So I think the best strat here is for the users who did get the new layout to just stop using the desktop version of the site for a while, like a week or a month or however long their ‘experiment’ is supposed to last, while the users who didn’t get the new layout should keep using the desktop version like normal or, perhaps, use it even more than usual.
My guess is that they’re doing basic A/B testing on the new layout to see if it would boost engagement: the userbase is split roughly 50/50 between the 2 versions and they are going to be comparing the engagement data between the 2 groups of users to see if it’s worth it switching everyone to the new layout or not.
Basically,if you got the new layout and don’t like it - don’t use it. If engagement metrics of group B (new layout) are lower than those of group A (no change), the experiment will be considered a failure and they will have to reverse the change.
If your tumblr suddenly looks like twitter - it’s a sign to log off and go touch some grass! (or just use the mobile app since that engagement data isn’t relevant to this particular experiment)
Don’t just not use it, send feedback too!
There’s a “contact us” option to send feedback about features being launched. GIVE FEEDBACK IN THE APPROPRIATE SPACE!
Not to “As a professional UX researcher” on this thread, but yeah, as a professional UX researcher, now is the exact time to provide clear (but kind!! the poor UX team is usually not responsible for these decisions) feedback on what your thoughts are in regards to this change.
In my job, if I were doing an AB test on a site layout and every person I interviewed said “I hate it, it looks like knockoff twitter, please put the old one back” then I would be very excited to include a nice little bullet point in my report that says “[x] number of participants disliked the new layout :)”
For all that I’m completely willing and supportive in letting people identify however they choose, there are some contexts where you can’t self-ID completely freely. The types that inspired this? Religion, ethnicity, and politics.
Religion and ethnicity are fairly straightforward; in my context, I’ve seen so, so many people who think that they can “declare [themselves] to be Jewish” and are flabbergasted and in denial that it’s not that simple. This also goes for any closed tribal group or identity, so I think that doesn’t need much explanation.
But politics, I hear you ask? How can self-ID be a problem there?
Well, let me paint you a picture.
A number of years back, before Drump’s election, I was active on the BoingBoing BBS, and there was an individual who went by Max_Blanke. Max claimed to be a political moderate, insisting on it again and again and again…
But every position he took was on the political right, very often the far-right. Police shooting a black man with his hands up? “Wait for the investigation, we don’t have all of the information.” Black Lives Matter protestors marching? They’re nothing but potential rioters and an active threat to law and order. Muslim women being harassed and assaulted? False flag operation. Trump protestors being socially ostracized? They’re clearly one step away from being rounded up and put into reeducation camps. Police officer with a Nazi tattoo on his arm? Oh, that’s not exactly a Nazi eagle, it’s different in a few tiny details. Republicans engaging in voter suppression? Don’t we all know that the real threat is voter inflation and voter fraud?
And so forth.
It got to the point that it was pretty damn obvious that he was either A) a closeted fascist in denial, or B) a troll.
But he claimed, loudly and repeatedly, that he was a moderate, and that we were just bullying him, and so long as he kept his bigotry quiet and deniable, he was able to keep from being censured by the mods.
And this is a pattern I see again and again and again. Max was just one example (admittedly one that I took a lot of pleasure in ripping to pieces, calling out his fallacies and double standards, and showing his patterns of behavior to the rest of the forum, which is why he comes easily to mind); you will have people who claim to be socialists… but who regurgitate every right-wing culture war talking point. You will find people who claim to be progressive… but the actions and rules they want implemented would make society into a totalitarian surveillance state. You will find people who claim that they are leftists… and the behavioral standards they espouse could have come from Baptist preachers. And so forth.
Of course, there’s the question of “Why is this important?”
Because end goals matter. This is not a matter of “my tribe wins”; these ideas will affect real people if and when they get implemented.
CHEERS TO GUY WALTON FOR “OUTING” THE FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES
From the article:
Walton has devised his own criteria for named heatwaves in the US, based on duration and extremity, on a one to five scale similar to hurricanes. Heatwave Chevron is classed as a four and is “historic”, Walton said. The meteorologist said he has a list of 20 oil and gas companies – including Exxon and Shell – for upcoming heatwaves and will turn to coal companies if he runs out of names.
discord is adding parental surveillance. as nerdskii’s tags pointed out its a ridiculous measure that doesnt help anyone because apps like Signal exist for actual illegal/sketchy activity and this just hurts lgbt teens looking for somewhere to be themselves and have resources especially with conservative parents
I use android. this is my secure folder, which was built into my phone. it has a customize option, so I’ve made it look like some bland fitness app. when you open it, it asks you to enter a password or unlock it in any other way you’ve set it to unlock before it lets you in
inside of this folder is like a 2nd phone almost, I can hide apps in here or have different accounts on apps I’ve already installed. I have a separate discord and tumblr inside of my secure folder (which I moved this blog to recently)
there are similar third party apps, usually disguised as a calculator that you set a certain number or calculation as the password to unlock. that’s a lot more inconspicuous if opened, but also more well known, and parents might be looking out for any suspicious calculator apps
also, be careful what 3rd party apps you download, especially when it’s concerning things like your accounts and data! make sure you’re downloading something safe and secure
this isn’t foolproof, depending on how far your parents are going to track you. if they’ve installed anything or had you install anything on your phone or computer, or had the chance while you weren’t there, be careful for spyware. some apps report how long you look at each app, or can record sound from your phone on demand
also important: a good VPN can secure what you’re looking at from the router, which parents may be able to access information from, but this also isn’t guaranteed to work if the parental controls are set to block VPNs
another one, if your parents are tracking your location but not your app usage: download a GPS spoofer. you don’t necessarily need to root your phone for this, as long as it’s supported in developer settings. a lot of them are branded as tools for pokemon go, which can be helpful for plausible deniability
parents reading this: these are things I’ve learned from constantly having my shit taken and looked through as a teen. you aren’t protecting your kids, you’re ruining any chance of them trusting you with anything. if something goes wrong, you’re going to be the last person they tell, because someone who goes to these lengths to see any little thing isn’t going to be chill when something actually bad happens if this is how you act when literally nothing is happening
So I work with domestic violence victims, and these are some great ideas to try if the abuser hasn’t made a clone of your phone or engaged in other advanced tracking methods. If they have done that, your best bet is to research options at the public library.
And for parents reading this: this kind of surveillance is considered domestic abuse for adults, and frankly it should be for kids too. There’s necessary supervision and then there’s… this.
I can’t imagine being a kid these days. I’m only in my early 30’s so I just missed the boat on smartphones in high school - I didn’t get my first iphone till well into college. Jesus.
Do your part to support japanese artists on tumblr by following the らくがき (doodle) tag so you see newly uploaded pieces of art that often get 0-5 notes at best
I did this and immediately saw EMIYA firing a shotgun like an arrow from his bow. 10/10 best advice I’ve ever followed
Seriously: When do you ever just sit and think about the fact that Ian Katz of the Guardian (recently boycotted for its transphobia) and the BBC (routinely protested for its transphobia) was married to Justine Roberts of Mumsnet (a primary radicalizing hub for UK transphobia) for twenty-five years? Most people don’t! I didn’t, until I heard it from the poet Roz Kaveney during an interview. It got trimmed from that piece, and I have been trying to wedge it into different pieces ever since, to no avail. Sometimes, when I talk to other trans people, I will mention that a top Guardian and/or BBC editor was married to the founder of Mumsnet; almost always, when I mention this, I will find out that they didn’t know.
Here’s something else that happens when I tell a trans person that Ian Katz (Channel 4, BBC Newsnight, the Guardian) was married to Justine Roberts (Mumsnet) for 25 years. They will, without fail, make the following noise: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Then they’ll inhale a little, and then they’ll do a controlled little exhale. Then they’ll say yeah, that explains it. Or, yeah. That makes total sense.
as 90% of desktop users have probably found out, today @staff released an update that for some insane reason COMPLETELY remodels the dashboard to replicate twitter’s. this is of course in the wake of numerous other thoroughly hated changes and a continued refusal to fix any of the site’s actual problems, half of which stem directly from site management.
HOWEVER, thanks to the power of jQuery, i was able to throw together a userscript that remodels the dashboard back to its original look almost perfectly.
here is my dashboard right now, with the script active:
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and here is the old dashboard in separate tab container that hasn’t received the update:
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it’s hardly perfect; i had trouble making it force reload to the fixed layout when switching between other pages and the dashboard, and it currently only fixes just the dashboard. it’s also completely untested on browsers other than firefox, and chances are it looks a bit screwy on ultrawide monitors. but for now at least, it’s a good fix.
the unfucker is a tampermonkey userscript. all you have to do to use it is install the tampermonkey extension, hit “create new script”, and replace the default code on the page with the script (link here) and save it.
If you, like me, had uBlock origin block the ‘Radar’ bit on the right hand side of your old tumblr, you can go to line 50 of the script which is currently the below:
hey remember how tumblr *just* had to settle with NYC’s human rights commission for discriminating against LGBTQ people in your implementation of the NSFW ban? We do.
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