Welcome to This Week in Fandom, the OTW’s roundup of things which are happening! Before we start, a huge thank you to everyone for helping this series reach 100 volumes. When TWIF was started, we had no idea whether we’d get this far. It’s been awesome to see the series grow and read all the comments from people who enjoy it. Here’s to many more volumes to come!
The big story in fandom continues to be the Tumblr Purge. Tumblr’s new community guidelines went into effect yesterday, banning all sexually explicit image and video content, including fan art. After all the backlash against these guidelines when they were first announced, Tumblr’s staff account posted an update to clarify some aspects of the changes. Warning: This post contains image examples of what Tumblr now considers acceptable depictions of nudity, which are probably NSFW. In an incredibly ironic turn of events, the post was then apparently flagged as a violation of the new community guidelines. So it would seem that things have a ways to go before they’re running smoothly again.
Overall, though, Tumblr is still standing, albeit with some unfortunate results. According to an article on the subject from Polygon, many users are still planning to keep using the site: “While plenty of users are crying out in panic, it’s very clear from a quick glance at the memes and posts across Tumblr dashboards that the average person intends to stick around.” That statement does contrast with users who have been organizing efforts to find each other on other platforms, ostensibly with the intention of leaving Tumblr. There are no numbers available for the log off protest, but those organizing it seem optimistic about its effects.
It’s still unclear what the future holds for Tumblr. Are you staying, or have you decided to go elsewhere? Let us know in the comments!
In other news, the company called Fandom has purchased Curse Media from Twitch, according to GameRevolution. For those of you who are not gamers, this means that Wikia, which is owned by Fandom, will be combined with Gamepedia. According to a Kotaku article on the subject, this acquisition is limited to Curse’s website lineup. (None of the articles mention game add-on managers.)
Some people are uncertain about this merger, according to GameRevolution:
Many Wikia communities voiced their fears in response to this news, with a sense of disenfranchisement from the staff of Fandom being the most common theme. Since 2017, some communities have discussed migrating from Wikia, Fandom’s lead wiki site, citing similar discrepancies in particular with Fandom’s use of ads.
According to a blog post by Fandom, the details of the merger will be solidified in early 2019.
Lastly, Kotaku has published its 2018 State of Fandom year in review. The article mentions issues of fandom clout, the Tumblr purge, the state of Wikia, and, oddly, Bowsette. it’s an interesting read, despite its limited breadth.