I spend a lot of time on Tumblr. Some would probably say too much time, but that’s for another post (Nah not really). Right now I’d like to briefly talk about the word problematic and why it has become problematic. Continue reading → On @Tumblr: Why is the word “problematic” so problematic?
What’s that, you ask? Well, until last week, I had no idea but it’s the new social media platform taking all of Tumblr’s users and welcoming them with open arms. My predicament is this: should I consider moving there for the Star Wars community, leaving the Tumblr community I’ve been a part of for two years or stay and deal with whatever comes?
I really don’t want to uproot myself but already I can see the star wars posts dwindling in my activity log.
I’ve been told different things by different people so I’m really not sure how badly the new tumblr policy will impact my fandom directly. What I do know is that content that shouldn’t be getting flagged as adult content is getting flagged and that’s what’s scaring people into leaving.
I guess I’ll stay a little longer and think about it but it’s kinda bumming me out ☹
So I went back on Tumblr because it is now officially December 17th in the USA and this is what I saw in my activity log:
To give you some context of what this image is about, its a GIF set of Adam Driver portraying Adam Sackler on HBO’s show “Girls”. I am a very BIG Adam Driver fan so my blog posts feature a lot of Adam Driver. But this scene – this is just ridiculous – this scene is actually Adam’s character giving the female character in the scene a kiss on the cheek – THAT is it. And he’s got no top on, OOOOOO quickly, go get the porn police! It’s DAMAGING the eyes of innocent viewers to see a man without a shirt on!!!
If this had been a woman, I would fully understand. Can someone clear this up for me, are a man’s nipples considered “genitalia?” because I honestly don’t know lol… I mean, if it is classified as genitalia, well, all I can say to that is… wow.
I ask you, good people, is this correctly flagged as “adult” content? According to Tumblr, this is the type of content they will not allow on their site going forward:
Is adult content allowed on Tumblr?
Starting Dec 17, adult content will not be allowed on Tumblr, regardless of how old you are. You can read more about what kinds of content are not allowed on Tumblr in our Community Guidelines. If you spot a post that you don’t think belongs on Tumblr, period, you can report it: From the dashboard or in search results, tap or click the share menu (paper airplane) at the bottom of the post, and hit “Report.”
What is “adult content?”
Adult content primarily includes photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content—including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations—that depicts sex acts.
What is still permitted?
Examples of exceptions that are still permitted are exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery. Written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations, are also stuff that can be freely posted on Tumblr.
Now, I am not the original poster of this content so I can’t flag this as erroneous. But still, that BRIGHT orange banner is gonna trigger a helluva lot of people, just like it did me … 😦
I wanted to make it clear where I personally stand on the whole Tumblr thing. I am very much an “each to their own” type of person. I make no judgments on what is and isn’t acceptable expression for mass consumption on any social media platform. I use Tumblr because I love Star Wars. It’s the same reason I use any social media platform. There are tools you can use to block content you don’t want to be exposed to so I feel this whole Tumblr issue has lost its focus. With Tumblr being a social media platform, you’d think they would have better precautions in place for stopping “explicit” content but apparently it’s just easier to outright flag entire blogs as inappropriate. This I feel, is a little heavy handed.
What about art and self expression? I don’t know. I guess it is just easier to paint everyone with the same brush than target a few blogs or communities.
I’ve also read some people in the Star Wars fandom were banned due to writing fanfiction that touched on abusive relationships and relationships between adults and minors. If this is true, I agree with Tumblr’s approach because those things are getting pretty close to criminal and illegal areas of what is and isn’t appropriate content. Self expression or not, that’s harmful and hurtful to many, not just minors.
I just wanted to clarify where I stand personally. Thank you.
So if any of you reading this are wondering what’s going on with Tumblr, I’m with you on that. For the most part, I’ve avoided the whole thing. I don’t post NSFW content so I thought I’d be relatively untouched. But I’ve been reading blog posts from owners who swear their content is NSFW free and they’re still getting flagged.
So I’m going to have to check this out before the 17th which is really really close lol. I hope I don’t lose any of my content. People are saying Tumblr won’t notify you either which is alarming… man, I hope my blog is ok…
Since throwing myself headfirst into the maelstrom that is social media, I’ve come to learn that not all social media platforms are actually “social”. I’ve also learned that each social media platform has it’s own “flavour” and not all of them are going to whet your appetite. In fact, some of them will leave you wondering “what the hell?” more times than you can count. Continue reading → The varied “flavours” of Social Media
Hey, people! Haven’t written in a while, only because I’ve spent as much of my time as possible getting back into creating graphics and images of my own for tumblr. I am not a graphic designer or anything of that nature, I am just a creative person who loves to create things, just one of my many (different) faces.
Here are a couple of edits and images I created using photoshop and canva. Enjoy!
