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Friday, November 7, 2014

My thoughts on Pinterest - search engine blacklist

Pinterest was slightly annoying when I first saw the site come up from a search. Tracking back to the original post wasn't always the easiest task, but I learned. It helped to not have too many expectations. Occasionally I'd find just what I was looking for.  Recently I've seen opinions hating on pinterest and calling out the almighty copyright infringement. I believe everyone should be given credit for their hard work and presentation. That said I don't think half of those ideals are original never seen before totally brand new concepts.

Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their intellectual effort. - Wikipedia

 I think the internet changes things a bit. Books and magazines can be accessed online but do blogs really rank the same? Back when I was a chat maven we went by the rule don't post any picture online you didn't want your boy/girl friend, family , or boss to have access too. I know I found a few of my pics in locations I never intended them to be. Some where posted my an ex who posed as me to get other pics. At the time there wasn't much recourse to do anything about it. When it comes to a blog shouldn't the same be true. I use my blog as a person record of projects and share with the intent that others gain some pleasure in the craft. I think any pattern can be altered enough to escape copyright and I often make improvements that I share of free patterns. Would I purchase a pattern and post it to my blog, NO. But if you've posted a 'free' pattern on your publicly accessed site how can you complain when someone uses that information. I have yet to have a problem with anyone complaining to me that I've posted something they claim. I try my best to give proper credit and post links to the creators site when they are available. I see it as advertising for the page and possibly the rest of your site. So previously I had only mild concerns about pinterest and those that whined about appearing there. And now they want you to sign in. Create an account to see the others. I have a junk email address. It wouldn't kill me to setup an account. Will I? No. I understand that the controversy has demanded that they protect themselves with a terms of use contract but I'm a little more anal with data mining then I used to be. And I don't want to sign into a site that is most likely tracking every board I bring up and linking it to my email address when I can find those links though a search anyway. So now it's annoying that when I search and switch to the images many of them are pinterest links. When looking for inspiration it isn't so bad. I don't usually go farther than the image anyway. When looking for a pattern or specific information it gets on my nerves.  So I now have a little saved wordpad doc on the desktop. Before I search I copy and paste it after my key words.

 -etsy.com -aliexpress.com -dhgate.com -craftsy.com -wanelo.com -artfire.com -ebay.com -pinterest.com

There is nothing wrong with the sites above. They provide patterns and handmade products and are free to browse and can provide excellent inspiration. I do find myself on them often. They just aren't what I'm looking for the majority of the time. You can use the same format to exclude any domain from a search in most engines. Google has an extension called Personal Blocklist but it's available only while using Chrome, to my knowledge. While I have 3 browsers on this pc, Chrome being one, it isn't the browser I use for crafting ideals or my blog. Although I have to say I prefer Chrome most of the time. Its syncing with my tablet has improved greatly and I find it extremely useful and often use Drive. I suppose a program to better manage my bookmarks would eliminate the need for multiple browsers to separate activities, but for now it's just easier this way.

Pinterest is added to the list and I hope this helps anyone else who feels they don't want or need the link to links. IF Pinterest had a definite link to the original post instead of everyone who has re pinned it, I might be interested enough to sign up. Maybe. I can't see me signing in every time I search so that's a cookie I'd have to except. Not likely but possible. :)

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