So, my dears, here is my Tumblr migration info post. I’ll use it to
collect info and updates about saving your stuff, finding new homes and
all that dealio. You can also find it on my Twitter, my Dreamwidth and my Pillowfort.
I’ve seen some people panicking, but remember all us Fandom Olds have been through this before. It
sucks to lose all that investment, but it is not the end. In fact,
we’re well-prepared these days because we learned from those times.
We’ve got tools for archiving content–both yours and the content from
others you can’t bear to lose–and for migrating and staying in touch
with your friends.
And while I have your attention: Support AO3. Support the OTW. Support EFF. Support the ALA. Fight for net neutrality. This is just the beginning of what happens if we lose it.
1: Archiving your stuff:
Option 1: Tumblr
has its own archive download option now. Go to your dash, go into
Settings>Privacy>Privacy Management and it takes you to a data
management dashboard. You request a download there and when it’s ready,
it sends you a link.
Issue: I’m hearing a lot about errors, messy archives and a couple of things about Tumblr not including NSFW-flagged material.
Option 2: TumblThree – a downloadable app that lets you select and download your content
with fine granularity. You can even download your likes, search results
and more.
Issue: It’s for PC only, and I haven’t tried it yet so I
can’t speak to how good the results are. Although I know a few people
who’ve used it and been satisfied.
Option 3 (thanks to 221bcrow for this one): WordPress backup – copying your Tumblr to a WordPress site
Issue:
When you hit your storage limit (3 GB for the average WordPress.com
blog), the system reverts to linking to Tumblr rather than saving
copies–rather counterproductive in this case
Option 4 (thanks Deerna!):Tumblr Backup 101 from bboli on Github.
It looks a little more labor-intensive, but it’s less scary than it
might seem. The instructions seem well-made to be simple, clear and easy
to perform for non-coders.
Issue: I haven’t tried it myself, so I can’t comment.
2: Saving Content You Can’t Live Without
Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: Did you know that you can submit content to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine? go to https://web.archive.org,
go down to ‘save page as’ and paste in URLs of any blogs you think are
special and need to be preserved, especially if the creators are
absent or dead. Go ahead, full-bore.
A caveat: content stowed behind
Tumblr’s NSFW access wall cannot be logged by the archive. So move
quickly, as Tumblr is still in the process of flagging content.
Internet Archive
also may be able to help if you have content you need to archive and no
good place to put it. Archive employee Jason Scott is inviting DMs from
people looking to host content over on his Twitter, @textfilesfromthexfiles.
Fanlore: Fanlore.org is a wiki maintained by the OTW (AO3’s parent non-profit) as an archive of written fandom history, so
we don’t lose the continuity of our fandom communities. You can read and
write entries on events surrounding the Tumblr purge, and other things
that have happened while fandom was making Tumblr its primary home.
TumblThree: Again, TumblThree can let you download your likes, the results of Tumblr searches,
reblogged content, and other material you want to squirrel away.
3: Where to Go Next
My
best advice is: You don’t have to choose just one, so don’t commit too
fast. I’ve been through a few of these site migrations now, and when
there are a few options for landing spaces out there, but no clear
winner…make profiles on more than one. Test ’em out. Mirror content
for a while. Tell people where to find you.
There are apps that let you post to multiple social sites at once. Someone recommended Postybirb for this purpose, although as of posting this, their site is down so I can’t test it.
Dreamwidth.org: DW is a fork of Livejournal’s code
base. It’s been around for 10 years. It’s free to use. Its creators work
on the ethos that users should control their privacy, users should
control their data, and freedom of expression and transformative works
should be protected. It’s funded by users purchasing add-ons and
upgrades for their journals, which makes the users the funding source
and the customer base. DW’s team refuses to sell data or to host
advertising. DW’s initial response to the Tumblr purge: https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/38929.html
Some features include:
- Personal blogs with granular privacy control, letting you make posts public, private or locked to specified groups
- Posts that allow for threaded conversations in replies
- Tagging with no limits
- Communities/Groups
where people can gather to talk and share content. These include
capability for group moderation teams, banning/blocking, and ability to
make content public or private to group members - 500 MB of native file/image hosting (DW says they’re working on expanding this)
- DW’s
development team actively solicit and respond to their users’ desires
and suggestions for features and functions of the site
Drawbacks:
- Currently
DW does not offer reblogging capability. It’s available in the code,
but they have it turned off on the basis that it removes content from
the original poster’s control. The current version of reblogging that’s
built in the code copies the post but allows the reblogger to edit the
content.
Pillowfort.io: A
new social media platform still in closed beta. As of 12 pm EST, Dec 4,
2018, Pillowfort is down for maintenance as the developers finish a
security audit. UPDATE: As of Dec 5, 2018, Pillowfort is back up and
stable! Pillowfort is in closed beta, but you can purchase a
registration key by donating $5 to their Paypal.
Keys are a bit backlogged due to site downtime but they’ll be issuing
them when they’re up again. If you buy a key but regret your purchase,
you can request a refund up to 3 weeks after your purchase. Long term, like Dreamwidth,
Pillowfort looks to make it free to use, with funding generated by user
purchase of upgrades and add-ons, so they can focus on serving users as
their primary customer base and won’t have to be beholden to
advertisers. Pillowfort’s latest update in response to the Tumblr purge: https://twitter.com/Pillowfort_io/status/1069652893177929734
I’ve
seen people worried about connecting their financial accounts to
Pillowfort. That doesn’t happen. All Pillowfort gets is $5 and an email
address to send the registration key to. That address doesn’t even
stay connected to the key. You can give it away or apply it to a
different account.
Pillowfort offers many of the same features as Dreamwidth:
- Personal blogs with granular privacy control, letting you make posts public, private or locked to followers
- Posts that allow for threaded conversations in replies
- Tagging with no limits
- Communities/Groups
where people can gather to talk and share content. These include
capability for group moderation teams, banning/blocking, and ability to
make content public or private to group members - Native file/image hosting
- Reblogging that maintains creator control over the post–edits or deletion affect all copies of the reblogged post
Drawbacks:
- Pillowfort
currently is in closed beta, and managing membership growth via a $5
donation in order to receive a registration key. They’re aiming to come
out of closed beta and drop the fee in about 6 months. - Closed
beta means Pillowfort is also actively in the process of developing
functionality. While it’s usable and generally stable, it’s still a bit
bare-bones. - Pillowfort does not yet have a mobile app, since they’re still in the process of building out their site.
- Pillowfort
is currently hosted on a .io domain, which may not be used “for any
purpose that is sexual or pornographic or that is against the statutory laws of any nation.” – Pillowfort knows the problem and is planning to switch domains - Some
coders and other experts following Pillowfort’s development have
expressed concern about the long-term viability or stability of
Pillowfort’s code base. It’s built on Ruby on Rails, and a concern is
whether this will provide the flexibility to expand sufficiently to
serve a large number of users once Pillowfort comes out of closed beta - Not
currently GDPR compliant, which means they could run into some major
issues in Europe. Hopefully they get compliant before they get in
trouble…
Mastodon: Mastodon
is, roughly speaking, a Twitter clone, except users can set up their
own Twitter server, where they can set their own rules and policies for
the community.
Features:
- Mastodon is almost entirely controlled by its users
- It
looks like Twitter, and in some ways, when it comes to posting, acts a
lot like Twitter (depending on whether you think that’s a positive or
negative) - Servers are connected so you can talk to people who
are members of other servers. They can also shut off access to other
servers they don’t want to have anything to do with - Mastodon has a 500 character limit for a post (called a ‘toot’)
- You can create your own server, or join one where you like the community and the policies
- It’s
weird and creative – it’s hard to explain, frankly, but if you like
‘different’ then it’s at least worth trying out, just for the experience
Drawbacks:
- It can be confusing, because it looks like Twitter so you’ll expect it to work like Twitter, but it doesn’t exactly
- It can also be confusing because rules can change from one server to another
- Setting up your own server requires some understanding of how to establish web servers
- Same as Twitter, it doesn’t really provide bounded communities
- If you aren’t the creator of the server you signed onto, you may be at the whims of the user who built it
I’ll be updating this as things progress. Please do add your own info and updates in the comments!
Also! Come find me on Pillowfort and/or Dreamwidth if you aren’t familiar with those platforms, because I’ll be putting together some how-to guides for people learning their way around!
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