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February 4, 2011
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For all you cozins having fun on Tumblr, I have an academic question: how do you guys talk to each other?

The other day a friend and I conducted an hour-long experiment, only to figure out that there is NO way to have a discussion on that site. You can't comment unless you're friends w/ someone, and even if a friend comments on your post, *there is no way to reply back to them.* At all. The system literally won't let you say anything in return, and it boggles the mind.

There is the 3rd party app that enables real commenting, but no one bothers to install it. So how do you do it, cozins? Is Tumblr really just a very convenient system of smoke signals?

Inquiring mind wants to know.
  • Mood: Tired
  • Listening to: secret of the kells ost
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:icondonutandwhisky:
*donutandwhisky Feb 6, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
I'm sure this is all mentioned above but just incase it's not. The "ask" feature is pretty good, also you can enable "replies" which show up in the notes below a tumblr post, then finally you can add a "disqus" comment area, either in the html of the tumblr design or most new tumblr designs are including easier disqus integration w/o touching html. hope this helps. it seems like a ton of artists have made the move to tumblr recently.
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:iconolgaulanova:
Yeah, I see a lot of artists on Tumblr, but the lack of interactive features kinda killed it for me. :(
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:iconjambe:
tumblr isn't about discussion; it's like an infostream. Dump vids, photos, and links of interest there and leave it.

Honestly, having used it extensively, it's not anymore convenient than any of the browser plugins for the other popular blogging services (Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Squarespace, etc) beyond the simple fact that you have to download said plugins, which my grandma could probably do.

Its (apparently) nice for people that produce lots of content and/or are somewhat scatterbrained; I follow some artists blogs and they use tumblr to push out sketches and ideas and inspiration and the like. I still don't see why they don't just use a more full-featured service like Wordpress.

Oh, speaking of, if you like tumblr's simplicity but want comments a bit more control, you can try Posterous.

http:/posterous.com/
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:iconolgaulanova:
Sooooo, it's like a glorified filing cabinet ... that lets strangers rifle through your stuff.

XD

I agree, there are many more convenient blogging platforms out there. One thing I'll give Tumblr -- it's easy to share what you find. Which makes it like a social bookmarking site that eliminates the cut and paste of a link. o_0
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:iconjambe:
Yeah, but as I said, there are other services which are just as easy if you use a simple plugin. If you're on a site with stuff you want to share you just click a button on the browser and click again to confirm what you want to post, and then it's posted to your blog.

The biggest name in the "simplifying the blogging experience" game is Shareaholic [link]

I use it, it's slick and very full-featured. There's also Add This, which I haven't used in a while.
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:iconpeach-mork:
*peach-mork Feb 4, 2011  Professional Filmographer
Yeah, I noticed this about tumblr too, and now my current infatuation with it has quickly faded into contempt. I'm just sticking to my blog/da until they come up with something better. I'm also very disappointed with the smoke signals thing, because often people's work goes up on someone's blog, a million people reblog it, but there is rarely a link or credit to the original. Someone told me recently that my sailormoon art is flying all over the place there, but no one has bothered to credit me. :I
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:iconolgaulanova:
I've seen people link back to DA or artist's blog pretty often, but there is no way for YOU to know that. (Unless you set up a google alert or something. XD )

Y'know, I used to think people on Tumblr were super lazy and inconsiderate and never talked to each other - but now I see that they literally can't! Such a weird system.
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:iconsquishymage:
This is the reason I avoid Tumblr and would go straight to LJ if I ever decided to start up an artblog. No discussion = no fun, IMO!
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:iconolgaulanova:
totally! If I didn't want to talk to anyone I'd keep my scribbles in the sketchbook. XD
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:iconlychi:
" Is Tumblr really just a very convenient system of smoke signals?"

LOL! Indeed.
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