Why I’m leaving Tumblr

I’ve had a Tumblr blog for over 5 years. I’ve had it since the micro blogging site went live. I lived through the era of the Yahoo acquisition in 2013 and the many many failed attempts to monetise the site (mind you I never made any money directly from Tumblr but they took my money many times.)  But the latest attempt to manage porn on Tumblr has left a sour taste in my mouth. NOT because of the porn itself, but by the heavy handedness and the missteps of the new President Jeff D’Onofrio. When a service seeks to censor its users it’s time to leave.

Added to the fact that Tumblr has become a haven for a lot of Social Justice Warrior Blogs, a few of which have gotten more an more hyped up in recent months because of Trump and the general “Culture war” happening in the United States. There is so little of Tumblr that serves inspirational and interesting content anymore. Now it’s rants and raves against #orangemanbad. I’ve found myself using it less and less.

Now that I have a full fledged website to manage, I think it’s time I move from microblogging, to full blogging. I liked the idea of microblogging tho, the ability to straddle the concepts of a Twitter post and a long form post. Being able to “reblog” someone else’s content with my own comment in the thread was the best of both worlds to me. However lately this has become a trap when I fall into discussions and endless rounds of arguments with people who seem to have nothing better to do than bash their keyboards. 

I have a life.

I prefer to spend my time in more constructive and meaningful ways. Tumblr has become toxic and uninteresting to me. Yet there are some posts on there that I need to transfer here. (I have already started, my #artistsyoushouldknow posts, for example). Content will always be king. Now I prefer to get it elsewhere and share it in a more structured environment. Especially an environment I have a little more control over the comments and the platform.

My take on the whole “no porn on Tumblr” thing is twofold. You can post whatever you want but once its legal is my motto. There’s a saying that when we let others decide what we cannot see we become victims to who controls the content. This is not a new thing. This has started happening at Facebook. Believe it or not I wish there were some controls on Twitter (but that’s for another discussion). The day Tumblr decided what people can post on its platform is the day it will die.

Is it Porn?

The problem with Facebook is that what is art and what is “porn”? Tumblr has decided that ANY photo that shows “titties” is “Porn”. So all the blogs that showcased nude photography in an artistic form are now hidden. This is the problem with blanket censorship. One man’s porn is another man’s artistic expression. The issue is that of fan art (a giant mainstay of Tumblr).  As Gizmodo’s io9 wrote when the news broke:

. . . creators have come to use their Tumblr accounts as a place where they can have meaningful interactions with people that sometimes culminate in wild ideas being incorporated into books, television, and films that might not have otherwise.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/tumblrs-new-ban-on-adult-content-is-a-bigger-deal-than-1830831079

If you stifle self expression in trying to protect, you create a much bigger issue. You’re closing your doors. Kids who use Tumblr to come up with wild ideas and self expressions would have no place to express themselves. I shudder to think where they would go, (please don’t say reddit or 4chan!)

What’s next Tumblr?

My feeling is they will relax this “ban”. In the meantime it’s really about controlling the space you are in. I always say, if you play in someone else’s sandbox you have to play by their rules. Facebook is like that and now Tumblr is taking it a huge step further. So the best thing is try to create your own space and make your own rules.

For now my Tumblr will stay there, but I won’t post any new content to it. This is where the action’s at, and you can follow me on Facebook if you wish.

An example of content that was blocked on my Tumblr.

[nsfw][/nsfw]

Ian is getting better at writing long form posts. But if you want to check out his Tumblr for now you can go here. Get in contact here or comment below if you agree or disagree with Tumblr’s strategy.