The Tumblr Files - Official Thread - An exposé on the media and people that destroyed the Internet

[redlenses2112]

Why do most devs, webmasters and internet oldfags still stick to IRC chats? , that's an interesting question

A way to gate-keep, I guess? Should be used more.

As someone who is on quite a few private trackers whose admin staffs still use IRC, it's very much because they don't want to be overwhelmed with Bluesky-type oversocialized neurotics.

If a member or two have a pressing matter to bring up with staff, they quickly join IRC, it gets solved, and both parties move on with their day, as is customary with IRC.

Obviously, the mere idea that not every online communication platform has to be a 24/7 toxic positivity circlejerk is a no-no for Undertale/Deltarune/Meta-Irony creatures. So yes, it is way to gate-keep in that regard.

 

[Outer Space Traveller]

Don't know if it's been noted or of importance, but Toby Fox was given special thanks in the credits for Starbound and once uploaded an unfinished track for the game.

According to his account, he composed an hour of WIP music for the game, but it went unused because the head dev claimed he wasn't in the IRC chat enough.
Ver archivo adjunto 8132980

Oh come on! What a load of bollocks. They did that only to say "REMEMBER US NOW THAT YOU ARE A HIGH ROLLER!"

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

Lauren Villagran
USA TODAY

The Supreme Court is debating taking up a case challenging the decade-old decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.

The deliberations on Friday, Nov. 7, were closed-door, but the court could announce its decision to take up the case as early as Monday.

The case centers on former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who who appealed to the high court after she was ordered to pay a gay couple $100,000 for refusing to marry them in 2015. She argued that presiding over the marriage would violate her religious beliefs.

Davis, who served as clerk in Rowan County at the time, drew international attention when she refused to issue a marriage license to David Ermold and David Moore in the wake of the court's ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. That case was known as Obergefell v. Hodges.

Some conservatives are hoping the justices will revisit the question now that the conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, undoing a 50-year legal precedent and effectively turning questions about abortion access back to the states.

Justice Samuel Alito, one of the court's most conservative justices, wrote the majority opinion that undid Roe v. Wade. But Alito has given no indication he is inclined to do the same in the Davis case.

After criticizing the decision that legalized same-sex marriage, Alito recently clarified his stance. "I am not suggesting that the decision in that case should be overruled," he said at an event organized by the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State on Oct. 3. "I have to state that so that what I say today is not misunderstood."

Same-sex couples and others in the+ community are watching the court closely, worried that their right to marry could be curtailed or their marriage made null.

Emillie Friedman married her wife, Brooke Friedman, in October 2024 after three years together. The Davis appeal shocked and worried her, especially because the two plan on starting a family, she said. But she remains hopeful.

"Nothing is going to change the fact that Brooke and I are legally married," she told USA TODAY. "We are married in our hearts."

If the court takes up the Davis case and overturns precedent, same-sex marriages could still remain protected.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, which protects same-sex and interracial marriages at the federal level.

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

It's the end of the day, so here's how the stats are looking:


I'm still doing research and gathering sources for the other parts of the Case. I honestly can't say if I'm almost done, or halfway done. Only time will tell.

 

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

Case IV: The Winds of Winter

 

[Agares]

Null talked about Tumblr on last Friday’s MATI episode while covering the death of Common Filth (YouTuber who was among the first to call put Tumblrista insanity). It was mostly a quick rundown for the zoomers who don’t know about Tumblr’s reputation because they might not have been on the internet during Tumblr’s heyday. But one thing dear feeder said was interesting: he believes that Tumblr back then was worse than Discord is today with how much it fucked up the kids.

Kind of an interesting take but I get where Null is coming from.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

he believes that Tumblr back then was worse than Discord is today with how much it fucked up the kids.

There were people who legitimately made Tumblr their livelihood. I haven't seen people go up in arms over Discord policies in claiming it's erasing their identity.

 

[Agares]

There were people who legitimately made Tumblr their livelihood. I haven't seen people go up in arms over Discord policies in claiming it's erasing their identity.

We might actually see protests against discord kitten erasure in our lifetimes.

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

In the event that I don't end up doing it, is anyone here up for making a thread about Mariel Cartwright / Kuniko?

 

[The_Bladder_Splatter]

In the event that I don't end up doing it, is anyone here up for making a thread about Mariel Cartwright / Kuniko?

I also don't think it's viable just as with Toby's case, believe me when i tell you she did a thorough job at earsing all her edgy past in the internet and even more difficult when we take into account that all that stuff was distributed in physical zines at cons, besides STFO and Technicals did a pretty good job digging some dirt on her

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

Got a lot of research to do today, and plenty of interviews to watch and skim through.

 

[Darth Insanius]

If you don't mind me asking, could you give a hint for what Case Four is going to be about?
The porn ban and the ensuring Twitter exodus?

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

If you don't mind me asking, could you give a hint for what Case Four is going to be about?
The porn ban and the ensuring Twitter exodus?

No, that's 2018. What I'm mainly covering in Case IV (and the other files in general) is early-to-mid 2015, all the way up to the end of 2016.

 

[Paper Machete]

Null talked about Tumblr on last Friday’s MATI episode while covering the death of Common Filth (YouTuber who was among the first to call put Tumblrista insanity). It was mostly a quick rundown for the zoomers who don’t know about Tumblr’s reputation because they might not have been on the internet during Tumblr’s heyday. But one thing dear feeder said was interesting: he believes that Tumblr back then was worse than Discord is today with how much it fucked up the kids.

Kind of an interesting take but I get where Null is coming from.

I remember back then that Tumblr was, for some retarded reason, one of the few sites that made it past school proxies. You could just sign into your Tumblr during computer class or in the school library during free periods/lunch. This was back before everyone had their own phone that was capable of browsing the internet through their own high speed data. Smart phones where a thing but not everyone had one or one that was capable of being genuinely good to use for web purposes. And it was also the time when you could basically post anything on there NSFW and nothing would happen. I remember coming across some "pansexual" guy's "blog" were he would share pictures and GIFs of himself playing around with dildos and other porny stuff he shared. I don't even remember how it came up. You would just run into stuff like that all the time. (And yes, he was almost completely bald and fat.) But it's stuck in my mind for how absurd it was. Not just that people posted stuff like that there but that it was so easy to come across. It was an old joke that you couldn't browse Tumblr without coming across pictures of dicks or porn GIFs. And keep in mind--Tumblr didn't have an algorithm that fed you things, based on your habits or otherwise, only what tags you searched/followed and the blogs that you followed.

I think the allure with Tumblr was that is was easily accessible and one of the first sites that made multimedia posting easy. You didn't need to have anything to actually say or create anything yourself because you could just share other people's stuff/things you liked and maybe add commentary. You didn't need to have a network of friends because people would bunch up based on having similar blogs. Then, despite it's popularity, it fell under the radar because like I said it was never proxied. It was one of the only "interesting" sites you could use at school when you wanted to spend time fucking around rather than actually working on something.

The heavy emphasis on "aesthetics" with blogging started on Tumblr. And I think this is what served to initially romanticize a lot of things like anachan.

ETA: I also remember that people would use their Tumblr to sell nudes and commission lame amateur porn. This was before OF took off and before hoes started using insta and shit to try and lowkey advertise for johns. When I really think about it Tumblr was the start of a lot of shitty online behaviors that got introduced to kids specifically that ramped up when the internet kept getting condensed to socmed apps everyone uses. It was part of what everyone was pissed off about by the NSFW ban, because a lot of lowrent wannabe thots made (some sort of money but likely certainly not a lot) getting nude commissions that they advertised through their blogs.

Also, also I distinctly remember a lot of blogs being straight up sugar babies that would post aesthetic content and guides. Back before skincare tiktok a lot of the blogs that posted a lot of stuff like that were just whores. But the thing I remember the most was that they were honest that it was actually shitty and if anyone did it that they would have to dissociate through doing gross stuff to old guys. Then one day suddenly a lot of those blogs disappeared. This was before the NSFW ban and these blogs actually never posted NSFW content directly just were kinda honest about what being a pro was actually like. I have long suspected and tinfoil hated that these got reported and banned not because the content was bad but because their honesty about experiences sugaring/escorting would do the opposite of encouraging more girls to do it. They would straight up say it wasn't a lifestyle for most and that it would low key traumatize you.

Tumblr was really wild and the more I think about it the more I remember coming across wild shit.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

they were honest that it was actually shitty and if anyone did it that they would have to dissociate through doing gross stuff to old guys

Meanwhile, modern Tumblr: constantly on about fucking old men, old men fucking and I saw a bitch actually brag that people would throw up if they knew what age her sexual partners are.

 

[Agares]

I remember back then that Tumblr was, for some retarded reason, one of the few sites that made it past school proxies. You could just sign into your Tumblr during computer class or in the school library during free periods/lunch. This was back before everyone had their own phone that was capable of browsing the internet through their own high speed data. Smart phones where a thing but not everyone had one or one that was capable of being genuinely good to use for web purposes. And it was also the time when you could basically post anything on there NSFW and nothing would happen. I remember coming across some "pansexual" guy's "blog" were he would share pictures and GIFs of himself playing around with dildos and other porny stuff he shared. I don't even remember how it came up. You would just run into stuff like that all the time. (And yes, he was almost completely bald and fat.) But it's stuck in my mind for how absurd it was. Not just that people posted stuff like that there but that it was so easy to come across. It was an old joke that you couldn't browse Tumblr without coming across pictures of dicks or porn GIFs. And keep in mind--Tumblr didn't have an algorithm that fed you things, based on your habits or otherwise, only what tags you searched/followed and the blogs that you followed.

I remember having a friend who'd browse Tumblr memes in one of my classes in high school circa 2014 but thankfully he only looked at more innocent stuff on the school computers. Lord knows how easy it was to fall down those rabbit holes back then. Sometimes I'd browse ED and it would lead me to weird Tumblr blogs sometimes where I'd peruse it like an online freak show and laugh at all the bizarre fetish shit they'd post. But I only ever did that on my own personal devices and I never had a Tumblr because 4chan and ED taught me how retarded and insane its userbase was. All this shit that's coming out now is surreal and I had no idea it was that fucking insane.

Again, Null considers it worse for the youth back in the day vs Discord with today's youth.

I think the allure with Tumblr was that is was easily accessible and one of the first sites that made multimedia posting easy. You didn't need to have anything to actually say or create anything yourself because you could just share other people's stuff/things you liked and maybe add commentary. You didn't need to have a network of friends because people would bunch up based on having similar blogs. Then, despite it's popularity, it fell under the radar because like I said it was never proxied. It was one of the only "interesting" sites you could use at school when you wanted to spend time fucking around rather than actually working on something.

It was super accessible and all you needed to sign up for it was just an email. None of that verification stuff that a lot of sites have now (and even then that's easy to spoof/get around if you know what you're doing). I almost forgot about the reblogs too. Reblogs were to Tumblr what updoots are for reddit.

No idea why it Tumblr never proxied though. School IT departments must have been even more underfunded than they are now back in the day.

Also, also I distinctly remember a lot of blogs being straight up sugar babies that would post aesthetic content and guides. Back before skincare tiktok a lot of the blogs that posted a lot of stuff like that were just whores. But the thing I remember the most was that they were honest that it was actually shitty and if anyone did it that they would have to dissociate through doing gross stuff to old guys. Then one day suddenly a lot of those blogs disappeared. This was before the NSFW ban and these blogs actually never posted NSFW content directly just were kinda honest about what being a pro was actually like. I have long suspected and tinfoil hated that these got reported and banned not because the content was bad but because their honesty about experiences sugaring/escorting would do the opposite of encouraging more girls to do it. They would straight up say it wasn't a lifestyle for most and that it would low key traumatize you.

Well SJWs were always about pushing unhealthy lifestyles on the youth and they can't just have blogs telling the truth about the lifestyle, now can they? It's sickening, but not surprising. Makes you wonder if blogs that told the truth about being obese also got nuked because they weren't heckin fat positive.

 

[Paper Machete]

Lord knows how easy it was to fall down those rabbit holes back then.

The problem was people would tag NSFW or just unrelated content with stuff like #[fandom] or #art so that their posts would get mixed in with things you searched for/tags you followed. And since you couldn't filter for NSFW content iirc back in the day it meant it was just part of the site ecosystem. By the time this was all wrangled the site became a money dump that was considered embarrassing to mention.

You could sort of avoid it if you only looked at stuff posted by blogs you followed and trusted. But you'd eventually want to find more new stuff especially if a certain niche starting dying off.

 

[Agares]

The problem was people would tag NSFW or just unrelated content with stuff like #[fandom] or #art so that their posts would get mixed in with things you searched for/tags you followed. And since you couldn't filter for NSFW content iirc back in the day it meant it was just part of the site ecosystem. By the time this was all wrangled the site became a money dump that was considered embarrassing to mention.

You could sort of avoid it if you only looked at stuff posted by blogs you followed and trusted. But you'd eventually want to find more new stuff especially if a certain niche starting dying off.

No NSFW filter is peak web 1.0 design incompetence. While there were a lot of good things about that era, that was not one of them.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

No idea why it Tumblr never proxied though. School IT departments must have been even more underfunded than they are now back in the day.

Likely because whoever was running those departments had Tumblr blogs of their own or they just didn't know about Tumblr back then.

And since you couldn't filter for NSFW content iirc back in the day it meant it was just part of the site ecosystem.

I thought you actually could, it's just those porn blogs still found a way to insert NSFW shit everywhere regardless of the filter because they might not actually use the NSFW tag (and the report system was completely borked). I know people were screaming/crying to TAG YOUR GORE/POMEGRANATES because they could customize-filter those out.