I told you that you didn’t have to worry so much, didn’t I?

According to the Wall Street Journal Tumblr has been bought by Yahoo but will be permitted to run independently, like I predicted last night.

I have no doubt there’ll be changes, namely in the form of advertising, but that’s not unusual. It’s unlikely that adverts will be placed on your blog page. Instead, a sidebar advert may be added to the current dashboard. Not too complicated and not that intrusive.

So stop worrying.

Yahoo is buying Tumblr. Well, they’re in talks at least, with chances being that they will buy the website for 1.1 billion. Why does this matter though?

Yahoo is struggling, with only 4 billion cash on hand after selling various assets. It buying Tumblr could be good for Yahoo and breathe new life into it. It could also be good for Tumblr, or it could be bad.

Let’s focus on what could happen if yahoo buy Tumblr though. Nothing will change, at least not by much. Yahoo may be a failing company, but I doubt they’re stupid. David Karp is rumoured to be staying on as CEO of Tumblr for the next 4 years, to make it grow. This means that it’s more than likely that Tumblr will continue to exist as is.

Yahoo aren’t stupid, as I said before. They don’t want their last chance to become a viable competitor to Google and Facebook to fail…and at the moment Tumblr is growing. It makes sense to take the same route as Disney did with Pixar and Google did with YouTube. It will be under the Yahoo umbrella, but it won’t be directly run by Yahoo. Makes sense right?

Facebook is also rumoured to potentially swoop in at the last minute and buy out Tumblr. This is unlikely. They don’t have to. They already used this strategy to buy out Instagram..which is another reason Yahoo needs Tumblr to stay successful.

If Yahoo takes over Tumblr completely, with no independence allowed, it’s likely that Facebook would reduce. Tumblr could fail, and the social networking giant loses one of it’s latest competitors. They can sit back and watch it fall apart.

So whether or not the deal goes through tomorrow, Tumblr will probably remain the same. The worst that will happen is that we’ll get an ad at the side of our dashboard. And let’s face it, adBlock+ would mend that quick enough. Or we could just bear it.

It’s not going to stop you reblogging. It’s not going to change your blog. That would be a bad business decision and would be the final blow to the struggling company that is Yahoo. They won’t make that decision. If they do, they’re idiots and will have to watch as 1.1 billion gets flushed away and a new company takes the place of Tumblr. 

Tumblr still doesn’t give great support to video posts on responsive themes..which is a shame really. Literally all they have to do is add a {VideoURL} block/tag and we’d be able to have them resize easily…least that’s the theory.

Correct me if I’m wrong. I’d love to hear about a workaround at least!

The meetup today was quite enjoyable. Anyone who I met at it and wants to follow me, feel free to and I’ll find your URLs that way. 

I’ve also been introduced to Homestuck by some people who were wearing horns, facepaint and coloured contacts, which I’m actually going to check out despite them confusing the heck out of me. I’m going to post my thoughts as I go through it on Tumblr (because I think it’ll be a bit of fun), but not on here (because most of you don’t care). However, if you are curious (or you’re one of the people who “introduced” it to me today) feel free to check out lukeshomestuckadventure.tumblr.com

That blog may eventually freefall into madness so if that’s your thing..go for it!

So most of you will, by now have got the new Tumblr dashboard features. What does everyone think of it? I know there’s a lot of hate going around so I’m here to give my opinion.

First of all, try to understand that this is coming as much from someone who’s interested in web design/graphics design as someone who uses Tumblr on a regular basis. I’m going to cover every single feature that I would use often, whether that be on this blog here, or one of the other blogs I contribute to or run (notably Nerdcrafteria).

New Posting Style and interface:

The way the box pops out is something I’ve always liked. It’s always seemed to me to be quicker, and it is. You don’t have to load a whole new web page for a start. Pop out text boxes can make everything more efficient. Right now I don’t feel like I’m writing a serious article, like I would in a word processing program, but instead feel like this is blogging on the fly, in a very personal way. Once I’m done here all I have to do is click one button and it feels like I’m seamlessly returning to my dashboard feed. 

The interface, in the opinion of someone who has had to design an interface before and who has used Tumblr for years now, feels cleaner. Features that I don’t have to use aren’t visible to confuse me. Overall, in this regard it feels easier to use.

A problem I do have with the posting interface is that it relies heavily on people knowing that the little arrow beside your blog name and the gear in the top right corner are clickable and can bring up more options. These are basic options. Along with that the twitter symbol at the bottom doesn’t make it immediately obvious that you want to make this post for to twitter, which I don’t. Good news is it’s obvious when you turn it on and even gives you a pop up box with the tweet in it. Tags too can seem confusing to the new user. How do I separate them? I know, but only because I used the old interface and understand the workings of  the website. What about new users? Or people who don’t have that amount of experience?

Reblogging Interface:

To me the reblogging interface is really where the efficient and sleek design of what I’m going to call “blogging on the go” comes in. Reblogging is designed to be quick and simple, usually involving the reblogger adding only a few words (not a paragraph), if even that at all.

Now in just 2 clicks I can have a post reblogged, should I wish to, and with no page loading. It feels faster. Now whether it really is is a matter of opinion, but online that’s not a huge deal. If I think it’s faster then to me it is faster.

Tagging is easy to do, once you know how to separate them, and deleting tags is easier than ever. Literally all you have to do is click on a tag you already added and delete it. The bigger box for tags makes them feel less crammed in and easier to see

Drag and drop functionality:

Drag and drop uploading is something that’s becoming increasingly common. Now you can do it on Tumblr. Admittedly this is only useful if you don’t have all your windows open on full screen (iMac and dual monitor users will most benefit from this), but it’s still a case of making it easy and more friendly to use. Drag and drop to move things feels natural, so why not have it on websites? 

A problem with the photo thing though, is the rearranging of photos in a photoset. To test, I uploaded 10 photos (the max). They uploaded with 1 large at the top and 9 smaller ones below it. Ok, that’s fine, but I want a different one up the top. I spent a minute or two just dragging them around and eventually got it, but it shouldn’t have taken me that long. Something that was said to be so easy to use shouldn’t be that difficult. It is a step up from not being able to re-order them at all, but a step when we consider how easy it was to change the layout before. Now if I want to change the layout I have to drag them around a bit first. Initial reaction, not very intuitive at all.

Conclusion:

While I think that the new features are an improvement, they are held back by certain aspects. Usability is good, but is severely lacking in places. I imagine a new user might find it difficult to pick up on some of the symbols. 

However, aesthetically it is a massive step up. I’ve gone into detail on this above. Interfaces feel clean and open, uncluttered. Overall it feels like Tumblr is finally becoming a friendly and open website, where you are encouraged to express yourself.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I can see that another few posts have popped up on my dash, as I haven’t even left the web-page.

But first, what are your opinions? Do you agree with anything I said?

Can someone please explain to me how so many people who I was under the impression were quite intelligent and tech-savvy managed to get all that “this post was verified by a tumblr employee” spam on their pages?

In case it’s not obvious, that isn’t a legitimate post at all

Occasionally I see these posts about “networks” pop up on my dashboard. I’ve yet to see one that doesn’t have a blatant selfish motive attached to it. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with networks though, just the ones which I’ve seen pop up. Basically, for those of you who have been fortunate to avoid these networks, what they are is a group of blogs who are supposed to promote each other and thus gain followers between them. A lot of people join them to try to gain followers,and also so they can say how they’re in the such and such network.

I’m not concerned with whether that works out for them. Maybe they do gain followers. I don’t care. People will follow me if they want, and honestly, I can’t see myself ever joining a network and gaining what I see as “fake” followers. You see, to me the vast majority of networks are created to benefit the creators. If you have seen any of these network posts you will notice how, most of the time, one of the terms to join is “reblog this post”, but also “follow these 2 blogs”. (They also ask for a follower count from people applying, obviously to see how much impact the reblog will make)

They claim to only pick from the people who did both. Is it just me who sees this as fishing for followers or not? Surely a fair network would ask them to follow most of the people in the same network? Makes sense seeing as you’re meant to promote each other. 

Even then, I wouldn’t join one, for reasons I’ve outlined above, the biggest one being the fact that the followers are fake and undeserved. At least that’s my opinion.

But moving on. A while back I saw the first post from a network. It had all the marks that the accompany most network posts (“follow this blog or we won’t pick you”) and called itself “The Rare Network”. They claimed to be looking for “rare” or “unique” blogs and so, out of curiosity, I clicked one of the links for one of the blogs which applicants are expected to follow. What did I expect? Well I half-expected good quality photography, or well written stories or descriptions. Hell, maybe I expected opinion stuff. Point is, I expected something more than the same reblogged stuff that I could see anywhere. 

I should point out here that I have no problem with reblog blogs. That’s the way you run your blog, and that’s fine. It’s unique, sure, but to me that’s similar to saying how every sandwich is unique because of the different ingredients used in different quantities. Reblog blogs are certainly not “rare” though. Sure, some of that personal input from the owner, and I admire those people. Hybrid blogs are not as common as someone with missing-e installed just reblogging stuff with a single click.

So that’s why I won’t join a network. Maybe at some point down the line I’ll make a “anti-generic network network” that will not require you to follow my blog and will actually promote what I deem to be unique and uncommon content (or blogs worthy of the title at least), but for now I will just look with disdain upon the fishing-for-follower networks which hype themselves up into something they’re not

I don’t normally like to talk about other blogs, especially in a negative way. However, I think that this whole “privilege” thing has gone too far. I am in no way saying that the blog used as a sort of case study here is alone in this regard, it is just the one that came to my attention.

http://aboutmaleprivilege.tumblr.com/ is a blog set up to, guess what, allow people to complain about how unfairly they were treated by one male and put it down as “male privilege”. Let me stop right there and tell you, straight off the bat, that society doesn’t favour either gender. People favour other genders, and just as a woman may be promoted because her boss likes her (unfair promotion), so to might a man be promoted. Maybe that’s not the best example, because part of this “male privilege” rubbish is “men get promoted more than women”. Now, I tried to think of a way to sugarcoat this so that it couldn’t be mis-interpreted as sexist, but there’s really no other way of saying it than..people get promoted because they deserve it. If your male co-worker got promoted instead of you then I’m sorry, but maybe he was just deemed to be better suited to the job. Show your boss that you’re suitable for a higher grade job and you’ll get promoted, rather than moaning about “privilege”.

The blog also speaks of how it’s run by a male, and actually provides a whole essay  in the attempt of putting off people who might dare to object to the blog’s contents. The full article can be read here but I’ll try to summarise it as best I can. It starts off with “As I am a male and as well as a moderator on this blog, I’ll admit, I get a little uncomfortable with the privilege submissions from time to time.” 

Fair enough, good for you mate. I have no fault with you for taking the time to do what you want to do. I do,however, object to the fact that you seem to assume that you are above criticism. In fact, according to you “before you get all uppity and shit on this blog and talk about how these posts are presumptuous and stereotypical of males….then turn around and say shit like that shithead skinnyhipsterfuck that said the women here were just “whining and pity partying with other girls.”  if your comments are going to attack of the submissions or the people that do post on this blog, just turn around get the fuck off. You do nothing productive to the conversation and truthfully, I think we’d all benefit if you just disappeared from the conversation. ” I’m sorry somebody said that, but some of us genuinely have reasonable things to say. So don’t lump me in with one jerk who went onto your blog. I’ve received requests for me to kill myself on my own blog but that doesn’t mean that I have any right to say “oh well, clearly anyone who has a problem with stuff I say is an asshole like that one anon. Therefore, I don’t have to listen”.

Asking people not to have an opinion, when you yourself allow the posting of biased, and in fact quite sexist (can we say female privilege in that anything said against a man isn’t sexist in today’s society? No,of course not!). People can have problems, but when reading that post, I felt that my input and beliefs that went against yours would not be accepted. I also noticed that you went into a rant at the end, but that’s irrelevant.

So to anyone who still believes in “white privilege” or “male privilege” or any other rubbish like that, if you genuinely have a problem with something speak up against it. Don’t go on tumblr and moan about how your boyfriend broke up with you because you shaved your head. Instead, be grateful that you got away from someone you clearly wouldn’t have had a good relationship anyway. Before you go and complain about how all the members of a certain gender or ethnicity, bear in mind that what you are doing is racist and sexist, and really adds nothing to the conversation. If I say “all women belong in the kitchen”, then that’s sexist, but so is “all guys are obsessed with sex” or “all men are assholes”. 

When you speak of privilege, what you are really speaking of is how you were unfairly treated once before, and have decided to pin the blame on more people than you should. You are speaking of discrimination and looking for pity for being discriminated against, when in fact you are doing the very same back.

I’m deeply sorry that you feel that you belong to a minority, but that doesn’t give you a reason to become what you are fighting against. I’m male (so bring on the sexist remarks about how I’m not allowed an opinion on this), White (this gets better and better for you, doesn’t it?) and Irish (who were discriminated against throughout history so you can shut your mouth right now). I also value women as friends. I don’t expect them to do things for me. In fact, I’m the opposite. So maybe you should consider what you say before you go any further. Yes, there are some things that I will never understand, and I won’t give my opinion on them. I can never understand the pain of pregnancy not how sexual abuse victims feel. I can never understand the pain of people who lost families through racist attacks. I can never understand a lot of things, but I can understand and talk about what I just posted above..if you disagree, please let me know, but bear in mind I’m not alone in this (and nor is it just white males who have a problem with “privilege bloggers”

Having said that, I’m open for your own opinions and will answer anything you have to say about this topic.  So feel free to send me hate or just contradict what I said. Also, I’m not saying that there aren’t cases where discrimination still exists against you, your gender or your race. We all know that women often get paid less, that women are often thought of as weaker than men are. I’m not supporting those attitudes. In fact, I think they’re completely flawed and belong to a time which we really should be putting behind us (obviously if they’re paid less because they haven’t been promoted for whatever reason then it’s different)…and the only way to do that is to change the opinions of the present and future generations. The way we think is defined by how we were brought up. Do we really want everyone thinking “they’re privileged”?