What with Tumblr‘s years of commotion, and the very kind concerned messages...
…I feel it’s important to say don’t worry — I’m not gonna abruptly delete/abandon SDM.
The whole point of the blog is to make people smile, and if it can still do that, the show must go on.
That said, please leave your favorite other platforms you’d like to see SDM on in the comments! More on that near the end of this post.
Of course, since I was informed recently…
…that the blog had, apparently, been secretly flagged explicit for who knows how long…
…and seeing as things like wholesome, family-friendly cartoon gorillas…
…are constantly flagged as adult content… well, the future feels a bit sketchy.
So, let’s talk a little about the state of Tumblr – and to (hopefully) inject some levity into this mess, let’s use the one true medium of communication…
…Scooby-Doo reaction images.
They can make anything easier to discuss. It’s been scientifically proven.
To start things off, there are 3 vital keys to running a platform well:
1. Communicating with the community
Acknowledging issues, explaining upcoming fixes, answering common questions. This shows users you care, and are listening!
2. Fixing problems as they arise
Patching bugs, stopping platform abuses, adding vital absent features. This allows both creators’ content and the community to keep improving!
3. Moving in an understood direction
Working towards improvements & goals that most users agree are logical. This gives people confidence in the future!
Having all 3 is ideal, but isn’t always possible…
…but fortunately, nailing 2/3 covers well for the 3rd!
For instance, if you want to move in a direction that’s unpopular, but have a history of fixing issues well, and you communicate about changes in a consistent and timely manner, users will largely understand.
Sadly, in the almost 5 years I’ve been here…
…Tumblr has made no visible attempt at a single one of these things.
Communication is almost nonexistent, major issues persist indefinitely, and improvements never come.
I would go in-depth into each issue that the community has reported for years, but the file size of that much text would prolly crash the internet.
And saddest of all, when a rare change does come, it causes more problems than it solves.
See also: the history of the mobile app, and tomorrow’s new rules.
What Tumblr needed was to finally own up to the users…
…AKA, the people who watch the ads that make Tumblr earn money…
…that yes, there are huge issues, and communicate on what they’re doing to fix – say – abusive content and the broken safe mode filter.
Instead, they’re banning even any legitimate, positive, properly-flagged content that’s considered explicit… despite the fact that they can’t even make the existing safe mode work… and it meant giving a literal two-week notice to artists who depended on the platform for the last 11 years?
Even for 110% family-friendly blogs like SDM…
…well, it’s concerning to know things can be deleted or banned incorrectly at any time.
Heck, my grandma’s Santa collection was apparently very explicit…
…so for all we know, this Santa-Scooby rug could get this post flagged too.
Be careful – there’s no tool to see which of your posts are currently flagged to request reviews for them. It’s all a mystery.
As far as we know, posts may be taken down at any time, and old flagged content may be lost forever.
If SDM gets posts flagged wrongly all the time, what blog can’t? SDM has a flawless 4,200+ post record of safe content, and even its flags aren’t automatically reviewed. And this level of broken-ness extends to every facet of the platform… and seriously, don’t get me started on the mobile app.
I’m sure there’s loads of very nice people working there, but as a company…
…the way Tumblr operates is inexcusable.
Despite refusing to communicate, admit issues, or improve things over the last 4-5 years, Tumblr was quite adept at accusing my mother of following Russian propaganda accounts, breaking gifs randomly for about half a year, making text display on mobile never work right, breaking blog titles, swapping images between unrelated posts, and so much more.
…we only complain so much because we care about this platform.
We want to see Tumblr succeed, improve for everyone, and be profitable for those working there.
Nobody wants something they care about to figuratively turn into a decrepit old skeleton, falling out of the fuselage of the internet.
Now, that’s an analogy you don’t get to use every day.
Buuuuuuut to be safe, since we’ve politely asked for communication and fixes for years to no avail, I feel I should ask all you smart people…
…is there another platform you’d like to read SDM on as well? Especially one that supports its weird long-form-post nature?
With so many people leaving Tumblr, if SDM can help bring them a laugh somewhere else as well, I’d gladly look into it.
I’ve even considered what changes it would take to make SDM work in short social platforms’ posts…
…but I dunno, isn’t the in-depth silliness sort of what makes SDM fun? Having multiple images, gifs, and lines of riffing is pretty essential to the blog.
And as flexible as YouTube video is, it’d take far more work for way less content… plus, I’ve always liked the “scroll through with friends and chat” aspect of SDM being in post-form. You can talk over it, and spend as long laughing at a derpy frame as you like.
I’m also reluctant to just host SDM as its own site – people want the convenience of all their content aggregated together into a feed. It’d have advantages for me, but makes more work for you guys to see it.
So, have another blogging platform you love? Let me know! One way or another, it’ll all work out in the end.
Oh, and a final FYI: I’ve seen posts of 250k+ people planning to log off on the 17th for 24 hours, in order to hopefully make Tumblr notice they need to actually listen to the users for once.
If you’re interested, feel free to investigate – I’ll be posting right after midnight today, and will be off the site for the rest of the day.
dededos
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
blakekathryn
