“Tumblelogs are the refreshingly simple new way to share anything you find, love, hate, or create.”

At least that’s what the Tumblr website would have us believe.

So, why then has Tumblr chosen to delete tens of thousands of it’s customers blogs over the past 3 days? The answer, we’re told is to intercept ‘spammers’ taking advantage of their free service.

Most sites would welcome the creation of over 20,000 new user accounts practically overnight, but not Tumblr. It seems Tumblr isn’t interested in a massive influx of new users or huge interest in their services.

The problems began when members of The Thirty Day Challenge began to create accounts as part of the challenge. The Thirty Day Challenge is a free service run each year by Ed Dale and members of The Immediate Edge. The aim of the challenge this year was to make $10 online by using many of the free resources available on the web.

Ed Dale has been very clear on his stance on spamming throughout the challenge. There has been an emphasis on providing good quality content. Ed often tells participants to ask themselves if the user going to be happy or annoyed with the content provided?

Tumblr’s reaction has been a mass cull of new and old users alike. They pulled the trigger and deleted around 20,000 accounts. There has also been blocking of new and existing accounts where they perceive their services are being used for financial gain.

It appears that in Tumblr’s trigger-happy rampage, they may have shot themselves in the foot. Many users are annoyed with Tumblr for the way in which they deleted content without so much as an e-mail. Many people have lost hours of hard work and feel very bitter towards Tumblr. If Tumblr’s aim is to compete with existing blogging sites like Blogger.com they have certainly thrown away a huge opportunity.

Participants of the Thirty Day Challenge are learning more than just how to sell on the Internet. They are learning the ethics of Internet Marketing. Ed Dale supports doing this in a positive way and providing the user with good quality content.

The Thirty Day Challenge gave a huge thumbs up to Tumblr. It’s a shame then, that Tumblr chose to act in this way. Choosing to nuke everyone instead of carrying out a surgical strike may be a blunder that Tumblr will regret for a long time.