Tiny Viking

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

I’ve seen a couple of posts now advocating to not migrate from Tumblr to other services, but to stay and fight. And while I applaud that mindset to resist and I am all for contacting @staff and telling them (in a respectful manner) that you are unhappy, I don’t believe it will do anything.

It hasn’t in the past.

And this is why:

Tumblr is about creating revenue. Those ads and stuff? It creates revenue. Companies pay to have Tumblr show them to you. So the more users there are on a platform, the more companies are interested to pay Tumblr for the ‘privilege’ of showing their ads to you. Tumblr users are literally revenue creating golden geese. And this is the only thing we are to them. This is why Tumblr is free (it is not in fact: you don’t pay money, but you pay by consuming ads whether you want to or not)

This Purge is not about making Tumblr a ‘safer, friendlier place’. It is not about stopping child pornography or nudity or sex or any of that. It is not about an ethical or moral obligation (as evidenced by Tumblr not caring one bit about fascist propaganda, etc.).

It is about being taken off Apple app store

Being taken off that means loss in revenue, because the Tumblr app reaches less people’s devices -> less people interact with it -> less chances to show ads -> less companies interested in paying Tumblr to show you ads -> less money for Tumblr. It is about money, not some moral or ethical obligation (but those reasons sell better in PR)

This Purge is Tumblr’s idea to get back into that sweet app store as quickly as possible to recover revenue

The reason Tumblr never really handled the porn bot issue? It was not profitable

The reason Tumblr didn’t (and still doesn’t) care about fascist ideas percolating freely here? It is not profitable. (after all, they didn’t get taken off the app store for allowing those ideas…)

The reason Tumblr doesn’t care about harassment cases? It is not profitable

The reason they act now (with this knee-jerk reaction) is because it is actually hurting them in their bottom line.

I get you like Tumblr, heck, I like(d) Tumblr! But I am happy to not update and do much here anymore (basically let my blog slowly die (or even remove it, I’m not sure yet), go some place else that maybe even has an ounce of ethics left (or more than an ounce), give my money to them (in form of actual cash, or the time I spend looking at ads to keep them in business) rather than support a system that really does not care at all about anything but the revenue.

I know you’re scared of loosing your content, people you have connected with, the network you have created (and also the connections you have made that actually pay you money). However, this is something you can have some place else. Yes, it will take time and effort (and I am aware that it hurts people financially right now), but it is not like you, or fandom, or your safe space will drop off the face of the earth.

I say, fine, if my content (and therefore the driving force for people to connect with me -  and be shown the ads displayed by Tumblr) is not wanted here, I go some place else.

And hurt their bottom line. That is the only thing Tumblr cares about. It is the only thing that will  interest them.

Maybe they will even create a better site in a few year’s time to gain those golden geese back. Doubt it though.

If they do, I consider coming back.

Sure. You can go and learn how to write something. You can learn about the subject you’re writing about. You can investigate. You can work on your craft.

And you can get stuck, and not know what happens next, and wait until you do.

And you can discover that showrunning a tv show you’ve written takes all of your time, and put the novel you’ve been writing to sleep knowing that you won’t be waking it up and carrying on with chapter four until about 20 months have passed.

I’ve been thinking of branching out to other sites, but don’t know where to start. In no way am I abandoning tumblr! but I just keep hearing about the writing communities on Instagram and Twitter, and I’ve gotten curious.

DIDN’T WRITE A THING

Award yourself this badge if you have had a day in which you didn’t write a thing!

Orlesians are annoying but at least my OTP is cute.