dear invisible tumblr friends,
But tumblr has decided I don’t need to know what you’re up to. In a very typical tumblr move they have added a feature that plays out like a bug. So some algorithm designed to, I don’t know, lighten the load on the servers or something, has made it so we see less on our dashboard. Mostly what we see after the first page is from the last 100 people we followed. So, if like me, you follow more than 100 people, you are going to miss out on posts from the people you have followed the longest.
Wait. Really? Really? This makes zero sense. I haven’t noticed, particularly, but that’s because I follow 1,185 people and have been so snowed under at work lately that I’ve barely been able to keep up beyond posting the occasional splenetic rant/soothing picture. There have been times when I’ve noticed that certain friends of mine haven’t shown up on my dash, but I figured that was just Tumblr being its regularly non-functioning self.
So. Is this true? If so, it wouldn’t necessarily surprise: There’s an “oh don’t worry, you’ll have zero idea what you’re missing because we we won’t tell you” attitude pervasive in these nu-Internet companies. (See also Facebook’s “top stories,” which UGH STOP FACEBOOK, and Twitter’s “cream to the top” search results, which drive me absolutely bananas when I’m trying to actually search for things. Although that might be a bug of the iPhone client, since Echofon returns more comprehensive results.) I’m guessing it’s a hedge against ad-blocking, although it is frightening in large part because it assumes so much ignorance on the part of the user (hello I am a GROWN WOMAN WHO KNOWS HOW TO MANAGE HER INFORMATION HERSELF) and in even larger part because it assumes what the user “should” “want” to read (or I guess in the case of Tumblr see). We don’t all want to be awash in pictures of bang-wearing cuties fluttering their eyelids and “motivational” “slogans,” you know.
