#tumblr strike

[mangedog]

tumblr blackout proposal

tumblr mobile has steadily become near unusable these past few updates. not just from a user experience perspective (which is important enough in itself) but also from an accessibility perspective.

examples include the new way the image viewer works (if you can call it "working"), the tumblr live button replacing the profile button, and that newly created blogs will be forced to have their main dashboard tab be the 'for you' page.

the demands of the protest would be along the lines of:

reverse the recent image viewer update

scrap the new users 'for you' page default setting

let us turn off tumblr live indefinitely

increase efforts against spam / porn bots

make reporting abuse and hate speech as easy as reporting as reporting spam

let us go nuts show nuts again... for real this time

remove flashing ads, including not accepting blaze campaigns for posts with flashing in them

commit to improving usability and accessibility, and listening to users!

(suggestions welcome!)

to protest against these usability issues, and inspired by the recent reddit blackout, i propose a 48 hour blackout (where you don't use tumblr at all). preferably of both mobile and web (since web has problems too) but mobile is the focus here.

[edit: a 'blackout' is when you don't log in, or interact with the site at all, for [x] amount of time.]

I suggest from the 30th of June.

this marks the end of pride month (for the "queerest place on the internet") and the start of disability month (since accessibility is a massive issue here).

tumblr office is in San Francisco, USA, so the times and dates will be calculated using their time zone (PDT).

you can find out the times and dates for your timezone here.

i can't afford to blaze this post so please spread it around as much as possible! protests only work if significant numbers show up!

edit: tumblr rejected the blaze campaigns for this post because they know it would hurt them. let's make this an indefinite blackout - it's the best way to get results.

edit 2: plain text version of this post

#again‚ suggestions welcome :) #dogpost #tumblr #tumblr dot com #tumblr.com #tumblr blackout #tumblr protest #accessibility issues #user experience #accessibility #ideally they would just integrate xkit toggles but we know they wont do that lol #tumblr strike

[friendofthecrows]

Who would like to add to a running list about things tumblr should change (and which are most important?)

It has four total questions, has short explanations of why the questions are there, is open response (so you are not trapped by the options I choose/think of), can be taken by anyone regardless of whether they will be participating in the blackout, and does not collect emails. All results will be published.

Reblogs for more data are greatly appreciated <3

#tumblr #tumblr update #tumblr features #tumblr staff #tumblr feedback #tumblr blackout #tumblr strike #survey #hal rambles

[fawkesthefox]

So I've seen the tumblr blackout post as well as a bunch of people pointing out that it's not the best idea (tumblr doesn't work like reddit so everyone leaving for a while won't actually be that effective and starting during disability month means we're cutting off a ton of disabled people from talking to people/potentially fundraising during disability pride month) But I don't think I've seen people attempt to organize a different plan so here's this:

Lets all be as annoying as fuck

Starting June 30th and extending into disability pride month we should turn off/unsubscribe from any tumblr prime(?), use adblockers, avoid interacting with any promotions they're making and algorithmic content and send blogs like @staff and @wip a ton of shit

If a ton of users each take a minute a day to send a few asks to different staff blogs, reply/reblog posts with complaints, and make posts @ing some staff blogs I believe we can make a huge flood and completely overwhelm them with the fact that we want things to change, we don't have to individually spam them, everyone can just do a little bit.

...To be honest I don't think this post will make it very far and im not the most confident in this specific plan, but I want to get the idea out there, I think we should definitely be doing something to try and take the site back and make sure they don't keep making things worse, we need to let them know that we won't put up with them ignoring us. This site is for the users and we will take it back.

#tumblr strike #tumblr blackout #for the users #the fox speaks

[fandomsoda]

Regarding the Tumblr strike‼️:

Remember that effective general strikes do not happen with only 2 weeks notice, this shit needs to be properly planned and what we’re doing is not properly planned.

This should not be an INDEFINITE strike because most aren’t prepared enough/capable of an indefinite strike with the timeline we’ve been given.

We should keep it to 48 hours just this time. I know effective strikes do not have a time limit but this strike is too poorly planned that it won’t be effective either way because no one has had the time to actually set shit up to afford leaving tumblr indefinitely.

I think a strike SHOULD HAPPEN, but we need to do it WAY BETTER next time.

This time is worth a try but should not be indefinite-leave committed to because of how unprepared most of us are.

#text post #tumblr strike #tumblr community #important

[impunkster-syndrome]

Just a little heads up:

If you tell photosensitives to just join in the blackout if users not tagging shit correctly is dangerous to us, you're ableist and directly ignoring the issue of the site being made more dangerous by people who generally think they are doing good but do not listen to disabled voices other than the organizer of the blackout.

Photosensitives should not be made to feel pressured offsite due to the safety risk increasing for us. This blackout idea harms us more than advocates for and with us.

It's like you're walking up to a forearm crutch user, and taking their crutches due to protesting the company that made them, and then telling people to just not walk/move/go to work/etc when they point out that they need those crutches. Then you respond that because they do not constantly need the crutches they should shut it and not use their crutches anyway.

I'm making that comparison as a forearm crutch user and I got it from my partner that also uses forearm crutches. It's not perfect, but neurological issues are not mental health issues by default. It's a physical disability.

#disability #tumblr blackout #tumblr strike #neuropunk #neurodivergency #epilepsy #photosensitivity

[mrsblackruby]

My Ongoing Chill Time Off Tumblr + Hope For Future Organizing

I participated in the poorly planned tumblr strike. Which made me very happy! I like to see users starting to become more disillusioned to the site. And during my break it got me thinking I don’t really like tumblr as an app that much as is. And I’ve experienced a lot of Harrassment, discouragement, and abuse while just trying to speak my mind and it’s very unpleasant for me and tumblr has done nothing to ease that pain. And though I’m not planning on deleting my account anytime soon just yet I think I’m gonna become more serious in becoming less active and keep and open mind to deletion. Also if organizers from the strike I participated in want my help for anything I’ll try to stay as available as possible because I want to help see that strike develop into something beautiful. Until then I would like to communicate I don’t think tumblr has to be a site that’s for profit and collects our data and targets ads at it’s user base to run. And I want to see more change from the internet landscape especially not tolerating cyberbullying which I’ve seen much of online. Until then way less use of the mobile app from me and I’ll be using software to protect myself from the vulnerabilities of dangerous adware. While reminding myself there’s always a possibility for big change to come. I committed 48 hours but I don’t mind committing more of my time in the future.

@alliered @friendofthecrows @transmascanine

#tumblr strike #tumblr blackout #my politics #social discourse #social justice #social media #non fandom #human rights #people over profit

[antimony-ore]

I need help fixing the place up over at Mastodon 😆 it has potential BUT #WindowFriday is trending rn lmao.

Please consider leaving tumblr with me and being hilarious elsewhere (no ads) (George Takei is there lol) (🥺) 🙏🙏🙏

@[email protected]

#mastodon #window friday #look at the little pride mastodon on desktop #tumblr strike #antimony

[everydaygremlin]

did anyone actually participate in the tumblr strike???

#tumblr #[tumblr] #tumblr strike

[dragonsarereall]

How do I report ads?? I keep getting a really gross one that makes my OCD worse.

#tumblr ads #Tumblr #help i cannot keep using this app if i can't get rid of this ad #Tumblr strike #why can't i get less gross ads #im not even sure what to do tbh #i actually think Tumblr is one of the better media platforms out there #it will be sad if i cant use any social media anymore #its easier to block content on here #apparently that doesn't apply to ads

[memingursa]

Wait hold on Tumblr girlies have been carrying that show on netflix for well over 10 years now and even the guy responsible for it hasn’t gotten a GOD DAMN DIME?????

#netflix #supernatural #wga #wga strike #sag aftra #sag afra strike #tumblr #supernatural tumblr #castiel #destiel #superwholock #support the wga #writers strike

[mangedog]

tumblr blackout protest: masterpost

original post proposing the blackout

current plan is:

48 hour blackout (june 30th - july 1st, PDT time zone)

see what the response is from staff (if any)

organise an (actually organised…) longer blackout.

keep going - and increasing the length - until we get the response we want

update: how did the blackout go?

current suggestions for demands:

reverse the recent image viewer update

scrap the new users 'for you' page default setting

let us turn off tumblr live indefinitely ( -> here's a response from 2 staff members about it)

increase efforts against spam / porn bots

make reporting abuse and hate speech as easy as reporting as reporting spam

let us go nuts show nuts again… for real this time ( -> there are app store/USA law issues with this one, so it's not entirely in tumblr's hands)

remove flashing ads, including not accepting blaze campaigns for posts with flashing in them

commit to improving usability and accessibility, and listening to users!

more transparency on staff working on issues raised by users ( -> staff does have a github but seems to be more dev focused than user issues focused)

other posts:

a few notes on the protest

some issues users have

delete the app on the 30th!

on volunteer work & what goes into running tumblr... and why our demands might not work

the strike should be kept at 48 hours... this time. (and a suggestion for mastodon in the meantime)

response from staff members (cyle, kat & zingring)

boycott tumblr products (and why the indefinite blackout suggestion had nothing to do with disability month; though it was an oversight on my behalf)

some criticisms... and some suggestions

the current goals

on demands, communicating with staff, and suggestions for communicating with participants

complaining to staff hasn't worked (so far)

leave negative reviews on the app store

initial suggestion to make it indefinite

let's use this post as a place to discuss how the blackout should work, how long it will go for, our demands, how to communicate best with staff, and what happens if it doesn't work.

a response from zingring (staff, COO) said:

"We actually are talking very recently (since yesterday) about instituting a public bug tracker, and it could be GitHub. We are also talking about publishing a community wishlist."

so it's already working!

(number of times staff has rejected a blaze campaign for the original post: 5)

#dogpost #no bold #tumblr protest #tumblr blackout #tumblr strike #thats 5 separate people trying to blaze it btw lol

[friendofthecrows]

Hey, people saying the Tumblr Blackout won't work because Tumblr doesn't work like Reddit...

It will hurt them if we all (or even the majority of highly active users) participate. No content until demands are met is pretty much the worst nightmare of a site with Tumblr's business model.

Like the saying goes, if you don't pay for a product, you are the product. Site eerily empty thus reducing engagement, no users online so no add clicks, no one buying blaze or merch, basically a sudden drop in every metric with which Tumblr measures profit or potential for profit.

On top of this, instead of having it be a strike for a set time period, which Tumblr could just wait out, the organizer has changed it to an indefinite strike until demands are met. This increases the odds of it working.

Is it still possible for it to fail? Of course! But it also might work, and we certainly won't succeed if we're too divided on this.

We also don't have to just do a blackout. Sending messages to staff (not cruel, the people who have to go through all that are not necessarily the people making these decisions, once again do not be cruel) might also help, but in my opinion, has a lower chance of working. They have ignored feedback thus far. The feedback doesn't hurt them, most of it probably doesn't even reach the decision-makers on these fronts. The only use of the feedback is if staff insists these updates are bad ideas because they get such an overwhelming amount of feedback saying so, and higher-ups listen to them. Still, it is worth a try, in combination with the blackout.

Neither method is sure to work. And we can't destroy the usability itself of the site like reddit mods can. BUT. Our content and our consumption of content is the product, it is how Tumblr makes money, and we can deprive them of it.

The ideal is if enough staff agreed with us that they could join us. I won't hold out hope for that, but if any staff members read this...consider it.

#tumblr blackout #tumblr strike #tumblr staff #tumblr update #tumblr #the colored text and different sizes are for readability and emphasis #let me know if i should make another version of this post #hal rambles

[local-choatic-demibi-ace]

Wait there's a tumblr strike today?

#tumblr strike

[indra-sexygirl]

Rachel is sublime…

#cook rachel #rachel c00k #rachelcook #beauty #mavrin #sexy titts #sexy breast #so yummy #strike a pose #sexy pose #soumission #open shirt #perfect wife #wife #beauttiful girls #tumblr girls #gif

[fandomsoda]

Btw I don’t think I’ll be participating in the Tumblr strike. I’ve already said it, but this was very poorly planned and it’s just not conducive to anything also it WON’T WORK because Tumblr doesn’t work how Reddit does. We’re up and running from the 30th onward as far as I am currently aware.

I support the cause, striking is good, but this will not be an effective general strike and would only serve to separate me from my friends on incredibly short notice. Organizing and unionizing 101: 2 weeks is not adequate time to plan a strike, especially if you have not planned communication methods and other essential things in advance.

#text post #important #tumblr strike

[impunkster-syndrome]

"I don't make original content so tagging posts isn't something I need to do and I'm not photosensitive" in response to someone telling you to not do the blackout because if people are offline they will not be able to fix tags to protect photosensitives while still having content that fucking triggered an aura for me on your blog untagged is not the win you fucking think it is. It's ableism.

Reblog tags matter too. If you only think OP tags matter, fuck you, honestly. I have every right to be upset and angry about ableism with this bullshit way of protesting that can make things more dangerous for users of the site in the name of accessibility during disability pride month. It's angry cripple hours and this is going to be my disability wrath month if this keeps up.

Do your part. Add filter tags to content. Especially if you do not know they are there in the OP.

Accessibility is not something you can ignore if you're comparatively abled. This is exactly what I said would happen.

For my photosensitives out there: You may want to stay off any blogs that you know have issues with tagging and are participating. People won't be fixing their tags in a timely manner or even at all. Stay safe.

#disability #epilepsy #photosensitivity #tumblr blackout #tumblr strike