There is a ton of discussion going on about Pinterest.The opinions are mixed. While Pinterest is a delightfully engaging web site I am very upset by a number of issues surrounding Pinterest. Including but not limited to:
My practical advice is at the top of this post highlighted in beige. IF you want more background surrounding Pinterest keep reading. I hope Pinterest takes actions or they are doomed for a red letter P across their chest for irresponsible behavior.
I think that everyone should discontinue posting on Pinterest for now, but do not delete your account. Advice from Tom McCarthy on Crafthaus is well reasoned. He says: "I made a mistake when I deleted my Pinterest account. I will be rejoining. Not to re-establish my boards, I still don't want to pin. But having an account will allow me to correct any misinformation on pins of my work to a limited extent. Without an account I can view the activity but not comment on it. I'm not advocating hiding from the issue in my studio. I just don't want to invest my time in their game. Member complaints will probably also mean more to Pinterest than "outside agitators.""
Lots of information is surfacing about the issues surrounding Pinterest. The issues are explosive.
At first thought Pinterest was fun, interesting and entertaining. Now I am not so sure. I have stopped pinning.
Read the most recent post on ASK Harriete titled:
An Opinion about Pinterest - "What’s Yours Is Mine" for a summary on the issues. Below is a running thread from the previous week about Pinterest.
In summary, my recommendation to all artists and makers is to stop pinning until you know all the ramifications of your actions.
ASK Harriete has four posts about Pinterest.
The issues presented here are serious and not just limited to Pinterest, but extend to other photo sharing sites. The most serious issue on Pinterest is that people pin images they don't own.
Here is another post from the Business Insider titled: A Lawyer Who Is Also A Photographer Just Deleted All Her Pinterest ....Read it and think about the images you are posting. Actually, I took a number of my Pinterest images OFF my boards because I realized that I didn't own the images AND didn't have permission of a living artist.
The HUGE ISSUE WITH PINTEREST
i
s that people are pinning and repinning images that they don't own, haven't asked permission, and they are not including proper and complete attribution in the description. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
MOST IMPORTANT: We can't blame other people when we don't take responsibility ourselves.
Make sure the images you pin have a source or resource back to the artist's or makers web site if possible. Include the title of the work, description, and even photo credit if appropriate. This includes posting your own photos. Once they leave your pinboard because someone repinned the image, the connection to the artist may be lost.
Don't pick images off of Google Image Search for Pinterest. Try to go back to the artist's web site or blog. Then at least a future viewer can find out more information about the artist or maker.
Another issue is the "fine print" on Pinterest.
Here is an [edited] portion of a comment from a reader on ASK Harriete:
QUOTE begins...
"...But what I do have a HUGE concern about are their terms of use.
Do you know that in their terms of use they explicitly say that:
1. by pinning your own work to their site you are signing over your rights of ownership to your work;
2. that they can then sell that work (I don't think they chose to use that word by mistake);
3. that if you pin other people's work, by doing so you're saying that either own that work or have obtained rights to do the things in number 1 and 2; and 4. that if you don't have rights and they are sued because they sold or did something with an image you pinned; you are a co-Defendant responsible for not only your own defense, but theirs?
Please have a look at these articles which explain this much better than I.
http://artists-bill-of-rights.org/news/campaign-news/pinterest-%11...
http://ddkportraits.com/2012/02/why-i-tearfully-deleted-my-pinteres...
My concern is not whether we play nice with one another; but whether Pinterest will play nice with us!"
END QUOTE
Here is another link brought to my attention on Facebook by Tom McCarthy
Harriete continues:
I don't approve of the Pinterest policy and will look into this further. Stay tuned for more introspection on Pinterest.
More later.
Harriete
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