Shout-out to Ao3 for not only being transparent in the work they're doing to try to get the site running, but for IMMEDIATELY calling out any islamophobia. They're doing fucking WORK rn, all on a volunteer basis, and while most of the comments I've seen are far and away supportive I just know whoever is in charge of their socials is watching the comments section unfold with a migraine.
Anyway this is all to say I love Ao3 and the people working on it rn are dealing with absolute chaos, so the next time someone throws out a line about "why do they need a fundraiser every year" please remember today.
tumblr mobile has seadily 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
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.
I suggest the 48 hours between the 30th of June to the end of the 1st of July.
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!
I find it funny that I use to be spinel, then they made spinel, and made her a funny pink clown girl with issues. Like that’s FITTING it’s on brand for me but I have to be original because I’m like that.