A Short Reflection
Dec. 20th, 2018 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluewinged_songbirdSo I've been going through the Tumblr backup that I did and it's making me incredibly nostalgic, and this is just December so far! In many ways it feels like the end of an era and logging back on just doesn't feel quite the same. I've got 6 years worth of mostly reblogs and very little original content so there's a nagging feeling that I shouldn't feel this bereft. Unless you count tag commentary? In which case, I was very active and engaged.
Honestly, Tumblr was where I properly got active in my fannish pursuits. I primarily was and am a lurker, have always been one since I found my first Cardcaptor Sakura fic on ff.net. I wrote a handful of things and posted childish "I love this please make more" comments on there, but I primarily went to read.
And then I ran out of fanfic and turned to Google, which sent me straight to LJ. I never had an account on LJ so lurking was literally all I did. As a result of all that lurking I've never thought of fannish pursuits as being inherently social.
Until Google started redirecting me to Tumblr instead. At that point I'd just finish secondary school and was just starting my A-levels, life was a big confusing mess. Into that void came the Jason Todd tag on Tumblr and before long I found myself on the site so often I caved and got an account. Tumblr is a strange place when it comes to social interaction compared to most places on the web. I followed people who talked through reblogs that cycled through my dash, and I basically had to follow the lot of them in order to get front row seats to an unfolding conversation I never had to announce my presence to. You became mutuals with someone and then just silently reblogged and liked things from each other without ever speaking a single word for years on end. I never knew if someone liked the content of the post or my lengthy tag commentary, but sometimes we'd refer to each other's tags when reblogging and I'd feel thrilled anyway. Low energy interaction for all!
I did manage to get to know some people though. I shared clunky PMs with a girl my age, we compared life in our countries for a bit. When the chat function came, I also talked to a couple of people and that's how I found myself roped into co-modding Chihayafuru week. Honestly, I peaked in my Chihayafuru phase! I gave summaries of the novels and the latest chapters that I got off Baidu forums because Chinese fandom gets access faster than English fandom. I wrote meta and analysed characters. I wrote a few fanfics and messed with edits (though I am horrible, nobody let me do it again).
And now, its gone and imploded just like my life. I finished college and just quit a placeholder job that extended way too long. Funny how I started on Tumblr in a directionless period of my life and have now ended it during another directionless period of my life. Perhaps it's the universe telling me that it's time to begin something new.
Though not Twitter, it makes me feel like my words are being lined in front of a firing squad!
Anyhow, does anyone want a guide to using the Hermit app? It's like your phone browser's "Add to Homescreen " function but with more cool stuff like adblock, reading mode and darker skins. I've been using it to turn web pages like Dreamwidth and Youtube into lite apps on my phone.
Honestly, Tumblr was where I properly got active in my fannish pursuits. I primarily was and am a lurker, have always been one since I found my first Cardcaptor Sakura fic on ff.net. I wrote a handful of things and posted childish "I love this please make more" comments on there, but I primarily went to read.
And then I ran out of fanfic and turned to Google, which sent me straight to LJ. I never had an account on LJ so lurking was literally all I did. As a result of all that lurking I've never thought of fannish pursuits as being inherently social.
Until Google started redirecting me to Tumblr instead. At that point I'd just finish secondary school and was just starting my A-levels, life was a big confusing mess. Into that void came the Jason Todd tag on Tumblr and before long I found myself on the site so often I caved and got an account. Tumblr is a strange place when it comes to social interaction compared to most places on the web. I followed people who talked through reblogs that cycled through my dash, and I basically had to follow the lot of them in order to get front row seats to an unfolding conversation I never had to announce my presence to. You became mutuals with someone and then just silently reblogged and liked things from each other without ever speaking a single word for years on end. I never knew if someone liked the content of the post or my lengthy tag commentary, but sometimes we'd refer to each other's tags when reblogging and I'd feel thrilled anyway. Low energy interaction for all!
I did manage to get to know some people though. I shared clunky PMs with a girl my age, we compared life in our countries for a bit. When the chat function came, I also talked to a couple of people and that's how I found myself roped into co-modding Chihayafuru week. Honestly, I peaked in my Chihayafuru phase! I gave summaries of the novels and the latest chapters that I got off Baidu forums because Chinese fandom gets access faster than English fandom. I wrote meta and analysed characters. I wrote a few fanfics and messed with edits (though I am horrible, nobody let me do it again).
And now, its gone and imploded just like my life. I finished college and just quit a placeholder job that extended way too long. Funny how I started on Tumblr in a directionless period of my life and have now ended it during another directionless period of my life. Perhaps it's the universe telling me that it's time to begin something new.
Though not Twitter, it makes me feel like my words are being lined in front of a firing squad!
Anyhow, does anyone want a guide to using the Hermit app? It's like your phone browser's "Add to Homescreen " function but with more cool stuff like adblock, reading mode and darker skins. I've been using it to turn web pages like Dreamwidth and Youtube into lite apps on my phone.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-20 07:06 pm (UTC)Definitely feel you on the "wow, tumblr (and my interactions with others on tumblr) is really gone, isn't it?" ::stranger hugs::
no subject
Date: 2018-12-22 06:03 am (UTC)Hence the late reply. I saw you tried out the app, isn't it so useful?? I use it to block ads on Youtube and to change the text size for any site I use often because of my poor eyesight. For everything else, there's the Brave browser.
Aw, thank you ::hugs back:: It leaves me so bittersweet but I guess this is what will happen until we, the fans, own the g**d*** servers!
no subject
Date: 2018-12-21 04:28 am (UTC)I’m a lurker as well, or at the very least the kind of fen who (usually) only reads a bunch of stuff and silently leaves kudos. I think that silent reblogging aspect of Tumblr was a really interesting part of the fandom over there. Almost on every other site you basically HAVE to comment on stuff, or create stuff, in order to build community. On Tumblr, while there was a lot of discussion and creation, there was a whole part of the community based around curating other people’s content and having whisperspace conversations in the tags. It’s was a very interesting experience! But kinda lonely, at least for me.
Which is partly why I’m so happy to have moved to DW! As part of that move, I decided to break out of my former lurker status and actively comment on stuff. And write posts. And have discussions! And it’s been great!
Also I WOULD appreciate a tutorial on the Hermit app, if possible! I’ve never heard of it, but it sounds useful.
Hello there!
Date: 2018-12-22 06:16 am (UTC)I wonder, though, if it was a function of Tumblr rather than an unintentional side effect? Remember how long it took staff to give us communication functions like Chat and Reply?
On Dreamwidth, without the ability to just reblog someone else's content, I find I'm a lot more motivated to pump out some sort of content because my journal looks so empty otherwise. Actually a lot of things look empty and I feel like I'm helping out a small business owner whenever I comment. :D
Sidenote, I wish I could use Markdown in Comments too. The learning curve for Dreamwidth can be so high compared to a lot of sites.
Also, the Hermit setup tutorial is up!