If nothing else, it’s “look at all these people using our services, that’s proof we’re awesome, even on the free tier, so imagine what you’ll get if you pay us!” ¯\⁠(⁠°⁠_⁠o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

That sounds absolutely plausible and is thus now incorporated as Truth into my memory of the goings-on.

Porn on tumblr was an early victim of credit card companies not wanting to be associated with that filthy filth, like what happened recently with videogames. Iirc, they pressured app stores to take the tumblr app down.

Who’d’ve thunk that not only doing everything your userbase does not want but also actively bullying a large portion of that userbase into leaving wouldn’t create revenue? No, being quirky on main and self-deprecating every once in a while won’t change that.

Edit: this sounds like “bullying people into leaving” and “what the userbase does not want” are two different things. That’s not what I meant. I’m overthinking this. I strongly deny any accusation of ever having pissed on a poor.