I don’t think Tumblr will listen to a one day protest, which is why I say it’s a waste of time. Until I see people encouraging taking a hiatus and being vocal about it on other sites until Tumblr does something, I’m not going to be able to support the protest.
I also never said protest in general was a waste of time. I mean sure, a lot of the time it falls on deaf ears and blind eyes, but to say it does nothing is ignorant of history. Protest is definitely important to making your voice heard, and the right to protest is something I support completely. That does not, however, mean I can’t criticize an individual protest’s approach or make a comment on its likelihood to succeed in its cause.
And no, not all NSFW is porn. Some is gore and such. But Tumblr’s policy change isn’t going to ban, or at least isn’t supposed to ban, classical art or nudity with the intent to educate or for news. If they do actually, come the 17th an onward, my opinion might change, but as of right now.. the only thing that’s supposed to get banned is actual porn.
And sure, banning porn is some degree of censorship. I don’t believe even remotely that it’s the best way to deal with the problem, and I have reason to believe that they’re doing it for advertisers and not for the users. If they were doing it for users, they would’ve done it a long time ago.
But banning porn alone is.. hardly the bad kind of censorship? I mean sure, technically. And despite the fact that porn is something that personally makes me uncomfortable.. people should be able to look at it as long as it’s not actually harming anyone (everyone involved in the process of making it is consenting and can leave if they want at any time).. it not being on Tumblr is not something I see as a massive deal. I don’t know if you saw, but there are plenty of websites welcoming people who won’t be able to post on Tumblr anymore with open arms. It’s censorship, sure, but it’s censorship just for Tumblr.
Tumblr, as far as I know, is not making any statements on what you are and aren’t allowed to look at or do with your body, they’re just saying they don’t want it on their site anymore. And while it’s not the best solution to the problem, I don’t see that as a big deal. It’s one site.
Also, Tumblr is hardly the only site that bans porn, and it wasn’t the only site to allow it before this change either. If/when the internet at large bans porn, I’ll take issue with it. But if a site doesn’t want it anymore, for a good reason or for a bad reason, I view that as the website’s decision.
If you’d like to explain why this is some kind of massive deal in terms of censorship, feel free. I’m willing to listen if nothing else.
Another thing, though, censorship aside, is that I do see this as evidence of the internet experiencing the end of an era of sorts. The internet used to be a lot more free, but now that advertisers and companies are seeing it as untapped (and hard to tap) ad revenue potential, the internet is losing a lot of what makes the internet the internet. But really, the porn ban is not a blow to our ability to /be/ on the internet without being forced to see ads constantly in and of itself. Tumblr, actually, though through ineptitude rather than intentionally, does not as easily sell data as websites such as Facebook and Twitter. I’d be surprised if Tumblr doesn’t change that at some point, but for now, it’s still one of few websites that to some degree remain genuine. As genuine as a tire fire of a website can be, anyway.
As for the algorithm issue: yeah. Tumblr can’t implement this policy change successfully. The staff of this website are not actually capable of that. They’d need human moderators, and I don’t expect for a second that Tumblr is actually willing to do that. Therefore false flags will remain an issue until Tumblr decides to revoke the decision, which they likely won’t do. And that sucks, but as long as posts can be appealed, it’s not the end of the world. Annoying? Completely. A massive deal? Not really.
And on the leaving thing: when Pillowfort has an app or at the least free registration (or if I come across the money somehow), I’ll be making an account there and establishing myself. I’ll import my Tumblr if and when they have that functionality, and when Tumblr does die (through inactivity or going off the internet), I will be moving there permanently. That’s assuming Pillowfort lasts that long, of course. Until then, I’m not leaving, because Tumblr is the only website with the communities I want to be in and/or interact with and a format that I like. I’m personally willing to support this website for that reason, however, if you want to leave, you’re welcome to. That’s your right, I’m not going to stop you, or anyone else. I’m also not going to stop anyone from protesting, I just don’t personally see the point.