Tumblr just made reblogs easier to read, and users are pissed

When you find something you like on Tumblr and want to share it with your follows, you simply reblog it. In the past this has created what Tumblr itself has described as “crazy-long, indecipherable reblog chains,” but the company released a much-needed update to its interface earlier this week which transformed reblog chains into something that’s actually visually appealing and easy to read. As great as the changes are, however, many users are complaining that it takes some of the charm out of the website, and while they may have a point, this is a change that needed to happen. 

Tumblr rolled out a long-overdue change to its reblogging feature yesterday, fixing what it termed a “crazy-long, indecipherable reblog chain” problem. The blogging site will now order reblogs below a post chronologically, and show comments as a streamlined list, but only on your dashboard. With the old format, as Tumblr posts gained popularity, the back and forth of reblogs and comments formed a confusing tree of block quote indents, which made it hard to read comments or figure out where a post originated. This was especially true when viewing the site on a smaller smartphone screen. Compare the designs below — the old version is on the left, and you can see the new version on the right. The redesign makes the website look a whole lot cleaner, but the old format had a certain nostalgic charm that will be missed. Comment trees — like this one from coffeespiral.tumblr.com — reflected the chaotic and random nature of Tumblr. By cleaning up comments, Tumblr is sanitizing a feature that many users had come to love.