#Pillowfort

[trickster-archangel]

Finding @twilight-deviant tags very accurate, because I've been thinking about Tumblr's possible demise (either by bankruptcy or external acquisition which inevitably will distort everything tumblr ever stood for) for quite some time.

And even if it would be horrible to lose almost two decades of fandom content (is there even a way to safely download a whole blog??), it would be way worse to lose fandoms: you know, the people who create and keep content alive, with whom you can engage and go wild, and who write and make gifs or fanarts.

If the need should arise to leave Tumblr, would you either go to Pillowfort or Dreamwidth or Bluesky? Knowing they are all very different from each other AND Tumblr, but at least not oligarchs' owned.

Going forward it will be more important than ever for those of us who are anti-fascist and anti-bigotry to band together. Pillowfort is a social media platform that is pro-LGBT, pro-NSFW, and notably not owned by a megalomaniacal MAGA billionaire. Learn more at the link above.

[incognitopolls]

If you still use Twitter but ALSO are active on another of these sites (as a replacement/supplement to specifically Twitter), select the newer site that you're active on.

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We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[geopsych]

A hill and a farm road, June 2017

Okay, so I've received lots of wonderful comments and messages—Thank you so much!— and I may answer some individually over the next week, but for now I've been talked into leaving my blog up and continuing to post. Too many people told me that the pictures I post made their days better or were meaningful to them for me to leave. One person said basically not to let bad drive out the good. And maybe it wouldn't be that bad for AI pictures to have hints of beautiful eastern Pennsylvania. But I've also made a Pillowfort account called Geophile. I'm not sure how Pillowfort works or how much I'll use it but I like their anti-AI stance. Find me there if you join. Further thoughts and comments are welcome. 🌿🌼🌳🌷🌈

[benji-media]

Kinger

[ccartandcomics]

Recent piece for Sp the Otter!

[cuppajj]

Pillowfort is currently prohibiting AI art on its site!!

It may not be a clean stance against AI because who knows what goes on behind closed doors, but this is already a step up over tumblr which could make it a good alternative in case things go south. It's safe to say for now that they are against scraping as well, if they are also against AI art. Stay on the lookout for any privacy policy and TOS changes, but in the meantime, this may be the most ideal place for people moving away from the hellsite.

[pigeonneaux]

Full on my pillowfort

[nights-at-crystarium]

As a twitter/tumblr user since 2010-2011, I believe I have sufficient grounds to say that currently we as a community are living through the scariest, shittiest time yet. This post isn’t trying to fearmonger, no I’m not leaving tumblr until it literally keels over, but I suggest that we don’t put all our eggs in one basket.

If twitter/tumblr stay usable, great! In the worse scenario, you’d have kept posting on a new platform and stayed ahead of the curve.

This post shares my personal experience with three potential “new”* fandom places, and is aimed to help fellow content creators. I’m an artist fully depending on internet to survive, my reasoning may not apply to you if you’re a hobbyist. Do your own research, it’s always healthy. * Pillowfort and mastodon have been around for 5+ years, bluesky is ~2 years old.

Discovering new people to follow kinda sucks on all three platforms, twitter and tumblr are eons ahead, but, given the recent chaos and uncertainty, I’m willing to be patient, keep posting on those, and feel safer than I would’ve otherwise been. More baskets good, one basket bad.

All three have poor visual customization, don’t expect custom tumblr themes.

This list starts with the least popular, but most human and easy to join, and what I personally trust the most. All three allow nsfw if labeled properly.

✦ Pillowfort is a barebones tumblr. Intuitive, cozy, but currently very, very small. Be patient with its clunkiness or lack of some features, it’s made by an AO3-like team. I’d personally love if the fandom crowd managed to redirect its attention to it instead of the sus bluesky.

Joining: is free, invite-only, but the waitlist is nearly instant.

Lurk around on their official tumblr: @/pillowfort-social

✦ Mastodon, for me personally, is impossible to explain directly. I’ll use several comparisons.

- Discord but all servers can interact. You’re still on a server curated by some human(s) that might tell you what you can and can’t post, BUT, if you don’t like that server’s policy, you can move to a new one while keeping your followers. - Email, users A and B may be registered on different domains, still they can talk. It’s a weird comparison, but fediverse (please I’m not explaining THAT but it’s a good thing) in general looks like another email story: unlike big sites that come and go, it might stand the test of time. - Someone compared mastodon’s structure to xiv’s dc and servers, if you look at its domain names that way, it might be easier to understand.

Depending on user, mastodon may feel gatekeepy/snowflakey. I haven’t spent enough time on there to form a proper opinion yet, but a warning’s due.

An actually good and hopeful thing about mastodon AND tumblr: the two might start interacting in future. Ever lamented that your fav asian artists don’t use tumblr? If they use misskey, or any other place on the fediverse, it might be possible to follow them directly from tumblr in future, and vice versa.

Joining: is free, however some servers close for new members sometimes, and have human moderators reviewing your request.

✦ Bluesky is a twitter without Musk: today’s average internet user reads this, drops everything and already looks to register there. It’s still sus, but people flock to it like crazy. Most likely to become the next big fandom place in my eyes, even if I’m not happy about that.

I personally have no good feelings about bluesky. Same as twitter, which I hated even before the 2018 tumblr exodus, yet the crowd decided to make it The New Fandom Place, and, grudgingly, I had to give up and also join them in 2022. During the year I haven’t stopped despising twitter, yet, I can’t deny that it helped me survive. I estimate half of my patrons, and, hell, even tumblr audience, comes from twitter. So, if bluesky ends up being the next hot shit, I’ll have to keep up because internet pays for my living.

Joining: is free but hell, invite-only, the waitlist is a lie, your best chance to join is a direct invite.

This’s all I’ve got to say for now. If you have a correction or an addition, replies/reblogs are welcome!

Screenshots of the current interfaces under the cut, you may spy on my profiles o/

Pillowfort

Mastodon.art

Bluesky

[doodlesdreaming]

An act of trust between two fated souls…

[missaethe]

REMEMBER THAT PILLOWFORT STILL EXISTS, ALLOWS NSFW ART AND CONTENT, HAS BETTER NSFW TOOLS THAN TUMBLR, AND HAS A FULL 100% BAN ON ANY AI RELATED CONTENT. IF YOU'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THEM NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO GIVE THEM A SECOND VIEW

They might not have flashy blog themes like Tumblr but they're doing the best they can with a small team of people.

[chipper-smol]

Y'know I made a pillowfort account like...

back in 2019

but I just re-found my email and password so i'm going to start migrating my stuff over and start to try posting regularly over there

The biggest issue I had with it has been patched and honestly i'm pretty excited to start moving things over. It's gonna be A Lot, but we'll see

It's got the "Made by fans for fans" like Ao3 and the tag search system and culture like tumblr.

If ya'll can find me there at https://www.pillowfort.social/Chip 👍

[pick-a-plush]

[kjscottwrites]

Well for one I'M not going anywhere, but lets say for no particular reason that Tumblr does bite it...

I don't mean this as any sort of doomsaying, because I'm staying here and will stay here indefinitely. This is where my community is. But, I am curious if people are feeling inclined to relocate!

Feel free to add your other socials to this thread as well!

[beautiesofbygoneeras]

Lisa Welch, Playboy's Miss September 1980 Appearing In An Italian Playboy Calendar, January 1985.

[astrrorat]

Made a pillow fort bcs i have no bed

[genericpuff]

Pillowfort is in need of support! Let's do what we do best >:3

I haven't used Pillowfort in a LONG time, and I never really was a regular user per se, but they're seeking funds right now to help keep them alive! Even if I don't use these sites often, it should absolutely still be acknowledged how important it is to have sites like this that aren't controlled by massive corporations. So if you're a Pillowfort user or just want to help support a free Internet, please consider tossing them a dollar or two!