Tumblr's new NSFW restrictions and why turning off safe mode won't work
So Iâve been doing some reading and wow. Just fucking WOW.
Tumblr, youâve actually outdone yourself here. All the bullshit cookies for you!
Tumblrâs 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.
Whatâs the difference? This:
Taken from Tumblrâs new NSFW policy page.
Now me? Iâm 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 donât want to see, theyâll miss the nine other posts I make about werewolves in pink knitted sweaters.
Pretty shit huh? Oh wait, bro, it gets better.
Thatâs 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 howâs 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: theyâre Adult. If theyâre not flagged as such by the blog owners themselves, tumblr can do it for you:
âIf youâre not sure how you should flag your blog you can leave it unflagged, but keep in mind that it may be flagged automatically.â (x)
Fuck. Basically. Everything.
PS: Anyone wanting to turn Safe Mode off (because hey, if you havenât checked yours yet, itâs totally on! YAY!):
In the left hand menu hit Dashboard
And uncheck the âbrowse tag pages in safe modeâ
Itâs nowhere near a complete solution, but itâs as much as weâve got right now.
* Or Iâm assuming youâll be able to? This feature is greyed out for me atm. A+ rollout of functionality there, tumblr.