kerpingtack: ms paint crop of a timeline of weekend life (omnomatron)
counting at war ([personal profile] kerpingtack) wrote2011-07-23 01:57 pm
Entry tags:

i need to eat something

tumblr is such a shitty platform. It's literally only good for pictures; anything else tumblr people have tried to expand with (gifs, vids, blogs, conversations) turns out low-quality and/or messy as fuck because of how poorly designed that fucking place is. The internet is being strangled to death with all these shitty grainy gifs. No one wants to make gifs normally anymore; they'd rather fit with the ~tumblr size restriction~ because otherwise omg can't share with people on tumblr~ I'm thinking about learning how to make gifs just for myself even though oh god I am not good with computer.

Additionally tumblr's feeding into the general spam culture/frenzied attn whoring of social networking today. Why do you even have to gif everything? Why do you have to comment on everything? All these young teenagers with nothing better to do than hang around online and bitch angrily and/or troll to be ~offensive. Or are just stupid. (I'm not trying to be mean or funny here but more and more I'm like WOW your brain is seriously still developing when you're a teenager. There are some things most of them just cannot cognitively process well. Lack of experience with... people and life also contribute. They're emotional wrecks swept along by the drama of their internet groups.) There's really something to be said about how social media today enables an unhealthy immediacy. Your reaction to real life becomes your real life. And yes there have always been tasteless shitheads, but they've never had so many high profile outlets as they have today. Like people on tumblr who made gifs of the earthquake in Japan earlier this year (literally DURING the news reports), and now people apparently making ~fanwork of the Norway shooting? The fucking fuck. And again, it's not the impulse itself that is special to things like tumblr, but the spam mentality and enabling.

tumblr's especially annoying to me in this regard because tumblr's not 4chan; they have a different justification and reputation for doing this. It's hipster clusterfuck central and everyone's always getting up on their high horse and I feel like they'd defend their tasteless insensitive trolling by saying it's art or that it's fine not to care or something. Dear god. idk.

The design of tumblr is just really stupid and counterintuitive and messy to me (HOW CAN A SITE SO OBSESSED WITH AESTHETICS BE SO FUCKING UGLY), I hate how people just exacerbate this shitty interface by the way they use it (shitty fonts, shitty tumblr themes, trying to make tumblr accomodate all types of media even though it is LITERALLY only capable of handling pictures properly), and I hate 95% of the people I see on there. Also I hate anything that packages reactions/humor into REALLY standardized phrases, which okay, why am I on the internet then, but tumblr humor in particular makes me want to punch my way through concrete walls. I guess it's the way it seems like EVERYONE uses it or how it's often repeated because people like and reblog. Plus people seem to be obsessed with getting followers/attn so if they see it work one time, they repeat it, and the way tumblr's designed in a fucking cesspool, you can't easily parse out the people/things you want to avoid, so almost invariably you just see the same things over and over and over again. And often it becomes ~stylized (badly) because they're all hipsters.

And my perennial complaint: WHY DON'T PEOPLE ON TUMBLR CREDIT THEIR SHIT OMFG

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
I have a lot of various little (and big) beefs with tumblr but this post is particularly reminding me how much I hate a) THE FACT THAT THE LOCATION OF THE STUPID BACK/FRONT ARROWS VARIES in both wording and location in every theme, ugh, b) how public it makes everything, and c) the general lack of creativity: in humor, in the basic concept of "reblogging", in response. I am so very much not the most productive/efficient person in the world and I do so many useless things but I still always want to ask DOESN'T CLICKING LIKE ALL DAY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE WASTING YOUR LIFE, children!?

But then my favorite thing about tumblr is that all the people who would like something like tumblr go there and stay there and I have to deal with them less.

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
I HATE THAT THERE'S NO ?STYLE=MINE ON TUMBLR OMG SOME PEOPLE'S THEMES ARE SO ENRAGING, I JUST WANT TO CREEP ON YOUR STUPID TUMBLR WHY DO YOU MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT!

ommmg the public everything makes me mad. I don't like that any time you do ANYTHING everything can see it. And reblog it so it's just like taken completely out of your hands, and people can attach all their dumb opinions to it too. I mean I'm supposing that's why people make all their commentary in their tags (that's why I do it at least lol). But then some people don't make their tags visible and UGH how am I supposed to creep properly?? lol.

You know what, I think the lack of creativity is one of the fundamnetal things that bothers me about tumblr. Or maybe, like, the bastardization of creativity along with the selfishness. Because people can ~customize their tumblrs with the different themes, but they do it SO shittily and without regard for people trying to navigate that hellhole. Or all the ~beautiful tumblr edits~ where they remove the original watermark, photoshop it, and then put their own watermark on it. jfc.

Seriously, the way tumblr is so fucking disorganized makes me feel like the youth of today are crazy or something. How can they spend so much time navigating that shambling mess?? Like I wanted to cry the first time I saw what a long conversation thread looked like on tumblr. DO YOU KIDS SERIOUSLY READ THAT?? The longer you talk, the more you approach having like one letter on each line, what the fuck!

lol, very good point about welcome exodus...es. I think I'm mostly riled up because fandom is moving more and more toward tumblr and ugh people have to use the shitty tumblr gifs on lj and things. BUT WHY ARE WE GOING TO TUMBLR, PEOPLE? STOP IT!! we should only use tumblr for picspam and absolutely NOTHING more. ;~; (And also I think tumblr has really nice potential, because it really is honestly useful for spreading pictures and sometimes people do use it well to create an interesting/distinct aesthetic or whatever. that's why I keep creeping on it, lol. But overall it's just so damn poorly designed and used. smh)

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
It's like, not even just that ANYONE CAN SEE ANYTHING (I mean it is), I also just find it so awkward that to converse with anyone you pretty much have to broadcast it to everyone who follows you. I mean like... this is a public post, so theoretically anyone could read this comment, but they have to click into the post. To read what I have to say about tumblr here they have to first want to read what you have to say about tumblr, and then have to continue to care about the topic of tumblr sucking to want to read the comments. I don't know why the tumblr method of making everyone read or scroll past everything you have to say bugs me so much but it does, idk I guess I just to have long conversations about embarrassing things like the face a kpop idol was making during a winning stage or how the trill are TOTALLY the best Star Trek species and maybe I don't feel like making everyone I know sit through that!!

I like that you said "bastardization of creativity" because one of my least favorite things about tumblr is how it produces these gifs that are like, the same clip repeated four times in four corners, colorized into ~a rainbow~ because it's ~pretty~ or something, LIKE WHY WOULD YOU WASTE YOUR LIFE MAKING SOMETHING LIKE THAT IT SEEMS LIKE IT'D TAKE A LOT OF EFFORT but I guess it gains them followers. But yeah ugh that whole stupid watermark debate was the WORST, esp since usually the re-watermarked edits were generally worse-looking than the original photos. There's just like this constant gross sense of entitlement going on over there, I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

LOL I FEEL LIKE SUCH A GRANDMA, shaking my cane at them all the time but yes basically I agree it is totally ridiculous!!

No I am the same, I go back and forth between "GOOD RIDDANCE" and "but why is everyone gone", because idk I like fandom but if everyone does eventually completely move over there I just... can't. I (kind of) tried, but I just genuinely get nothing out of it!! I LIKE MAKING BIG LAME THEATRICAL LJ POSTS WITH MY OWN WORDS, and I like commenting on things but ughhhh. But ia that it is good for pictures/picspamming etc. I think I spend more time looking through tumblr tags for pictures than I do like, actually logged into my own tumblr dashboard. And despite everything some people do have really fun tumblrs that make for v enjoyable creeping. It's just that... most people really don't.

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
That's so true, and I hate how like vertically oriented and continuous tumblr is. Like dashboards and infinite scrolling. It's seriously like all the worst parts of a forum combined with the worst parts of twitter.

I seriously don't think these kids know their own tastes really or understand what looks good; they just see what gets others attn and go along. lol omg I still rage so hard about rude-ass edits. It pisses me off a lot when people don't credit things properly, and modifying (ruining) people's work and REPLACING their watermarks takes that to another level. And then bitching about it!! You dumb kids, how dare you even make it sound like you have some kind of right to to the original photos (which are ALREADY edited to perfection by the original fans w t f). Make friends a more normal way!!!

The entitlement thing, ugh yes. tumblr reeks of ignorant privilege.

lol who would have known that tumblr was the big threat to lj fandom, not dreamwidth! I don't think fic will switch over at least, but I hope none of the fandom REALLY goes over. I really like the lj format too. It makes sense to me; you have your own space, and like you said, you have discrete posts that can be hidden away by cut-tags and no one has to see it unless they go looking for it, just like no one has to read your comments unless they're interested. (Secretly I want tumblr to collapse in on itself like a dying star somewhere down the line so people will be able to say "remember tumblr? lol." /MEAN) Discussion or like ANYTHING readable is fucking impossible on tumblr. I can't bear to think of those conversation threads. omg.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
Secretly I want tumblr to collapse in on itself like a dying star somewhere down the line so people will be able to say "remember tumblr? lol." /MEAN
SOMETIMES I THINK THIS IS INEVITABLE, if only because like... how the hell does tumblr even make money? Like seriously idgi at all, there are no ads and people aren't paying to use it are they?! A LOT OF PEOPLE USE TUMBLR, servers cost money, is this some trust fund kid's baby or what, I don't understand!! But yeah, I wish, I wish. I think/agree the fic aspect is pretty much what's keeping lj fandom alive, SADLY, so every so often when I see someone posting fic on tumblr I get really weirdly threatened, iiiiidk.

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
I hope all that is true! wow I never noticed that there weren't any ads, I was too busy being annoyed at everything else lol. I see tumblr people bitching about tumblr all the time too; I don't think it was built to be so big and I don't think the people running it really know how to accomodate it? How would fic even be sustainable on tumblr? I see some there too but like... how do comments work...? UGH GOD are people honestly and actually leaving for tumblr?? Like, REAL people and not just teenagers?? (lol sorry teenagers I'm sure you're real people too.)

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
*bitching about tumblr as in maintenance, how it crashes all the time, the new format changest, etc. otherwise tumblr people loooooooove tumblr, tis gross

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah it seems like the servers are always a little iffy? Which makes sense sort of, tumblr is huuuuge and ia that they didn't really ever think it would get as big as it has. But idk in a twisted way it sort of works, like people can click the "like" button if they don't want to leave a real comment and tumblr has that weird reply feature. But with no ?style=mine and no way to reply to comments I don't think it'll ever really be a viable alternative. But yeah I've had some/kind of a lot of lj friends who have slowly mostly switched over! Like, people in their twenties, even! WHAT IS THAT I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
lmao omg I hate to think what all these like/thumbs up features are doing to our culture and society.

D: but whyyyyyyyy tumblr is so STUPID. there's no better word I can think of! it's just DUMB. what do they even do there then?? how can they even talk? do they talk in gifs?? like the people who were born in tumblr?? lol what am I saying. but seriously, oh god why

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
I HAVE NO IDEA, I don't really talk to them anymore, they just drop by every three months to go "oh man posting is so haaaaaaard what is coming up with my own things to say!!" (and then lol yes, LET'S HAVE A GIF SPAM PARTY) (I kind of hate gifs sometimes/a lot of the time ugh) (I am not usually one to be like "X IS TOO OLD FOR FANDOM" but when you are past 25 and you have a tumblr presence like, REALLY) (...this devolved into a lot of useless parenthetical asides)

[identity profile] counttheplanes.livejournal.com 2011-07-24 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
I hate when people use gifs/macros FOR conversation omg. It's funny as a one off pithy reaction thing, but a whole thread is like, devolving into picture flashcards for thoughts. I know some artists and the like are on tumblr and I'm assuming they're a bit older, or at least a bit more mature/professional than the average user, but yeah tumblr is definitely a really YOUNG place, idk what you're doing there after a certain age if you're just in fandom and not creating anything. idk, I just want to usher tumblr slowly out of life~