WEB NOSTALGIA: Tumblr

I used Tumblr for a pretty short period between about 2012-2014, it was pretty good. I didnt understand how hashtags worked or anything lol. I thought I made amazing photo edits (I did not lol) though and posted a lot of that. Kind of wish I appreciated the fandom and community aspect more because I just can’t see myself on social media like that anymore. Im kind of strictly forums now, I guess, even Discord annoys me lol. One website I do miss a lot is Quizilla, it was terrible but is so nostalgic to me.

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Quizilla! Sporcle! I remember spending a whole day doing Hogwarts House quizzes trying to find an average.

Fanlore has an extensive page about Quizilla.

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I used it a lot between September last year and January, then crashed out so hard I haven’t been on the site since.

omggg sporcle!! didnt go on it as often but it was awesome too. also GoToQuiz and QuoteV (much later in 2014ish for me). I think my fave quizzes were dumb stuff like what hairstyle suits you, what band are you etc lol. thanks for that link, Ill be reading it today <3

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Quizilla was a big part of my childhood before Tumblr. I remember a lot of really bad fanfictions disguised as “quizzes” lol. I may have tried to make my own at some point…

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yes!! I also really loved the WWFFY/WWYFF (thats Who Would Fall For You/Who Would You Fall For ahem ahem lol) quizzes with just the most generic emo boys in the results LOL. Do you remember what your quiz was on/about? I think I tried too also but cannot remember what it was about at all…

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I think it was a “Kidnapped by a vampire” story lmao I was a very cringe baby goth.

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I still use tumblr on a daily basis lmao? Mostly just politics discourse but a lot of fandom stuff finds its way to my dash too. The extreme SJW wars are mostly past and it’s actually a pretty chill place if you follow the right people.

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Seconding @basus, what I miss most about Tumblr is this:

7 post types to click on, the purpose of each one obvious. You click the icon and make the post. Your site knows how to display each post type properly; it appears unbroken on other people’s dashboards.

Tumblr made it so effortless and easy to run a tumblelog of cool links you found, neat pictures, and text posts (both short and longform). I miss that, I feel like doing that on your own website is harder (or I would have done it by now. Or maybe I’m not being creative enough…)

In recent years, I believe they consolidated or removed some of the post types. For example, Photo posts made from the mobile app are now considered the same as text posts, and so they don’t always display properly on the blog. Can anyone confirm?

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Same, I started using Tumblr in 2015-ish and still use it to this day. Missed all the controversy, I just find cool artists to follow and boost to my minuscule following.

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I primarily used Tumblr for the fandom and roleplay communities about a decade ago, and as I’ve gotten older, I still use it: though more so for aesthetic blogging (enjoying pretty pictures) and reading poetry, which has remained a consistent interest of mine over the years- it’s a nice way to get some passive exposure to poets and poems I may not have otherwise run across. I had stints with various niche communities: writing, bullet journalling, studying, and so on as well- the studyblr images and some of the bujo spreads are still nice to reference occasionally. I remember it generally as a fairly dramatic, high strung, but passionate space. It also was an important place for me to begin learning about more left leaning politics, and fandom especially was a wonderful place for me to cut my creative teeth as a young teen.

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I never posted much on Tumblr, and frankly my wife and I mainly used it to find porn together. We both like looking at b&w photography, and there was a lot of that on Tumblr back in the day.

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Yes, as I was looking into moving my posts off Tumblr, I saw some documentation that said they’d changed the post format to not have categories like that at some point.

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Since I discovered Tumblr in 2011, it was the social media and blogging platform I was most active on until 2024. I used Tumblr mainly for fandom stuff, and I not only reblog but create fan works myself, such as meta pieces and graphics. In fact, most of the fandom-related essays on my website, including my Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic stuff, were originally posted on Tumblr. I also used to run multiple blogs dedicated to certain fandoms.

More importantly, Tumblr helped me realise I’m queer, thanks to the large presence of LGBTQ+ people there, despite me initially following people there for fandom stuff. Like @RosariaDelacroix, Tumblr was also an important place for me to start learning about leftist and left-learning politics more.

The huge presence of autistic people on Tumblr made me fully realise I’m autistic as well.

Even though I’m not active on Tumblr any more because I had made the conscious decision to focus on my own websites and blogs and spend less time on social media, but I genuinely appreciate Tumblr for being a major part of my life and not even just online for helping me discover my queerness and autism, and shape my leftist politics.

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