Don't Do That.

sistermarymartha: Dear Boss Lady, When you use that tone like you would like to jump through the...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:00:08 -0400

Dear Boss Lady,

When you use that tone like you would like to jump through the phone and choke me, I will get progressively more and more reticent. And when you ask me what is wrong and I tell you that you are being extremely aggressive without reason, it’s probably not advisable to get nastier.

choke on it,

SMM

We don’t usually give life advice, but it kind of sounds like you hate your job. You should quit before she finds your blog and poisons the office water one day.

Reader Mail.

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:54:48 -0400

. (very descriptive name!) writes,

What about unfollow firday? [sic] Is there any point to that? No one, especially a teen-ager, needs to know why they were unfollowed. Simply clickg [sic] that unfollow button is enough. There’s no need for this loser project of Ben’s.

We say: Unfollow Friday is like a crude, reader-generated version of Tumbletiquette. It has no guiding principles, no anchoring rules, but it does impose a sort of consciousness on Tumblr as a whole.

The idea itself, taken in abstract and assuming people act politely, is a good one. Often, people post whiny ponderings about why they were unfollowed. Unfollow Friday addresses that, and, we hope, prevents users from complaining they’re losing followers quite as much. Because before, when they asked “why?”, they meant it quite rhetorically, since most are far too sensitive to take criticism. Therefore, Unfollow Friday acted as both a salve and a deterrent.

Do not under any circumstances reblog an Unfollow Friday post about you and cry about how mean and negative people are. If you must comment at all on it, be humble and funny about the whole thing. No one wants to hear you whine about meta issues. Really. No…really.

As for whether teenagers need to hear criticism or not, they shouldn’t even be on Tumblr. There’s enough butthurt ‘round these parts as it is.

The project has somewhat devolved because those very teenagers submit entries themselves, thus diluting the ability to snark-sympathize with a majority of posts. We are aware Ben was criticized for selectively editing posts in the past, but he should continue to do so to prevent undesirable messages getting through.

(Note: Speaking of butthurt, the term Unfollow Friday was coined by brianvan, the Butthurt King to Rule Them All.)

Is it unethical to have ads on your Tumblr?

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:59:53 -0400

slartibartpants:

Assuming people read your shitty-ass blog is completely egotistical. Nobody reads Slartibartpants—I do it because I can’t find anything to do at work. But if someone actually does visit your site why not have unintrusive ads? Why not make a little cash off of posting pictures of Hitler? It’s not art, it’s satire. I’m not putting the McDonalds arches on the Mona Lisa, I’m putting a bumper sticker on a Honda Civic.

Over the course of this argument I have made $2.

We were more talking about the comparing Obama to Hitler theme to your little blog, than making money off of it. The profiting off of an already revolting idea is just icing on the cake.

Reader Comment

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:26:24 -0400

Sam asks,

Is importing your Twitter feed bad protocol? Does it clog up other people’s Tumblr feeds with stuff they’d rather not read… and if they did, they’d just follow you on Twitter? What if your main use of Tumblr is as a funnel, so you can gather feeds, and then post a unified stream to your website? Does that legitimize it a little bit?

Importing your Twitter feed is bad protocol. We don’t care how many times David Karp whinges on about how Twitter and Tumblr get together and sing Kumbaya at weekly campfires; he hates Twitter, and so does everyone else, even the people on it. (Nick Douglas obviously excluded, but then again, he’s the only one making money off that thing anyhow.)

If you’re feeding your banal, hoping-to-be-pithy, link-heavy “tweets” (shudder) into your Tumblr, you are diluting the clear water. You are piping sewage in here. Is that what you want?

Yes, they’d follow you on Twitter if they wanted to. No, whatever you said about gathering feeds does not legitimize it.

Here’s what you do: Click a text post. Write <140 characters of text. Pretend you’re on Twitter. Or better yet, just use Twitter exclusively.

We’re back, motherbitches!

Obama Is Literally Hitler is now profiting

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:17:05 -0400

slartibartpants:

tumbletiquette:

slartibartpants:

jasencomstock:

slartibartpants:

Fuck yes. I am a professional blogger, or something.

What kind of page views are you getting?

As of 6:00 Tuesday I’ve had 60,000 visitors. Tues Night 20.5k; Weds 30.5k; Yesterday 9k. Today I’ve had 6k page impressions (yesterday I had 12K). I’m assuming it’s going to taper off pretty well as the gag gets old but fuckit, I’m making money off of posting pictures of Obama and Hitler, even if it is nearly negligible.

What? Stop.

Do you really think I’m not going to try to cash in on this? There’s an opportunity for me to make money off of a webpage that has pictures of Obama and Hitler. I wouldn’t possibly want to ruin the pure art of blogging by bringing capitalism into the picture, right? That would totally ruin the ART, mannn.

This site will be entertaining for a week, max. Might as well enjoy the ride.

Oh, well, in that case. Please! Continue your astonishing lack of common sense and decency. We hope you get a book deal out of it. After all, it couldn’t possibly be any worse than the Boner Party book.

themattsmith: (via scottfriday)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:13:06 -0400

themattsmith:

(via scottfriday)

Tumblr is serious business, comrades.

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:12:42 -0400

We would be much obliged if you’d help us out by sending etiquette-worthy emails to us. The entirety of the Tumblr-fail crowd is quite outside our full purview.

etiquette.tumblr@gmail.com

Obama Is Literally Hitler is now profiting

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:10:18 -0400

slartibartpants:

jasencomstock:

slartibartpants:

Fuck yes. I am a professional blogger, or something.

What kind of page views are you getting?

As of 6:00 Tuesday I’ve had 60,000 visitors. Tues Night 20.5k; Weds 30.5k; Yesterday 9k. Today I’ve had 6k page impressions (yesterday I had 12K). I’m assuming it’s going to taper off pretty well as the gag gets old but fuckit, I’m making money off of posting pictures of Obama and Hitler, even if it is nearly negligible.

What? Stop.

What a difference pink tutus make...

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:07:00 -0400

meghanasha:

Julia stayed well after our meeting ended today and we just talked. We talked like old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. For some reason tonight, all the stress, anticipation, pressure and guilt I’ve felt this year on a constant basis subsided. I could feel that both Julia and I had stopped beating ourselves up for not achieving the lofty (perfectionist) goals we had originally set out to do with NonSociety.

Long ago my vision somehow got clouded, and I lost sight of what actually matters. Besides the thrill of building and exploring, I lost sight of the people in front of me full of genuine love and friendship. The people close to me that can see things I sometimes can’t see myself.

With that, tonight I saw Julia. I finally saw my old friend again. My Julia. Stripped of all the stress we once felt, all the bossiness that means well, but often comes across overbearing. She stood in my kitchen with dyed crimson hair, no makeup, she was real….she was beautiful. All the name-dropping we once reveled in - gone. All the pressure we once felt - gone. All the fear - gone. Yes, we felt free enough to have a reflective conversation about how much had changed over the last year.

With the perspective of age and a year that feels as fast as it feels long, I could tell that tonight we had arrived at peace. I knew in my heart that we would not only survive the hiccups, the bad decisions and self-doubts of our initial venture. We’d more than just make it through another year; we’d thrive and find a happiness that can only be achieved with vision and hard work.

Yes, we spent a better part of this year doing zany stunts (often very out of character for me). Can you imagine being a grown woman fresh out of working with the staunch suits in finance, suddenly wearing neon spandex in Times Square lip dubbing to “Dancing in the Streets?”

We fought like sisters, three different perspectives. I, most of the time, didn’t even bother to voice my opinion. It was too much effort to exert, while trying to navigate a site in the dark. The hairy times were familial.

Dysfunctional, but familial.

Yes, I admit I was a bad blogger. I put 10% of my effort into writing and the other 90% stressing out about what my readers would think of me. “Would they think my opinions are stupid? Would they call me a luddite?” Sometimes all of my fears would be validated by reading a deprecating comment or a nasty email. Like a friend, I was fearful if my audience REALLY got to know me they wouldn’t like me.

I felt exposed in this new very public digital sphere. Where were the rules? I wanted to be everyone’s friend, but in the end, my content just became a snooze-fest. I became a self-proclaimed “Geekette,” but seriously, what the hell does that even mean anyways? I’m a fan of technology? Who really cares? These days, who isn’t in L-O-V-E with their iPhone?

Yes, our little online experiment was a bit of a struggle for me personally. Partially because I’m a very private person, I’m used to keeping a good game face on no matter what I feel inside.

With that I was forced to either ignore, or try to figure out who was the real “Meghan Asha.” I choose the latter, all while feeling exposed in a public forum. Putting things out online felt like being examined under a microscope. Talk about seeing your imperfections - they were all over this digital space, not to mention viewed by others in real time.

Coming from corporate I had so many judgments on what I was doing:

Did I look like an idiot? Sometimes.

Was my writing shallow? Often.

And videos? Don’t even get me started on my amateur editing.

When I quit my job a year and a half ago I thought I had it all figured out. Just because I decided to follow my passion and “live differently” didn’t mean I entirely knew who I was. So often, I took the easy way out this year, letting the business run me, rather than me run the business. I got scared, I tuned out, at points I even lost my passion, wondering how the heck I got myself involved in such an avant garde digital venture. My default is to follow rules, not take chances and adhere to a plan. For anyone wanting to be an entrepreneur this is an awful way to be.

Throughout the year, I often wondered how the heck I signed up for this circus. We used ourselves as online guinea pigs in a pseudo version that sometimes felt like a bad version of the Truman Show, what could possibly come from this?

Actually a lot.

With all the craziness, all the financial pressure, the emotional questions that made me want to disassociate - even with the judgmental emails from readers, friends, and family members - I still wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t change the time in our business where we became in love with our own reflections and neglected to see the bigger picture. I wouldn’t change the dramatic dashes to the airport where we almost made our cabbie crash because of our own time constraints. I wouldn’t change dressing up in Three Musketeers costumes that took more than a thousand candy bars to make. I wouldn’t change blogging my life in sometimes the most superficial way possible, looking like a party girl at times, with not a deep bone in my body.

It all was worth it. It was a wild ride.

I lived imperfectly perfect this year. I lived in vibrant colors surrounded by pink tutus, a statuesque blonde and way too many little barking dogs that I’ve since grown to love. Gone was exactly what I wanted to be rid of - the grayness of my cubical, the mundane. Yes, at times I longed for a schedule, for the haven of a 9 to 5. Even for (surprise, surprise) anonymity away from the critical eye of the Internet.

But isn’t it always the case? You never really get perspective until after the fact.

Things are hectic still, but I have also calmed down. I have a clearer more confident sense of where we’re going, where I’d like to take the site, what I want my role to be, and my comfort level being online. I don’t know what happened, maybe I just got past that ever so prevalent quarter-life crisis, whatever it is, it feels good. I’m more than ready for the next chapter; I know it’s going to be a goody.

Thank you for reading and thank you for coming along for the ride…

Let’s cut through the tl;dr:

dyed crimson hair
bossiness
bad decisions
failed at doing anything with NonSociety
Love this: “Can you imagine being a grown woman fresh out of working with the staunch suits in finance, suddenly wearing neon spandex in Times Square lip dubbing to “Dancing in the Streets?” thereby saying Julia is not a grown woman (which, obvs)
“live differently” in air quotes because it is absurd
fighting (BUT LIKE SISTERS!)
yapping, pooping dogs

Does that about sum up how much you hate Julia Allison, Meghan? Our passive-aggressive etiquette-loving ancestors would just adore you.

Tumblarity OH NO

Thu, 07 May 2009 18:23:35 -0400

So, Tumblr has unveiled another stupid new feature, and, predictably, the peanut gallery is whining about it. Wake us up when there’s another nude picture scandal.

I'm Just Throwing This Out There

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:10:29 -0400

marseeah:

If, when replying to an email, your write your response BELOW all the previous correspondence, you are an asshole.

"Also, we thought people on Tumblr realized Facebook is dead."

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:09:48 -0400

“Also, we thought people on Tumblr realized Facebook is dead.”

- Don’t Do That.

This drives me crazy. “We’re so cool, Facebook sucks. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.” Whatever, MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, may not be for you, but it’s so weird to me when web2.0 people look down on others for their internet proclivities.

(via sarahchristine)

Oh, you’re so right. You should definitely ignore the important lesson we taught you about not joining Facebook groups to look down hysterically on others for their political proclivities in favor of some sweeping comment about Web 2.0 (buzzword!) issues.

sarahchristine: Hi. My name is Sarah and I’m an asshole. You do...

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:00:54 -0400

sarahchristine:

Hi. My name is Sarah and I’m an asshole.

You do realize that baiting people who think differently than you on Facebook may not make the entire internets get their pitchforks and join you, right? If you want to have a legitimate, intellectual discussion, find legitimate, intellectual people. You are shouting down from an imaginary soapbox at people who either don’t think so well or don’t want to get into internet arguments with a crazy girl who joined their group just to yell at them with multiple exclamation points. You are throwing your words into a void. Also, we thought people on Tumblr realized Facebook is dead.

what's the name/location of the Jezebel-like site Elizabeth Spiers started?

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:16:34 -0400

jaimeleighfairbrother:

brianvan:

(via jaimeleighfairbrother)

Gawker?

No, no—the one she started (or was starting?) recently. Something that would be similar to Jez. I could google it, I suppose. I just prefer the human interaction of asking via Tumblr.

http://tinyurl.com/crwcke

Welcome back, T-Etiquette.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:11:00 -0400

sistermarymartha:

It’s been a little quiet without you.

Like crappy college bands that must take a “hiatus” because of lack of material, so too did we. We see inspiration stirring, however.

Altering Re-Blogs

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:07:56 -0400

tanya77:

I don’t agree with it in the least. Add your comment, but leave the original blog post alone.

When I see someone I don’t follow has re-blogged my post, I check it out. Sometimes I wind up “following” them, but when I see they’ve edited my post or eliminated portions of the original post, I never go back to their page.

I’m sure some would disagree with me, but I find it disrespectful to all the posters that caused it to show up on your dashboard in the first place to alter the post.

Though Ms. Bateman is often a tad aggressive, this stance is not a terrible one to take. There are exceptions, but on the whole, you should leave a reblog in if you are adding to a conversation.

Exceptions:

1) In the case of long, inane threads such as “What is your age?” “What is your location?”, you shouldn’t be responding at all, to save all of us a little headache. But if you are caught up in the thrill of the shameless request for reblogs and must respond, you can and should edit the thousand previous answers for efficiency and aesthetic on your Tumblr.

2) If someone is reblogging an article/quote/argument and the previous comments are all the “co-sign” and “this” variety, then you may remove them, since those don’t add anything to the original post.

3) If someone has made a grammatical mistake and you wish it to appear correctly on your own blog. Do not, however, bold their mistake and write that you have corrected it. What are you, the ever impertinent and often inaccurate eatshootleave?

4) If you only wish to respond to one of the arguments or points the original poster is making.

5) If someone makes the same point a few times in the same post, you may remove a few of these repeats, but use caution if it seems to be part of their rhetoric or language. Only edit conceptually when it terribly weakens their post.

United to charge heavier passengers twice to fly

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:57:00 -0400

United to charge heavier passengers twice to fly:

robot-heart:

kiamatthews:jeffcagle:

Newsradio 780 has learned that United has instructed its customer service representatives at O’Hare International Airport ticket counters and gates to be extra vigilant beginning Wednesday for passengers they deem to be overweight. Those unable to comfortably fasten a safety belt with one extension or sit comfortably with armrests down will be denied boarding unless they purchase an extra seat, even if they can be placed elsewhere in the aircraft next to an empty seat.

If no empty seat exists, the passenger will be forced to take a later flight.

This is a great move by United. With last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Canada, this could get interesting, but it’s a great step forward in stigmatizing this health epidemic.

While I don’t think passengers should be double-charged if the plane is not full and they are not occupying a second seat, I do think if a plane is flying full (as most do these days), people who take up two seats should be required to pay the airline for the extra seat, which is keeping another paying customer off the plane. I’m not saying this because I hate fat people or because I don’t want to sit next to a fat person on a plane. This comes strictly from a revenue standpoint. If you’re taking up two seats, preventing another paying customer from boarding the plane, and preventing the airline from getting that additional revenue, then you shouldn’t get a 2 for 1 deal just because you’re different. Passengers who come on board with any other medical issues that require them to take up more than one seat are required to pay for all seats they take up. It should be the same for everyone.

Now, if the plane isn’t full and you aren’t causing the airline to lose revenue, I disagree with having to pay twice. My guess is, though, the airline made this rule to avoid having to shuffle passengers during boarding to accommodate certain passengers, which can delay boarding and put a schedule for plane and crew behind for the entire day. Considering how many passengers come on board on any given day who need two seats (and I say this as a former flight attendant), this would probably delay 90% of flights that go out.

You know what is really quite rude? Eliminating parts of a person’s reblog so it looks like all the people you reblogged it from have no comment on the original post. If any of you would like to see Kia’s comment on the article, it is here, and it is not positive, and it has something to say to the original poster.

By removing her comment, Robot-heart and Sds (here) have made it seem as though Kia made a blind re-blog of the article. They are cutting out her disapproval and putting their approval, since her disapproval interferes with what they want to say. Essentially they are limiting the conversation and presenting it in a misleading way that is unfair to the person they reblogged it from.

It’s less egregious to eliminate portions of a comment that agrees with what you are about to say, but by selectively editing the conversation to eliminate disagreements, you are performing a type of propaganda.

The Question Feature.

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:45:00 -0400

Tumblr, why do you do these things? The question feature can only hurt us all. People seem to be using the feature either to ask versions of different song lyrics, or to awkwardly crowdsource. We’ll batten down the hatches until the novelty wears off.

Tumblr's Missing Manual

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:13:16 -0400

Tumblr's Missing Manual:

shutupinternet:

A few weeks ago I decided to make a Tumblelog about all things Tumblr, posting strategies, good practices, the psychology behind Tumblr, etc.

It’s as much for new Tumblr users as it is for the vets.

Please give it a look and a follow.

Much of the material here is material we condone and, in some cases, have mentioned ourselves! Of course, following them instead of tumbletiquette means you’ll miss out on a lot of schadenfreude.

subjecttomeg: Here you go, Tumbletiquette. I didn’t want you to...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:25:24 -0400

subjecttomeg:

Here you go, Tumbletiquette. I didn’t want you to feel left out.

Well…harrumph. We are strangely touched.