And so it... ends?
Dec. 4th, 2018 07:13 amI mean, Tumblr hasn't officially shut down or anything. But disallowing all explicit content, and in this particular way, is a change that everyone ought to take seriously.
Back when Yahoo bought Tumblr, in May 2013 (I'd forgotten that it was so long ago!) there was speculation that something like this might happen, and as I think about it now, I wonder why it took them so long. Yahoo has a history of buying social media sites, mismanaging them, and then then either shutting them down (GeoCities), mangling them beyond all recognition (Flickr), or selling them to other companies that then mangle them beyond all recognition (Delicious). Tumblr seems to be a bit of column B and a bit of column C, given the recent Verizon buy-out; I suppose a total shutdown isn't so likely in the short term, but I don't have warm fuzzy feelings about the long-term health of the service.
I've drifted away from Tumblr over the last couple of years for my own reasons. First it was the extended hiatus I took to avoid Dragon Age: Inquisition spoilers, and then it was the prolonged drama over reactions to DA:I, and then it was working at a job where I couldn't really be on Tumblr all day. In July 2017, I created a new account with a new username (actually, I repurposed an old fyeah blog that I hadn't touched in years to have a more general username) and followed far fewer people, in hopes of getting a bit of a fresh start; it worked for a little while, but I still wasn't checking in very often, and now I've all but abandoned it. I have no plans to official close up shop, either, but especially for now I don't see it being a regular part of my online life any more.
Even though this policy probably wouldn't affect me directly (I never create and rarely reblog explicit art), past history suggests that this change ought to be a dealbreaker for fandom. Whether the rest of fandom will agree remains to be seen. But if the recent influx of Tumblr folks reappearing on my dash today is any indication, it appears at least some folks do. So welcome back, or welcome aboard if you're new to the community. I hope we can make DW as good home for you as it has been for me.
Back when Yahoo bought Tumblr, in May 2013 (I'd forgotten that it was so long ago!) there was speculation that something like this might happen, and as I think about it now, I wonder why it took them so long. Yahoo has a history of buying social media sites, mismanaging them, and then then either shutting them down (GeoCities), mangling them beyond all recognition (Flickr), or selling them to other companies that then mangle them beyond all recognition (Delicious). Tumblr seems to be a bit of column B and a bit of column C, given the recent Verizon buy-out; I suppose a total shutdown isn't so likely in the short term, but I don't have warm fuzzy feelings about the long-term health of the service.
I've drifted away from Tumblr over the last couple of years for my own reasons. First it was the extended hiatus I took to avoid Dragon Age: Inquisition spoilers, and then it was the prolonged drama over reactions to DA:I, and then it was working at a job where I couldn't really be on Tumblr all day. In July 2017, I created a new account with a new username (actually, I repurposed an old fyeah blog that I hadn't touched in years to have a more general username) and followed far fewer people, in hopes of getting a bit of a fresh start; it worked for a little while, but I still wasn't checking in very often, and now I've all but abandoned it. I have no plans to official close up shop, either, but especially for now I don't see it being a regular part of my online life any more.
Even though this policy probably wouldn't affect me directly (I never create and rarely reblog explicit art), past history suggests that this change ought to be a dealbreaker for fandom. Whether the rest of fandom will agree remains to be seen. But if the recent influx of Tumblr folks reappearing on my dash today is any indication, it appears at least some folks do. So welcome back, or welcome aboard if you're new to the community. I hope we can make DW as good home for you as it has been for me.
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