Well this sucks.
“It is our continued, humble aspiration that Tumblr be a safe place for creative expression, self-discovery, and a deep sense of community.”
Let’s be clear about a few things. “Creative expression” includes sex. “Self discovery” involves sex. And a “deep sense of community” can derive from sex.
During six and a half years of this blog (and its sisters) I have exchanged messages with a few of you, liked/reblogged/followed many of you. And was delighted, uplifted, shocked, entertained, moved and amazed countless times, every damn day, by every one of you. And now it’s all gone.
We always knew this could happen, and after the Yahoo acquisition that it eventually would happen. Nobody hosts free blogs for their health. My theory is that someone decided Tumblr’s next big opportunity was in China. And someone else that it therefore had to be China. And someone else that it would only happen if they could convince the right party-faithful mandarin, when he wasn’t distracted by graft and mistresses, that Tumblr isn’t a massive porn site. So two weeks from now this little universe - and @brutalwomen, and @moment-of-reveal, and @slavestopower, and countless others - will be dipped in amber. Then after a year or two, no doubt, disappear. So a billion Chinese can post a trillion little pictures for each other as they scroll through ads the rest of us have long since learned to ignore.
It was inevitable, but it’s still a damn shame. I feel like I’m about to lose a limb. We have all lost a “safe place” (in Tumblr’s thoroughly cynical words) filled with creativity, fun, exploration, passion, discovery. I could rant forever about how this is another sign of decay in the internet, in the culture, in society. And eventually I guess we’ll all find alternatives. But for now I can only grieve. At losing all of this, losing all of you.
