If you’re still following along on here and paying attention to my little ol’ Tumblog, you’ll note it’s been a few months since I’ve posted. Lots of reasons for that, but here are the two main ones:
- Bandwidth. I only have so much time to devote to social networks. And despite my best attempts to treat Tumblr as just another blog host, it is a social network of a kind. And I’d rather devote my time to Twitter and Facebook, where the majority of my online friends are congregated.
- Owning your own space and content. My biggest complaint about Tumblr, especially right now, is that I don’t really own the content I’ve posted here. When they went to version 2.0 of the API, Tumblr killed the few backup/export tools there were for the service. There isn’t a convenient, easy way to get my stuff out of here and move it some place else.
I’ve decided to relaunch my original blog at retrophisch.com, in 2018, for long-form stuff. Short posts will live at Micro.blog, and be cross-posted to Twitter and Facebook. I’m not posting directly to Instagram any more, either. My online photos will live either on my Micro.blog site, or Flickr, where I have been a paying Pro member for many years.
If we are serious about our online identities, we need a place where we have control of our content. A place either built on open web standards, like Micro.blog, or one with easy means of exporting our content for use elsewhere. For me, Tumblr is no longer that place.
I’m not deleting my account or turning this blog invisible. It shall remain up, so long as Tumblr lives, encapsulating my time spent here for the past six years. The custom domain of retrophis.ch I have been using here is going to be repurposed for my Micro.blog site. Take care, Tumblrs!