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Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

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Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#361

Post by artpi »

rchaud wrote: post #183
MDWolinski wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be nice if investment in Tumblr is made to create a privacy focused social network for those who have or would like to remove FB from our worlds.

it's probably not economically feasible to have a privacy-respecting app that's also funded by a programmatic targeted advertising network. even if it was, people have shown over and over that they prioritize convenience over privacy, and businesses simply aren't conscientious enough to try a different way.

You are entirely right! However, they are entirely different monetization business models that we are offering our WordPress.com users. Our Simple Payments block for example let's you sell directly on your site: https://en.support.wordpress.com/wordpress-editor/blocks/sim...

People are extremely creative in how they use it, basically turning sites into stores or kickstarter-like campaigns with that little feature. We are looking into extending this functionality.

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#362

Post by fouc »

photomatt wrote: post #11

I'm super excited to have the Tumblr team and product join the Automattic family. We've been evolving Automattic to be more of a Berkshire Hathaway-inspired model and businesses with a lot of autonomy, and this continues that trend. I was very impressed with the engagement and activity Tumblr has continued to have, and I hope that with this new ownership and investment the product will blossom.

Will you be able to bring back the inclusiveness Tumblr used to have for LGBT, Sex workers, etc ?

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#363

Post by levi0214 »

Sharlin wrote: post #359
levi0214 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why didn't Pornhub acquire Tumblr? Could you give us more information about this, since Pornhub once said they wanted to acquire Tumblr.

Hmm, this raises the question: why hasn't Pornhub (or anyone) started a successful X-rated Tumblr clone yet? The demand seems to be there.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same question.

This also raises other questions:

What is the difference between Pornhub and a pornographic Tumblr? What is the essential demand behind the demand for a pornographic Tubmlr?

A very interesting phenomenon is that since Tumblr announced the ban on adult content, many bloggers have turned to Twitter instead of Pornhub.

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#364

Post by ClumsyPilot »

jsjohnst wrote: post #281
ethbro wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Presumably the founder/head of the company has considered a variety of incorporation structures One would think, but apparently neither Yahoo nor Verizon made any effort in that direction. To the tune of putting approx $1 billion through the corporate paper shredder. Given that track record of handling, and an ostensibly similar approach, I thought it was a valid question.

> To the tune of putting approx $1 billion through the corporate paper shredder. Arguably, that happened June 20th, 2013, the day the Tumblr acquisition was closed.

Arguably, it happened throug gross miss-management. Can you think of one good decision they made?

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#365

Post by gibba999 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #354
photomatt wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an excellent question! I don't want to be so presumptuous as to define an exact approach before the technical exploration has started, besides saying it'll be done incrementally and in an easily revertable way to be invisible to users, just like the big datacenter migration Automattic just completed a few weeks ago. At the point when we start this the Tumblr team will have been part of Automattic for the bette…

I don't want to be so presumptuous as to define an exact approach before the technical exploration has started The same could be said of deciding such an absolutely massive migration is even beneficial/necessary in the first place, before a technical exploration! And yet apparently, that part has already been decided? I am, of course, completely ignorant of how WP and Tumblr's infrastructure works. I'm not saying the…

I've often decided on technical decisions with incomplete information. Here's an example of how it works (translated to this analogy):

1) You come up with a working (if expensive or otherwise imperfect) technical path 2) You define a half-dozen other potential (less expensive, more practical) paths 3) You announce the decision 4) You complete due diligence, and take the best path

There are other ways as well. Announcements and plans aren't binding; they occasionally change. You can make an announcement when you're 98% confident you'll do something. You can pivot if it doesn't work out. There are places this doesn't work (e.g. customer promises), but on something like an internal migration, this is a-okay.

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#366

Post by Cthulhu_ »

catwell wrote: post #352
elliekelly wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it creates a huge number of potential issues with app stores, payment providers, trust and safety... I completely understand that “Adult Content” can cause a ton of headaches for a business but Tumblr’s current definition of “Adult Content” is very broad and I hope when the transaction is complete you’ll at least be open to reviewing the scope of the definition. Right now it includes many things that aren’t adult a…

AFAIK "female presenting nipples" is banned from Apple's App Store in non-17+ apps. A huge company such as Facebook could maybe fight it, Automattic certainly can't.

Wait, are you saying Apple actually does allow any kind of NSFW content in the app store?

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#367

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Sharlin wrote: post #359
levi0214 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why didn't Pornhub acquire Tumblr? Could you give us more information about this, since Pornhub once said they wanted to acquire Tumblr.

Hmm, this raises the question: why hasn't Pornhub (or anyone) started a successful X-rated Tumblr clone yet? The demand seems to be there.

Is there a demand for an NSFW-only Tumblr alternative, or was it the mix of content that made Tumblr popular?

I mean personally I think if e.g. pornhub were to launch a product like that, they should make sure that it's not associated with PH or pornography directly. That creates a stigma - "oh, it's that porn blog" - which in my outsider's perspective was never Tumblr's identity.

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#368

Post by shiningdays »

levi0214 wrote: post #363
Sharlin wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, this raises the question: why hasn't Pornhub (or anyone) started a successful X-rated Tumblr clone yet? The demand seems to be there.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same question. This also raises other questions: What is the difference between Pornhub and a pornographic Tumblr? What is the essential demand behind the demand for a pornographic Tubmlr? A very interesting phenomenon is that since Tumblr announced the ban on adult content, many bloggers have turned to Twitter instead of Pornhub.

I think the difference is in branding/positioning, and therefore the mental state of the person engaging with the site and creating content.

Porn = male gaze-y[1], intentionally and overtly about sexual gratification, less about exploration

A free-wheeling blog site = a place open to the exploration of a number of different aspects of identity, of which sexuality is one of them.

In short: If Pornhub were to create a tumblr clone, they'd inherently be enticing people to _produce porn_ rather than producing content which might happen to be somewhat pornographic. There's a huge mental barrier there for lots of people, even if they happen to enjoy viewing porn or producing sexually explicit imagery.

[1] Yes I know women watch porn, the default assumption of porn viewership is still a cis male audience

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#369

Post by Traubenfuchs »

levi0214 wrote: post #363
Sharlin wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, this raises the question: why hasn't Pornhub (or anyone) started a successful X-rated Tumblr clone yet? The demand seems to be there.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same question. This also raises other questions: What is the difference between Pornhub and a pornographic Tumblr? What is the essential demand behind the demand for a pornographic Tubmlr? A very interesting phenomenon is that since Tumblr announced the ban on adult content, many bloggers have turned to Twitter instead of Pornhub.

The difference is that each tumblr was curated individually and there were also lots of image focused/exclusive tumblrs. This curation by hand + sometimes extremely narrow definition of a tumblrs content allowed one to find exactly what one wanted.

Pornhub is like a swamp, content wise.

Re: Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

#370

Post by mffnbs »

marvin wrote: post #128
mffnbs wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve's take on Reddit these days almost seems like he's doubling down on the whole "free speech" thing for better or for worse. I personally left the site after eleven years. Steve actually permanently banned me after I had pointed out a few instances where racism was not only allowed to live, but seemingly encouraged.

Permabanned by an admin and founder after 11 years as a user? That's actually quite impressive, unless you did something obviously outrageous.

Turns out he doesn't enjoy being tagged in the racist comments.
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