The Tumblr situation is SUCH a shitshow. I sadly think Matt was not at all well equipped to handle this with any kind of grace, though I also don't think he's intentionally a hideous human being (I mean fuck, I hope I'm wrong). But in trying to sound 'conversational' he's missed the mark with responding with a professional level of apology and just sounds like a guy trying to weasel out of everything while vaguely threatening everyone *and the existence of Tumblr itself.*
Imho he should never have been the one to handle this, it's not his job, and I can't imagine the small skeleton staff that remains on Tumblr after the rest were fired removed and re-allocated were prepared to deal with the absolute explosion that has very understandably resulted from a long-term, known issue of transphobia of the site long long before Automattic even came along and touched it, that Automattic has continued (with some of its moderation staff *actually* being transmisogynistic).
It makes me angry, and it also means we're losing Dashboard Unfucker (idk if you saw the announcement from the person who runs basically the new new X-Kit, but basically she was one of the ones confronted by Matt - though to be fair, the screenshot I saw looked honestly more like an idiotic uneducated man trying his best, receiving a lot of rage for that extremely understandably, given his income, position of power, and the fact that he really should know better than asking a complete stranger for pronoun clarification on another complete stranger).
Tumblr is definitely... like I didn't have 'Tumblr possibly killed over Matt from Automattic being mad that a trans woman very understandably got sick of no one listening to her while also being harrassed repeatedly on Tumblr' on my 2024 bingo list and maybe I should :/
My guy, you could have just not returned while the fire was this hot, and insisted that the staff actually get on the transmisogyny issue instead :/ I just keep thinking of the John Green situation which, while radically different because John Green stayed in his lane the entire time, does reflect that pile-on culture overall on Tumblr *is terrible* and that the longer this blows up for, the more it becomes scorched earth for everyone involved.
no subject
Imho he should never have been the one to handle this, it's not his job, and I can't imagine the small skeleton staff that remains on Tumblr after the rest were
firedremoved and re-allocated were prepared to deal with the absolute explosion that has very understandably resulted from a long-term, known issue of transphobia of the site long long before Automattic even came along and touched it, that Automattic has continued (with some of its moderation staff *actually* being transmisogynistic).It makes me angry, and it also means we're losing Dashboard Unfucker (idk if you saw the announcement from the person who runs basically the new new X-Kit, but basically she was one of the ones confronted by Matt - though to be fair, the screenshot I saw looked honestly more like an idiotic uneducated man trying his best, receiving a lot of rage for that extremely understandably, given his income, position of power, and the fact that he really should know better than asking a complete stranger for pronoun clarification on another complete stranger).
Tumblr is definitely... like I didn't have 'Tumblr possibly killed over Matt from Automattic being mad that a trans woman very understandably got sick of no one listening to her while also being harrassed repeatedly on Tumblr' on my 2024 bingo list and maybe I should :/
Here's a screenshot of Matt vaguely implying horrifically ironically that the pile-on situation on Tumblr specifically in context of him is terrible, and that if this continues Tumblr will be completely unsustainable as a site (with the implication that it's not worth running).
My guy, you could have just not returned while the fire was this hot, and insisted that the staff actually get on the transmisogyny issue instead :/ I just keep thinking of the John Green situation which, while radically different because John Green stayed in his lane the entire time, does reflect that pile-on culture overall on Tumblr *is terrible* and that the longer this blows up for, the more it becomes scorched earth for everyone involved.