![Taken from equalitopia:
Tumblr excludes the ‘Gay & Lesbian’ category from Directory recommendations
When I (@danlev) asked Marco Arment, Tumblr’s lead developer, about this issue, he responded:
A handful [of categories] don’t support [recommendations] because of potential social implications. Like creepy guys nominating women they like as “Erotica”.
When I told him that Tumblr is leaving out LGBT people, he replied:
I didn’t want immature people to nominate their non-LGBTQ friends/enemies into it. Didn’t want to cheapen/ruin the category.
But Tumblr already has a notice in place to prevent this. Upon nomination of a blog, you must check a box to agree that the blog “is about [category], and I understand that if it blatantly isn’t, my account may be suspended.” If this notice is in place for all categories, why does it not suffice for the Gay & Lesbian category?
You don’t discontinue a system because of potential misuse, you build solutions to the misuse.
Tumblr is discriminating against LGBT people: Not only are the Gay & Lesbian community excluded from a feature, but Tumblr is preemptively classifying the ‘LGBTQ’ label as an attack.
Only 5 categories are excluded: Erotica, Gay & Lesbian, Germany, Sexuality, Staff. Obviously, Sexuality and Erotica could have legal issues, especially with nominating a 13 year-old girl. The Staff category is obviously doesn’t need that functionality.
What I really want to know is why is Germany a no-no topic? That’s just… mind boggling. This, I feel, is a more pressing matter than any issue affecting a community that mushes gender and sexuality together.
THINK OF THE GERMANS. POOR, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxaflrIhpY1qacar6o1_r1_400.jpg)
Taken from equalitopia:
Tumblr excludes the ‘Gay & Lesbian’ category from Directory recommendations
When I (@danlev) asked Marco Arment, Tumblr’s lead developer, about this issue, he responded:
A handful [of categories] don’t support [recommendations] because of potential social implications. Like creepy guys nominating women they like as “Erotica”.
When I told him that Tumblr is leaving out LGBT people, he replied:
I didn’t want immature people to nominate their non-LGBTQ friends/enemies into it. Didn’t want to cheapen/ruin the category.
But Tumblr already has a notice in place to prevent this. Upon nomination of a blog, you must check a box to agree that the blog “is about [category], and I understand that if it blatantly isn’t, my account may be suspended.” If this notice is in place for all categories, why does it not suffice for the Gay & Lesbian category?
You don’t discontinue a system because of potential misuse, you build solutions to the misuse.
Tumblr is discriminating against LGBT people: Not only are the Gay & Lesbian community excluded from a feature, but Tumblr is preemptively classifying the ‘LGBTQ’ label as an attack.
Only 5 categories are excluded: Erotica, Gay & Lesbian, Germany, Sexuality, Staff. Obviously, Sexuality and Erotica could have legal issues, especially with nominating a 13 year-old girl. The Staff category is obviously doesn’t need that functionality.
What I really want to know is why is Germany a no-no topic? That’s just… mind boggling. This, I feel, is a more pressing matter than any issue affecting a community that mushes gender and sexuality together.
THINK OF THE GERMANS. POOR, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.
Deep in the jungle where the mighty tiger lies
“Oh god, that’s terrible. I’ve been asked if I ride an elephant to school though,” - Aditi Machado.
This little gem popped up while I was talking to Aditi, about how someone found her blog by searching “do Indians speak foreign language”. On account that she:
- is Indian,
- blogs in English,
- to my memory, speaks English, French and a few other languages,
I’d assume the answer is “yes, some Indians do speak foreign languages”. I assume some are mute too, but that’s not the point. The point is, do Indians ride elephants to school?
No, they don’t. “Why,” you ask? Because, ever since Richard A. Cooke III killed a tiger, while riding an elephant, riding elephants through the jungle has been banned. True story. The Beatles even wrote a song about it.
And while I’m at it, let me debunk a few more myths about people from foreign lands:
- Australian do not ride on kangaroos. They ride on sleighs pulled by packs of Koalas.
- Malaysians don’t live in huts in trees. They’re terrible at climbing.
- Not all Canadians speak French. Mostly, it’s just the hot ones.
