Tumblr can eat a gigantic bag of porn-sized dicks

[AngelSoft]

So my Tumblr feed today is pretty much dead. I normally get about 5-10 new posts an hour on it. It’s now noon-ish here and I haven’t had any new posts since like 8am. It just makes me so sad because I feel like something that was an honest to god bright point in my day has been taken away

[Budget_Player_Cadet]

@AngelSoft

So my Tumblr feed today is pretty much dead. I normally get about 5-10 new posts an hour on it. It’s now noon-ish here and I haven’t had any new posts since like 8am. It just makes me so sad because I feel like something that was an honest to god bright point in my day has been taken away

Amen to that. I canceled my advents calendar because I just cannot find a damn platform for it.

[Inner_Stickler]

@AngelSoft

So my Tumblr feed today is pretty much dead. I normally get about 5-10 new posts an hour on it. It’s now noon-ish here and I haven’t had any new posts since like 8am. It just makes me so sad because I feel like something that was an honest to god bright point in my day has been taken away

Are you sure it’s not just the tumblr ‘boycott’?

[AngelSoft]

@Inner_Stickler

Are you sure it’s not just the tumblr ‘boycott’?

Huh…maybe it is? I better stop going to Tumblr today then lol For all the good it will do. There’s no way they’re going to change their minds. This is just a way for people to feel like they’re doing something.

[clairobscur]

This boycott for a day makes no sense. Hardly anybody will follow it, and even it were the case, it’s not going to change the decision-makers’ mind. They know already that a large number of people are unhappy and are willing to eat the corresponding loss of income.

Besides, they made the adult blogs difficult to even access, and impossible to watch normally. Including blogs that were following their new rules (like blogs with only written erotica). So even those who maybe intended to stay will most probably leave (unless they delete everything “adult” and switch to SFW mode, but it seems unlikely to me that someone writing erotica will switch to posting lolcats instead), so there’s no point in boycotting “for a day”, Tumblr’s admins have already essentially written off permanently all these people. It’s even more drastic than announced.

This boycott is equivalent to state that you will work-to-rule in protest after you’ve been told that you were fired.

[Alessan]

Sigh.

All that porn lost… like tears… in the rain.

[Darren_Garrison]

Those aren’t tears!

[Steve_MB]

@AngelSoft

So my Tumblr feed today is pretty much dead. I normally get about 5-10 new posts an hour on it. It’s now noon-ish here and I haven’t had any new posts since like 8am. It just makes me so sad because I feel like something that was an honest to god bright point in my day has been taken away

Maybe they should rename it Tumblweedr.

[Eonwe]

@BigT

The people who we talk about losing their lives are people who can’t do other kinds of work, or at least can’t make enough money to get by on other types of work. They found a safe place to do business online that allows them to have a life without the need of having a pimp or being out on the street.

We’re talking people who are disabled, who have mental disorders, who have physical disorders, and other such that makes the stereotypical workday impossible. We’re not talking about the people who have skills to do other jobs but prefer sex work.

My point is that if there are people who are truly into sex work because it’s the only way they can live, and without Tumblr they will all end up selling sex unsafely on the street as the only viable option, then the problem (and burden of solving it) isn’t with Tumblr, or the internet platform du jour.

And, as a consumer, I find the morality of porn consumption or prostitution extra troubling if, in fact, the people producing it are only doing so because they have mental health issues that prevent them from paying bills in any other way, and who don’t actually prefer this line of work. Where’s the consent there?

I don’t see how one can argue both that sex work is being done by

Either sex work is a business
Additionally, even if we aren’t talking about those people, the idea that it’s hard but possible to simply up and change careers is just out of touch. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have the working class problem that we have. Why would coal workers want to keep on working at failing coal plants if they could afford to get trained in another job? That’s the argument you are making: that people can just up and choose.

In fact, most of your post sounds like right wing logic. You assume that capitalism just works. That, when there is a hole in the market, the guiding hand will come in and fill it in. But reality is far more messy than that. It doesn’t always happen, and, when it does, it’s at a higher systemic level, not at the individual or group level.

Not at all. I almost made the coal analogy in my first post, but not in the way you seem to think. Being mad at Tumblr is analogous to wanting to prop up the coal industry because those people/families/communities have no where else to go. It’s true that the demise of coal is a huge burden to some, but then our responsibility is to help those people transition, or to create systems that make those sorts of transitions less traumatic. I’m saying that it’s not the coal factory’s fault that the industry shifted. Tumblr is not responsible for maintaining a sex market place.

You neglect the facts on the ground. For example, why do you think Verizon would think that they need to have Tumblr be work-safe? Because all the online companies that allow you to make money are trending in that direction. Advertisers are becoming more squeamish about NSFW content, because they want to avoid controversy. Patreon has been not allowing NSFW content. Paypal has been pulling funding from places. YouTube is demonetizing NSFW and controversial content.

There is no inherent reason that any of them will decide “I want to take a gamble and be the one who still supports NSFW stuff.” There’s no guarantee that any company will come in and fill the gap, due to the huge startup costs causing so much inertia. Even if it eventually does happen, a lot of people will hurt in the mean time.

You also neglect the big push of traditional media companies to undermine online companies because they can’t seem to shift into online content and do as well. It’s a classic problem with capitalism: the old guards struggle to hold on as long as they can, taking out others with them. Sure, eventually it tends to work out, but again, a lot of people hurt in the mean time.

And then there’s just how you analyze everything as having to do with money. Apparently having an LGBT, sex positive community only has value if it makes companies money. Why in the world should that be? Sometimes capitalism screws society over, hurting what it actually needs because it is only interested in profit. There are tons of very helpful things that should exist, but capitalism keeps away–including your issue with people who don’t want to do sex work being able to not do sex work: capitalism doesn’t necessarily give them an option.

I’m not sure what your point is, or what you think I’m neglecting. Of course capitalism screws society/people over some times. That’s my point! Tumblr is not a non-profit. It’s not mission-driven, it’s profit-driven. Expecting Tumblr to prioritize sex workers as stakeholders in the company’s direction makes no sense.

And you need to get a little perspective here; you’re reading my post in the most negative light possible. I am not saying that “having an LGBT, sex positive community only has value if it makes companies money.” I am saying that having an LGBT, sex positive community only has value to a company if it makes that company money.

That said, the destruction of a community can actually harm business. Even if other sites pick up the slack, you’ve lost a built-in audience. The community–the network of people-- are now split up. Tumblr kept them all connected together. Sure, new connections will eventually form, but, again, that doesn’t help people in the meantime, or those who don’t ever recover.

I don’t dispute this at all.

I think all that’s left is about why we treat sex workers as a class. That’s easy: because they are discriminated against. Even you presume that being a sex worker when it is not your ideal job is worse than all other jobs. The majority of people have jobs that they would rather not have–why is sex work different?

Why is sex different than a handshake?

I don’t think you can have it both ways. Up above you claim that this is not just work that people would rather not have, but is in fact the one and only way people can keep a roof over their heads. We’ve decided that sex requires a kind of consent that other behaviors do not. If people are selling sex because they will be homeless otherwise, then I question whether it’s a morally viable business in the first place. How am I supposed to buy sex morally from someone who has a mental disorder and is only selling sex as a last resort?

Based on your post, you’ll probably hate this word, but it’s entirely applicable: sexual taboos exist because of the patriarchy, of keeping women in their place. The reason we shame women who have sex outside of marriage is to keep them under control.

Screw you. I spend scads of time on this board and IRL explaining what the patriarchy is and means, and how it creeps up in even the most unexpected places. I don’t need you to mansplain the patriarchy, thankyouverymuch.

I’m not sure why you needed to turn this into a personal fight, or assume I am “anti-sex work”. Sexual taboos are often harmful. We experience them in the context of the patriarchy. Sex shaming is bad, umkay? I’m doing none of those things. I am merely pointing out that regardless of your industry, if your survival depends on a 3rd party that has no stated obligation to your industry/business, then you should not be surprised when that 3rd party changes in ways that make your business unviable, and you probably should have planned for that, or at least expected that this paradigm was only temporary.

It’s awful for the community on Tumblr that they’re losing their community. But new ones will form. Other communities already exist. There is nothing vital about Tumblr that cannot be replicated.

[JohnT]

PornHub looks to buy Tumblr after traffic drops by 50% within months of the decision:

Wesley Yang

[VinylTurnip]

Just when I thought I was out, they jerk me back in.

[Defensive_Indifference]

I bet The Invisible Hand would be a good porn movie.

[JohnT]

+1

[Budget_Player_Cadet]

@JohnT

PornHub looks to buy Tumblr after traffic drops by 50% within months of the decision:

https://twitter.com/wesyang/status/1124131812656197638?s=19

Firstly: anyone surprised by that kind of drop was not paying attention, nice fucking going verizon.

Secondly: this is really good news.

[JRDelirious]

@Budget_Player_Cadet

Firstly: anyone surprised by that kind of drop was not paying attention

Yeah, really. Then again, maybe we still have to see what is their brilliant strategy going forward.

[BigT]

@Eonwe

I’m not sure why you needed to turn this into a personal fight, or assume I am “anti-sex work”. Sexual taboos are often harmful. We experience them in the context of the patriarchy. Sex shaming is bad, umkay? I’m doing none of those things. I am merely pointing out that regardless of your industry, if your survival depends on a 3rd party that has no stated obligation to your industry/business, then you should not be surprised when that 3rd party changes in ways that make your business unviable, and you probably should have planned for that, or at least expected that this paradigm was only temporary.

Fuck it, I’m going to respond to this nonsense, even though this is old, because I just saw it.

I didn’t make it personal. YOU DID. You are trying to hide behind verbosity. But the fact remain that you decided to attack the victims in this situation, blaming them for the immoral actions of another. And guess who is one of those victims? THE OP. So you made it personal by attacking the OP.

You can say all you want to that you support sex work. BUT YOU CONTINUE TREATING IT LIKE A NEGATIVE THING. You say that the mentally ill should not have to do it. But if you were pro-sex work, it would be like any other job.

And, in that, you attack ME. It is well known that I am mentally ill, and that I cannot hold down a regular job. I would do this same fucking sex work, except that I don’t think I could make money at it since I’m not attractive. Since I’m not sex negative, I DON’T SEE THAT AS A PROBLEM.

You clearly have a subconscious belief that sex work is inferior. You can say you support sex work, but that’s like someone saying they aren’t racist, but then keep on slipping in racist bullshit. The position you have taken is anti-sex-work, and magic words don’t change that.

You also keep pushing weird right-wing bullshit about businesses. People who don’t run their businesses deserve to lose. That’s the “free hand of the market,” pro-capitalist bullshit. You do not get to use capitalism as a way of blaming the victim.

Finally, fuck off saying I’m mansplaining. You have female experiences that I don’t. It would be mansplaining for me to tell you about that. But a male feminist disagreeing with you does not make it mansplaining.

If you don’t want me to respond to you like you’re an asshole, then don’t be one. Don’t be that guy who comes into threads where people are upset and tell them that it’s really all their fault. Fuck you for that.

[GIGObuster]

Looking at the latest news, this thread had one of the most prophetic titles ever…

[JohnT]

@Measure_for_Measure

Verizon takes a huge writedown on its creepily named Oath brand, the one that runs yahoo, HuffPo, tumblr et al. Goes from $4.8 billion to $200 million. That’s their estimate of the value of the future profit stream. Wholly crap.

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1072592235408048128

tumblr alone supposed had 555 million monthly visitors in Jan 2016.

@Budget_Player_Cadet

…Holy shit. That’s a 96% markdown. That’s insane.

Tumblr sold to Wordpress for…
… wait for it …

… wait for it …

… no, really, you’re not going to believe it …

“well under” $10 million, with the author of this piece trying to second-source a cite of “less than $3 million”.

[Budget_Player_Cadet]

Holy fucking shit.

I guess that’s what happens when you stick your dick in a website for shitty, stupid reasons.

[Darren_Garrison]

You are kind of asking for such a precipitous drop when you name your site “tumblr.” was “plummet” already taken?