Tumblr's new NSFW restrictions and why turning off safe mode won't work
So I’ve been doing some reading and wow. Just fucking WOW.
Tumblr, you’ve actually outdone yourself here. All the bullshit cookies for you!
Tumblr’s new approach to NSFW content (other than blocking certain tags on apps) includes splitting the NSFW blog flagging options in two.
You can now flag your blog* as NSFW or Adult.
What’s the difference? This:
Taken from Tumblr’s new NSFW policy page.
Now me? I’m a NSFW blog. I occasionally reblog raunchy fanart and pretty pictures of scantily clad hot people. This means that:
If people are browsing in Safe Mode (which is the default, CHEERS TUMBLR) and are not following me they will see nothing of mine in the search or tags.
Let me be clear: NOTHING OF MINE.
My whole blog is flagged as NSFW even though I mostly reblog stupid comics of tv characters failing to use stairs. So for every one NSFW post I have that these Safe Mode users don’t want to see, they’ll miss the nine other posts I make about werewolves in pink knitted sweaters.
Pretty shit huh? Oh wait, bro, it gets better.
That’s blogs flagged NSFW. Blogs flagged Adult have it INFINITELY shittier.
Porn-intensive blogs have ZERO visibility beyond the dash. Unless a user is following them, they are invisible. Even reblogs are tetchy because with the new restrictions, anyone reblogging NSFW content runs the risk of being flagged as NSFW themselves and thus might not take the risk.
So porn blogs: crippled, basically. No dicks and o-faces for you, tumblr users. But how’s this for another, infinitely more terrifying, approach: all those sex-ed blogs? All those beautiful how-to-masturbation, body-positive and sex-positive blogs? Under the current definitions:
You guessed it: they’re Adult. If they’re not flagged as such by the blog owners themselves, tumblr can do it for you:
“If you’re not sure how you should flag your blog you can leave it unflagged, but keep in mind that it may be flagged automatically.” (x)
Fuck. Basically. Everything.
PS: Anyone wanting to turn Safe Mode off (because hey, if you haven’t checked yours yet, it’s totally on! YAY!):
In the left hand menu hit Dashboard
And uncheck the “browse tag pages in safe mode”
It’s nowhere near a complete solution, but it’s as much as we’ve got right now.
* Or I’m assuming you’ll be able to? This feature is greyed out for me atm. A+ rollout of functionality there, tumblr.
