So this is happening.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I had a love-hate relationship with Tumblr before leaving it entirely. Nearly all the fandoms I was following at the time (ok, mainly TRON) migrated there fairly early on (2011-2012.) It really started to get a reputation as a haven for “Social Justice Warriors” during 2012-2013 onwards, and yet for all of the language based around social justice, people basically were behaving the same as their counterparts on 4chan, with all the  gatekeeping, harassing, attacking, shaming, and dogpiling that was constantly going on.

I agree with leftists like Natalie Wynn (aka Contrapoints) who say that people should be given a chance to change their minds and redeem themselves – which happens through discussion, not dogpiling. Dogpiling is great for deplatforming people, which I agree should totally happen in extreme cases – but when your idea of social justice discourse breaks down to “stop liking what I don’t like,” in regards to fandoms (which I was seeing way more than reasoned discussions about social justice) we have a problem.

No one ever changed their minds or adopted a more enlightened worldview because they were told to “go kill yourself.”

It started to be a less “how can we make a better and more just world for everyone,” and more “your fandom is problematic.” EDIT: and that was never really the point of fandom on Tumblr for me anyway; I was there mainly in the beginning for fanfic and fanart like everyone else, and the social justice discourse (and fandom gatekeeping thinly disguised as social justice discourse) just started creeping to the forefront around the end of 2012.

And I agree that being conscious of social issues is important! BUT – let people enjoy things. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense to call someone a fascist because you disagree with their fanfic interpretation of Severus Snape or Xehanort, especially with actual fascists so thick on the ground these days.

Anyway, now The Powers That Be at Tumblr have decided to crack down on anything NSFW. I haven’t been there in over a year, and I can still think of several fan artists I knew and liked who would be negatively affected by this. This is LJ Strikethough all over again, but for the Millenials and Generation Z. Which makes me wonder – is Tumblr about to be sold to the Russians?

LJ Strikethrough, for those of you too young to remember, was an incident in which LJ cracked down on “adult themed” fanart and fanfic in an attempt to “clean up the place” before the sale to SUP, the Russian company who bought it in 2007. It caused a mass exodus to LJ clones like InsaneJournal and GreatestJournal, and was the reason the bestest LJ clone ever, Dreamwidth dot org, was created.

I really don’t know what spurred Tumblr on to do this, but I can imagine that the migration to the Next Big Thing in social media platforms has already begun.

ETA: ProZD weighs in on the controversy (also Current Mood)

"tumblr" (Watch on YouTube)

Mirrored from Cyber Alfheim.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I think they wanted to attract venture capitalists or something. Which...is not going to work, because a social media platform is only profitable if there are users on it. But there's never been a case where Tumblr has had the choice between making its site more usable and doing something completely boneheaded where it hasn't chosen the boneheaded option.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I know, right? Like all of the times people have been like "make actual conversations easier. Make it easier to archive content beyond tags. Oh,you just want to make the submission buttons look different? Ok."

For all of the times the owner/CEO whatever sneered "I don't want to make another LiveJournal" that really seems to be what people want: a fully-powered image hosting/sharing site that also does blogging equally well.

[sabotabby]

I mean, LiveJournal was great. You could host your pictures (sometimes, anyway), write things, comment on things, and it showed you everything your friends wrote in order, and you could just keep clicking back until you found where you'd left off. Plus you could cut and do filters. It worked fine until they banned porn because they wanted to sell it to the Russians.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

To a point. It was really the image hosting that caused Tumblr to replace it in almost every way that mattered. Every time I have tried to sell the idea of coming back to the actual blogging sites, I am asked "But does it host images like Tumblr." Wordpress (which I crosspost from) really does that the best.

[worlds_of_smoke]

No. That's not what caused this.

Apple pulled the Tumblr app because there was legit child porn on the site. Of course, Tumblr would rather build a bot that, inevitably, is going to fuck shit up, instead of hiring people to actually review posts and ensure that only child porn gets removed.

[sabotabby]

Ah! I was wondering about that, because I got a new phone and tried to download the Tumblr app and couldn't find it. I assumed this was just because the Tumblr app sucked.

God forbid anyone use this to create jobs.

[worlds_of_smoke]

Nope. Apple apparently has an issue with child porn being on an app, even if Tumblr doesn't have a problem with it until it hits their bottom line. Now, if they'd just do something about the Nazis and white supremacists. -.-

(I can't say that I'll miss the pornbots, though.)

I know, right? It's not like there aren't people out there who could use jobs.

[mirrorofsmoke]

Ah yes strike through. I was in the midst of that shit storm.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

So many of us were. :)

[mirrorofsmoke]

At least I missed out on Nipplegate. :/

Also, Tumblr has become a roaring pit of suck. I'm sorry it has.

[brancher]

I'm overjoyed, personally. Tumblr is a terrible interface for ... anything, really. I basically left fandom when the LJ exodus happened and never came back because Tumblr was such a pit of despair/voles, and I'm hoping against hope that DW will be the promised land where we can all post threaded comments in peace and harmony.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Yeah. I agree with you on nearly all fronts, except I know sex workers and the queer community on Tumblr will be impacted: but I think fandoms mainly migrated to it because LJ's image hosting was never quite ready for prime time, though it did improve over the years. But people kept asking for threaded comments, the ability to lock certain posts to certain user groups, etc, and honestly the owner/CEO's response that he didn't want to become another LJ was dumb and shortsighted because I really think that is what people wanted - a platform with the blogging features of LJ/DW, and the image hosting features of Tumblr. If DW can manage that, I think we will see fandoms start to come back. I hope so.

[lb_lee]

I hope DW is able to handle the influx! It was super-surreal to get a sudden surge of friending the past week.

Also man, DW: haven of those fleeing crackdowns since 2009 or whatever!

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I know, right? DW: Last bastion of hope after social media crackdowns since 2009.

[honigfrosch]

But I was promised male-presenting nipple emojis... ;__;

I tried many times to feel at home on Tumblr, because I saw some really great stuff posted there and also a few friends whose content I liked to read preferred Tumblr and I felt so disconnected. But it never worked out. The dashboard always felt overwhelming, the comments and conversations always were difficult to navigate, tagging was a nightmare, searching was too, and last but not least I couldn't "get" Tumblr on a certain fundamental level, I think. It always moved too fast for me to keep track.

I remember the LJ exodus, and I am amazed (and grateful) that DW is still standing after all this time. It makes me excited to think of new users coming here and hopefully feeling at home.

P.S. In the screenshot at first I misread "share menu" as "shame menu"...

[seedarklyxero]

These changes to Facebook and Tumblr are the response of such platforms to protect themselves from lawsuits via SESTA/FOSTA which goes into effect soon. They'll ALL be at risk to one degree or another now.

And while it absolutely dismantles or hinders many the shared spaces of pan-alt communities defined greatly in terms of their identities, there is another threat about this many seem to not recognize:
The broadness of the new terms effectively silences victims of sexual assault.

Consider who that benefits given who passed these laws.