(no subject)

[sekritomg]

Tumblr makes me completely miserable. Every time I go on it I feel less interested in participating in fandom. I realize that no one is going to stop using Tumblr because I hate it, certainly not the people I interact with in fandom, but using it pretty much gives me legit anxiety and I don't want anything to do with it. Conflicted about this, because it's fucking fandom and I want people to pay attention to me and, also, I want to partake in interesting South Park goings-on. But I've never had a single interaction on Tumblr that I couldn't have done without, nor have I had a single interaction on Tumblr that couldn't have been better facilitated on almost any other site, including e-mail. If someone wants to get in touch with me just e-mail me, please. The e-mails aren't public, nobody else can "like" them, there's no character limit (or, there is, but it's absurdly high and I've only hit it while e-mailing entire fics), and it's possible to linearly follow a conversation.

There are things I don't like about FF.net (or AO3, which I'm on but don't love), LJ, DA, Gmail, and Y!Gal, but all of them provide some clearly delineated niche service that facilitates fandom productivity and interaction. Tumblr adds nothing to any of these services other than its ease of use, which to me isn't a significant advantage over any other site. Moreover, Tumblr detracts from fandom productivity. I think it has a function, and that function is internet scrapbooking. Which is perfectly legitimate and I maintain other non-fandom Tumblrs where I'm not looking for any interactive element. But I don't think the site is cutting it for fandom and I'm disappointed that we're forsaking a) discourse and b) privileging original fan work in favor of c) laziness.

Comments

[mesangecoeur.livejournal.com]

"But I've never had a single interaction on Tumblr that I couldn't have done without"
This is where Sarah pouts.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

Just, would all of those conversations have made me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork less if they'd not been in some crunched-up ridiculous fanmail form where I couldn't even see what I'd typed to you in the first place? Yeah. I can barely manage to continue them. I guess other people just don't have this problem.

[mesangecoeur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see how the formatting might bother you... I mean I'm slightly annoyed by it, but I don't really have a problem with it. I tend to be fond of Tumblr because it reminds me of LJ, with easier access to fandom things via tags.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Tumblr does not remind me of LJ at all! Weird.

[kyley-b.livejournal.com]

This Sarah is pouting, too. I thought what we had was special. :(((

Okay, no, seriously. Until recently I always just saw Tumblr as another facet of one huge ("huge" is being used very loosely here) fandom, that encompassed a lot of websites, but overall was pretty united. But like, a few days ago I ended up going to this group chat (which ended up being horrible because Tumblr also has a way of making you feel really uncool and unwanted!!), and everyone was talking about their favorite artists. And I listed a few of mine, which obviously included some big names on DA, and no one had any idea who they were. That was really upsetting, because now it seems like all these new people are just starting out on Tumblr, and it's like they don't care at all about what has already been done, or who's really talented, or like, the history of the fandom at all. Like, they don't care to be involved with the rest of the fandom as a whole, because they're too busy making themselves feel cool on Tumblr? I don't know, I'm having a hard time putting it into words, but ugh.

I think we talked about this before, but Tumblr's really good for advertising, and, in that same way, getting your art/writing/whatever seen by people who wouldn't ordinarily see it. But I don't know. It is really depressing at times.

[mesangecoeur.livejournal.com]

I think it's because until I started on Tumblr I was on Facebook a lot.... Tumblr has that wonderful anonymity to it that LJ has, and FB lacks. Because on FB I have to think about who's reading and what I say, while on Tumblr I'm allowed to be vile and geeky and perverted, and no one really cares, much like on LJ.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. For the record I am not on Facebook. But it's a totally different service!

[negniahn.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know you were on AO3. I don't have an acct there but it would be great, I think ....... if it was remotely popular (in this fandom).
I agree that Tumblr's got fuckin awful communication set-ups. Like, the way once you send something, you can't see what you sent anymore? Unless you get a reply? What.

But at the same time I think it's a system that you can get used to, if you use it a lot. Like dA. dA's note system is atrocious, and its comment threading is pretty bad too. But if you're invested in talking to people on there, if it's something you enjoy, then you'll still have that enjoyment despite the difficulty. So if you say you haven't had a single interaction you couldn't have done without, it does kind of read like the interactions are to blame, not the system allowing them. (And ask conversations or notes aren't public unless you're talking to someone who likes to screencap stuff and share it)

The problem is that, like. Tumblr by itself is too goddamn spare. It is seriously just good at taking shit and smearing it around the internet. Some more. There's no good interaction. I mean I can't imagine anyone makes a good friend on tumblr and then *only talks* to them on tumblr. That would drive you nuts. I really, really wish tumblr could integrate into like, LJ or dA or something. Because I think it's a really good site! It's snappy! It does what it does with great efficiency and it feels good (to me, obviously not to you) to be on it and to be seeing new things -- but alone, it can be goddamn infuriating.

I guess I didn't accomplish much of anything in this reply???? Except to say that I am also frustrated at tumblr but I also like tumblr, but it also makes me sad. I will just hope for a brighter tomorrow, I guess. Fingers crossed.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

I tried to reply to this a while back and Firefox ate my comment when it closed on me this one time, thanks Firefox. Dumbly I am writing this comment in Firefox again.

These group chats, I don't even know what you're referring to. Tumblr had chats? This is news to me.

I should write a history of the SP fandom or maybe compile an oral history or something. here's another thing about fandom that I think we're losing through Tumblr: People used to really care about the meta side of things. There was this whole kind of historiographic introspection that was really, really interesting. When I keep saying "people used to talk" I mean literally people used to have long comment threads about why they thought SP characters did the things they did, or why writers wrote the things they wrote. When new episodes aired people would often leave their "awwww kyman u0u" comments on single episode discussion posts so that instead of littering everyone's dashboard with 100 posts of the same variety, all the senseless jubilation was collected in one central place.

Anyway, yes, I do agree that the advertising function could be useful. At this point though I just don't want anything to do with the site and I resent that people are posting things there solely, so I either have to go wade through the fucking shitshow that is Tumblr, or miss out on everything.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

I suspect AO3 is about to get huge in the SP fandom.

>> once you send something, you can't see what you sent anymore?

Yep, nope.

Editing this comment to say that honestly, it's nothing personal against anybody at all. I just hate the site. it causes me serious anxiety in the fandom context.

[kyley-b.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I feel like I missed like, the golden age of fandom. I'm totally in favor of you compiling a history, so I can read it late at night and cry about all the things I never got to experience. And if kyman nonsense was in one single thread, that'd be so much easier to overlook, rather than just avoiding Tumblr for the night and eating ice cream alone.

Maybe I should make an LJ newsletter of the Tumblr highlights.

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

>> all the things I never got to experience

- Everything important was written by 17-year-old boys
- Every single story was "plot, what plot," because never mind porn, nothing had a fucking plot
- Nothing got finished
- Every single fic was set in high school