So - Tumblr has implemented a new feature(maybe?) that I think is kind of interesting, and I wanted to share. I honestly don’t know if it’s just a side effect to something else they’ve done, or if they did it intentionally, but you can now see really easily if someone you’ve got blocked also has you blocked in return.
Now - I haven’t had a chance to play around with this too much, but due to some fantastic drama with some really unfantastic people a little over a year ago, I’ve got several blogs where I could test things a little bit. Here are examples from three blogs (names blurred to prevent additional drama.)
In all three of these, I think you’ll notice an image that stands out. It’s essentially the same on every blog, although the colors and pattern seem to vary slightly. But in all three cases, having one of these images show up (instead of a pixelated version of whatever icon the person is using) seems to mean that person has you blocked in return.
I even tested it by blocking myself on two different blogs and the result was instantaneous. So there’s no wait time on this. You can know immediately without ever having to go to a person’s blog to see if they’ve got you blocked (or to see if they’ve unblocked you.) All you have to do is check your own block list (if you’ve got them blocked, too.) OR - you can very quickly block them and see if one of these icons (or something similar) pops up instead of their normal one.
Will this be useful to people? *shrugs* I honestly have no clue. Some people might just find it curiously amusing. Others may be bothered by it because they’d rather not know. Others may take comfort in knowing. It’s also a way to potentially prove that someone is blocking you when they say that they aren’t. Just make yourself a video as proof. (I don’t recommend a simple screencap because they’re SO easy to fake.)
Anyway, it’s a feature(?) that I hadn’t noticed before and (whether intentional or a byproduct of another coding change) I thought it deserved to be talked about because others might not realize this is a thing, and they might find it useful. I should note that this DOES NOT work with the app (I tested that, as well.) It only works with the browser-based Tumblr.
