Look, here’s the deal with tumblr: it moves fast. A lot of people follow enough blogs that scrolling through one’s entire dash is impossible. I remember the days when I could wake up in the morning and scroll back to the last post I saw before bed. Sweet, summer child.
Here’s the other deal with tumblr: I see so much anxiety about reblogging one’s own stuff, be it art; analysis; fanfiction; hell, personal posts and replies. I have (and continue to feel deeply) that anxiety. Every time, my inner critic and I go through the same song and dance.
Critic: You look like you’re begging for notes/replies/reblogs. People will think you’re needy/full of yourself/have to be the center of attention. You already have a few notes, why do you need more? Other people have it worst than you. Ugh, you’re just clogging the dashes of your followers. If they wanted to read it, they’d have read it already.
Me: *ball of anxiety* You’re right. Wait, no you’re not. Wait, maybe you are. Wait, no—
I’d say it’s 50/50, even now, that I’ll reblog myself.
And you know what? Fuck that.
- Not everyone can get through their dash in a sitting.
- Timezones are a thing.
- Work hours are a thing, also affected by timezones.
- Life away from tumblr is a thing (what??? I know).
There are so many reasons a person might not see your fic/art/stuff the first time. Reblog it the next day. Reblog it a week from now. Hell, set up a schedule or a queue and have it reblog itself three months from now. Go back through old fics and reblog the ones you really liked; I guarantee you have followers who are new enough to have never seen it or who would like to reread it.
Be proud of the work you do.
Oh yeah, I felt that resistance from here.
Say it again. Out loud. Write it on a post-it note and stick it where you’ll see it.
Be proud of the work you do.
You wrote/made it for a reason. And yeah, part of that reason was probably to share it with other fans. Otherwise, why post at all? I know. Man, I get it. I’m cringing even writing that. The fucked-up “don’t show off” mentality runs deep, right?
Fuck that, too.
If you have followers who unfollow you because you’re reposting your stuff (and this is hard to prove, remember; maybe they quit tumblr, maybe their interests diverged from yours, whatever), who cares? Let them go. For everyone who leaves you, many will stay. And many will be happy to see that thing they missed because of work, life, sleeping. Especially if you follow a few points of tumblr/dash etiquette:
- Use cuts/read mores for anything longer than a few hundred words (I tend to cut at about 400-500 words, though if something’s under about 700 I might leave it).
- Reblog at reasonable intervals (day/evening, next day reblog, etc. Hourly might be a bit much ;D).
- Use tags so people can filter appropriately.
Be proud of the work you do.
(Write it down. Yes, you. <3)
it’s honestly helpful for those of us that can’t check tumblr at work if you DO reblog your stuff. If you’re an artist, i’m following you because i want to see your art and I don’t want to miss it. But I’m at work all day and I can’t check tumblr for obvious reasons.
Dude, just reblog that shit. I want to see your shit. That’s what I’m here for. You inspire me and I don’t want to miss that.
Tag Archives: robotsandfrippary
I’ve been on the internet for 19 years, since I was 15 years old. I find it HILARIOUS that the teenagers think they discovered the net and it’s only for them and that it’s weird that adults use it too. I mean, when i first got on the net there were grown ass men and women in the fandom. People with kids and mortgages and jobs. I never thought it was odd. There were one or two creeps, but generally they were super nice people who I became an extended child to. They were people I could ask awkward questions that I couldn’t ask my parents. They were the older siblings I needed. The ones that said, “Don’t date that guy, he sounds like he’s abusive” and “don’t kill yourself, I know you’re really feeling alone right now but it’ll get better” and “don’t change yourself for that guy, he’s not worth it. He’s a moron” and “I think maybe it’s time to ask your parents to take you to a counselor”
But hey, if you think it’s creepy that I exist, don’t follow me. I’m a 34 year old woman and I’m only getting older. But if you need someone to ask weird and embarrassing things, like what it’s like how to brown meat or how to look for an apartment or short cuts to getting unsightly dirt rings off your bathtub or you need someone to look over your art portfolio or what it’s like to have an IUD or get a breast reduction I’m your adult. I’ll be your big sister. Because God knows *I* needed someone to be mine when I was your age.
#I think the hard thing is that when many of us were the young ones in intergenerational spaces we looked up to older people#and now when we see the ‘ew grow ups on the internet go away!!’ thing it’s like#shit#how did we miss our window?#but the truth is fandom grow ups built shit like ao3 and dreamwidth#and fandom grow ups were so helpful to me when I was a flaily teenager and college student and young adult#and it’s hard to see people talking like nobody over 21 belongs in fandom or even exists#which is crazy when most of the best writers I know are definitely at least that age or older#writing skills usually get better with time!#anyhow this all ties into fandom having lost touch with its own history#from the adults who started cons#to the adults who converted this new internet technology into a place for fandom#so if you aren’t aware that fandom has always been intergenerational and until the last decade mostly composed of adults#that’s a sad failure of our community
I see you hiding your thoughtful meta in your tags, sophia-helix, and I drag them out into the light.
I-want-my-IWTV 