A tip for Reddit Refugees (and anyone else who might need to hear it) from someone who has been on this hellsite for 10+ years. Don’t worry about cringe!

I know overall the internet has become increasingly hostile to genuine expressions of emotion, but we don’t do that here. This website was built on the backs of weird teenagers who could not be chill about their favorite fandom. And while most of us have matured a bit, we’re all still here. We’re all still incapable of being chill about our recent obsessions.

So reblog at will! Seriously, if you like it reblog it. If you wanna write, draw, or post about the most niche ship in the most niche fandom, do it! Don’t worry about whether your followers will think you’re corny. Don’t worry about being too genuine. We’re all corny, cringey, weirdos here.

And if someone tries to tell you you’re being cringe, ask them what they’re doing at the devil’s sacrament.

To the migrants from r/196, here is how tumblr works.

Firt off, reblog, don't like. This can help the tumblr community know that you aren't a bot.

Second, make a profile picture. Once again, so we know you aren't a bot.

Third, there is no algorithm. Do not attempt to appease a god that doesn't exist.

Fourth, swear. There is no censorship, so cuss like a sailor.

A new migrant's perspective on how Tumblr works

So, basically, how Tumblr works is this:

We are all, all of us, in a series of caves. Some of the inhabitants of the caves have dug little holes or access routes to the surface, where strange things like blue tweeting birds dwell. Some of us have fled here from a site the alien rules, and a few of us are splitting our time between their weirdly bright and shining domes and our comfy moss-covered holes.

From within your cave, you can dig tunnels. Some people choose to dig tunnels up to the top of other peoples' caves just to observe. Occasionally they might sneak down and steal a choice morsel to drag back to their own hoard, sometimes they just observe. Some tunnels don't lead to the caves owned by other individuals, but instead to dumping grounds where people shove copies of things that they think are related to a single topic. There's no actual rules to that, per-se, it's just a sortve rule by collective consensus about what kinds of things should go in that cave. Sometimes things get shoved in there which don't really belong, but that's fine too.

Some people cultivate their caves to reflect their own specific sets of interest - maybe their hoard has a theme, a motif, a genre. Some people just grab whatever looks shiny and show it off to whoever comes by to look.

When you find something that's interesting, you can - and should - grab it and run back to your cave and put it on display. As everyone knows, piracy isn't stealing, since it makes a copy, so the original is left untouched. That's how things spread down here. There's no real pacing to it, so sometimes someone will make a thing, show it off, and no one will notice that it's there until later, at which point it might take off running through the caves as everyone grabs a copy. Sometimes it does that in fits and starts. Sometimes it hits a particularly nutrient rich patch of the caves and grows way out of control, far beyond its original creator's intentions. Like a slime mold that hit a big ol batch of protozoa. The slime mold thing is probably more accurate than it should be.

The point isn't the spread, though. Tumblr works opposite of how most other big content sites like Facebook and Reddit and Twitter work. In all of those, the point is to yell at the top of your lungs and get as many people to hear you. If you can't get enough people to hear you, you might spend billions to buy the platform and try to buy more of an audience that way, because the audience is the point.

On Tumblr, instead, the audience is irrelevant. The treasures you can bring back to your cave are the point. The point is to hoard and collect and grow your shinies. It's nice to show them off (because who doesn't like it when their hoard is admired?) but it's the having and the getting, not the giving.

it's more work than reddit or facebook or twitter, because no one is out here trying to tell you what should go in your hoard. Everyone everywhere else has strong feelings on what kind of kitsch and treasures and knickknacks you should have. Here, you have to dig. You'll find a lot of trash in the process, but you have the choice of where your tunnels lead, and which garbage pi... other people's hoards you're sifting through, so it's a friendly sort of grubbing in the dirt that feels comfy once you're used to the muck.

I like it here.

/r/196 was funny because it started out as a no-rules sub with invisible moderation. You could post hog all you wanted but if you were racist you got kicked.

Ever since the reddit blackout though all the cool people moved here and now it seems like every week they start just making whatever trend or discourse they don't like a breach of the rules.

Which makes it ironic that the website everyone jumped ship to is basically the exact same way, we just like it better because they're so much worse at enforcing their own rules.

Tankies aren't Comrades

For context: I recently migrated to Tumblr and Im used to the State of Reddit where of course there where Tankie subs but it wasnt to hard too acually avoid them.

But Holy Fucking Fuck! The State of leftists Tags on this site is so fucking bad. Like you cant browse the Anticapitalist, communist or socialist Tags without seeing people praising the Soviets or China or just blatantly denying Genocides. Of course I am of the opinion that the left would be stronger If it wouldnt constantly start Infights over nothing. BUT defending Authoritarian regimes, denying Genocide, defending Imperialism(as long as it isnt USA), Warcrimes and the Overall supression of the working Class are under no circumstances part of leftist Values and we dont need these people to stand strong against the System.

If you still consider fighting side by side with these people I recommand you take a look at what happend to teh CNT-FAI during the Spanish civil war. Or the Anrchist/libertarian socialists that fought in the Russian Revolution. These people will stab you in the back or put you in to a Camp first chance they get.

If you are part of the LGBTQ community or Religious minority I recommand looking what is currently happenig to the Uyghurs in China or Russias war on the LGBTQ community.

Luckily most of these people are Keyboard warriors and dont engage with the real world.

But under any circumstances, TANKIES ARE NOT YOUR COMRADES!

friendly reminder to reddit migrants that filtering tags you don't want to see is super easy on here! it's in the settings. on that same note, it's the norm to tag potentially upsetting content. if your post has flashing, or paranoia inducing content, examples of bigotry, or something you could get in trouble for looking at at work/h*rnyposting, etc. please tag it! tagging works similarly to flairs in this case. for example, "tw unreality" or "tw paranoia" will prevent people who have filtered those tags from seeing your post, much like a spoiler. the usual tag for nsfw content is "nsft" (not safe for tumblr) or plain old "nsfw". usually it's best to just tag both.

the tagging system as an effective way to filter out triggers or unwanted content relies on people using it! it's the norm here.

have a safe trip!

another fun thing about the reddit migration is that there's already such an interconnected web of refugees all following each other. I keep seeing the same names pop up again and again in reblogs and mentions to the extent that there are several people on here I just assumed I was following up until I got the "you might like this blog..." notification. and then I follow them, and new names pop up, and my followed list just gets bigger and bigger.

so keep up the good work, and keep promoting each other so I can find more people to follow.

I'd like to buy a round of drinks

...for tumblr. I'm starting to love this place. It's hard to miss reddit when you're in such good company.

Thanks to all of your help figuring this site out, I know enough to not add "vanilla extract" as an option.

Please reblog for a larger sample size, a bitch is curious ✨

Also, Tumblr deleted my original poll, devastated so made a new one, make sure to read all choices!

I'm scared of the reddit migration. redditors are so mean like if I post on tumblr "x character is gay" everyone's just like yeah. but I tried it on reddit once and I got like 50 very angry essays along the lines of "there's NOTHING in the CANON to even INDICATE that you IMBECILE" like calm down pls

Going for a walk

How does one gain followers on this god-forsaken app? Huh? Whaddya want? Memes? Commentary? Politics? Piss? What pleases you people?

Okay I admit this one was from /r/shittydarksouls and not 196, but it's Dark Souls men kissing, what do you want. It's a reddit refugee post either way.

Reddit knows that they can force reopen subs with their scabs but you guys know it's not gonna matter if people don't use em. Stand strong reddit people, don't let them crush you!