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Tumblr has a feature where one can, instead of posting something at the time it it written or a set time, you can add it to a "queue". It will then post a set amount of posts per day as long as there are still left in the queue. My question is, may I use this feature over Shabbos?

There were the arguments I had why it would be allowed:

  • I'm not doing anything on Shabbos
  • It's hosted on their servers
  • There isn't a specific post set to post on Shabbos, it will just post the top one or however many you choose in the queue (I think this one is a weak defence)
  • There's not much difference whether Tumblr has to serve up my old post or serve up the new posts

The only problem I thought there might be was maris ayin, which might only apply if the blog was clearly identified as Jewish. Even then, many people know about this feature and might not assume that I am composing these posts on Shabbos. Am I correct in my analysis?

I guess I should link to this similiar question:

May one use a computer script or robot to do something specifically on Shabbos/Yom Tov?

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  • Looks like you've got your grounds covered, so I'm going to go out and say yes.
    – rosenjcb
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 21:34
  • Also related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/9304
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2014 at 5:32
  • Is it obvious to readers that the post was created/queued at an earlier time?
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 20:00
  • @MonicaCellio No. Although one can "tag" the queued posts as "queued".
    – ike
    Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 20:03

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See the following link for a teshuvah of Bemareh Habazak vol. 5, siman 37 regarding a website operating on Shabbat: http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=43790&st=&pgnum=66 The conclusion there is that there is no problem of ma'arit ayin as it is well known that it operates automatically. The same would seem to apply to your case as well.

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    A web site is passive; posting is active. So there might be different issues, particularly if there's nothing in the post that indicates that it was written and queued at an earlier time. Or are you arguing that it's well-known that Tumblr operates this way?
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 20:01
  • I think it is generally well know that these things can be set in advance to appear at a certain time. .
    – Ofer Livnat
    Commented Feb 26, 2014 at 12:15

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