Tumblr Censorship, the Continued Series
Dec. 25th, 2021 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorI'm sorry to see Tumblr getting progressively worse with censorship, but this is why I left the site years ago and won't be posting there again. It's never going to get better, but I've also come to realize that that will also never spur a mass exudos to less restrictive social media, because less restrictive social media is also less commercialized, with the accompanying lesser financial resources and differring focus.
I think platforms like Dreamwidth and Pillowfort are better for my purposes, because I can't abide such random and arbitrary censorship, but I also admit the Dreamwidth interface can be awkward to use, even if I appreciate its power, and Dreamwidth is not great for artists, even if it could be usable for that purpose by someone sufficiently determined to do so. Pillowfort is much more intuitive for someone used to Tumblr, but I understand that many artists find the max file upload size rather restrictive. Both platforms also lack the giant city feel of a large social media platform, and I can understand how that could be offputting to people as well. Even I find that aspect frustrating at times.
But I find the direction Tumblr and other large social media sites have decided to go in much more concerning. I think the thing is, this keeps happening because these companies realize people will complain, but, well, it will never matter to their bottom line. Apps are more important than civil rights to their popularity. Because apps aid commercialization. And commercialization will ensure large resources are available for development and storage, thus ensuring large quantities of people on the platform, and this social capital, ie. the commercialization of social bonds themselves, will ensure the chokehold of these platforms and corporations like Apple. It doesn't even matter that I've never bought an Apple phone or computer, my life has been indelibly altered by the choices that reprehensible company has made. And the same is true of anyone who uses social media affected by their draconian rules, which for many places on the internet, are in actuality laws.
I think platforms like Dreamwidth and Pillowfort are better for my purposes, because I can't abide such random and arbitrary censorship, but I also admit the Dreamwidth interface can be awkward to use, even if I appreciate its power, and Dreamwidth is not great for artists, even if it could be usable for that purpose by someone sufficiently determined to do so. Pillowfort is much more intuitive for someone used to Tumblr, but I understand that many artists find the max file upload size rather restrictive. Both platforms also lack the giant city feel of a large social media platform, and I can understand how that could be offputting to people as well. Even I find that aspect frustrating at times.
But I find the direction Tumblr and other large social media sites have decided to go in much more concerning. I think the thing is, this keeps happening because these companies realize people will complain, but, well, it will never matter to their bottom line. Apps are more important than civil rights to their popularity. Because apps aid commercialization. And commercialization will ensure large resources are available for development and storage, thus ensuring large quantities of people on the platform, and this social capital, ie. the commercialization of social bonds themselves, will ensure the chokehold of these platforms and corporations like Apple. It doesn't even matter that I've never bought an Apple phone or computer, my life has been indelibly altered by the choices that reprehensible company has made. And the same is true of anyone who uses social media affected by their draconian rules, which for many places on the internet, are in actuality laws.