seeing tumblr take the obvious move towards “### people liked your post” kinda makes me understand those conservatives who are like “but surely any government powerful enough to ensure basic sanitation… is also powerful enough to EUTHANIZE ALL SENIOR CITIZENS?” a @staff competent enough to do notifications in a half-sensible way is perhaps also competent enough to “optimize” read order away from datetime-posted to inconsistent-reward skinnerboxing, &c.
The tumblr userbase is in an almost uniquely awkward situation, in the sense that the value we derive from the platform is largely predicated on the incompetence of its owners and managers. We’re pretty sure that they would eagerly make things much worse, if only they knew how, and (more importantly) that this is the default state of any platform in the present marketplace.
Sorta makes you wonder whether “sane, simple, privacy-respecting social media” is one of those projects that could soak up some billionaire philanthropy.