Find your tribe in a Sea of Creativity
Alright, I have something to talk about. Tags. Tumblr tags are a way people can filter what they see. This means they can choose what to see and also what not to see. We all use them, and as social media users, we must properly tag things. I am sending this out to particularly the QSMP fandom since it is my current main fandom but this is the same across the site.
(This post was something I've been meaning to make since some of the issues with a certain former qsmp cc. That topic was incredibly triggering for many including myself and I was very discouraged by the lack of proper tagging over the situation. This is also a sort of guide for any new community members, especially with the new member set to arrive this Saturday and the fact that many qsmp admins are now on Tumblr and understandably may not want to see everything on here. I hope this will also serve as a reminder to anyone who sometimes forgets to properly tag. Please take care of yourselves and others as always <3)
What are tags and what are they used for? (the basics)
Tags are a feature on Tumblr and other forms of social media to distinguish between types of content. By many they are also used to hide certain triggering topics with tags such as "tw blood".
How can you block tags? Why?
blocking tags hides any posts labeled with that tag and you can block it by going to the main Tumblr settings and adding it to the "blocked tags list". You can block any topics you find triggering or that damage your experience on the platform. For example, I have certain blocked tags such as "Fandom crit", "NSFW", "/neg", and "Qsmp neg". I have blocked these tags and others for the simple reason that I find the posts labeled with these tags make me upset and can ruin my experience in the fandom or while watching content. Doing this is not avoiding a topic, it is not being "closed-minded", it is simply improving your mental health by choosing what you are exposed to.
The Issue.
Unfortunately, tags have to be added by the post creator to be blocked and so there becomes an issue when people do not properly label posts. Luckily this can be easily fixed if you as a poster simply always properly tag your posts. So please, tag your posts properly. Tag the trigger warnings, tag the tone indicators, tag at the very least the main topic. And please, never tag something as a different topic. The tags are here to help us be organized and stay safe, thank you.
Some tips!
Often people will use tags that are trending to spread their content. This is a bad idea and will most often just get them banned but to prevent seeing some of it I recommended blocking one of the common trending tags (one use don't follow). Also if you see something blatantly miss tagged feel free to block and or report the person (especially for anything nsfw as they often use this technique)
Conclusion
Please properly tag things, it helps everyone stay safe on this platform and irl. If you have topics you don't want to see please block them for your own mental health.