(no subject)
Tumblr makes me completely miserable. Every time I go on it I feel less interested in participating in fandom. I realize that no one is going to stop using Tumblr because I hate it, certainly not the people I interact with in fandom, but using it pretty much gives me legit anxiety and I don't want anything to do with it. Conflicted about this, because it's fucking fandom and I want people to pay attention to me and, also, I want to partake in interesting South Park goings-on. But I've never had a single interaction on Tumblr that I couldn't have done without, nor have I had a single interaction on Tumblr that couldn't have been better facilitated on almost any other site, including e-mail. If someone wants to get in touch with me just e-mail me, please. The e-mails aren't public, nobody else can "like" them, there's no character limit (or, there is, but it's absurdly high and I've only hit it while e-mailing entire fics), and it's possible to linearly follow a conversation.
There are things I don't like about FF.net (or AO3, which I'm on but don't love), LJ, DA, Gmail, and Y!Gal, but all of them provide some clearly delineated niche service that facilitates fandom productivity and interaction. Tumblr adds nothing to any of these services other than its ease of use, which to me isn't a significant advantage over any other site. Moreover, Tumblr detracts from fandom productivity. I think it has a function, and that function is internet scrapbooking. Which is perfectly legitimate and I maintain other non-fandom Tumblrs where I'm not looking for any interactive element. But I don't think the site is cutting it for fandom and I'm disappointed that we're forsaking a) discourse and b) privileging original fan work in favor of c) laziness.
There are things I don't like about FF.net (or AO3, which I'm on but don't love), LJ, DA, Gmail, and Y!Gal, but all of them provide some clearly delineated niche service that facilitates fandom productivity and interaction. Tumblr adds nothing to any of these services other than its ease of use, which to me isn't a significant advantage over any other site. Moreover, Tumblr detracts from fandom productivity. I think it has a function, and that function is internet scrapbooking. Which is perfectly legitimate and I maintain other non-fandom Tumblrs where I'm not looking for any interactive element. But I don't think the site is cutting it for fandom and I'm disappointed that we're forsaking a) discourse and b) privileging original fan work in favor of c) laziness.