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State of the Migration: On fannish archival catastrophes, and what happens next

greywash:

I wrote an incredibly long post on Dreamwidth about the Tumblr purges and what happens next! Here’s the first bit, which I’m quoting here as a little bit of a fannish history lesson for all you young’uns, probably it’ll get deleted, thanks Tumblr:

First: let me start off by saying that it is very probable that Tumblr will back out of this particular bad idea. They often do. The pattern of fannish archival catastrophes at the hand of corporations almost always has five stages: 1) a sale, or rumored sale, of the platform; 2) falling or nonexistent profits; 3) pressure from (pick at least one) governments, morality warriors, and/or advertisers/other corporate interests; 4) the actual fannish archival catastrophe, caused by a change in the TOS or in the enforcement of the TOS, which itself frequently comes in multiple stages; and 5) a second sale of the platform.

Strikethrough, for example, wasn’t a single terrible idea executed badly, it was at least two terrible ideas executed badly: first Strikethrough, which happened in May 2007; and then, following masses of outrage (particularly outrage from fans), some limited concessions from LJ management; followed by a second round of permanent suspensions conducted a little bit differently, a.k.a. Boldthrough, in August 2007. These tend to get lumped together in fannish memory, but I want people to remember that they were not a single event.

And those two events, themselves, are also not the whole story: Strikethrough itself followed on well over a year of rumors that LJ was changing its TOS/enforcement of its TOS, ever since LJ had been sold to SixApart in 2005, who were trying to monetize the site. Likewise, alongside those rumors, LJ’s adult content—which, unlike Tumblr, may actually have been predominately fannish, because I don’t think actual porn producers used LJ anywhere near as heavily as they use Tumblr—had been under continual attack from Christian pressure groups because it hosted material that they claimed was “harming children” [I can’t find a source on this, but I remember it very clearly—if anyone has a source, lmk in comments and I’ll link], what with all the fannish erotica with clear disclaimers on it that it was intended for adult audiences, frequently (as with pornish_pixies) posted in locked communities. There was, simultaneously, a lot of pressure being put on LiveJournal by the Russian government, because another group that heavily used LJ at the time was Russian political protestors. On top of that, there was a lot of rumor about LJ/SixApart’s advertisers getting antsy about blogs containing adult content [I can’t find a source on this either—if anyone has a source, lmk in comments and I’ll link].

So, in short, here is what happened to LJ: 1) LJ was sold to SixApart; 2) SixApart tried to monetize it; 3) SixApart got pressure from a) the Russian government, b) the Christian anti-porn police, and c) advertisers to bring its “adult content problem” under control; 4) LJ deleted a whole bunch of blogs, backed up and said “mea culpa”, and then… deleted a whole bunch of blogs; and 5) SixApart sold LJ to the Russians.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Following this pattern, here is what I suspect is going to happen to Tumblr: 1) Tumblr was sold to Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); 2) Yahoo/Verizon tried to monetize it; 3) Yahoo/Verizon got pressure from a) various governments, including Indonesia and China, b) the anti-porn/anti-sex-work/anti-shipping moral purity police, and c) the Apple Store to bring its “adult content problem” under control; 4) starting earlier this year, Tumblr deleted a whole bunch of blogs, backed up and said “mea culpa”, and then… changed its TOS and started deleting content [← we’re here right now]; and 5) Verizon will sell Tumblr to ? ? ?

It’s possible that we’ll have another couple rounds in Step 4. It’s not like 2 rounds in Step 4 is magic, or something; my point is just: Tumblr has already backed down once. You see where that gets us (fucking nowhere, that’s where). That said? The death throes are going to take a while. I was still reluctantly cross-posting to LJ in 2015; as late as 2013, LJ was still a lot of fans’ primary home. Six full years after Strikethrough!! Six! Full! Years! After they started deleting our shit, and banning our friends!!! And in that six years, all that happened was LJ’s TOS got continually and aggressively more restrictive, while the Russians were banging up all the political dissenters whose content they’d purchased into jail.

My point, here, is just that we have been here before. Exactly here. We have done this before, exactly this. Tumblr may take a while to bleed out, and they may try to triage it, but the writing is, in fact, on the wall: Tumblr will throw us off whatever cliffs they need to to try and eke out a profit for the morons in Verizon’s boardroom; and in the end, our data’s going to get deleted, or it’s going to get sold, because that is just how these things go.

So we need to figure out where we go next.

Please read/reblog/reply—I really do want people to weigh in! I’m not promising to keep tracking this on Tumblr (come to DW, the water’s fine), but I do want to hear what people have to say.

State of the Migration: On fannish archival catastrophes, and what happens next

sophrosynic:

lovelysuggestions:

do not put up with passive agression. the people in your life should respect you enough to be straight forward with you. If someone does not come to you directly with an issue, it is not yours too fix. you can’t spend all your time picking apart your relationship with someone, searching for what you did, and blaming yourself when you don’t even know what for. it’s not fair for people to put you through that.

equally as important–learn to dismantle the impulse to be passive aggressive on your end. cultivate the skills required to be honest and accountable about your feelings, not just to the people around you, but also for your own sake. it’s when you learn to be honest to yourself about what you’re feeling that you really start to flourish.

naamahdarling:

wetwareproblem:

geekandmisandry:

An autistic friend of mine just said this to me “The harder I work at communication the more people expect from me and the less they are willing to compromise.” and it is the most fucking heartbreaking thing I’ve heard.

This is very much a thing, though – and I’m sure people across the board with other disabilities can verify that it happens to them, too.

People will turn any progress you make toward being “normal” – no matter how straining or difficult it is for you, no matter how little it actually helps you – as either inspiration porn, or proof that you don’t really need accommodations, you just need to “apply yourself! :)))))”

YUP

hamelin-born:

enigmaticagentalice:

Y’know, one thing I really love about Babylon 5 is how it is vehemently and pointedly NOT Star Trek, but like…it doesn’t try to distinguish itself as Not Trek by being all ‘dark and gritty’ or whatever.

It’s still a show that ultimately has a lot of hope and positivity about the future, and shows humanity overcoming great struggles and taking their place in the galaxy among other species, but just…

There are some thing that are just a little more…difficult. There’s still racism and prejudice, there’s still poverty and homelessness. People still gamble and get drunk and can’t agree on religion. People still have jobs to earn money, we still have a money-based economy and we still have all the corruption that comes with that system. There are still wars and there are still petty arguments too. Food has to be grown and it is appropriately astronomically expensive to ship across space, ships have to be fixed and the Dockworkers Union are forever going on strike because their pay hasn’t been increased in too many years. There are translators but they’re not always available or effective so if you want to speak to another species you have to damn well learn their language. There’s still a ton of paperwork to be done even if not many people use actual paper any more. There are still janitors because someone has to clean the floors!

I don’t know, I love Trek, but the world of Babylon 5 always felt more real to me, and I really appreciate that they didn’t achieve that by having a bunch of gratuitous violence and grim pessimism, but just by including a thousand little off-hand details that ground the show in reality.

@distressedherbalist @theperidotshade @theotherguysride

feathersescapism:

why-bless-your-heart:

Oldest Child Things

-Frustrated perfectionist

-Never Good Enough

-Works really hard to prove doesn’t care about other people’s opinions

-Cares too much

-Internal/eternal screaming

-Always ends up being the mom friend

-Bossy

-Skittish bundle of nerves or complete lump of oblivion

-Panics when criticized

-Unhealthy coping mechanisms

-0 or 100 all the time, no inbetween

OH JUST @ ME NEXT TIME. 

transmerlins:

i think that… approximately 100% of the time, parents, teachers, etc… have this misconception that neurodivergent kids & teens don’t know anything about how to handle their neurodivergence.

for years, i suffered through people making suggestions of things that were things i had done, and either weren’t worth the effort or they actually made things worse. i told them this, and if i was still having any issues with the same problem they’d say something about “well if you’re not gonna listen to any suggestions…” when I did. they’re the one who didn’t listen when i told them that doesn’t work for me. They assume that because I didn’t try it in front of them (which is often impossible), I never tried it.
I tried doing my homework as soon as I got home. I tried doing my homework at the table, I tried working where I was comfortable. I tried listening to music, I tried working in silence. I tried using a planner, I tried setting reminders on my phone, I tried. I tell people that I have executive functioning issues and they say that I have to work on it like I haven’t been doing that as long as I’ve had to do things and it’s so much better than it was before. I’m as able as I am now because I’ve spent 18 years working on it.

One of my friends has ADHD, and at one point when her grades dropped her parents took her phone, despite her telling them that the only way she can focus on her homework is to listen to music, for which she needs her phone.

I was in a study hall with another friend, who also has ADHD. Sometimes, they would be able to focus and do their work. Others, they would end up being entirely unable to and would do other stuff. The “instructional support” person would start bothering them about it, insist that they try. As if they hadn’t already done so.

I am tired of watching people assume that neurodivergent people aren’t trying, or we haven’t tried. We’re always trying.

bisexualpiratequeen:

bisexualpiratequeen:

Disability benefits should be the equivalent of a full time job on living wage. Things don’t cost less because you’re disabled – in fact you often have additional costs of living. You shouldn’t be forced into poverty because you are disabled.

Before anyone comes in with ’ but then ppl would lie so they didn’t have to work!’

Two responses

Universal basic income + better wages is the way forward

Who fucking cares? Not me. This insistence that ppl lie to get benefits and as a result benefits should be a fucking pittance that it’s humiliating to apply for just fucks over disabled people and is inhumane

Justice.

theotherguysride:

So Justice is a loaded word today, for a lot of us. I think. I think we need to come back to what it means, who it stands for, and why it is not just an ideal, it’s a title.

When you are A Justice, it is your duty to become Just. You must be fair, and reasonable, and hold yourself to an ideal. You are not just sitting in judgement, you are wearing a heavy mantle. That mantle is fairness.

The world is not fair. We are told this over, and over again. From the time we’re children crying for equal treatment by our peers, or for hostility to end, or for the damages done to us to be made right. “Life is not fair, get used to it!” is a phrase that most American children hear before the age of five years old.

It is a Justices duty to MAKE the world more fair. To look at the evidence of a grievance and make it fair. To equalize the power of a situation, to right the wrongs done to a person, to hold accountable the wrongdoer and to give restitution to those wronged.

A Justice of the Peace must be beyond the average citizen in their integrity, because we look to them to be fair. We look to them to make us equals in this society. We need Justice to hold accountable those who would define our living.        

In the United States, the Supreme Court has been vandalized. Not the building, but the integrity of its authority. 

And now we come to where I become truly angry.

We now have a Justice of the Peace who has proven that his integrity is compromised, that he can be bought and sold, that would lie to the people. We have an administration that no longer upholds the betterment of the people, the safety of the citizenry, or the liberties that we were promised.

How dare that man stand in that hall and wear Justices robes, while he spits in her face. How dare he. HOW DARE HE SIT ON THAT COURT AND PRESUME TO BE FAIR. TO BE RIGHTEOUS. TO BE JUST.

We come now to this Rubicon, and I don’t know that we will be able to trust in the Supreme Court to do what it was meant to do. We can no longer trust that they will hold our government accountable to its founding documents, to its laws, to its ideals. We can no longer trust that they will be fair to us, the people. Whom they are tasked with protecting.

I don’t think I’ll be sleeping well, for a long while after this.