marco:

There has been some [post removed after publishing] heated debate recently on whether long posts “belong” on Tumblr. As usual, I have an opinion. (It’s the internet. What did you expect?) My authority comes not from my job, but as a long-time Tumblr user.

Yes. Long content belongs on Tumblr.

So does short content. So does nearly anything. You can use Tumblr for whatever you like.

Tumblr is a tool, first and foremost. There are plenty of community features to make it more useful to many people, but fundamentally, this is a tool. Not everyone will use it the same way. If you find that it works for long content, by all means, use it for long content. If you want every post to be 5 or fewer words, you can do that, too.

Like Daring Fireball, I also have a separate “long post” website. And you know what? I hardly ever post there anymore. Dan posts more than I do, I think. I’ve found that much of my content is better suited for the community here. Sometimes, I just feel like writing it quickly and don’t want to use my long-post-website’s CMS. And sometimes a short post becomes long and I don’t even realize it.

With Tumblr, I publish more than I ever have before. If I wasn’t writing all of this content here, it wouldn’t go on Marco.org — it just wouldn’t be written. Regardless of what you think of my content, you have to agree that having an outlet is always better than not.

If Tumblr enables people to publish valuable, original content, we’ve succeeded. And if you publish your thoughts online with the tool of your choice, you’ve succeeded. Who cares if the biggest whiners [our most valuable users] need to spend valuable milliseconds scrolling their mousewheels past the long posts on their Tumblr Dashboards?

mills:

nostrich:

AATW recently wrote a long post on his tumblelog, denouncing the virtues of long posts on tumblelogs. Skipping past the obvious irony and focussing on the point: he used me as an example of what-not-to-do (or what he’d rather you didn’t do), so I suppose I should write an equally lengthy response…

…This whole disagreement can be settled in one short sentence (and I think that’s how AATW would like it): do what you want with your tumblelog.

That this keeps coming up underscores the unusual nature of the Tumblr platform (especially at the present size of the community): while Tumblr is a tool for creativity (which makes its use subject to solitary discretion), the extent to which we are linked involves more judgment, reaction, and criticism than is ordinarily associated with writing and reading.

The Dashboard is a lot like Facebook’s “News Feed,” and just as I tire of seeing my ex-girlfriend’s newest photos with her bigger and better paramour I sometimes get peevish about Tumblr posts: “That was already posted!”  “That’s not your image!” “That’s stupid!” I know reactions to my stuff are probably the same.

Then I remember, as I said last time this occurred: everyone has a tumblelog for his or her own reason, and it’s no one’s fucking business what goes on it. Features like Tumblr Radar and Staff Picks actually bother me, partly, because in wanting to be picked (me! me! me!) I can sense how I need to conform to the community’s expectations. No more long articles, just short, self-referential quotes from anarchists or web 2.0 gurus; no analysis of the news, just snippets of snarky insults directed at our common enemies; etc.

But Nostrich is right and this whole argument is moronic: if you don’t like my long posts, you needn’t read them. It’s simple and easy!