creatives-intro-to-depravity - Tumblr blog

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Conclusion

The younger generation, which is beginning to make an online presence now, may not know of the significance that Tumblr once had for many millennials in their teenage and young adult years. As moderation online continues to increase, there is no doubt that a site like Tumblr at its peak would be able to exist now. What started as an attempt to create a home for people going through difficult times in their lives, turned out to be a space which would introduce minors to pornography, self-harm, fetish content, grooming, gore, and many other harmful forms of content. As it exists now, its popularity and ability to generate profit remain low. The site serves as a cautionary tale for the environment that may be produced when speech and media are so loosely moderated.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Representation

From user pages with innocent interests such as children's cartoons to pages sharing photos of mutilation and gore, Tumblr would house all of these under one umbrella. This would indirectly give its young user base direct and easy access to all of the darkest corners of the internet and was able to agitate or even induce disordered thoughts and/ or actions. It could even be argued to have had the effect of exposing minors to dangerous people whom they would have never encountered otherwise. To those uninformed, Tumblr might represent a space for young creatives. To those who are familiar with the site, Tumblr may represent a lawless land with a myriad of controversies. Finally, to those who take a step back to view the full picture, Tumblr represents an attempt and failure at giving people a solution to many of the complaints that they had with other popular social medias at the time.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Representation

Tumblr at its core represented an uncensored space in the mainstream sphere. Its creators valued freedom from the restraints of many similar social medias and from the profit incentivized companies which ran them. It was a place which stood to elevate creativity no matter what form it was taken in. These were the foundations in which the site was created, but as noble as the cause was, many sought to take advantage. To the user base, Tumblr at its peak was a sort of Wild West. Any subculture that could be thought of had a place somewhere on Tumblr.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Regulation

Becoming more and more unappealing to advertisers, Tumblr had to make a change. In 2018, Tumblr banned all pornographic content from the site. In their community guidelines they stated their intention to remove all adult content; “Adult content primarily includes photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content--- including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations--- that depicts sex acts.” The backlash that the site received from this change was overwhelming. Many people especially found a problem with the censorship of “female-presenting nipples”. There were a variety of arguments being made in favor of the notion that nipples were not inherently sexual. Another problem that arose with this new rule was the way in which adult content would be moderated. The programs being used to determine inappropriate content were often comically inaccurate in their conclusions.

In 2022, Tumblr reversed its ban on nudity. The community guidelines still stated that sexually explicit video focusing on genitalia was not allowed, but “adult material” that contained nudity would be allowed on Tumblr so long as it had been labeled as “mature content”. The site now also contains specific guidelines which prohibit the promotion of acts of self-harm like self-injury or eating disorder behaviors, and instead encourages users to seek professional treatment. As late as these changes had come, the site seems to continue to struggle with a fall from popularity and its stained reputation from years past. Despite current moderation being an overall improvement, its impact on the internet when it was at its peak was strong enough to still affect users today.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Regulation

Tumblr was notorious for its relaxed rules and regulations, especially during the few years after its creation. Despite the community guidelines saying that Tumblr would not allow pornographic content and hate speech, the site had ineffective ways of regulating this. Among users, it was known that as long as it was legal in the eyes of the law (with many unfortunate exceptions), practically anything was allowed to exist on Tumblr. Some things managed to fall through the cracks, however and small communities began to come into existence which would take advantage of this. There were more niche communities than could be accounted for, and many of them went unchecked for a very long time. Some of these included gore, self-harm, eating disorder, mutilation, and extremely racist communities. Soon after the emergence of these, Tumblr began to tweak their community guidelines. In 2016, Tumblr attempted to crack down on the amount of hate speech and other dangerous messages being spread on the site. Despite knowing that the community was having problems, Tumblr was hesitant to impose censorship on their users. Part of the official community guidelines in 2016 even stated: “If you encounter negative speech that doesn’t rise up to the level of violence or threats of violence, we encourage you to dismantle negative speech through argument rather than censorship. That said, if you encounter anything especially heinous, tell us about it.” These two sentences perfectly explain the attitude that Tumblr tended to have towards its community. Lack of censorship is what created a core part of Tumblr’s identity, it was what differentiated it from similar platforms, and it simultaneously created the argumentative atmosphere that was so prevalent on the site.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Identity

The same can be said for earlier sites that also offered community paired with anonymity, such as 4chan. Feels Good Man explains how anonymity affected the behavior of 4chan users; “There were all of these adolescent boys trying to own each other in the competition, and so it became this culture of saying the most offensive thing” (Feels Good Man, 0:16:17-0:16:26). However, on the surface, Tumblr drew in a slightly different audience. As 4chan had the reputation of being home to outcast teenage and young adult boys, Tumblr had the same reputation but with teenage girls. Boiled down to its simplest forms, Tumblr could be said to have had 3 main types of users: creatives, those in pop culture communities, and those in unfortunately public circles sharing explicit content. Tumblr had infamously allowed explicit content for the majority of its lifespan. This did not just mean pornography, but other content such as gore or the (at the time) thriving eating disorder and self-harm communities. All of these communities, no matter how problematic or harmful, were essential parts of what made Tumblr successful. The users who wandered onto the site were bound to find some sort of clique of niche, and the site certainly served its purpose, but it also caused the emergence of multiple disturbing trends. Despite its initial unassuming impression to most people, Tumblr was a home for many individuals with problematic interests to find comfort with other like-minded people.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Identity

When imagining the average Tumblr user, many would give you different answers based on the era of Tumblr that they were most familiar with. At its peak, one might call upon one of two of the most notable fandoms: the Harry Potter fandom, or the SuperWhoLock fandom. The latter was namely unique to Tumblr, as it was a crossover fandom between 3 well-known and adored shows: Supernatural, Dr. Who, and Sherlock. In 2014, when asking someone of average familiarity with the site what they believed a Tumblr user was like, they may describe a girl, likely in her teenage years, who participates in any variety of fandom culture. From its beginning, Tumblr attracted those who sought companionship with other like-minded people, and quickly became a safe space for those who felt alienated in their lives.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Consumption

Tumblr’s main user base sought out a space which the original creators intended the platform to be. They wanted a place where content could largely go uncensored, where they could share their truest and rawest thoughts. Similarly to platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Tumblr blogs were formatted in a way in which one could almost treat it like a diary. This may have been what helped attract a younger audience. Many adolescents seek a support system where they might feel understood. Almost all interests could be accounted for on Tumblr, and it marketed itself as a safe space for all, especially children. An except of the 2022 community guidelines reads, “Don’t bully minors, even if you are one. Being a teenager is complicated enough without the anxiety, sadness, and isolation caused by bullying.” Overall Tumblr marketed itself as a safe haven for those who felt different in their real lives, and many young people were drawn into this model.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Production

However, even with its newly found owner and rise in popularity, Tumblr remained unattractive to advertisers. This was largely in part due to the prominence of adult content and various other disturbing and violent media that found its way onto the site’s forefronts. Other websites had faced similar problems to this. For example, “Twitter is valued at $13 billion and Reddit at $500 million, but both struggle to attract buyers and advertisers because of their toxic, racist, sexist content.” (Daniels 3). Despite the cases being of different natures, problems with advertisers due to relaxed content moderation remained a common issue. It is not a new phenomenon that websites which formerly prioritized freedom of speech begin to integrate regulations to be able to gain profitability. For Tumblr during this time, the site struggled to make money. Advertisers found Tumblr’s content inappropriate and unfitting to home their company’s products or info-pages. After numerous years of net losses, both financially and in user count, Tumblr was sold to Verizon in 2017. Shattering the already precarious community that the site had cultivated, in 2018, the introduction of new rules and regulations that many would source back as the cause of Tumblr’s “death”, would be put into place. Verizon had decided to ban all adult content from the site. The banning of this staple of the site acted as the final nail in the coffin for the many Tumblr’s user attraction. This caused an even further decline in the user base, and Tumblr would ultimately be sold to Automattic for $3 million, a stark difference between its first sale of $1.1 billion to Yahoo (Collins). Ultimately, many previous users and outside observers believe that the fall of Tumblr didn’t start with its decline in sales but in the obtuse and worrying content. Allowing a space for child pornography, unsightly gore, displays of self-harm, and a multitude of other unsettling content created an unstable business plan which was ultimately non-profitable in its most successful state.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Production

Tumblr’s relationship with its inventors was historically precarious to say the least. Despite marketing itself as anti-advertisement and therefore nonprofitable, it quickly caught the attention of eager investors who were interested in the unique and highly praised project. Contradictory to its “nonprofitable” status within its first year, Tumblr had received a $750,000 investment from Spark Capital and $4.5 million from Union Square Ventures (Collins). At a shockingly rapid rate, Tumblr had caught the attention of the masses, skyrocketing in user numbers and investor support. The platform had suddenly stepped into the limelight within only a handful of years. By 2011, a mere 4 years after its launch, the company had been valued at a head-turning $850 million. In 2013, a short time after this figure was discovered, Yahoo, a $4.83-billion-dollar company, bought out Tumblr for $1.1 billion (Collins). As most people are aware, a shift in ownership opens the door for many new and occasionally unwelcome changes. Tumblr had already formed its roots, and its users were anxious about a very profit-oriented company like Yahoo uprooting the carefully crafted culture they tirelessly worked on creating.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Introduction

However, many of the peaceful denizens of Tumblr would start to notice some of the once far reaches of the site begin to crawl into the spotlight. Many sites run into this issue due to the nature of some of its users, but Tumblr was unfortunately unique in the age range of its users and its content. Being a common ground for a younger audience, the underage content in the pornography on the site became an alarming concern. Once a home for teenage girls, fandoms, “social justice warriors”, and the queer community, it now represented an arena for heated arguments, self-harm, gore, and most notably a warped and disturbing haven for problematic forms of pornography.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Introduction

Founded in 2007 by David Karp, Tumblr would become a social hub for any and all who wished to discuss their favorite forms of media. Whether it was a tv show, movie, band, celebrity, game, book, or any other piece of media, at its peak, Tumblr likely had a flourishing fandom for it. A Fandom is described by the Cambridge Dictionary as “the state of being a fan of someone or something, especially a very enthusiastic one.” This word best describes the culture that Tumblr was able to spawn online. As a more accessible and customizable alternative to many of its predecessors, it is no wonder that the site was able to rise to popularity among teens, young adults, and creatives.

[creatives-intro-to-depravity]

Introduction

Founded in 2007 by David Karp, Tumblr would become a social hub for any and all who wished to discuss their favorite forms of media. Whether it was a tv show, movie, band, celebrity, game, book, or any other piece of media, at its peak, Tumblr likely had a flourishing fandom for it. A Fandom is described by the Cambridge Dictionary as “the state of being a fan of someone or something, especially a very enthusiastic one.” This word best describes the culture that Tumblr was able to spawn online. As a more accessible and customizable alternative to many of its predecessors, it is no wonder that the site was able to rise to popularity among teens, young adults, and creatives. However, many of the peaceful denizens of Tumblr would start to notice some of the once far reaches of the site begin to crawl into the spotlight. Many sites run into this issue due to the nature of some of its users, but Tumblr was unfortunately unique in the age range of its users and its content. Being a common ground for a younger audience, the underage content in the pornography on the site became an alarming concern. Once a home for teenage girls, fandoms, “social justice warriors”, and the queer community, it now represented an arena for heated arguments, self-harm, gore, and most notably a warped and disturbing haven for problematic forms of pornography.