the sky is folding, I'll see you in a while

Received this from Tumblr in the past couple of days:

The future is bright

Hey, did you hear the news? We’re being acquired by Automattic! They’re a technology company that empowers people to build beautiful websites, tell their stories, and find and grow their audience. We couldn’t be more pleased with this new and complementary home where we can continue working on behalf of our community—you.

Riiiiight. Because I'm sure those of us who used Tumblr as a way to connect with each other, a way to foster community, a way to express ourselves without restrictions...I'm sure Automattic really cares.

Your login credentials will remain the same. Nothing will change with how you use Tumblr and we’ll continue our efforts to make your experience even better.

Actually, not true, because I've been in the aggravatingly slow process of transferring the content I want to keep to another blog. I haven't made a single post on my own to Tumblr since the announcement. What happens at that point? I kill the account.

Starting September 26, 2019, your Tumblr account will be governed by the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

There are a few worrying passages in their Terms of Service.

Subscriber Content License to Tumblr:

When you provide Subscriber Content to Tumblr through the Services, you grant Tumblr a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, cache, reproduce, publish, display (publicly or otherwise), perform (publicly or otherwise), distribute, transmit, modify, adapt (including, without limitation, in order to conform it to the requirements of any networks, devices, services, or media through which the Services are available), and create derivative works of, such Subscriber Content.

This has become a fairly standard clause for electronic services, in order to allow the hosting services in question to host user-published content. And I get that. The phrase that jumps out at me, though, is "and create derivative works of, such Subscriber Content". That, to me? Is very telling, and is not standard to most electronic services.

The reference in this license to "creat[ing] derivative works" is not intended to give Tumblr a right to make substantive editorial changes or derivations, but does, for example, enable reblogging, which allows Tumblr Subscribers to redistribute Subscriber Content from one Tumblr blog to another in a manner that allows them to add their own text or other Content before or after your Subscriber Content.

Emphasis theirs, and gosh, thanks for explaining, but words have meanings. The rest of the clause allows those specific things, including reblogging by other users, a major function of Tumblr as it existed before. So the creation of derivative works based on user content is not needed as a clause in their Terms of Service.

There's also this:

Compliance with Community Guidelines:

You agree that you won't violate Tumblr's Community Guidelines.

What does that mean for the end user? Let's just focus in on what started all the controversy in the first place, and is very much in the Terms of Service that will go into effect on the 25th of September:

Adult Content. Don't upload images, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples — this includes content that is so photorealistic that it could be mistaken for featuring real-life humans (nice try, though). Certain types of artistic, educational, newsworthy, or political content featuring nudity are fine. Don’t upload any content, including images, videos, GIFs, or illustrations, that depicts sex acts. For more information about what this guideline prohibits and how to appeal decisions about adult content, check out our help desk.

Which means that Verizon, and its subsidiary Automattic, is CHANGING NOTHING about the policy that lost them hundreds of thousands of users over the past few months.

We think you’re going to love Tumblr’s bright future, but we also want to remind you that you have complete control over whether or not your Tumblr account remains active after Tumblr’s acquisition by Automattic. If you’re just not feeling it, you can choose to export the contents of your blog(s) and/or delete your account(s) by September 25, 2019.

And this is the bit I didn't know. I can export my entire blog, without having to do it by hand? (Which has been both irritating and exhausting, as well as somewhat angering to realize how much the anti-Adult policy stripped content that I also wanted to save from my Tumblog.)



And that, in fact, is what I'm doing. Took me a bit, I'm ashamed to say, to figure out exactly what they meant in their instructions, but once I got to the right area, the Export function showed up very clearly. But I'm sure that is a download that will be preparing for several hours, because my Tumblog goes back to 2014. That's a lot of content to batch up into one file.

Have more Qs? We got you. Find your answers in the FAQ.

Yeah, don't care. This is beyond last-straw time. I'm not even surprised, I'm just continuing to be disappointed. When that file downloads, I am killing my account formally, because I will then have the files I need to go through and repost. And that will be that. I am done with Tumblr.