through - and users can choose not to allow any replies on their post. Just FYI you cannot block people from replying (or reblogging) unless you block the user entirely. If you have a user blocked, but it's not your original post, they can reply/comment but you simply won't see those responses anymore.

Tags are a bit unusual since they have two main uses: originally they were for organization and sorting - you can search tumblr tags by interest, you can locate things on your own blog using general or your own unique tags, and they work a lot like your regular hashtags on other social media. Keep in mind that only the first five tags (i think they've updated it to be more, but just to be safe) on a post are searchable. And only an *original* post and tags will show up in a general tumblr tag search, reblogs will not show up. You can still organize or search by any tag to find posts and reblogs on an individual specific blog, though. Also, quite a few tumblr tags are censored and you'll find a LOT of talking about that on here - I literally can't list them out or it's likely no one will see this addition, but a little searching should turn up dozens of posts with specifics if you're curious.

BUT ALSO tags are frequently used here as a kind of sotto voce whispered aside, like talking during a movie or like shouting into the void, soliloquizing to the balcony or just babbling things that aren't meant for the general public only your followers or mutuals. Tags do not get reblogged like comments! Once upon a time the only way to see tags was to be following that blog and see them on the post on your dash - they were ephemeral, a kind of ghost whisper language on the site. Recently, tumblr has made a lot of changes to tag notifications: first, it was only the person you reblogged from who could see your tags in notifications, then they made it so that the OP could see *everyone's* tags in their notifications. Now ALL tags are visible to anyone who checks in the notes, although they are still not rebloggable or searchable for outside systems like google search. THIS IS NEW. The ecosystem of tumblr is still set up for the original way of viewing tags as not for general public consumption: we don't copy tags without making clear they are copied. We also don't use "prev tags" - if you want to share a previous poster's tags (i.e. tumblr "peer review"), the etiquette is to screenshot or copy those tags into a comment, INCLUDING THE @ OF THE ORIGINAL TAG-WRITER, and REBLOG it.

Another tumblr-specific thing: posts with embedded links will often not show up in tag searches, and reblogs with embedded links will not show up in the notes. This is because of bots and p0rn blogs inserting sketchy links in their posts and reblogs!!! One way to get around this for legitimate users is to comment and reblog, then edit your comment to contain the link - only the original content of the reblog will show in the notes, but anyone viewing your post will see the link. You can't put links or photos at all in replies - you can paste plain text links (https://etc etc) but they will not be clickable.

Other ways of interacting on tumblr include asks, which can be turned on and off in your settings. Asks have some odd formatting quirks and a text limit - they also disappear from your ask box once you have responded, leaving no record that they existed except as a blog post on your blog. You can also choose whether to allow anonymous asks or turn that feature off as well. Anyone can send an ask, unless you have blocked them.

Messaging is slightly different - it's more like a text system, you can send pictures and links as well as text, but usually only followers or mutuals can message you - you can control who is allowed to message you in settings as well. You'll actually get a description of how long you've been a follower/following that blog and a dated record of your conversations that you can refer back to later, just like texting someone. Be careful clicking on things in messages from users you don't recognize!!! This is because of the bots and is just good safety procedure for social media in general.

For your Dash, some things to know: almost every algorithmic function tumblr does have can be turned off in your settings! It's worth it to scroll through and decide if you want the "Best Things First" or "Stuff In Your Orbit" toggles on or off. You can choose to follow certain tags and tumblr will insert popular posts from those chosen tags onto your dash for variety, or you also turn that function off.

The buttons at the bottom of posts on your dash currently give you the option of liking, reblogging, sharing, or replying to a post. For those who don't want to tag or comment a lot, holding on the reblog button will give you a fast-reblog menu! Just drag your finger to the icon of the blog you want to reblog to and tumblr will pop up a little green notification that you've successfully reblogged (unless the op has you blocked! then the red/orange notification will pop up some nonsensical message like "oops something went wrong!" because tumblr is efficient like that)

The sharing function, just like on youtube, will give you the permalink to the version of the post you want to share - this can also be found by going to the post on the actual blog and clicking on the menu at top right.

Likes do nothing on tumblr really other than indicate that you have read something - mostly they're used by people as notes to themselves or to mark things things they've already reblogged. You can turn public visibility of your likes off and on in your Pages settings (as well as visibility of who you're following)

Many people do not know you can make Private Posts just for yourself! This function is on the reblog screen - if you tap the reblog button and then look at the screen that comes up, there is a menu at the top right which gives you many option you don't get on other social media!

You can simply reblog of course, but you can also Queue or Schedule posts for the future! You can make a post Privately where only you will ever see it. You can save things to your Drafts - many old-school tumblrs have hundreds of drafts. And you can add a Source for a post - either your own blog, which is helpful for artists or visual content creators, or for an article or video, etc. you're referencing (highly encouraged!) Source links don't show in reblogs unfortunately, so it's still necessary to add credits or linkbacks in the actual post or comment.

If you hold on the "reblog" button itself at the top right of the reblog screen, you will also get a fast-Queue menu that only takes a slight finger-drag (or mouse-drag) to activate for whichever blog you may choose if you have a number of sideblogs.

Mant tumblr newcomers do not know about the joy of Scheduling and Queueing posts - something you often have to use third-party apps for on other social media sites! A tumblr queue automatically makes a pre-determined number of posts at regular intervals throughout a chosen time period - you just choose the number of posts and the time period in settings and then add posts to queue at your leisure. No more worries about spamming your followers dashes, and you can still post normally up to tumblr's daily post limit of 250 posts!

Scheduling posts is another tumblr convenience - many folks manage all of the crazy unique tumblr "holidays" by scheduling posts up to years in advance. Very convenient if you forget birthdays or just want to be sure your "it's October 3rd!" or "Happy Ramadan" or "Out-of-Touch Thursday" post is right on time.

Me:

1. trump being (the former) president sounds and is and was just absolutely ridiculous, but even back then people knew he was a con man with exactly as much unearned and often pretend wealth as it would take to successfully buy the presidency, the conman’s instinct for finding out what people wanna hear and saying it over and over and the ego to be magnetic to those who are, frankly, pathetic. The Simpsons was a show that started out being reviled by a lot of Middle America. The creators were always aware just how backwards America could be, how much conservative backlash we were capable of. And trump banked on that. And he was the kind of guy that the people who were in a position to stop him would dismiss with a, “pfft, he’s a sideshow, he’ll never make it, it’s absurd”. Right up until he’s dismantling democracy from the Oval. The Simpsons was known for imagining ridiculous but not 100% impossible scenarios and just flying with it. They were the walking definition of “your chances of being killed by a cat are extremely, extremely low, but never zero.”. The chances of trump being POTUS were extremely, extremely low but sadly not zero.

2. Any female head-of-state would have to have a certain look, because misogyny. They’d have to ride the line between not too masculine (so no strong blues or reds, no neutrals) and not too feminine (no pink, yellow or pastels), not too adorned and not too plain, not so rich looking it puts the middle class off (no diamonds or big stones) but appropriately coiffed enough to make her success evidence (so some jewelry must be worn). A cool purple is a good color because it can feminine-to-neutral (a male executive could wear this as a tie color and no one would think twice) while still lending itself to an outfit that’s the spiritual heir to Hilary’s power pants suit. Pearls, as well, ride that line. They’re classy, but not flashy, they’re classic but never outdated. Reasonably good looking fakes can be obtained by the lower classes yet the upper classes continue to wear them so their status as a class marker remains. 

If I were thinking carefully about how a smart, determined woman like a grown President Lisa Simpson would present herself, I’d pick just about this outfit. 

This is based on decades of experience as an uncle and as an older brother.

Never forget that children are just as much people as adults are.

Kids 10 years or younger (and sometimes older than that) don’t get sarcasm or irony, so don’t use them.

If a child has difficulty pronouncing a word, don’t copy their misprounciation when speaking to them. They can hear the word just fine. It could sound to them like you’re making fun of them.

(Yes, this means no babytalk)

Don’t be dismissive.

Listen to what they’re saying.

To get on the same eye-level, don’t bend over or squat: it seems condescending. Kneeling or sitting are better.

It should go without saying that you should respect children’s body autonomy. Don’t force affection on them.

Respect children’s emotional autonomy as well. Let them be angry. Let them be sad. Don’t force them to be happy.

Let children like things. Don’t run down the things they like just because you find them cringy.

Don’t think that you know better.

To children, adults are giants. Be a big friendly giant.

Don’t stifle children’s curiosity.

Don’t stifle children’s enthusiasm.

To quote Sondheim, “Be careful the words you say, children will listen.”