Soph, they/them. AO3: SophiaCatherine. Fandom Old. Roll up, get your neurodivergent and disabled headcanons here. Still posting about the Arrowverse like it’s 2014, along with Star Trek, Ted Lasso, Buffy, Doom Patrol, Doctor Who, Our Flag Means Death, various audiodramas, and a bunch of other passing obsessions. Icon by @Quburt
Girl what the fuck is going on in tumblr offices right now to let the decisions they just dropped be made
To the executive who made the decision and the RND staff that told said exec to make that decision: the only reason you’re winning the race right now is because you’re the tortoise. Don’t be the fucking hare.
“Valley what the fuck are you talking about”
Today, tumblr staff posted a very long announcement on their blog, which you can find here.
It’s a long post that’s pretty hard to read, mostly because the entire thing reads like the writer was held at gunpoint by the zuck himself. (To the poor staff member who had to write this shitshow, I’m so sorry, may you get a raise for your efforts) Here are some of the main points:
Tumblr (the company) is concerned about gaining more users from outside sources, such as other social media sites
They’re planning on doing this by updating their advertising practices to the industry standard (basically, advertising tumblr the way Meta advertises Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, or the way Twitter advertises itself)
They want to change how tumblr looks when you’re not logged in so that more people are convinced to sign up (they didn’t say how, exactly) but that’s not fully fleshed out yet
Gave a very interesting statistic that the average tumblr user scrolls though 25 posts a day and did not specify wether or not this is good or bad (most likely because it’s fucking wrong)
Plan to improve their “algorithmic ranking capabilities on all feeds” (which I don’t understand fully, but it sure fucking sounds like data mining)
Plan to change thread mechanics again, but this time they’re collapsible
Plan on putting new creators in the forefront by boosting their visibility on all dashes, and “improving the feedback loop for creators” (which once again I don’t understand fully)
Plan on implementing spam filters when posts make rounds
There’s a lot more RND on their end about to happen, regarding notifications, emails and staff-to-user communications
Want to make emails more personal per creator (??????????)
Backend stuff regarding site stability and performance on mobile
TL;DR: Tumblr is attempting to catch up with other social medias by becoming more like Twitter, even though the whole reason they had a massive influx of users recently was because of their lack of invasive, intrusive and vile business practices to sell themself.
Needless to say, people are fucking pissed. A lot of this is the exact opposite of what tumblr users want, and feels like the thing that’ll make this site finally crash and burn alongside the others. Which is terrifying!
So if staff are reading this, I’m gonna repeat my statement: the singular reason your site ended up being refuge in this time of dying socials is because the bar is in hell, and you barely jumped it by not having the bells and whistles that everyone’s tired of. Don’t trip while you’re still ahead.
This is not at all what they’re doing and spreading this panicked information is not helping.
Tumblr is making their dashboard controls open source so that the community has full control over how their dash is curated and can develop tools to customize it how they want. This was announced DAYS ago, but has been getting zero attention compared to people who only want to read everything as bad faith as possible.
Twitter would *never* make a move like this in a million years because keeping their model proprietary is too important to them to the point that they’re suing Meta over Threads.
Tumblr are also extremely against data mining and their stance against it has cost them money they could have been making in order to make up for the deficit this site costs Automattic annually. Tumblr Live doesn’t even “data mine” like the popular rumor states, because if you check what they collect it’s username, age, and IP. The only identifying bit of this is IP, and if you use a VPN it will render that part moot.
I have a longer post about all this that includes my sources if you check the Tumblr Live tag on my blog. Look, I want Tumblr to improve too but the misinformation needs to be dealt with or we are never ever going to be able to give a scrap of useful feedback. Because asking them to stop doing something they’re already not doing is flooding out all the actually useful critique.
further points:
changing how tumblr looks when you’re not logged in is almost certainly about removing the “oooooops you’re not cleared to see that teehee! better sign up first!” they explicitly mention wanting people to actually see what tumblr is like before deciding to sign up. this is a good thing.
the statistic is 25 posts per SESSION not per DAY which is completely normal and expected. i don’t see more than 25 posts most times i open tumblr (unless i’ve been gone for a while) because i don’t get that much new content on my dash OR because i don’t have time for more than that. they did not say it was good or bad that 25 is number, just that the first 25 posts should be good because that’s mostly what people see when they open their dash. and when half of it is your own posts or your mutual all reblogging the same post that makes it not an awesome experience. which is what they’re trying to fix.
“algorithmic ranking” just means how well their algorithm uses the data it already has. you interact with x tag a lot so you would probably like more of x tag. tumblr is notoriously horrible about this rn because if you reblog one thing about that and then hop over to the for you tab it’s nothing but that thing. if they were going to mine more data they would be talking about gathering data. “algorithmic ranking” is literally just moving around cells in a spreadsheet of data they already have, there’s no conversation about gathering more data.
improving the feedback loop for creators means getting them more reblogs/comment when they post original art/writing/content so they feel like it’s worth it to post to tumblr. which is what creators want.
“tldr”ing this as “tumblr is trying to become like twitter!” is ragebait nonsense. nothing about these changes make it “more like twitter” and i don’t know where you got half the stuff in this post except by willful misreading. i get that the language isn’t familiar to you and that you don’t understand it, which yeah is not great messaging on tumblr’s part and i wondered at them posting it (though super appreciate the EXTREMELY TRANSPARENCY which no other social media site is doing). but please don’t try and speak authoritatively on something you don’t understand, and especially don’t put a tldr that is a completely inaccurate summary of what’s going on.
See this is why reblogs with addenda are so important on here. Also yay open source!
Yes. This.
I am so tired of all the pearl clutching over everything tumblr does and the relentless stream of bile being sprayed everywhere by people who lack reading comprehension. These updates they’re doing? It’s a GOOD thing and they’re actually telling us about it.
I swear some people just love to be angry over every little thing and spread misinformation like they’re being paid to do it.
Twitter is a fascist hell hole, Meta will steal your data and your grandma and sell them to third parties, Reddit is toxic and it fucked its own users.
We have a good thing here by miles. Is it perfect? Hell no but staff understand what tumblr is and they’re working to make it better. And if they want to sell crabs and shoelaces and occasionally show a terrifying pikachu man to pay the rent then that’s fine by me.
Checking very carefully that I have the right numbers here… :D
4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?
Not many! The muse hasn’t been very active recently. But, other than the ongoing coldflash fic, I’m also working on-and-off on a Leonard Snart/Faith Lehane (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) friends-with-benefits-and-they’re-both-tragically-in-unrequited-love-with-other-people fic. This is going to be very niche and will probably get two whole readers, but I’m having fun playing with the idea. Shove your random unconnected blorbos together and see if they want to kiss and/or hang out. It’s fun!
13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?
This one. (Seriously. The problem is always about 10 lines back.)
27. How do you feel about collaborations?
They’re great - with the right person! But that’s the hard part. I co-wrote a book with someone else (non-fiction, so it’s different but not that different), and it was a serious challenge, but doable, because good choice of writing partner. In my fic writing life, I’ve co-written with exactly two people where it’s gone well, and it was great. Beta reading is another kind of collaboration I enjoy, but again, only with the right person - good beta readers are like gold dust (I am never letting @achangeinpriorities or @blueelvewithwings leave this fandom, because then beta reading for each other will end - *ahem* I mean they can leave if they really want to, but I will cry. A lot). On the other hand, if you work with the wrong person, good luck - collaborating is really hard and you’ll probably end up hating them, or yourself, or both of you. I’ve done that too :D
31. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?
Have you read my fic? I want to say I’m more canon compliant than the DCTV writers’ room (like it’s hard) - but maybe that’s not as true as it used to be. There was a time I refused to write dead characters coming back to life because it felt cheap. I gave up on that eventually. because how else are you going to tell the fun stories? I even write a few AUs now (but almost never fantasy AUs because I do not want olde English all up in my superhero stories. but that’s just me). But I still really love my canon compliant fic. It’s an oddly rewarding challenge, trying to make sense of the mess that canon has thrown at us - like trying to solve a crossword puzzle with half the clues, or something. Um, that does not make it sound fun. Never mind.
39. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?
I’ve not had lots, but I’ve had a couple - complaints about my neurodivergent headcanons, mostly. I used to get very upset about that kind of reaction, but now I’m just, fuck ‘em. If you don’t love me at my 'reading all the characters as neurodivergent - pretentious one-line paragraphs - tiny 300 word fics randomly thrown into one fic as unconnected chapters and call it done,’ you don’t deserve me at my 'almost coherent 110,000* word coldflash series with lots of UST and quite a bit of resolved ST.’ Or something.
*JFC. I just looked that up - I would have guessed half that. That is too many words.
“And then he was gone. And I knew right then and there that I was never going to let anybody get by me without understanding they might be hurting inside, you know. Cause life, it’s hard. It’s real hard.”
I’m really friendly– oh, fic strengths. I’m very bad at knowing what I’m good at, but I think I’m quite good at bringing the feels? Not sure there are many strengths in my over-wordy writing style, though 🤣
12. Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?
I’m going to assume this means “episodes/scenes that inspire a lot of my fic.” Let’s go with Flash/Legends, by ship (at least the ships I’m still writing…)
Coldwave - Their whole Legends arc has led to too many of my fics, but especially the scene where Len describes meeting Mick in juvie (a scene that half the ship isn’t even in). Thence spawned a thousand young coldwave/lifelong partners fics, including a fair few of mine. That and the fight where Mick can’t kill him. 😭
Coldwestallen - The fireplace scene. Yes, that one. I know it has inspired many coldflash fics, but just seeing Len, Barry and Iris in one place (and all that sexual tension between all three of them) was the beginning of my obsession. That’s what I always rewatch before writing them.
Coldflash - It’s the scene in the forest at the end of Infantino Street. I don’t think I got coldflash till that moment. It has inspired many of my “Leonard Snart believes in Barry Allen as much as vice versa” fic moments.
2. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).
Okay, this is tough, which is why I saved it for last…
He knew Mick knew where he was. They were only working out of two safe houses, and Mick would know he was unlikely to have gone far.
On day four, he came back to find Mick in the kitchen.
Len closed the door behind him, leaning against it and surveying the scene through narrowed eyes. Mick had two pieces of salmon in one pan and was sautéing potatoes in another. He didn’t look around for a long moment.
The tide of the silence rose and fell.
Eventually Mick half-turned towards Len, but didn’t look at him. “I can go,” he said, his voice subdued with unease and regret. “If you want.”
“No,” Len said after a minute. He sat down at the table.
Mick brought a salad over. His sleeve rode up as he leant across the table, and Len caught a glimpse of a new burn on top of old scars. He sighed quietly.
They sat at the table and ate, drowning in the swell.
Mick still wasn’t looking at him.
“Mick,” Len said quietly, at last.
“I’m an asshole,” Mick replied, so loudly and quickly that it sounded like a reflex.
“Well, yeah. Thought we’d established that before,” Len agreed, head tilted to one side, with a half smile.
New version
For three days, Len hears nothing from Mick. He sits in his leather lazy chair in the middle of the safe house and glowers at the closed door, at the unanswered text message. It’s not as if Mick doesn’t know where he is. They only have so many safe houses, and Len wouldn’t go far. Mick knows that.
On day four, after an increasingly necessary visit to the market, Len closes the door behind him–
–and comes face to face with Mick. Just standing at the stove, cooking, as if he never left.
Len leans back against the door, surveying the scene through narrowed eyes. Mick has two pieces of salmon in one pan - Len’s favourite - and is sauteing potatoes in the other. He has the gall to hum a cheery little tune as he cooks. He doesn’t look up.
Len lets the tide of the silence rise and fall.
At last, Mick half-turns towards Len, still refusing to look at him. “I can go.” Len hears unease and regret in his subdued voice. “If you want.”
It’s a moment before Len answers. “No.” Unsure what else to do, he sits down at the table.
Mick leans across the table as he puts the salad down - and his sleeve rides up. Len sighs at the glimpse of a new burn over old scars. So it isn’t Len Mick is mad at. Figures.
They sit and eat, drowning in the swell. Mick still can’t look at him.
Len puts his fork down. “Mick.”
“I’m an asshole,” Mick answers, so fast it sounds like a reflex.
Len tilts his head, not quite smiling. “Well, yeah. I thought we’d established that.”
I think the first version is better, and I’m not sure I want to think too hard about that fact 🤣
(Thanks for the asks - even the incredibly challenging one!)
Fuh-rend! (I hope you’ll allow the exasperated familiarity.)
Have I told you how much I appreciate your economy of words? Because I think it every time I read one of your five. Definitely not too wordy.
Yes, yes. All very good scenes for driving the imagination.
(Unsolicited thoughts incoming) I like both and they feel different. The first hits harder, to me, and the second reads as though it’s from Len’s POV, versus omniscient, so I notice feeling simultaneously more biased toward him and questioning how reliable the information is that I’m getting. I like the first one, personally. The economy of words makes it very concise in a way that lends itself to the tone being set in the scene; like the linguistic punch/tension is mirroring/playing into the emotional tension. So the first one feels more like I’m being brought into their emotional space, and the second one feels more like I’m observing and having my own responses.
Also, thank you for that, and I think your brain really wanted that challenge, because the original ask was for #2, about the tropes. 😊
bahaha… I was sure I was answering #2 - I must have copied the wrong question 😁 It was a fun mistake to make, and yes, a good challenge!
And aww, thanks for the very sweet comments on my economy of words. I think that’s what I meant when I was saying I like the original better - I used to be more thoughtful and careful with each word, and I think that economical writing packed more of a punch than my writing does now. Or maybe it’s just different now. Either way, I now feel like I should challenge myself to write a fic in my older, more sparse style, and see what I can bring with from my current style but without using too many words. Now I just have to think of a good fic idea for that challenge… Thanks!
17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? Start to finish, always. Sometimes I write detailed notes for a scene that I’m excited to write, but I really can’t write out of order. I need to know how things unfold, so I can see what leads up to them, which can change a lot about how a scene goes. And I often end up completely revising my original plan, because characters will do things that you never expected and really didn’t want them to do. The arseholes. Even if that does usually make the fic better.
23. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why? Ooh this is an interesting question. I don’t often get the urge to rewrite fics. I mostly think old fics are good the way they are, because they represent a particular time in my life, even if they’re not as polished as what I write now. (That does not mean I’m ever making my ancient Buffy fanfic public, just so we’re clear.) All that said… While I quite like Rebuild (Mick Rory-centric fic about grief), I think I’d do a better job with it today. I had a really bare writing style, back then - there’s pros and cons to that, but I probably could have put a few more feelings in, without making it seem alien for Mick.
38. Talk about a review that made your day. Not so much a specific comment, as the person who read every single one of my fics over about two weeks, and commented on every chapter. And they were so adorably enthusiastic about every fic. I think about that sometimes. Just, what a gift to a writer. <3
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