olihju - Tumblr blog

[olihju]

Fabien Frankel Reacts to House of the Dragon Scenes

[olihju]

THEO JAMES 2024 | Rowan Papier ph. for Vogue Greece

[olihju]

DAISY EDGAR JONES via INSTAGRAM

@/gucci 🍒

[olihju]

The Princess Diaries (2001) // The Kelly Clarkson Show (2024)

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[olihju]

RYAN GOSLING | I'm Just Ken 96th Annual Academy Awards  (March 10, 2024)

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[olihju]

Ryan Gosling performing “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars 2024

[olihju]

#I need Ryan to show up at the Oscars with his "I am Kenough." hoodie

[olihju]

MARGOT ROBBIE 81st Golden Globe Awards (January 7, 2024) photographed by Matt Winkelmeyer

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the man was shooked

[olihju]

I would like to dedicate this to every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on earth: the movie theatres.

[olihju]

[olihju]

I don't get why people hate on Rachel Zegler so much. She straight-up donated $600 to help a fan cover their cat's vet bills...

I bet if she were some average white dude, everyone would be applauding for just doing the basics. 🤷‍♂️

[olihju]

oliver jackson-cohen featuring actress/singer sheila atim at the gq men of the year awards at the royal opera house on 15 november 2023

[olihju]

Oliver Jackson-Cohen photographed by Tom J Johnson

[olihju]

I Die if this site dies. I hope it stays 😭😭🙏

re: tumblr

hello! I work in tech and here are some important things to know about "tumblr is going into maintenance mode." please note I do not work at tumblr, I've just worked at tumblr-adjacent sort of companies for my entire adult life and i've gone through this before.

what does maintenance mode mean?

literally what it sounds like -- Automattic is not going to be hiring new staff, investing in new product features, or doing anything new on tumblr. the staff that remains working on tumblr will be maintaining the status quo. most of the staff will be allocated elsewhere (or possibly laid off, though it looks like from that memo that's not what they're planning to do). it does not mean tumblr is shutting down. you should still buy premium, get merch, etc, because this is definitely step one of the shutdown process, but a maintenance mode designation is basically to see if tumblr will generate a revenue without putting more money into it than strictly necessary.

why did this happen?

obviously I do not know directly. from my observation, it's in part because Yahoo had absolutely no idea what to do with this platform, and then when Automattic bought it they also... struggled... but it is also in part because the user base has been so viciously anti-monetization that most attempts were killed outright.

yes, the user base is part of the problem. the absolute feral anti-premium, anti-ads, anti-tipping, anti-everything tumblr tried to do to make money is part of the problem. it's not the only part of the problem by a long shot, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

what do I do now?

use the platform. just like, keep using tumblr. do not abandon ship. buy premium, get yourself some badges, get yourself some merch, but use the platform. ad revenue is based on impressions and clicks. if a ton of the user base gives up, that revenue disappears.

--

tumblr is extremely special. I've never seen anything like it in my 20-odd years of being Very Online, and I was a minor BNF in WolfStar during LiveJournal days. I don't know that it can be recreated elsewhere. I don't know where fandom will go. I know that something else will exist after tumblr and that nothing gold can stay, but i don't think the specific kind of joy found here can be recreated. i say this not to be a downer, but to be realistic. I guess I should find a Bluesky invite.

I've been here since 2008. I'm not going anywhere as long as this site exists. hope you'll stay here with me.