andrewjthomas

staff:

Since its founding in 2007, Tumblr has always been a place for wide open, creative self-expression at the heart of community and culture. To borrow from our founder David Karp, we’re proud to have inspired a generation of artists, writers, creators, curators, and crusaders to redefine our culture and to help empower individuality.

Over the past several months, and inspired by our storied past, we’ve given serious thought to who we want to be to our community moving forward and have been hard at work laying the foundation for a better Tumblr. We’ve realized that in order to continue to fulfill our promise and place in culture, especially as it evolves, we must change. Some of that change began with fostering more constructive dialogue among our community members. Today, we’re taking another step by no longer allowing adult content, including explicit sexual content and nudity (with some exceptions).  

Let’s first be unequivocal about something that should not be confused with today’s policy change: posting anything that is harmful to minors, including child pornography, is abhorrent and has no place in our community. We’ve always had and always will have a zero tolerance policy for this type of content. To this end, we continuously invest in the enforcement of this policy, including industry-standard machine monitoring, a growing team of human moderators, and user tools that make it easy to report abuse. We also closely partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Internet Watch Foundation, two invaluable organizations at the forefront of protecting our children from abuse, and through these partnerships we report violations of this policy to law enforcement authorities. We can never prevent all bad actors from attempting to abuse our platform, but we make it our highest priority to keep the community as safe as possible.

So what is changing?

Posts that contain adult content will no longer be allowed on Tumblr, and we’ve updated our Community Guidelines to reflect this policy change. We recognize Tumblr is also a place to speak freely about topics like art, sex positivity, your relationships, your sexuality, and your personal journey. We want to make sure that we continue to foster this type of diversity of expression in the community, so our new policy strives to strike a balance.

Why are we doing this?

It is our continued, humble aspiration that Tumblr be a safe place for creative expression, self-discovery, and a deep sense of community. As Tumblr continues to grow and evolve, and our understanding of our impact on our world becomes clearer, we have a responsibility to consider that impact across different age groups, demographics, cultures, and mindsets. We spent considerable time weighing the pros and cons of expression in the community that includes adult content. In doing so, it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves.

Bottom line: There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community.

So what’s next?

Starting December 17, 2018, we will begin enforcing this new policy. Community members with content that is no longer permitted on Tumblr will get a heads up from us in advance and steps they can take to appeal or preserve their content outside the community if they so choose. All changes won’t happen overnight as something of this complexity takes time.

Another thing, filtering this type of content versus say, a political protest with nudity or the statue of David, is not simple at scale. We’re relying on automated tools to identify adult content and humans to help train and keep our systems in check. We know there will be mistakes, but we’ve done our best to create and enforce a policy that acknowledges the breadth of expression we see in the community.

Most importantly, we’re going to be as transparent as possible with you about the decisions we’re making and resources available to you, including more detailed information, product enhancements, and more content moderators to interface directly with the community and content.

Like you, we love Tumblr and what it’s come to mean for millions of people around the world. Our actions are out of love and hope for our community. We won’t always get this right, especially in the beginning, but we are determined to make your experience a positive one.

Jeff D’Onofrio
CEO

This is how social networks die. I’ve seen it before, and I’m sure I’ll see it again. It’s almost as if capitalism is incompatible with freedom of expression.

If anyone has any decent replacement options, please recommend. Thanks

Darlin’
I don’t know what I ever did
in this life or the last–
    maybe saved a drowning dog
    or gave some stranger mouth to mouth
    maybe rescued a baby from a burning building
    or listened to an old man ramble
    maybe taught a kid how to read
    or helped the neighbors move in
whatever it was
must’ve been good–
to deserve your love

Buildings like old men
Huddled together, brick to brick
Against the imagined snow

Yet middle of October
My jacket an encumbrance
Strolling through old town

Blacktop rooftops
Slanted against drift
No longer a concern

The golden hour
Lasts longer here
Where the sun never reaches
High noon

What have we done?
What have we done?

I don’t know where I got it in me
that I was responsible
But nearly all of my life I’ve been
cleaning out the fridge of loose tupperware
saran-wrapped or foil-topped bits
reheated to rubbery lukewarm regurgitation
devoid of the verve it once had
now a bland khaki grey mush of sustenance
I don’t remember when I forgot
we are what we eat

Everything I write these days
seems like an echo
of something I wrote before

in dreams language is irrelevant
you know without speaking
the idea being shared

and you could say of course
because in dreams everyone’s a manifestation
the reflection of shattered ego

but I have written epochs
between the subconscious and the woken
all lost, evaporated

trying to capture in words
that which can’t be forgotten
or remembered

We’ve all got our own shit to deal with,
our own stuff going on

I’ve lost count of all the little red circles
full of numbers;
past all my due dates
regardless of exclamation points

No way to know your to-do list,
your not-done list,
your slipped-through-the-cracks list,
but sometimes I forget

We’ve all been there

science fiction feels like fantasy anymore
no longer worthy of tomorrowland
galaxies too far away; our better selves forgotten

we don’t need alien invaders
or cataclysmic meteors
to delete our future

longevity is a curse and prosperity a fool’s dream
this planet a graveyard,
unmarked and alone

seeking asylum from this asylum
american prisoners; american refugees
we are all homeless now; all faithless now
just another bullet for the gun
another orphan on the run
another slip of the tongue
every day, another bell that can’t be unrung
we are all worthless now; all helpless now
american conspirators, american sleaze
seeking refuge from this refuse

we are the america we have always been

diminish
relinquish
ease yourself down
the lilies are in bloom

forget
forgotten
walk among flowers
the field is wet with dew

remember
dream
fleeting and mercurial
where do you need to be?

sink
slip
drift further deep
who were you before?

if only,
and yet–

we keep losing people
strewn about like flotsam
or sunken from the breach:
heart attack, cancer, poverty,
depression, divorce, drugs.

others float away
or simply disappear
taken by currents:
new town, new job, new wife
old school, old bar, old life

maybe it’s me that fell overboard
flailing aimlessly for a float
grabbing anyone near
to stop the drowning
but I don’t think so

I’ve been aboard the whole time;
even with the listing,
and lack of wind,
the horizon still beckons
pressing us onward.

After you are gone
After everyone else has said their peace
I will say my goodbyes
Pack up every room
Giving away as much as I can
(You know I always travel light)
And leave this ghost home in this ghost town
(A constant parade of death and taking you for granted)

I will not visit some garish lonely grave
I will feast upon our life together instead
A never ending road trip to all the places we’ve loved
I will look for you in the ocean
Sleep next to your memory on our beach
I will walk through the redwoods
Seeking solace in their cold quiet calm
I will visit the sea turtles in Maui
and the pretend privateers of Bermuda

I will stay at our bed and breakfast in Monterey
I will request a table for two at our favorite breakfast nook
When they ask, I will say you won’t be long now
When they ask, I will simply demand more time
I will dine at each local haunt
When they ask, I will say you really love it here
When they ask, I will admit you won’t be joining
But I will eat all of your favorites–
salmon, omelette with salsa, chocolate,
brussels sprouts, 
and all of the bread.

I will gorge myself upon our memories
Until my heart is burnt out
Until there is nothing left–
Heartpyre, heartinferno, heartblaze, 
heartsmolder,
heartember,

heartash.

waves march across the horizon 
in formation this Easter Sunday
like parishioners filing into church
the wind as their faith
the rocky shore their burden
ripples glinting in the sun
a congregation of whitecaps
they sing the tide
again and again
but prayers remain unanswered

at least they know Moon is there
tugging at their current
even if they can’t see her