Poll

[ash48]

Just curious (even though posting it on LJ will skew any sort of "real" results. Though I am hoping to entice some tumblrites to answer also).

I'm thinking about this because I have noticed a lot of LJians migrating to tumblr and it makes me wonder if that's because it offers a more rewarding fandom experience than LJ. For me, it's LJ. I enjoy tumblr but I can (and did!) go days without visiting it, but I can't go a day without checking into LJ.

[Poll #1944482]

I consider "rewarding" to mean where you get the most pleasure. Perhaps your "go to" fandom place. The one that is most satisfying as a fandom hangout. The one you feel most at home or perhaps the place you feel you belong.

Comments

[raloria.livejournal.com]

I like Tumblr, but it's not my first love (heh). That's reserved for LJ which is where I feel most at home and feel more a sense of community and fandom compared to Tumblr. For me, Tumblr's fun, but it also tends to be a bit unhinged at times - where spoilers and opinions can run rampant along with emotions. Sure, we get that on LJ as well, but it feels more subdued and under control here.

Tumblr's great for gifs and eye candy and quick posts, but LJ is more open to meta and deep discussions and for me - more human connections in fandom.

[de-nugis.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't express a firm opinion, because my exposure to Tumblr is fairly minimal, but my impression is that for the visually oriented Tumblr is superior, that LJ tends to be cumbersome for people dealing primarily with images.

On the other hand, for people who want tl;dr text, extended conversation, and archiving, LJ is still where it's at. A lot of people notice the problems with Tumblr as a conversation platform and work around it, or so I am told, but I wonder if the archiving thing isn't most important. Of course, people can put fic on AO3, but when I think of how I got into Spn in the second half of s5, and how possible it was to go back to the beginning and get a large part of what I had missed, not just fic but fic, meta, images, discussions, all interconnected and findable, I just can't imagine how that's going to be possible for anyone in the future.

[linvro21.livejournal.com]

I like the sense of community on LJ much better.
Tumblr is just there to get lost in when I'm really bored...

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good way of summing it up. I am curious when people that I know (who are into discussions and that human connection) have completely moved over there. They post thoughts etc but I feel like the response must be difficult to manage. I dunno. It's why I'm curious.

Eye candy for sure!

[raloria.livejournal.com]

I've found it difficult to talk to people on Tumblr and they rarely talk to me, yet I see others make connections, so maybe it's just me? Tumblr's way of commenting on posts is also very different from LJ and I find it cumbersome.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Tumblr frustrates the hell out of me. I love finding pretty pictures on there but it annoys me that I can't then easily tell the artist or whoever how much I like their work. I fail to see the point of posting fic or meta or anything longer than a paragraph on there as it is just not the right sort of format for longer pieces of text - plus there is the fact that you can't give or receive feedback.
I haven't found any sense of community on there because most of the 'conversations' I've seen happening on Tumblr seem to be largely rants and wank. Overall the level of maturity (and I don't necessarily just relate that to age) is low.

I find it depressing because when I do venture over there, I see that there is a considerable number of people who are using it more and more, and feel I will be missing out - but as I find navigation yet another issue with it, even if I was to migrate there I'd be no better off. It is a black hole that sucks you in.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point I hadn't considered but is linked to one of the problems I have with the site (ie navigation and finding things)... mmm.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

WORD!

[raloria.livejournal.com]

It is a black hole that sucks you in.

Haha! So true! When I do check out Tumblr (which isn't every day like I do with LJ) it's easy to get caught up in looking at things. Much like Youtube I can easily lose a an hour or two on Tumblr. "I'll look at just a few more posts and then quit..." Yeah, right. :P

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Not a fan of Tumblr. It's pretty to look at, I give it that, but if you want to have actual conversations, it's useless. And it's not for "readers" at all. :( LJ is much more rewarding in that aspect -- conversational back-and-forth AND pretty pictures. :)

[colls]

I often forget to go to tumblr for days because I'm a spoilerphobe who just can't get to the episode for a few days (RL). So then I get out of the habit. I went there much more during show's hiatus

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I find them equally rewarding, but I use them for very different things. I use LJ primarily for meta and discussions; if I want to talk seriously about my shows, LJ is where I go. Tumblr, on the other hand, is a visual medium for me and posting gifs/art there is very rewarding. It has the kind of instant gratification that you don't get on LJ. There is no experience like a gif of yours spreading like wildfire through the Tumblr community. For me, Tumblr is fast food, designed to give me short burst of pleasure, while LJ is a delicious homemade meal that lasts for hours. *g*

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Finding stuff on tumblr is a nightmare. I've tried to go back and find things I knew I had seen and I can never find them. Searching tags seems so random. I still don't really get how it all works and having conversations is so hard. But for instant visuals and gif sets it's a winner.

I've also found getting notes on gif sets pretty rewarding. Even though a person liking or reblogging something you've done doesn't really connect to you, it's still nice to see that someone liked something you've done. It also means that something you've made might still be circulating months after you made it.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

It is a nice place to get lost in. I agree the community here is better, but I wonder if that's just because we haven't worked out a way of feeling it there. People who live there might feel the opposite.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Agreed! I actually see a lot of fic recs on tumblr - often links leading to LJ or A03. I can't reading any fics actually posted there. I don't see that many, but when I do I don't even consider reading it. Mostly because if I don't know the author I don't :"risk" it these days. I have too much to read on LJ!

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

A lot of my LJ friends with social anxiety moved there -immediately- and have not returned. I know they like the less-pressure to interact thing but I miss them.

Fandom is nothing to me without community. I love the source, yes of course I do. But that's not enough to make me fannish about something. Squee unshared is squee lessened for me.

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

+1

[antrazi.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'm just to old for Tumblr (32, practically geriatric) but I only go to there on occasion for the pics. I would never have the idea to try to talk to anybody and let's not even beginn with trying to find anything.
For pics and gifs it's a nice thing, for reading fics I like AO3 the best (in particular long fics) but as an actual place for Fandom I prefer LJ

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Another thing: I think tumblr is fine for interaction if you already have a set of dedicated tumblr-active friends or if you're tumblr famous. I have neither really so for me it's limited.

Also there's no decent way to make a vid post (mixed media) which as a vidder drives me INSANE and I think has contributed to the Death of Vidding Outside YouTube.

[destina.livejournal.com]

I love Tumblr, but that's because I don't want to talk to anyone there. I just want to reblog and look at pretty pictures. I don't want to interact. For that, I come to LJ. I get 90% of the current fandom news on Tumblr, tho; generally I hear about/see things there long before they show up on LJ.

It's also easier to be multi-fannish on Tumblr, without having to go to a whole lot of effort. I have so many interests in fandom that this is a beautiful thing, for me.

[geckoholic]

I really don't think it's comparable. I spend more time on Tumblr than on LJ by now, but that's partly more about the people than the site? Okay, no. That sounded wrong. In certain fandoms (SPN, Pacific Rim and related actors, Star Trek) I have more like-minded people on Tumblr than on LJ. That changed things for how I use the sites, of course.

The site I use most often and most regularly by now would be Twitter, though, I guess, lol.

[kiscinca.livejournal.com]

I voted It depends what you are using them for. I have account at both and check them daily, I think they both have their ups and downs.

With Tumblr it's great to post your images/gifs/art and you can even post vids, which is great, but for conversation/discussion or fic posting not so much. Text formatting is a nightmare with the text post and replying or commenting to posts is impossible unless you install some comment system, like Spoiler.tv has, or even if you allow replies it's only for a limited time.

In short it's great for art/pics, vids and even short posts or even a bit longer ones, certainly better then say Twitter, and getting notes on your posts is rewarding. Also a great thing is that sometimes you end up finding rare things and there surely is lots of pretty pics and all to look at.

But as a community? Not so much. Searching is barely workable and it's easy to miss things, especially on popular tags, you can get lost for hours. Interacting with each other or hold in depth discussions? Next to impossible. Not to mention, as others mentioned, emotions and opinions run rampant and it can make one feel easily offended with having everything shown in your face.

LJ, I have been here since 2008 November, well I had an account earlier, but didn't know how to use it and I came here for this fandom specifically and found some great friends so I think it will always hold a special place for me.

With LJ it's definitely a lot more text and interaction friendly. You can set the security (public/flocked/filtered) of your posts, comment, join comms or send messages etc...

You can easily format your posts and hold in depth discussions and a good way to archive your fics or post metas and it has certainly more of a community feel. It's really rewarding to have comments on your posts and get to talk to people and actually make friends on the web, or in real life, in your fandoms.

But if you're more artsy, like me, posting pics can be a hassle and you have limited amount of space if you upload to the scrapbook. I actually prefer to use Tumblr to post and store images at now. Also some of the updates tend to mess things up, like I had my masterpost on top screwed up for awhile and had to reformat the whole thing, not to mention the DDOS issues.

And I got too wordy again didn't I? To sum it up, Tumblr is better for art and liveblog/insta reactions, while LJ is better for fics, long meta and formatted posts and actual discussions I think.

ETA: Now that I think about it, the change of social media and fandom along with it is something I find rather interesting as a topic.

When I first got into fandoms, I remember these badly made geocities and various fansites, when I got into SPN I remember the message boards then LJ, now everyone's at Twitter/FB/Tumblr and maybe LJ. The flow of time is indeed cruel I guess.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

The spoiler element of tumblr is unfortunate. I've had to become less of a spoilerphobe since being there. I rather like that tumblr just keeps going (as in stuff I've made might continue to be reblogged) without me even being there for a few days.

I find myself there longer during hiatus also.

[jessm78.livejournal.com]

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Tumblr. I've noticed it's usually one of the first places I can find con pics (well, besides Twitter) and people do post nice art there, but.... well the format can't compare to LJ. I think Tumblr is best for posting graphics, but for discussion and fanfic, LJ definitely wins out. Plus (and this is just a personal pet peeve) I find that most of the people I see on Tumblr are the screaming fangirl type, which grates on me after a while LOL.

[fufaraw]

I originally established my Tumblr as a non-fannish space. The blurb on my page says, "Tumblr is my balm for the abrasions of life," and I should probably go change that. It was originally a non-verbal space for me, just photos of beautiful things and places. It's become a sociopolitical space now as much as one of visual beauty, and I do sometimes take a step back and consider a *second* Tumblr reserved as just a visual haven.

Fannish content came last, through the quantity, quality, and shared experience of fandom spilling into a new venue.

That said, LJ has always been my fannish space, and given the choice, I would much rather experience fandom here. LJ is home in a way Tumblr (or FB, or Twitter, or AO3) can't be. Tumblr's more a visual space, it doesn't adapt itself as easily to discussion as LJ post-and-comments-and-repost does. I could very easily give up all fannish content on Tumblr for a resurgence of energy and participation in LJ.