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When Pinterest hit the online scene I, along with millions of others, were thrilled. Finally – a way to share all the things we love with more than just a bookmark or a hyperlink. The visual candy store instantly became a hub of art, food and more. Site owners, photographers, bloggers, designers, chefs and the like were clamoring to have people pin their work so that others could find it and spread the word.
So much for that.
I believe in copyrights – lets get that out of the way. I don’t want someone else taking credit for my work and I’d never steal an idea from someone else to profit from. But we’re talking about an image on a sharing website. If someone is pinning your work and saying ‘Hey look at what I did!” then bop them on the back of the head because that is definitely not cool. But, this whole Pinterest debacle is getting out of hand. Some people don’t even want their images, product, how-to pinned at all unless every single pin and repin has their direct url.
Granted, there are some shifty individuals removing links from their pins. That confuses me, honestly. Because unless you are trying to pass it off as your own – why remove the link? I honestly think some people are using bookmarkets and browser plugins that simply don’t record the url properly – making them appear as if they are trying to hide the source. I know I’ve tried one or two random plugins that posted a pin as just ‘user uploaded’ and no other information – even though I did nothing to circumvent the linking myself. As soon as I noticed the error I stopped using those plugins, but not everyone on Pinterest is internet savvy or even notices afterwards. Simple user error. Not to mention – if you want to repin something (which most of us do many times per day) you now have to backtrack through hundreds of repins to make sure the link is correct.
Now one little error as you rush to repin that cool photo of a flower before you pick up the kids from school can make you the target of an angry lawsuit.
Not only can someone sue you for pinning their image incorrectly, but if they try to sue Pinterest as well – you pay the fees. All of them.
1 incorrectly linked pin = hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I’m sorry, but that’s not worth the risk.
I could go on about how people have lost a personal touch and should try to request their images are removed before they hire a lawyer that is probably going to slam down on some single mom from Iowa just because she really, really liked your photograph of a rainbow cupcake….but what’s the point?
If you followed me on Pinterest, this is my official adios. I’m clearing, closing, whatever – my account. The whole concept has been ruined with the fear of financial revenge because of a possible typo.
This is also my official thank you to those who followed me there.
Thank you for pinning my items and images. I don’t care if they were ‘properly attributed’ or not – I’m just honored you enjoyed my work enough to share it.
– Kenda
