How does Tumblr work?

[Rhea]

From the perspective of a parent monitoring their children's online content...

Difference between "dashboard" and "account" (or home page?) Where do friends comments land, when do owner's comments show?

My kids and I have a very open computer policy. Basically I trust them to try to do the right thing, they trust me to only say something if it's risky, not merely edgy. I trust them to let me supervise, they trust me to not over-do it.

We share passwords and I am allowed to see anything they do. But poor son rolls his eyes a bit when I can't tell the difference between what he's posting and what others are posting. Now the younger one wants an account, so I needa learn how to navigate.

 

[bilby]

This website provides a fairly comprehensive explanation.

Personally I prefer a washing line.

 

[Rhea]

This website provides a fairly comprehensive explanation.

Personally I prefer a washing line.

Damn. You made me look.

 

[Sarpedon]

One of the parenting hazards that site can bring is that if you follow someone else's account, you get whatever they post on your dashboard. So images and links are hard to censor, and can only be done by checking who they are following and weeding out objectionable ones.

The good news is that the ads there are pretty non-objectionable, and so long as they know to be careful about clicking links, the worst you'd end up with is a bad image. My advice would be to simply scroll down the dashboard, and if you see anything that appears to be out of line, get them to unfollow that account. I'm not sure if there's a parental control that prevents them from re-following in the future.

Comments are attached to individual posts, and one's account is basically little more than a list of one's own posts and what other accounts one is following. One can access posts that one has posted as well as the ones commented on.

 

[Rhea]

One of the parenting hazards that site can bring is that if you follow someone else's account, you get whatever they post on your dashboard. So images and links are hard to censor, and can only be done by checking who they are following and weeding out objectionable ones.

The good news is that the ads there are pretty non-objectionable, and so long as they know to be careful about clicking links, the worst you'd end up with is a bad image. My advice would be to simply scroll down the dashboard, and if you see anything that appears to be out of line, get them to unfollow that account. I'm not sure if there's a parental control that prevents them from re-following in the future.

Comments are attached to individual posts, and one's account is basically little more than a list of one's own posts and what other accounts one is following. One can access posts that one has posted as well as the ones commented on.

Thanks, I appreciate the info.

We're beyond software parental controls, just advice and consent is fine in our house. If I have an actual good reason to stay away from something, they accept that. But it sounds like a good strategy to just scroll through from time to time.

I started this because we had a discussion about something he posted. Apparently it was some quote-generator he had followed. Anyway, there was one (very mildly) suggestive post that he appeared to have written because of the way it was posted. And his girlfriend replied with a smile. (how it caught my attention, since replies to his tumbler show up in my e-mail) So my caution to him had been, "be very VERY careful of posting something that will be objectionable to her parents, dear. You like your girlfriend, she's a good one, you want to continue to be allowed to text etc with her..."

So then I did go browsing - not secret, he knows this and it's public, after all - and the lesson is, anything I can see, her parents can see, too. So thanks for the info that my browsing will probably be all I need to do, and I don't have to look at sub-screens or anything.
Thanks!