Is it possible that you’re attributing too much power to this subsection Tumblr though? I follow a lot of blogs (on Tumblr and off) that talk about diversity and/or animation and I never once heard about Urbance (either positive or negative) outside of your blog. I’m not dismissing the stupidity of mainstream Tumblr, but isn’t the reason behind it failing a little hard to quantify?

tmirai:

I won’t say no it’s not, but I think that Urbance had plenty of presence and reach that it should have been funded by now. Tumblr was the source of Urbance’s popularity, and it really was dependent on Tumblr’s support.

Considering that—before everyone wised up and realized the error of their ways—that many of the posts in the Urbance tag were negative ones for a very significant portion of their campaign, I would say that the negative reaction to Urbance had a LOT to do with its slow funding.

The reach of the discussion about Urbance’s assumed myriad of ____phobias and erasures and such extended beyond just Tumblr, but it originated on Tumblr, expanding to Facebook and Twitter as well. It has been significant enough to the point that the creators themselves addressed the concerns.

I understand that Urbance has not reached EVERYONE on Tumblr. And maybe not even the majority. But it has undeniably been a significant presence in the community that follows art and animation. And when the project referred to being about sexuality and gender, that tugged in the overlapping LGBTQ communities that also were interested in art and animation. It’s been on another platforms and websites, with some really big names backing it and being involved.

This was not a case of poor marketing or reach, and I do not think the lack of funding isn’t just because not enough people knew about Urbance. Urbance was huge when it was just a premise, so why wouldn’t it have that same support now if not for all of the negative backlash? There were inflammatory posts and calls and petitions for people to explicitly NOT fund Urbance that reached thousands of people. A lot of them have thousands of notes. Consider this one, which the OP actually recanted and completely did a 180 on their negative stance. But when? Had the post already made an impact by the time they realized their error?

Considering the impact Tumblr has made in other projects and creative endeavors, why is it unfathomable that negative response could impact as well? We’ve got plenty of examples of how Tumblr’s Hive Mind mentality can make or break something or someone.