Whenever we report on social media and other platforms getting antsy and dickish about adult content we tend to be inundated with horror stories from others within the biz. It’s the human face of a ridiculous one-sided war that we never actually asked for. Porn is Ukraine, the mainstream is Russia.
After we brought you the news that Tumblr has been quietly blacklisting sites and links, we received an interesting and in-depth email from fetish performer and site owner Kelsey Obsession.
Kelsey’s story was another tale of a severe lack of communication from the censors, a loss of business and income and a person having to jump through a limitless number of hoops just to make a living. But don’t take our word for it. Allow Kelsey to explain…
“Last summer my company, Melonson Adult, started three new Tumblrs for each of our fetish websites, plus I already had mine for several years that I used casually. We started to systemize our social media marketing, posting GIFs and images, linking directly to the video the image/GIF came from. This worked fabulously for a month or so. Until we got an email that one account had been shut down, then another – and all four of our Tumblr accounts were closed within one week. When we emailed on each account, we were told every account was terminated for ‘spam or affiliate marketing. As per policies you agreed to when creating your account, Tumblr prohibits such activity’.
“Regarding my personal account, I asked them to provide me an example of spam or affiliate marketing on my blog. Of course, I did not get any reply to this or any of the dozen or so I sent after. I explained in one that all the outgoing links direct to a website that I personally own, and that I’ve seen many other images linked to websites, so this in itself does not indicate spam. Somehow, they ended up turning ONE of our accounts back on without explanation, but none of the rest.
“So we started new accounts for the three now-terminated Tumblrs. We tried a different technique this time, only linking in the text – not the image. Within two weeks they were all shut down and when I emailed to inquire why I got no response.
“Finally, we started another set of accounts and this time did not include any outgoing links – just text such as “New on KelseyObsession.net” without any actual links. These accounts have stayed online for 3+ months, so it appears we have figured out the ‘trick’ is to not include any links. This is frustrating because ALL of our actions have been within Tumblr’s terms of services and we have been attempting to legitimately promote our products like any other business owner. We’ve wasted time, money and lost thousands of followers all while following Tumblr’s rules. Their terms of service, however, says they can ‘terminate or suspend any account at any time’ with the caveat that ‘we only use that power when we have a reason’.
The only reason I can see is Tumblr has a problem with porn sites, despite the fact that it’s well-known on the internet to be home of gifs. But much like being pissed off at the government, there is no real recourse so we’ve just had to adapt. I’m just hopeful it doesn’t signify a bigger move against porn – both as the owner of a porn company but also as a user – because I’ve found a lot of good porn there and I’d like to keep it that way!”
So it seems that we are very far past the line of acceptance. Kelsey’s lament that “we’ve just had to adapt” is the most damning statement here. Adult performers, businesses and consumers are being dealt a bad hand indeed. No compromise, no recourse and no answers. At what point can the industry say ‘enough is enough’ and storm the puritanical Bastille?
