he shouldnt be at the club he should be in a dark old basement laboratory saying shit like “fascinating” or “by jove” and conducting experiments on himself
Guys they are not transferring the staff that actually manage this website. It’s the marketing people. The product developers. The people making the dumbass badges no one likes and stuff like that. We’re fine
COULD the site continue to atrophy and die from here? Yeah. But it’s kind of been doing that for like half a decade now. So like we’re probably fine. Worst case scenario they sell it off in a year or so at an extremely low price to a smaller team which will probably continue to make things worse but no worse than Automattic was making it. If we’re REALLY lucky we’ll have some kind of money laundering grift or scam where one person pockets all the money and spends it on Genshin like the girl who ran that zine a while ago. Fret not this website is too evil to die
I will be on tumblr until there is an Error 404 message in place of my dash they will have to physically remove me from the premises like someone’s drunk aunt at a party idc
hello! I work in tech and here are some important things to know about “tumblr is going into maintenance mode.” please note I do not work at tumblr, I’ve just worked at tumblr-adjacent sort of companies for my entire adult life and i’ve gone through this before.
what does maintenance mode mean?
literally what it sounds like – Automattic is not going to be hiring new staff, investing in new product features, or doing anything new on tumblr. the staff that remains working on tumblr will be maintaining the status quo. most of the staff will be allocated elsewhere (or possibly laid off, though it looks like from that memo that’s not what they’re planning to do). it does not mean tumblr is shutting down. you should still buy premium, get merch, etc, because this is definitely step one of the shutdown process, but a maintenance mode designation is basically to see if tumblr will generate a revenue without putting more money into it than strictly necessary.
why did this happen?
obviously I do not know directly. from my observation, it’s in part because Yahoo had absolutely no idea what to do with this platform, and then when Automattic bought it they also… struggled… but it is also in part because the user base has been so viciously anti-monetization that most attempts were killed outright.
yes, the user base is part of the problem. the absolute feral anti-premium, anti-ads, anti-tipping, anti-everything tumblr tried to do to make money is part of the problem. it’s not the only part of the problem by a long shot, but I would be remiss not to mention it.
what do I do now?
use the platform. just like, keep using tumblr. do not abandon ship. buy premium, get yourself some badges, get yourself some merch, but use the platform. ad revenue is based on impressions and clicks. if a ton of the user base gives up, that revenue disappears.
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tumblr is extremely special. I’ve never seen anything like it in my 20-odd years of being Very Online, and I was a minor BNF in WolfStar during LiveJournal days. I don’t know that it can be recreated elsewhere. I don’t know where fandom will go. I know that something else will exist after tumblr and that nothing gold can stay, but i don’t think the specific kind of joy found here can be recreated. i say this not to be a downer, but to be realistic. I guess I should find a Bluesky invite.
I’ve been here since 2008. I’m not going anywhere as long as this site exists. hope you’ll stay here with me.
This is, honestly, the best take I’ve seen about this mess.
@ all artists, musical or otherwise: please provide some kind of no strings attached donation link on your website or in your bio or on your carrd or in your fucking email signature or somewhere so people can throw coins in your hat. it doesn’t matter if you feel like you “‘deserve”’ it, or if it never gets used. it doesn’t matter. it’s not the point. just provide the means and let everyone else worry about the rest.
@ all enjoyers of art: stop driving yourself insane over finding a way to do ethical capitalism and just get in the habit of giving artists money for the cool shit you found by accident. it adds up.
it’s okay if you can’t afford to go big, nobody on earth has ever been mad to receive “I like your song here’s $2 for chicken nuggets”
I updated my commissions with more examples of art, etc. Please reblog. I am looking to take on extra work on top of my regular job. There is accessibility added to the pictures.
I also have monthly perks on my kofi for anyone who really likes my work and wants to support me. Thanks for your understanding.
i really think we should all outgrow once and for all the idea that a character making a dumb decision is a plot hole. sometimes people are dumb. sometimes a character making a smart and informed decision is the real plot hole
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