General Discussion Thread

[Yuuago]

Now me because derp, you Tumblr users, how do you use this thing
I have a new profile and I have no idea of anything
h elp-

'How do you use this thing' With difficulty ;p (Tumblr is not my favourite platform for functionality, ahaha)

It might help if there is a specific thing that you want to know. Are you having trouble posting things, or finding things to post? Are you planning to use it only for posting your own stuff, or do you intend to reblog things that you like as well? Do you need to know how tags and searching works?

[daItrick]

I haven't changed it yet, I've sent a request/application to change it! It'll take a few weeks before it gets processed and if I get my name. Reading the name laws threw me a bit off, but I'm pretty sure they'll acknowledge it. I know a person who got her name changed to Galadriel at age 13........

as for help with tumblr... uh...... what d'you need help with? it's a lot to explain all at once and a lot of things will just stay confusing forever im sorry to say

I meant that but what's English even. And changing your name at 13, wasn't that too early??

The tumblr thing is just how it works. Even only the basics but anything you know

'How do you use this thing' With difficulty ;p (Tumblr is not my favourite platform for functionality, ahaha)

It might help if there is a specific thing that you want to know. Are you having trouble posting things, or finding things to post? Are you planning to use it only for posting your own stuff, or do you intend to reblog things that you like as well? Do you need to know how tags and searching works?

I actually wanted an account because it's an awesome platform at least for me xD

As I said, nothing specific, only basics and that stuff.

[Haiz]

I meant that but what's English even. And changing your name at 13, wasn't that too early??

The tumblr thing is just how it works. Even only the basics but anything you know

well, she had her mother change it because you can't change your name until you're 18. shrugs

uhhhhhhhh the BASIC basics would be... you follow blogs with content you like, and you have a dashboard where their posts will appear. you can like or reblog posts. when you reblog a thing it will appear on your blog. if you tag a thing it will be easier to find afterwards. if you make a post, the tags are probably the main way people will find your thing. your post will only appear in the five first tags.

[Curry]

I actually wanted an account because it's an awesome platform at least for me xD

As I said, nothing specific, only basics and that stuff.

Some good tags to start off with to build your archive (building off of what haiz said):
-if there's an animal in the post, tag it
-if there's a fandom in the post, tag it
-if you really like the post, tag it "fave" or "favorite" or "favorito" or something similar
-have one single tag you use for all your art so you can direct people to it when they ask and also find your stuff easily
-same goes for edits
-same goes for selfies
-same goes for anything you do, really

SHORTER TAGS ARE EASIER TO TYPE QUICKLY! This seems intuitive but if you have xkit's one-click posting you'll have to type them all out by hand and that's annoying and boring to do over and over again. Those extra three letters will be the death of you. Trust me here.

DON'T GET INTO ARGUMENTS WITH PEOPLE it's awful and convoluted and you'll be wrong, somehow, and three years later you'll regret it. i promise you. just don't do it.

Post your own stuff if you want to get followers and tag it! Followers take a while to get but once they start to accumulate, they speed the heck up and soon you'll be a Foncy Famous Bloge

When you're posting your stuff (this goes for any online site but tumblr in particular) the weirdest things get notes. Currently, my most popular art is this really weird Emil and Lalli expression sheet thing that has really wonky art but I swear to god it gets more notes every time somebody new joins this fandom and occasionally you will be very >:^I at the weird distribution of attention but it's okay, they're just random nerds on the internet who don't really matter at all.

If you get famous you will get anon hate. Don't worry about it. It's more dumb people on the internet using their internet abilities poorly and making bad choices. They are Dumbs and they don't matter either.

xkit. xkit. xkit is the savior to the """tumblr experience""". it only works on computers (not mobile or the app) but it's wonderful and Great and i love it. it does so many things and it's best to mess aorund with it yourself to find your happy place ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧


SUMMARY
TAG THINGS, DON'T FIGHT PEOPLE, XKIT. HAVE FUN

[Noodles]

YOU ARE SO LUCKY

I did IB AND took some AP classes, and I only got one semester of study hall, total.

whaaaat
you guys get study hall? I did the same as Ana and they did not give me any at all! You apparently only get that if your schedule is so broken that you have an empty period.

[Curry]

whaaaat
you guys get study hall? I did the same as Ana and they did not give me any at all! You apparently only get that if your schedule is so broken that you have an empty period.

Oh man, I am so sorry for you guys - I don't think I could survive without my daily 1.5-hour JA >_> I was signed up for an elective that would take up 60 minutes of it and that was too much for me :I

[OrigamiOwl]

i also learnt that according to norwegian name law, a middle name has to work as a last name, and you can't have traditional first name as a middle name? which means that people who have more name-names have several first names?? this was confusing but because haiz is basically a nonsense word i sent the request for a middle name anyway

*tries to work that out in Owl-brain-language*
*bluescreens*
Wha?

I've also noticed a tendency in stories that characters who have changed their name at some point always end up using their "real names" at the end? like for example the lego movie or tangled... they will always admit their "real name" to some love interest who will always be "but that's so much better" and keep calling them that, and in the end they'll be all "haha yeah of course I'll keep using this name I don't need to hide who I am"... but a name you've chosen yourself is much more you than a name you were given before you knew what a name even was??

I thought that they did that because it wasn't that they didn't like their given name, just that they thought people would think it was laughable and give them a hard time about it and they wanted a "cool" image to match the cool things they do, and then at the end they found a buddy and thought "I don't need to be 'cool' for our friendship to be awesome, you'll take me seriously whatever my name is, might as well.." and they're like "ok" Like...i think that in Tangled and Lego the self-given names just both happened to be like...outward...names...types?? *can't word* (I'm trying to think of an example where the self given names were inward names too ummmm.. UMMm...I guess it's just way less common in media. huh) But then again, I'm very prone to interpreting things wrong. Heck, I thought that the "what are thoooose?!" meme was like, a shoe compliment...but then found out that people use it to make fun of shoes instead. Why would someone do that?? [I refuse to believe that the world is really just a mean place where people jump at mean opportunities...I still beliveeee?] I read Twilight thinking it was a comedy, a COMEDY. And then I saw the movie thinking "Ahaha this will be hilarious" and then left like "They were serious the whole time. It was never meant to be funny. I read it all wrong. NOT AGAIN."

So please: just take absolutely everything I ever say with a bucket of salt.

But anyway..on that topic kinda....I don't think anyone will discuss this with me, but I've been wondering for ages because I'm a massive looser:

Spoiler: Owl is a massive looser. You were warned • show

In The Music Man, Harold Hill is his con-man alias, his friend keeps calling him Gregory/Greg, but Harold tells him to "shhh" and call him Harold. Everyone else calls him Harold, he calls himself Harold (in songs designed to fool the townsfolk admittedly, so I dunno there) and Marion calls him Harold... and I'm just sitting there in the theatre thinking "Who are you Professor Harold Hill. What's your story. Is Greg just another alias too? Isn't paperwork going to get tricky eventually?"
I don't know.

Oh man, I am so sorry for you guys - I don't think I could survive without my daily 1.5-hour JA >_> I was signed up for an elective that would take up 60 minutes of it and that was too much for me :I

whaaaat
you guys get study hall? I did the same as Ana and they did not give me any at all! You apparently only get that if your schedule is so broken that you have an empty period.

What's....study hall...?? or...JA...?

[Ana Nymus]

whaaaat
you guys get study hall? I did the same as Ana and they did not give me any at all! You apparently only get that if your schedule is so broken that you have an empty period.

There was a rule in my high school that if you were doing the IB program, you were allowed to take one quarter of gym off for a study hall each year you were in the program (so, junior and senior year). Except, as Vi pointed out to me the other day, I forgot to send in the form junior year, so I didn't have study hall junior year.

What's....study hall...?? or...JA...?

Study hall is a free period in school where you're free to do whatever you want (although usually it has to be fairly quiet). The idea is that you can use it for studying, but few people I know ever really use it for that *shrug* No, of course I didn't check the forum during study hall. Of course not.

[viola]

No, of course I didn't check the forum during study hall. Of course not.

Ahahahaahaaaa

* Feartheviolas used her study hall to watch pixar movies...

[Ana Nymus]

* Feartheviolas used her study hall to watch pixar movies...

*In Icelandic which means I couldn't really watch *pouty face*

[viola]

*In Icelandic which means I couldn't really watch *pouty face*

You totally could have watched, it just might have been a tad difficult to understand

[starfallz]

Some good tags to start off with to build your archive (building off of what haiz said):

Don't forget to warn about the spam blogs that follow you and want you to test their game or answer some survey about jobs. You see that shiny Fan Mail appear... and it's spam. *sigh*

[Solovei]

SUMMARY
TAG THINGS, DON'T FIGHT PEOPLE, XKIT. HAVE FUN

I also would recommend getting Tumblr Savior! It's an extension like xkit that hides posts with tags you specify from your dashboard. So you can still follow that artist you like even if they reblog lots of art from a show you don't watch!

[Haiz]

@Owl: - THE NAMING LAWS SEEM LIKE TOTAL NONSENSE DON'T TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF IT don't hurt your head

- hmmm you may be right about the chosen names in fiction thing? I know I had other examples than the two I mentioned, because in those movies they definitely pick their name as a coolness front. Or at least Flynn/Eugene did, Wyldstyle/Lucy probably did it to be more ~*unique and individual*~ and already had a history of going through a lot of names before that... I just can't thing of many stories where picking your own name seems like a positive and permanent thing, it's almost always seen like something fake, and that's kinda sad. But I know someone recommended Stargirl to me after ranting about this a year ago so maybe I should read that finally

(twilight is totally a comedy)
((i didnt get the shoe meme either. I didnt know it was about shoes in specific))

I also would recommend getting Tumblr Savior! It's an extension like xkit that hides posts with tags you specify from your dashboard. So you can still follow that artist you like even if they reblog lots of art from a show you don't watch!

Xkit has a blacklisting function, too!
(I wonder how many of my followers have blacklisted ssss because of me...)

tumblr, an "awesome platform"?? What is this, 2011?

[Laufey]

I just found out that Stjörnufræðivefurinn has a great video of yesterday's aurora up on their FB page so obviously I had to share.