48hr tumblr blackout proposal

tumblr mobile has seadily become near unusable these past few updates. not just from a user experience perspective (which is important enough in itself) but also from an accessibility perspective.

examples include the new way the image viewer works (if you can call it "working"), the tumblr live button replacing the profile button, and that newly created blogs will be forced to have their main dashboard tab be the 'for you' page.

the demands of the protest would be along the lines of:

to protest against these usability issues, and inspired by the recent reddit blackout, i propose a 48 hour blackout (where you don't use tumblr at all). preferably of both mobile and web (since web has problems too) but mobile is the focus here.

I suggest the 48 hours between the 30th of June to the end of the 1st of July.

this marks the end of pride month (for the "queerest place on the internet") and the start of disability month (since accessibility is a massive issue here).

tumblr office is in San Francisco, USA, so the times and dates will be calculated using their time zone (PDT).

you can find out the times and dates for your timezone here.

i can't afford to blaze this post so please spread it around as much as possible! protests only work if significant numbers show up!

tumblr rejected the blaze campaigns for this post because they know it would hurt them. let's make this an indefinite blackout - it's the best way to get results.

(so the blackout would be from June 30th onwards)

@one-time-i-dreamt @i-am-a-fish @lizluvscupcakes tagging some larger blogs to hopefully get the word out more

i don't normally reblog stuff like this but tbqh tumblr's interface is going down the shitter and i have genuinely considered abandoning the site anyway if it keeps going, so like. sure.

Aubey visual ref :-) artfight is coming up and i needed a break from comics so i finally. FINALLY. am getting around to making some reference art for my main trio

[image ID: three reference drawings of Aubrey Still, a young human woman with tan skin, red hair, and cybernetic arms. She has a distinctive A-shaped scar over her left eye, which is cybernetic. She is shown first wearing a purple security guard uniform; then a red floral shirt tucked into chinos, with brown boots; and finally a purple hoodie with pink-purple gym shorts and an old pair of sneakers. /end]

averyluckyclover mothcub and mysillycomics deserve a billion dollars each for how much the internet has stolen their art

if I had a dollar for every time my stuff has been reposted without credit I’d have enough money to live and I’m not exaggerating

support mysillycomics

support averyluckyclover

support mothcub

credit artists!!!! give us pocket change!!!! follow their tumblrs!!!! @mysillycomics @averyluckyclover @mothcub

re: last post, went back and re-drew this page because i got as far as drawing her face once before realising it’d be easier to do a complete do-over than edit every single figure piece by piece

page from Seraphim Drive reissue, 2023

piece i started in january but haven’t really touched since march so i added some final touches last night and i’m calling it done

(original work in this context being anything that isn't franchise / existing media fan art - like original characters, life studies, sketchbooks, general art of the world around us, etc etc. the poll is written with visual art in mind but you can answer for other types if you prefer!)

The results on this so far are already strongly in favor of original work, but the reactions to this have been... mixed. From comments about how original work doesn't get as many notes to straight out accusing people of lying because of those notes, it's difficult to see people scorning the idea that their art could be enjoyed (or even that it's hated!) because a note count doesn't reflect the results of this poll.

Everyone and their dog have made posts about reblogs over likes, leave comments, etc etc, and I won't rehash that again here. But I do want to say that your art's impact does not end at the number of website hits it has. Is it a useful metric to judge which posts get shared? Sure! But I know there are art pieces I think about often that I forgot to share when I first saw them and can't find again, just like how books I read or music I listened to as a child shaped my tastes even if I don't remember them. I'm not saying a note count isn't important (for many artists, myself included, our art being seen and purchased is how we survive) but if there is one piece of advice that I can give as a random person on the internet, it is to please, please not use your posting stats as the only metric by which your work has value.

People love to see your art. That's all there is to it. You don't have to treat that love like a lie because Click Number didn't go up.

LEGACY SONS OF ADAM: BUILDING A BETTER HUMAN.

for Seraphim Drive reissue

Stranger is so heavily trans coded, it would actually be more impressive to me if it was entirely unintentional. I’ve tried to write this post a lot of times, but every attempt at well written meta just turned into enthusiastic rambling, so I’ve settled on a bulletpoint list of transmasc parrallels. Spoilers for Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.

honestly cant believe it took me like a year to draw Amon but I drew him last night for no particular reason