Fleabites...

A couple of weeks ago we announced an update to our Community Guidelines regarding adult content, and we’ve received a lot of questions and feedback from you. First and foremost, we are sorry that this has not been an easy transition and we know we can do a better job of explaining what we’re doing. We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task and we appreciate your patience as we work through the challenges and limitations of correctly flagging tens of billions of GIFs, videos, and photos.

Today, December 17th, our policy begins to take effect. This means that we will start hiding – not deleting – posts that contain GIFs, videos, and photos from public view that are in violation of our policy. Again, this is a complex problem, and over the coming weeks we will gradually, and carefully, flag more adult content. (Yes, we will still make mistakes, but hopefully fewer and fewer.)

More importantly, we want to clarify the things that you, as a community, have asked about the most.

Tumblr will always be a place to explore your identity. Tumblr has always been home to marginalized communities and always will be. We fully recognize Tumblr’s special obligation to these communities and are committed to ensuring that our new policy on adult content does not silence the vital conversations that take place here every day. LGBTQ+ conversations, exploration of sexuality and gender, efforts to document the lives and challenges of those in the sex worker industry, and posts with pictures, videos, and GIFs of gender-confirmation surgery are all examples of content that is not only permitted on Tumblr but actively encouraged.

We also want to reiterate some important information from our Support post:

Your content will not be deleted. If your post(s) are flagged under the new policy, they will be hidden from public view and will only be visible to you. You can appeal these flags if you feel your content was erroneously marked as adult content. Upcoming feature changes will also make appeals more manageable for those of you with multiple flagged posts. Your blog won’t be deleted if you’ve posted adult content in the past, and there is nothing you need to do if you have interacted with adult content up until now–it will just be flagged and not publicly viewable. Don’t forget too that you can download your content. It’s yours after all, and we don’t take that lightly.

What is still permitted? We’ve heard a lot of concern about what the policy does not permit, but we want to make sure that you also know what is still permitted:

Written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, specifically sculptures and illustrations, is also stuff that can be freely posted on Tumblr. Although, photorealistic imagery or photography – images, videos, or GIFs – with real humans that include exposed genitals or female-presenting (yeah, we know you hate this term) nipples or depict sex acts is not allowed per our guidelines. 

Examples of exceptions that are still permitted but that you may need to appeal if they are misclassified are: exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.

The automated tools will improve. Having a post mistakenly flagged as adult totally sucks; we understand and agree that there have been too many wrongfully flagged posts since we announced the policy change. With tens of billions of GIFs, videos, and photos to review and millions of new posts every day, we really need your help to get it right.

The more you help by reporting content that’s not permitted and by appealing content that you believe was flagged incorrectly, the better our automated tools will get at classifying your posts correctly. The more content these tools review, the more they will learn the difference between what’s permitted and what’s not. Most importantly, your content won’t be deleted if erroneously flagged and all appeals will be sent to a real, live human who can make the appropriate call. 

We love Tumblr and the communities that call Tumblr home. You are Tumblr. This place has always been a reflection of the voices and communities that thrive here. As you’ve always done, help us continue to shape Tumblr into the community you want it to be.

Omg the king has spoken!!!

In lumping film and television media into the same category as p*rn you are essentially saying that any form of nudity (even non-sexual), sensuality, intimacy, or love-making is intrinsically *bad* and subject to possible censorship.

You’re saying that respected, and often award winning film makers; the actors and actresses involved; film crews and everyone else working on it; plus any TV station or film company who goes on to distribute this work is peddling p*rn and that we, as an audience, should be ashamed of watching it.

You’re saying that these same respected artists’ work is somehow dirty and should be hidden away.

You’re saying that any form of naked skin or show of affection is subject to possible censorship. That anyone under the age of 18 should never have access to this sort of material. That consensual, loving affection and the human body is something to be hidden away. Yet the vast majority of tv shows and films that I make gifs and edits from are rated PG or 12A here in the UK. Some are rated 15. NONE of my content is rated 18.

You’re basically saying that a 15, 16 and 17 year old should no longer have access to this material - material that actually offers a much more realistic view of relationships than any p*rn could.

**Newsflash** They CAN and they DO. Many of them actually post this content themselves!

It’s not Tumblr’s job to parent these young adults. Of course there should be safeguards in place, on any site. But it’s not fair to penalise an entire site because you can’t set up an effective safeguarding infrastructure for minors. Sort out your safe search and, or limit/tier the age of audiences.

Furthermore. You try to justify your decision by saying one of the reasons is to tackle the overwhelming amount of p*rn on the site. The problem with that, Tumblr staff, is that you allowed it! You made money from it. Your advertising revenues - and let’s be transparent here because that is the only thing you care about - profited from the footfall that came along with the p*rn blogs. You’ve ignored the much more troublesome and vile factions on this site, allowing them instead to flourish simply because either: a) you genuinely don’t care; or b) you haven’t invested in the technology and manpower needed to eradicate the threat.

Now I personally have no problem with any consenting adults doing whatever they want on this site, providing they stay in their lane.

Your decision to now turn this site into a highly censored space is nothing more than a cynical knee jerk reaction to Apple calling you out on the problems you’ve long since swept under the carpet. Things that your community have been begging you to fix for years. And yes, it boils down to money again.

But what about the innocent users you are punishing for your own ineptitude?

To be clear. I’m not here for p*rn. I’m here because I found a sanctuary from my debilitating illness. I found a like-minded community of amazing, creative people who just so happen to also enjoy a particular actor’s work and his positive attitude to life.

Many users on this site are house bound or isolated in one way or another. Many suffer from anxiety, depression and other illnesses. Many are marginalised in society and have no other way of communicating with people who ‘get them’. Tumblr has, historically, been a place for these people to come together as a community.

It has also been a place where many fandoms flourished. Tumblr is a haven for fans to create art, writing, images, videos and gifs in celebration of the things they are passionate about. These passions often have a positive impact on these fans lives. Of course, there can be dramas. That’s not isolated to this site. But ultimately Tumblr has been a safe space for many people to communicate with others around the world and make long-lasting friendships.

Your blanket censorship is going to seriously affect this. People are running scared. They’re leaving in droves.

Finally, if you think for one second that this puritanical purge will eradicate the spam p*rn bots, you’re deluded. How are you intending to achieve this when these bots don’t even post nsfw material? They simply reblog legitimate, sfw posts and delete captions only to insert their own insidious links? Your community guidelines state that explicit language will not be censored.

In short, there is literally NO rational argument for this ridiculous change, other than that you are putting revenue before the established communities on this site, and we will NOT go quietly into the night.

I would love to know what @amc @bbcone @bbcnewsus @bbcamerica @marvelentertainment @channel4online-blog @channel4newsvideo @warnerbrosentertainment et al. make of this censorship. 🤔

Ce n'est pas du ressort de Tumblr de remplir le rôle de parent et de garde-fou. D'autant plus que ces censures sont ridicules parce qu'un ado peut trouver des milliers de photos et de vidéos pornographiques en un quart de seconde via Google. Je me fiche de la présence de blogs porno sur Tumblr, chacun son créneau. Mais la chasse aux sorcières affecte n'importe quel blogger pour peu qu'il poste 5 cm de peau dénudée.

Évidemment que Tumblr essaie de rattraper le tir après être devenu la risée de l'app store. Les pieds nickelés doivent être aux commandes parce que c'est de mal en pis.

Je suis offensée en tant qu'adulte qu'on m'interdise de poster un bras, un sourire, un mamelon, parce qu'un enfant peut éventuellement passer par là. Je suis offensée en tant que gif maker qu'on m'interdise de partager des moments choisis d'une interview ou de films qui sont aux antipodes du milieu porno.

I know it’s tempting to leave and migrate to Twitter or Deviantart or whatever place to put your content due to the new policies, but DON’T. Let me explain why:

when your space is invaded, do you leave and let them take it? or do you stay because it’s YOUR space.

Leaving Tumblr won’t solve anything. As nonchalant as the staff is, if we leave, the new policy will stay in tact and NOTHING will be fixed.

We have to stay right here and tell the staff to go fuck themselves (Not literally, don’t harass the staff with threats or something) and do whatever we can to let them know their rules ain’t shit. Fix it.

it could take awhile. Weeks, a month, but we HAVE to kill this new policy.

Romanized Anubis

Marble statue of the jackal-headed god Anubis (Hermanubis), associated with mummification and the afterlife, holding the Caduceus of Hermes in his left hand, dating from the 2nd century. 

Let’s take a look at some screenshots of an article I was reading earlier today…

Keyword: was. They don’t support net neutrality anymore. Why you ask? well…

Tumblr is owned by Yahoo. Now that Verizon (a company that hates net neutrality) bought Yahoo, they have demanded that Tumblr must stop supporting net neutrality too. The Tumblr staff has stopped posting about net neutrality.

The Vox article that I was interviewed for is up and running, and it contains some serious fuckign information about this whole fiasco.

Information that tumblr just straight up refused to provide to its userbase at all.

Unsurprisingly to those of us watching this website deteriorate over the last year, this full content purge and ban has been in progress for a solid 6 months. The date got moved up because of the child porn thing, but it was always coming for us.

Equally unsurprising: Tumblr’s management and ownership are absolutely destroying the actual staff working on it. The company has been hemoragghing senior staff without so much as a token attempt to keep them in place. So the drops in site quality are real, and wil probably only be getting worse.

But really, where else can I have a dash that combines my latest fandom bullshit with my long term love for Bauhaus, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, Siouxsie Sioux and Nina Hagen? NO WHERE MY FRIENDS…. no-fucking-where!!!!

[sobs in the style of an Einsturzende Neubauten track]