Not the anon who mentioned it about the 'kill yourself' kind of thing towards staff, but I wanted to add this kind of language is thrown around in the general user to user talk as well and while I understand blocking can be an easy way to mitigate the problem, is reporting effective in managing that kind of attitude?
I've been on this site a little over ten years now and have witnessed or dealt with harassment of a similar degree. Any time I reported with screenshots I usually got an automated message simply suggesting to block said users ( which doesn't always help due to block evading existing) and to simply more or less try to ignore it.
I do appreciate the updates surrounding blocking and especially the anon hate update given that was a widely known problem, but in general, major aggression and language continually directed towards another individual fairly common but, to my knowledge, not punished.
Is there any way or plan to fix that or am I simply not seeing it happen? I haven't had to report anyone in a long time so I might just not be seeing it. Also, what is the stance on callout posts or targeted harassment? If someone lists a user in their DNI or on their blog and that user gets harassed because of it, is that a reportable / bannable offense? I'm really trying to understand how tumblr deals with people who are just mean to be mean.
Hey there,
In the past we have been really inconsistent about terminating the accounts of the people who use "kill yourself" type of language. We are much more consistent about that now. It's unacceptable behavior. We do try to take context into account, but mostly these are obvious. We do rely on users to report! So please start back up again.
Blocking is always an option, but really we want to better identify users who are engaging in bullying and harassment so we can either give them appropriate warning or terminate their accounts (depending on severity, number of instances of bad behavior, etc). That's where reporting comes in. Note the bit about "appropriate warning" - that means you may not see that we've taken action, but we have.
Also, you may already have connected the dots here, but since we now require users to be logged in to send Anonymous Asks, we can look up who sent them. We don't, but will if there's just cause. Also, I've never looked up anyone who has sent me an Anonymous Ask. I respect that need for privacy (even when the Ask is vengeful or mean).
In terms of callout posts, harassment, etc, if you're unsure but think it could be violative just let us know via the Abuse form. That includes targeting of any kind (as you describe), but could include other behavior. We'll take a closer look for you.
