Being an avid Tumblr user from my first year of middle school to current day (senior year), I have to appoint Tumblr as my personal favorite social media. Since I have been on the app for roughly eight years, I have seen quite a few posts, most smile and chuckle-worthy, but some… some are just downright hilarious in the cringiest way possible. Luckily, due to the 16 million bloggers on the app, there are umpteen iconic and horribly amazing posts that have been made throughout the years. Recently, I have come across a user named “Tumblr Heritage Posts” who re-blogs historic Tumblr posts to dig up memories of historic Tumblr relics. The YouTube channel “Strange Aeons” has multiple videos relaying the stories of Tumblr fads throughout the years and has been my inspiration for my love of internet history.

There are actually qualifications to be considered a “Tumblr heritage post.” From the blog itself, the post must predate 2017 and must be sufficiently cursed/evoke some kind of negative emotion. So let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the most cursed Tumblr posts throughout the 2000s. Here are some of my favorite genres of posts.

1.

To me, Tumblr is the home of where fans of shows, books, and movies, and such would come to rejoice in their favorite show, share art, stories, and discussion. But it was so much more and so much worse. I was never a fan of such popular shows such as “Supernatural” or “Sherlock” that were massive in the Tumblr community, but I am a fan of all the hilarious and stupid posts that came out of it. If you don’t want to hear the words “The Minions from Despicable Me” and “Sherlock” together, turn back now. One of my personal favorites is the “Miku Binder Thomas Jeffereson” post that characterizes Hamilton’s (The Muscial) Thomas Jefferson and made him part of the LBGTQ+ community for some reason? He owned quite a lot of slaves so… not a great idea. There is also one of Hamilton, John Lawrence, and Philip Hamilton for some reason. The artist, Ask-crammaster-ham or Umbronydraws, has obviously received backlash because of the odd nature of their art. There are plenty of cursed fandom posts but I have to say that Miku binder T.J. is the worst and hence my favorite. The post gets better and better as you read the descriptions of this… character.

2. Greetings from Dash- Con!

What comes to mind when you think of a ball pit? Cheerful children playing maybe? Colorful, plastic in a box? No. What comes to mind is the infamous “Dash Con” of 2014; a fan-run Tumblr convention gone terribly wrong. The best thing to come out of it was a lonely picture of a ball pit in the middle of an empty convention center. The phrase “one more hour in the ball pit,” became a popular phrase due to the eerie ball pit. A postcard-esque picture was taken of the ball pit with the title “Greeting from Dashcon!” in sprightly letters coining another iconic term from the convention. Another popular post was made warning attendees of Dashcon not to play in the ball pit due to urine being found amongst the balls. Lackluster management caused confusion amongst attendees and staff that made DashCon the meme it is today.

3. And then everyone clapped!

One of the most annoying posts that can be made on the internet are blatantly fake stories. The story usually includes the writer standing up for someone being bullied and ends with “and then everyone clapped.” The “bully” or aggressor in the story has high school movie level dialogue and the person writing the story is incredibly self serving in their writing. The example Youtuber Strange Aeons used was “Oppa-Homeless Style.” If you want to read it, watch her video or read it for yourself.

Although I have not been on Tumblr as long as millennial users like Strange Aeons has, it is still somewhat nostalgic to look back at these posts. The rise of the internet has created so many opportunities for people to be weird, annoying, and stupid, yet it seems Tumblr attracts it all at the same time.