Autumn is coming, and I've got nothing to put here. Figured it's best to post something anyway, before this turns into the second skip month in a row. Trouble is, I'm not so great at being personal. Not even on social media. Speaking of which: for the past nine months, everyone's been waiting for the other shoe to drop with regard to Tumblr. As you might have heard, it was acquired after all, though by an unexpected buyer: Automattic, the makers of WordPress. A competitor of DreamWidth, and one with more market share than is healthy. Think that's great news? Wait until they figure out how many of those registered users in fact abandoned the platform, and have zero reasons to return.
Acquisitions like this seldom go over well. FurAffinity's did, surprisingly enough, seeing how it's still in active development, but otherwise? SmugMug bought Flickr, and promptly pissed off paid and free users alike with their nickel-and-diming. Sure enough, they haven't done a thing with the site in over half a year now. They're probably wondering how to close it down without angering a huge cross-section of the Internet, from artists to scholars. Smack Jeeves sold itself off a year ago to some Asian company. Their last official blog post was three months later. Another one for the death watch.
Meanwhile, can you guess which other social network I'm on is doing great? Yep... Mastodon. Which makes a point of not selling out, among other things. There's been some drama, and danger, but they're being dealt with. (Being decentralized helps.) Even those that struggle to keep the lights on, and I know a few, are at least lively, and hopeful. Funny how humanity matters, even in tech. Maybe more so in tech than anywhere else.
Because you see, just like the Tin Man, the IT industry has no heart and must be very careful all the time not to hurt anyone by mistake.
I'm tired. Should probably make more art soon. It's been a while.