@staff it’s great to hear that you “won’t ever accept targeted harassment and threats”!
now: can you tell me what that looks like? genuinely, please, can you tell me what the fuck you’re going to do to put a stop to it?
because let’s be clear: the creators beta testing this (extremely poorly-thought-out) feature, which is *going* to result in enough lawsuits to possibly actually shut tumblr down for good, are not fair game for criticism here. like: the whole point, the whole appeal of tumblr is that everyone here is in the same boat. we’re all poor as dirt, probably mentally ill, neurodivergent, queer, and/or disabled; the preferred term for a tumblr user is “dumpster-diving shrieking opossum.”
the people who were targeted for beta testing are not jeff bezos. they’re your local cashier and sales clerk just trying to survive. the backlash they’ve received is unwarranted, inappropriate, misdirected and cruel. @kaijuno has received hundreds of death threats in one fucking day, and that’s not okay.
so, @staff, what are you going to do to stop it?
because it doesn’t seem like you’ve done a thing to protect kaijuno, or any of your “post+” beta testers. users who’ve been suckered into this crapshoot are taking the fall for your tone-deaf decision making, so what are you going to do to compensate them? you want to talk about emotional damages, maybe there’s a place to have that conversation when the reason they’re being targeted, on your platform, is because of you.
and while we’re here, let’s talk about one other section of the community guidelines you’ve mentioned:
let’s talk about how one of the common tags on tumblr, common enough that it pops up when i type “terf” in the tag bar, is “terfs do interact”. let’s talk about how tumblr, the place where pretty much all the most recent LGBT+ pride flags have originated, the so-called queerest place on the internet, is actively fostering the growth of a transphobic subculture. let’s talk about how your inaction has allowed ace exclusionists to gain a foothold in the young queer community, how your unwillingness to enforce the ban on actual hate speech has led to a generation unfamiliar with the legitimate history of the word “queer.”
(side note for general readers: a good rule of thumb is, if a term has entered the lexicon of academia, it is more or less universally accepted as the Appropriate Name For The Thing. that’s your number one tipoff for the revisionist history behind this “queer is a slur” discourse, which was kicked off and is carried on primarily by TERFs).
so yeah: let’s talk about the community guidelines. let’s talk about selectively enforcing them.
because i’m happy to hear you’re not going to stand for targeted harassment and hate speech anymore. genuinely, i am. what i want to know is whether you mean it.
do you care about the health and safety of your userbase, and respect your so-called community guidelines? or are they just a convenient excuse for you to distance yourself from the latest shitstorm you’ve kicked off, defend the honour of your financial assets, and wash your hands entirely of the fallout?
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