Tumblrocalypse, oh my
Dec. 6th, 2018 02:38 pmI think everyone else is already posting links to all the useful places/discussions (check out ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
umadoshi or morgandawn for collated lists of it all), so I won't duplicate that information. I'm simultaneously sad that another platform is imploding and fans are being forced to flee, and happy to see DW become more active.
Part of the reason I find it hard to motivate myself to update DW regularly is that it's been a bit ghost-town-like. No comments, not many other people updating, combines to make it feel a bit like shouting into the void. That's why so much of my fandom time is on Twitter (despite the filled with Nazis issue). At least we're interacting there.
Twitter tip: lists are your friend and sometimes the only way to manage. I have a list of key people I want to read every day, sort of a highlights list, and a list of cute animal twitters for when I need a cheer-up. And then when I've got time and the mental head space to deal with the trash-fire nature of the world, I can read my full Twitter feed. Lists are key. As is a good client because the native one is terrible. No chronological ordering is ridiculous. I have the native one installed for push notifications to my phone/iPad, but I use Tweetbot (or Tweetdeck on the computer) for actually reading Twitter.
I was very active on Tumblr for about eighteen months, but I've barely used it since 2014. The time when I was super active was also the time when I was deep in my MCU love and most of the fandom stuff was done over there. As my deep MCU obsession waned, so did my Tumblr activity. It's never been an easy place to do the kind of socialising and fandom community stuff that I grew up on, and all the purity police bullying of recent years put me off going back. That's also why I've been mostly active on Twitter.
I'm not sure I'm writing anything useful here, but it's good to get thoughts out and down. I'm not sure where fandom is heading this time as a new base. I'd like DW to get more active again. I like the ideas Pillowfort have, but the timing is terrible and their infrastructure simply isn't ready for fandom to descend on them.
TBH, as difficult as it is, I'd love to see a "platform of our own" concept finally take root and get implemented. It would require an army of fans and the kind of planning and organisation that has kept AO3 up and running for so long, but we did it once, surely we can do it again?
The guy who made Pinboard fandom-friendly is also collecting ideas and trying to work out the logistics of building something for us. If anyone outside fandom is going to build something, he's probably one of the people I'd trust most to do it.
Maybe one of these ideas will work out. The problem always comes down to money: platforms can't monetise fandom, so they eventually chase us out. So the only way to build something we can't be chased away from is to do it ourselves somehow.
Someone suggested a P2P-based option and my entire spine shuddered. No. That's not a solution. Many fans don't have the bandwidth to be part of a network like that, and then there's the content that's plain illegal (yes, I'm talking child porn) that nobody wants on their computer in any sense. Even with the strictest controls and moderation, it won't be possible to guarantee that stuff won't be on someone's machine at some point in a P2P solution, and most of us aren't willing to take that risk.
I'm going to be watching closely to see, what if anything, comes out of all the discussion I'm seeing about a platform of our own. After all, I didn't think we could find a way to own the servers to host our fic, and look what AO3 has become! So I don't think it's impossible and a tiny part of me is hoping something good might come out of the current shitshow. The Tumblrocalypse is just another iteration of events like Strikethrough and it's about time we found a way to keep that from happening.
umadoshi or morgandawn for collated lists of it all), so I won't duplicate that information. I'm simultaneously sad that another platform is imploding and fans are being forced to flee, and happy to see DW become more active.Part of the reason I find it hard to motivate myself to update DW regularly is that it's been a bit ghost-town-like. No comments, not many other people updating, combines to make it feel a bit like shouting into the void. That's why so much of my fandom time is on Twitter (despite the filled with Nazis issue). At least we're interacting there.
Twitter tip: lists are your friend and sometimes the only way to manage. I have a list of key people I want to read every day, sort of a highlights list, and a list of cute animal twitters for when I need a cheer-up. And then when I've got time and the mental head space to deal with the trash-fire nature of the world, I can read my full Twitter feed. Lists are key. As is a good client because the native one is terrible. No chronological ordering is ridiculous. I have the native one installed for push notifications to my phone/iPad, but I use Tweetbot (or Tweetdeck on the computer) for actually reading Twitter.
I was very active on Tumblr for about eighteen months, but I've barely used it since 2014. The time when I was super active was also the time when I was deep in my MCU love and most of the fandom stuff was done over there. As my deep MCU obsession waned, so did my Tumblr activity. It's never been an easy place to do the kind of socialising and fandom community stuff that I grew up on, and all the purity police bullying of recent years put me off going back. That's also why I've been mostly active on Twitter.
I'm not sure I'm writing anything useful here, but it's good to get thoughts out and down. I'm not sure where fandom is heading this time as a new base. I'd like DW to get more active again. I like the ideas Pillowfort have, but the timing is terrible and their infrastructure simply isn't ready for fandom to descend on them.
TBH, as difficult as it is, I'd love to see a "platform of our own" concept finally take root and get implemented. It would require an army of fans and the kind of planning and organisation that has kept AO3 up and running for so long, but we did it once, surely we can do it again?
The guy who made Pinboard fandom-friendly is also collecting ideas and trying to work out the logistics of building something for us. If anyone outside fandom is going to build something, he's probably one of the people I'd trust most to do it.
Maybe one of these ideas will work out. The problem always comes down to money: platforms can't monetise fandom, so they eventually chase us out. So the only way to build something we can't be chased away from is to do it ourselves somehow.
Someone suggested a P2P-based option and my entire spine shuddered. No. That's not a solution. Many fans don't have the bandwidth to be part of a network like that, and then there's the content that's plain illegal (yes, I'm talking child porn) that nobody wants on their computer in any sense. Even with the strictest controls and moderation, it won't be possible to guarantee that stuff won't be on someone's machine at some point in a P2P solution, and most of us aren't willing to take that risk.
I'm going to be watching closely to see, what if anything, comes out of all the discussion I'm seeing about a platform of our own. After all, I didn't think we could find a way to own the servers to host our fic, and look what AO3 has become! So I don't think it's impossible and a tiny part of me is hoping something good might come out of the current shitshow. The Tumblrocalypse is just another iteration of events like Strikethrough and it's about time we found a way to keep that from happening.