It really gets to you

[branchandroot]

Okay, since I have actually started posting scraps of meta on Tumblr, to go along with the tasteful selection of reblogged fanart, I suppose I should point my profile here at my account there.

So. I'm branch-and-root over there.

Comments

[phoebe_zeitgeist]

I'm still trying to figure out how the hell tumblr works. I can't find a goddamned thing over there. But I'm glad to have this, and will definitely check out your tumblr, both for content and in the distant hope that perhaps I will learn by seeing what you do.

[branchandroot]

*wry* It isn't real intuitive, no. There are two ways to find things. One is to search for useful tags (the name of a fandom, an actor, a topic; "baby animals" for example, or "new york politcs") and track that tag. In the sidebar, any tag stream you're looking at will have a little "track" button on it that you can click and have that tag show up in your Dashboard sidebar for easy access. Tracking is good for big, stable topic tags. The second thing is following people whose tumblrs tend to have posts you like on them; sometimes you can find more people you like when one person you follow reblogs them.

You can "like" a post, and it will be put in your "like" bin, but that isn't searchable or organizable. So I tend not to use that much; some people use like as a pure comment button and ignore their bin.

You can reblog a post, with or without your own additions, and that will show up in your own tumblr, with whatever tags you give it. Your own tumblr tags are searchable within your blog, so I reblog anything I want to keep track of or look at again and tag it with something consistent.

If you want most of your entries to be visible only to yourself and your followers, the trick is to have your own personal tag system that is unlikely to cross over with the major topic tags. If I tag my little meta post with "Kuroko no Basuke" then it appears in a big tag stream and everyone tracking that tag will see it go by. If I tag it "knb fanning" then I'm pretty sure no one else will see it unless they're following me. I find that a useful way to control the profile of my entries and to keep from just endlessly repeating some image that I want to reblog but don't want to spam a major tag stream with.

General "I read this" feedback is usually done with the Like button. Conversations are done by reblogging, though of course that only works if you are following each other or watching the same tag-stream. I find it very low pressure, but some people find it deeply frustrating.

[annotated_em]

I shall jump in to say that you probably also want to install some browser extensions that improve the interface. Tumblr Savior (greasemonkey for FF, extension for Chrome and Safari) lets you blacklist certain tags. For instance, I blacklist the holy hell out of Supernatural, Dr. Who, and Sherlock, because I just don't give a crap, though some of the people I follow do.

Tumblr H8 lets you block a certain single post, if it's not tagged or it's not something you care to blacklist entirely.

Missing E adds a LOT of functionality to Tumblr and can be customized all over the place. Tumblr hates Missing E and will give you a warning every time you log in, trying to scare you away from using it, but just ignore that.

Etiquette-wise, it's generally Not Done to post critique of something and tag it with that something's tag. This harshes the squee of those following that tag. If you reblog fanart, you really ought to try to include the source and be respectful of the wishes of fanartists who do not wish to have their art reblogged. Saucenao.com is pretty good for tracking down sources.

If you are reblogging a conversation, it's good to snip out the long blocks of quotes and just repeat the most recent exchange.