To throw my hat in the ring, tumblr is not perfect but it’s closer to perfect for me then anything else out there. I’m not smart I can’t write code so this alone puts tumblr to the top of the stack and if people used the dadgum “Read More” button on their posts more often that would go a long way towards solving the neverending dashboard issue.
Regardless, it sure has been interesting to hear people weigh in and will be even more interesting to see how tumblr evolves as it grows.
Following a very positive review, Khoi Vinh describes why he’s not a Tumblr user:
As much as I admire it, though, I can’t bring myself to use it. Partly this is because one of its key ideas, the conspicuous omission of comments, is a deal breaker for me. I really value the comments that I get here on Subtraction.com and can’t imagine blogging without the continually rewarding intimacy of that feedback loop….
My biggest complaint, by far, has bothered me for some time but has taken me only until recently to put my finger on. Tumblr discourages identity. Or, to be more specific, it promotes shallow identity. Moreso than other blogging systems like WordPress or ExpressionEngine, Tumblr blogs frequently offer only scant few details about their authors. I can’t recall how many Tumblr sites I’ve visited where it wasn’t clear who was behind the posts, what their background was, or what their intent was. Many of these sites are artful, well designed and are actually quite engaging, but I guess I’m old fashioned in that I like to know who’s behind them.
I can’t argue with Khoi on this — his points are valid. And since we’re already on the topic, some of my biggest gripes about Tumblr in the few months I’ve been using it are a) images are very often posted without attribution to the original source, and b) the dashboard is virtually useless. If you’re following any more than a handful of active Tumblr users, you’ll be inundated with posts, not to mention trying to track down your own posts among the mix. Also, I dare you to try finding a link to the original Tumblr user’s post from within the dashboard. Not the index page of the user’s site or the media they linked to, but the post they created for that media or text.
Rant over. Still a happy Tumblr user overall.
Well, I read the article and comments, then decided wrote my own commentary:
I don’t know, most of the negatives in this article I see as a plus. The personal reason I chose tumblr over wordpress was how incredibly easy it is to skin and customize your blog. I don’t have to go out and buy a book or read the forever long doc articles over at wordpress to build a basic page. All you need to know is html & css and how to implement any special javascript functionality (plugins, scripts, etc).
And as far as identity, like a previous commenter said, you have the ability to create static pages based off your template design or entirely custom. I mean, I’m not saying the possibilities are endless, but for that specific case, you can do what you want. Also You can just write it into your page design or use their description box in the customize admin panel. Branding yourself, revealing your identity and any personal information is entirely dependent upon the user. So maybe that says more about the people using tumblr than the limitations of the platform itself. I dunno. That would just seem like a general complaint about types of bloggers instead of just tumblr bloggers.
Also, the question of the dashboard. Yes, I agree there are attribution issues, and a lot of light, shallow blogs. But there are a lot of original content/resource/article driven blogs as well. Tumblr has the versatility for us to choose how we use it. Once again, WE decide how we’re speaking to our audience. I follow the goofy blogs and the article driven blogs on tumblr. I don’t have a problem going over the content in my dashboard. I read a lot more content than I would if I were bookmarking each of these blogs individually or using an rss reader. I have no qualms with the dashboard. It’s seriously the first thing I check every morning: the latest web design tutorial, article discussing film makers hatred of 3D movies, new typefaces that are out, latest jquery plugins, critiques of blogging platforms (that’s how I found this article).
Anyway, I wasn’t seeing enough of a defense for tumblr’s side & the people who generally use it so I thought I would say something. Great article by the way. Creates an awesome dialogue. And for the record there are some points I agree on, but obviously I have some disagreements on the general point of the article. This platform most definitely need improvements in multiple areas, such as attribution in the dashboard, their likes system (can be buggy), and their reply & commenting (or lack thereof ) implementations. But it is a powerful blogging platform with a light interface that give the user more control without the pain of dealing with too many third party plugins. But that’s my 2 cents.
