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Dear Tumblr Support:

I have been trying to explain this problem to you since yesterday morning (Ticket #124724).

First I said this:

When I reblog something, I get the HTML interface instead of Markdown. If I save it as a Draft and then edit it again, it comes back at Markdown, but this is hugely annoying.

This just started happening in the past week or so.

It happens on my desktop browser as well as my iPad.

And Tumblr Support wrote me back to say this:

You can configure that option in the preferences for your account.

To access your account preferences, click the gear wheel icon in the top right area of your Dashboard or visit https://tumblr.com/preferences. After you make changes, make sure to click the blue “Save” button.

Wow, that’s some nice boilerplate text you have there, Tumblr. Too bad you didn’t really read what I wrote, which I thought made it clear that Markdown is working except when I reblog something.

So I replied:

Yes, that is set correctly, and hasn’t changed for ages.

If I create a new post it comes up in Markdown.

If I reblog a post, it comes up as HTML.

If I save that reblog, and then edit it again, it comes up as Markdown.

This is a bug on Tumblr’s side, not mine.

To which Tumblr “Support” replied:

Unfortunately, we can’t provide technical support for HTML customizations. Given our large number of users, we just don’t have the resources. Our apologies.

If you’d like to learn more about HTML and CSS so you can customize your Theme, visit http://codeacademy.com or https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/learn.

Info on Tumblr’s customizable theme templates is at http://www.tumblr.com/docs/custom_themes.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? AYFKMWTS?

The first reply was bad enough, but this? This has absolutely nothing to do with what I wrote.

Let me recap the conversation thus far, as well as try to anticipate some of the other nonsense that you might suggest is the problem:

1. This is not about me having my preferences set incorrectly.
2. This is not about HTML customizations, or themes. At all. Not in the least little bit. This is about reblogging something. In the dashboard. Of your website.
3. This started happening very recently. These same steps worked properly as little as a week or two ago.
4. This is easily reproducible, 100% of the time. When I reblog something.
5. This is not just happening to my account. I also verified it was happening on my wife’s account.
6. This is not just happening on one browser. I tested it on Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome on the Mac, as well as Safari and iCab on the iPad.

In order to more clearly demonstrate what happens versus what I expect to happen, I made this collection of images above, each one annotated to show relevant parts, and have attached them to this post.

(Here’s a tip about these image slideshows: click on the top-left image, and it will get bigger. Then use the left/right arrows to look at each image separately. Press the ESC button when you are done.)

I spent about an hour putting this altogether tonight, I would really appreciate it if someone would take a few minutes to read it, and if you don’t understand the problem I am describing, please pass this on to someone else who might.

It annoys the shit out of me when people don’t listen.