From what I understand, 'post+' doesn't monetarily benefit Tumblr at all. You pay creators, not the site. However this doesn't make it any better, as the lawsuits and copyright enforcement's will still happen. It's just that we will pay the price more than the site in terms of money - but lose the Fandoms, and Tumblr still dies.
And that is exactly what I think this post + was created to avoid.
We all know the site is dying. Not necessarily because of money, as that could be fixed with a donation drive, like Ao3 and Wikipedia do. No, Tumblr has the issue of an ever shrinking number of users.
This was partly caused by the p**n ban, I believe, but it was happening before that due to other factors too lengthy to list. So by making a way for creators to make money - always a useful incentive - Tumblr isn't trying to make money. It's trying to expand.
In short, post+ isn't really about the current user base, it's about getting a bigger one.
Maybe I'm off, but this seems the only logical answer for the question of why this is being done. Except it won't work. No one is really willing to pay on this site - not for content that is a lot of shitposting, fanwork and analysis. It's good stuff, interesting stuff, but not really worth paying for. Particularly as the demographic for the site is younger people, who maybe can't afford to pay for content on such a scale as they are trying to create.
And even if people did pay - which I don't believe most will - all we would get are lawsuits. Because a commercial, official way of paying for fanwork rarely lasts long. This isn't Patreon. This won't be ignored.
We'll all pay the price - not in money, but in freedom. The freedom to create, whether it be fics or art or analysis, is all under threat by this new feature.
Little bit dramatic at the end but my point still stands. So anyone who reads this, please go fill out the survey on the @postplus page. Don't spam or threaten, but giving clear, logical arguments against this will work far better at stopping it. Or at least curb the damage a bit.
And a final point - I absolutely do not encourage attacking @staff over this. Death threats and childish swearing in general are wrong, and never work on the internet towards any good. Be clear, be logical, be polite and this will hopefully blow over.
If it doesn't - well post+ can always go unused, which should reduce the chances of lawsuits and copyright enforcement. We can always act, but now is the time for effective resistance.
- Captain-Shay-Cormac
