A somewhat incoherent post in which I fail to stick to the point

[nny]

So I was thinking about dissertation subjects, because I'm a dorky dork, and it got me thinking about social media, as you do.

I think one of the problems with tumblr is that it is entirely too easy to focus on and perpetuate acceptance of the reality you like and want to accept, rather than a reality that bears more resemblance to fact. I'm not saying that dreamwidth or livejournal are hotbeds of scientific debate or that every post cites its references with accuracy, but at least you're unlikely to see the same inaccuracies over and over again until you conflate them with fact.

An example of this is a post of a picture of Vicissitudes by Jason DeCaires Taylor, which falsely claims it's in memory of... I think the slave trade? It was reblogged thousands of times with comments about how touching it is before anyone even questioned its accuracy. (Me :D). It's a harmless example, but it has the potential not to be.

People are afraid of being wrong on tumblr, I think, because everyone can see your comments. It's not like these sites, where people can comment and it be buried on page 7 where no one has to see. I'm not saying dogpiling and such is necessarily worse on tumblr - although it can be pretty vicious - but it has the potential to be more visible and, crucially, to be out of your control to correct; you can ETA on livejournal/dreamwidth, but on tumblr your inaccurate words can be reblogged a thousand times outside of your control, so it's hard to see the worth in venturing a comment that might be wrong. It's easier to reblog without comment, to fill your dash with the things you like and want to be true, and focus on the reality you want rather than questioning and challenging the one that exists.

(I'm way more likely to engage someone I disagree with in discussion on here than on tumblr, aren't you?)

Comments

[skygiants]

AGREED ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Tumblr is great at doing some things but it's the worst place to have actual discussion; it's not designed for that, it's not intended for that, and it doesn't work for that.

[nny]

Which is why it's so disappointing that everyone's shifted over there to the apparent cost of DW/LJ! They should run concurrently, for different reasons. I guess tumblr has advantages - since you can gain followers/renown with far less active creation (she said cynically) but it's an empty sort of renown and definitely empty sorts of relationships. I like talking to people more, dammit.

[krait]

Just what I was thinking; I haven't even figured out how anyone can engage somebody in any discussion on Tumblr! It seems deeply awkward as a conversational medium. From what I have seen? Imagine having a talk and every couple minutes somebody walks by and gives you or your co-converser a thumbs-up; every third or fourth person will whip out a recorder and tape one sentence and walk away playing it over and over; some people who hear it start having related discussions with the people who taped it, and meanwhile an ever-growing number of people are trying to get a word in edgewise over your shoulder, some addressing you, some your original co-talker, and some are doubling back to talk to the person at the end of the line.

[batyatoon]

... that is an astonishingly good analogy.

[krait]

Thanks!

I *read* on Tumblr rather a lot, because let's face it, 99% of Homestuck fandom is there, so I don't have much choice except to visit Tumblr. After several months of watching how things happen there... I think I've got a pretty good picture in my head of the patterns it makes, and THEY GIVE ME HEADACHES. The analogy seems like a good way to convey my general frustration at the level of repetition and diaspora going on whenever Tumblr people "talk to" each other. (Except that I'm actually driving by in my car rather than walking down the street, because I can only shout at the occasional person in ten-second bursts through my rolled-down window, i.e. if the 500-character-limit askbox [further limited by those who don't allow anon asks]!)

[naye]

That is a really interesting take on things. And I agree - I've corrected a couple of blatantly wrong posts, and added the original creator to stuff that was going around uncredited (a huge pet peeve), but most of the time when I see something I know isn't 100% accurate (or that I'm not 100% okay with) I just shrug and move on, rather than engage in a discussion about it.

To be fair, that could just be my non-confrontational personality shining through.

[nny]

Nah, I think that's the general attitude of things. I agree totally on the lack of attribution thing, it's annoying as all hell; I think a lot of people label it in tags, which of course aren't carried over into the reblogs.

[vivien]

I am starting to really hate Tumblr. I just want to see funny cats, silly fandom stuff, Halloween images, and beautiful things. I don't want to be bombarded by strong opinions I may agree with (or may not) and "facts".

[nny]

I like finding ridiculous gifs on there but it's definitely not fulfilling my journalling needs even remotely. I'm so glad people seem to be drifting back to join us over here! :D

[lamentables]

Tumblr disappoints me - I find apparently interesting information and images, but it's all adrift from its sources so I can't do that delightful/useful wandering through the internets adding to my random knowledge. (I did look up Vicissitudes and enjoy a decently long diversion.)

My own images are on Flickr with a 'attribution, no commerical use' Creative Commons thingy, but it still irks me to find them blogged and reblogged a billion times on Flickr without connection back to me.

[nny]

I don't tend to put any original content on tumblr, really, and the format is frankly appalling for what I most want to use it for, which is a storage place for all the things I like. I guess if I were better organised - and if it were easier to work out how to search my own tags and such - it'd be easier, but. Not so much for me. I'm not going to leave it, because it is interesting and at times hilarious, but it's definitely not the platform of my heart.

[batyatoon]

Tumblr is TERRIBLE for discussion. You can't even have a direct-messaging discussion because tumblr doesn't keep any record of your outgoing mail OR your answered asks.

LJ/DW has a much better discussion interface, but it's much harder to just find stuff you might be interested in looking at.

[nny]

UGH YES! The lack of message keeping! It's such a completely irrational system! I don't understand what they hell they're thinking about it!

What we need of course is some kind of combination of the two - a journalling site with the ability to like posts and reblog things, but with the comments as is on LJ/DW and an inability to remove text/add to text from the original post. I mean, comment on visibly, certainly, but not edit.