Tumblr is Downscaling After Failing To 'Turn Around' the Site

Tumblr is downscaling its ambitions after failing to reach goals for a new audience, aiming to move some staff members to other divisions of parent company Automattic. From a report: A leaked memo, which circulated on Tumblr and was confirmed in a Verge comment by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, says that "the majority" of Tumblr's non-support, safety, and moderation staff will "switch to other divisions." In follow-up posts on Tumblr, Mullenweg stated that Automattic is planning "a more focused approach in 2024," including an emphasis on the "core functionality" of the site.

[...] It describes implementing a backup plan to "reflect and decide where else we should concentrate our energy together" without laying off staff from Automattic -- which also operates the WordPress.com and WordPress VIP hosting services. "This plan is happening now." That involves transferring the majority of 139 people on a team identified as covering product development, marketing, and other tasks outside support, moderation, and security.

Dupe

[r1348]

https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

Re:

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

At least it bases the story on a different site, the Slashdot story 17 hours and 20 minutes earlier was based on https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/tumblr-is-reportedly-on-life-support-as-its-latest-owner-reassigns-staff/ [arstechnica.com].

Re:

[Entrope]

Tumblr may be downscaling in general, but it's really stepping up its presence on the Slashdot front page!

Obvious nobody running the site pays attention

[RonVNX]

msmash in particular doesn't pay any attention to what's already posted here, but it's equally clear nobody running this site cares enough to make the most minimal effort.

Old Model

[bill_mcgonigle]

They should retake the old model they had. Every kind of kink and depravity was tolerated. It was wildly popular among that crowd.

Then they went after their core audience om behalf of payment processors who then fled to Old Twitter, where it was all tolerated. Twitter became considerably worse as a resuly.

Tumblr should really push hard to regain that audience with targeted campaigning. Target Musk as a bigot (he would admit to being intolerant of depravity) and they'll come running back. Musk might well be

Re:

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

I again recommend Congress pass law that payment processors must process all legal transactions. The currency is valid for all debts, public and private, and censors should not be sitting as gateway approvers any more than if you used cash.

Re:

[blackomegax]

Currency is VALID for such use, but not MANDATED for acceptance. It's perfectly legal to decline cash purchases, or decline card purchases and run a cash only business. It's perfectly legal for a coffee shop to operate and only accept bottle caps as currency.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

That only works if they refuse service up front. Once there is a debt, cash is legal tender for all debts. By refusing cash you are refusing to be paid.

Re:

[pauljlucas]

[citation needed]

Re:

[RonVNX]

By default, yes. But some places like New York City have passed laws requiring businesses to accept cash.

Automattic also owns Wordpress

[echo123]

Automattic is The major Wordpress player. Wordpress is trying hard to compete with Drupal for US Federal website projects [drupal.org], therefore I don't see Automattic chasing the porn economy.

WAIT a second

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Tumblr is still alive? What next, a resurgence in MySpace accounts and Habbo Hotel signups?

Re:

[RonVNX]

For some reason, people with access to money keep thinking you can bring dead web things back to life. This has already been tried with MySpace at least once.

Pron

[Askmum]

Tumblr was in decline when they banned all the pron from their site and everybody (except Tumblr and their conservative investors) knew it.