The frequency with which #tumblr deletes accounts, severing conversations and friendships is worse than the #fediverse
Like the fedi gets a lot of bad rap, but my gosh have you seen tumblr?
Is it any wonder no one wants to pay for a yearly subscription to tumblr?
cc @photomatt
Like, I used to have a subscription, but I don't anymore more because they terminated that account without warning loosing SO much of me & my writing with it, including a long essay I'd been writing on pleasuring pre-op/hormone trans women.
I would buy an ad-free subscription for me and my friends (because tumblr ads _suck_, but I can't trust my account will be allowed to stay because I'm queer and kinky.
Tumblr is the only place I can connect with some of my closest friends & where I've met both my ex-girlfriend, my current maybe girlfriend, and the platform my very first girlfriend invited me to, to help us feel closer in our long distance relationship.
But tumblr doesn't seem to care about people, just advertisers and Apple, and their policies are a direct reflection of this.
This is the post that surprises me.
I never thought of Tumblr as a place for real, close connections. It always seemed to me to be about momentary connection over shared art or (to put it positively) a user just wanting to make strangers' day better by offering a glimpse into an experience.
So I'm speculating, maybe completely wrong, but I wonder if my impression is the one that the company has actually been aiming for. It would explain so many of the actions you're mentioning.
It might be that y'all found this loophole in their system, forming close connections in a system that was never designed to promote close connection.
Just for example, it's not a problem to them to sever conversations if the platform never valued or wanted to have those conversations in the first place.
@photomatt
