#follower tips

I made a tip list. For the record, I know I’m not following all these as I should be and by no means am I saying I’m perfect (lord knows I’m far from it). This really can apply to anything on Tumblr (Writings of any kind, artwork, poems, songs, basically any time someone is sharing something with the world) but I’m applying it to writing cause that’s what I do. I know there are so many of these types of lists, but I made this one, so enjoy.

Get the notes up! I’ve seen a countless number of writers putting out less and less content on here just because their pieces aren’t getting the notes they so obviously deserve. I know from experience that watching a piece you thought was going to be a hit flop is so hard to get over. It makes me, at least, not want to keep posting the fics and pieces I like because I’m worried about how you guys would like it. Listen, I know some people say they can live without your validation, and good for them, but just pretend that writers need your (good, not hateful) comments. If you like a piece (or read it), reblog it. It’s really the only way writers get their work out there.

Stop the hate! If you had at any point sent anyone some spiteful, rude, harassing ask on anonymous, you’re automatically dead to me. Seeing people receive hate comments is so heartbreaking to watch because I know they don’t deserve it. If you ever get the urge to send someone a hate comment, I want you to write it down on a piece of paper, fold it up real nice, and burn that shit. No one cares if you have something rude to say. We speak with kindness, or we don’t speak at all.

Send asks! Ok, this one’s easy. If you don’t know what an inbox is (That sounded kind of rude to me idk but I genuinely mean this because if you’re new to Tumblr it gets confused with direct messages) it’s where you can send people like little messages where they can answer PUBLICLY. It’s where you can also send anons if their anons are turned on, some aren’t so be aware. Anyways, I don’t know about everyone else, but I LOVE when someone sends me an ask. It makes me really happy to know someone took time to tell me their thoughts. And you don’t have to actually say anything, ask us about our days or ask us about pieces we’d done. If you don’t know how to start writing an ask, start with a “hello, how are you?” or “Hi! I really loved your piece.”

Request things! Only do this if requests are open though, but if you see a writer opened requests SEND SOMETHING! If you aren’t sure, check their bio or send them a message (or an ask) just asking “Hey! Are your requests open?” We’re cool, we won’t bite. If they say yes, celebrate. Then take advantage of the opportunity. Check to see if they have request rules or guidelines, sometimes writers’ requests are only open for a certain fandom or person. Don’t be sad if what you want doesn’t fall within those lines, it makes us sad. Don’t just demand a piece to be written. Be polite, say hi, tell them how much you’ve enjoyed their pieces and how grateful you’d be if they CONSIDERED writing the one you’ve requested. DO NOT BE UPSET IF YOUR REQUEST DOESN’T HAPPEN!!! Sometimes requests are given, and writers feel uninspired to write them, that’s life. If a writer does end up creating something, thank them, tell them you loved it and why you loved it. That second part really helps to know what was successful to keep in mind for their next piece.

Know we live lives! This is an important one to keep in mind. We are not machines on earth solely for the purpose of getting new content out. Some of us are in College, or high school, have families, full time or part time jobs. We are writing for free in our free time just like you’re reading for free in your free time.

Interact with us! There are many people who play “Ask Games” (If you don’t really know what they are it’s essentially lists of questions people post or reblog to let you all (the readers) get to know them better) and they want people to ask them the questions or other questions just to make them not seem like just a source of entertainment on Tumblr.

You can change your tumblr username, that’s a pretty easy trick in most cases to stop hate messages, because your old username will display as “Deactivated”. I change my username frequently out of boredom haha. You’ll keep your followers etc, the name of your blog will just change, so unless your haters are following your blog, they won’t know where you’ve gone!

Another tip is to turn off Anon messages for your inbox, and set Messages to mutual followers only! You can even totally disable your inbox and the Messaging system. 

If the hate is happening on a particular post, New X-Kit has an extension that will block you from seeing any notifications about that post, so you can set it and forget about it entirely. You can also delete said post. 

Tumblr Savior can also be used to block people’s usernames, and of course you can block people using Tumblr itself. 

DEFINITELY report hate that is abusive, tells you to harm yourself or others, or threatens you in ANY way. Anon messages are still linked to an IP address, so you CAN block and report them (if I recall).