All Things Me - Randomness Blog

and lots of people think this very likely,

“Oh little Sionnat has obviously been taken by the fairies and they’ve left us a Changeling Child who knows too much, and asks strange questions, and uses words she shouldn’t know, and watches everything with her big dark eyes, clearly a Fairy Child and not a Human Like Us.”

The Myth of the Changeling child, a human baby apparently replaced at a young age by a toddler who “suddenly” acts “strange and fey” is an almost textbook depiction of autistic children.

To this day, “autism warrior mommies” talk about autism “stealing” their “sweet normal child” and have this idea of “getting their real baby back” which (in the face of modern science)  indicates how the human psyche actually does deal with finding out their kid acts unlike what they expected.

But here’s the thing: life is louder, brighter and more intense and confusing than it has ever been. I live on the edge of London and I rarely go into the centre of town because it’s too overwhelming. If I went back in time and lived on a farm somewhere, would anyone even notice there was anything odd about me? No police sirens, no crowded streets that go on for miles and miles, no flickery electric lights. Working on a farm has a clear routine. I’d be a badass at spinning cloth or churning butter because I find endless repetition soothing rather than boring.

Alright, by now plenty of you are aware that Tumblr has decided to axe (most) NSFW content from its site. Here’s their statement, in case you haven’t seen it yet. Figured I’d address some of it before I start migrating.

What’s happening?

Tumblr is drastically altering its policy on NSFW content. The change will be enacted in December 17, 2018.

Is all NSFW content forbidden now?

Not quite - their new terms state that all sexual content featuring real people (i.e. photos and videos of a sexual nature, including non-artistic nudity) is forbidden. However, illustrations are only explicitly stated as forbidden if they “display sexual acts”. Written erotica is specifically mentioned as allowed.

So, written smut, and NSFW art that doesn’t feature sex acts would in theory still be allowed. Weirder fetish stuff that can’t immediately be catalogued as explicit could also fly under the radar.

However, the site has also seen a change to its search and tagging functions, which means that even if you continue to produce the above-mentioned allowed content, you are likely to have your blog tagged as explicit, which would take it off search results (both through tumblr search and via google). In practice, even if your NSFW content is not outright banned, there’s no incentive to post it, as you will likely gain no followers.

Why are they doing this?

The official statement mentions a desire to foster a more welcoming community and a safer place to be yourself, yadda yadda. Also, this would supposedly be something they’ve been planning for a long time.

The more likely explanation, however, is related to Tumblr recently being kicked out from mobile apps due to their blatantly incompetent job at monitoring adult content - specifically the presence of child pornography, though the massive influx of porn spambots has also been mentioned.There’s a good chance they found proper monitoring too expensive, and cutting off NSFW content entirely had the added bonus of making the site more ad-friendly, which is desperately needed in a company that has failed to turn up a profit after being bought by Yahoo.

Any chance they’ll retract?

Unlikely. I mean, Patreon did recant an extremely impopular announced change to their payment system due to massive user outcry, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Feel free to contact Tumblr support about it (be polite, but if you plan to stop using the site due to this change, make sure to say so). But I wouldn’t put my money on it.

So where do we go now?

That’s the question! A lot of alternatives have been mentioned in the past few weeks. I might do a follow-up on this post later with some more details, but for the time being, here are some alternatives:

PILLOWFORT is a tumblr-like platform that’s currently still in beta. In addition to that, by the time I was writing this post their site was down due to maintenance. However, I’ve seen some good things said about it, so if they manage to get the site running soon, give it a try. You need a $5 key to enter the beta, though you can find some folks giving them away here and there. Try checking the notes on their Tumblr page (lmao)

TWITTER is also a popular option. A lot of your favorite NSFW artists might be posting there already (here’s mine!). Twitter’s image compression and timeline format make it far from ideal for posting art, but these problems tend to be offset by the massive audience.

MASTODON is largely known as “twitter minus the nazis”. I’ve found the interface a bit tricky to get into, but it’s something to consider if you want more control over your timeline, since it has some features that could be pretty useful if you want to keep your horny off main. Still nowhere near the userbase Twitter has, though.

Booru galleries like Gelbooru or Danbooru offer huge amounts of views, but posting your own content is frowned upon, reposting other people’s works without credit is rampant, and engagement is extremely low. I don’t particularly recommend them.

If by any chance you’re a furry NSFW artist, you’re probably in a better position than, uh, non-furries. Skinnies. Humanies. Fur muggles. I’m not in the furry community myself, but most NSFW artists know that furry sites offer much better engagement than most NSFW sites open to the general public. Then again, it’s extremely unlikely you’re not already a member, so I’ll skip mentioning them. Feel free to add them in the notes if you think it’d be helpful!

NEWGROUNDS allows NSFW content with no particular restrictions. However, bear in mind that its current userbase is far removed from the community you might have been accustomed to on Tumblr.

HENTAIFOUNDRY is a site for general adult art. (here’s mine!) Despite the name, it’s open for all drawn smut, regardless of style. However, keep in mind it has a quality filter (and corresponding submission queue), its userbase has been declining as of late, and, just like Newgrounds, might not be an audience fit, depending on the content you’re creating/interested in.

If getting started on all these sites seems overwhelming, I suggest giving POSTYBIRB a try - it’s a simple program that allows you to post on multiple sites simultaneously, saving you a lot of time.

delete pornbots, cuz honestly it is not that hard to pick them out

find a way to moderate nsfw content enough so that CHILD PORN can’t be posted

me:

Stephen Hillenburg will be greatly missed. He was a huge artistic inspiration for me, and many others…

man who just got fucked by an alien and is trying to hide it

and albert einstein if he was stupid