phantom-planet:

millenniumitem:

i know ive said this before but everything automattic has been doing for the past year-ish…. it’s fucking surreal seeing this website run by competent management

and honestly i think ppl need to stop outrage posting about “how DARE tumblr demand money from us” or “tumblr devs are stupid if they don’t realize we’re all using ad blockers” is like. they do know that. that isn’t the point

the point is that these are ways of monetizing the website that don’t involve selling your data. i PROMISE it is better this way than for them to go down the facebook route and treat us like products they can sell to third parties

if you disagree with various tumblr policies that’s fine! you don’t have to pay for tumblr blaze, or tip fellow users, or pay for ad-free. but do notice that all three of those monetization options treat us like clients, and in one case, allow us to give money to other tumblr users! something many of us already do!

These are great points. Whether we realize it or not, most of us like tumblr because it’s not monetized the way other platforms are. For example, one of the main reasons I’m still here is because the site allows me to view posts chronologically instead of algorithmically (which of course goes hand-in-hand with targetted advertising).

It bears mentioning again that tumblr is very different from other social media sites today. As you say, it has (relatively) minimal advertising and data collection. It doesn’t use an alogrithm to manipulate you into spending more time here. It doesn’t force you to download an app (the tumblr mobile site sucks, but at least it exists at all). You have a lot more control over your experience of tumblr than your experience of Instagram.

In my opinion, they’re asking us to help make this style of platform financially solvent.

(via theelderscrotess)