Friday, July 19, 2013

Why You Should Stop Pinning Other People's Images To Pinterest


Pinners are killing the homegrown internet content machine.

Tara Bradford's How image-sharing sites are undermining photography is an absolute must-read for both pinners and content providers.

I say this because Tara provides a comprehensive list of all the rogue image scrapers and crowdscrapers that she must deal with on a daily basis. To pinners, this should vividly illustrate the negative impact that their hobby has on the very people they purport to celebrate. To content creators, the list is a reminder of all the websites that need monitoring.

I must quote Tara here, because I swear my eyes became moist reading this:
After blogging for 7 1/2 years and writing 2,427 posts, I have deleted nearly 1000 posts - and may delete more - to avoid having to track those photos all over the Internet. I've deleted category links to posts within my blog, after at least 3 phishing sites copied every post in several categories (a website was suspended, after posting 91 of my articles). I've changed the original url to many blog posts, after finding the same photos stolen over and over again (with 19 different bridal sites as the culprits!). And I've started adding prominent watermarks to every image I post.
This is what pinners and other crowdscrapers are doing to the internet that I know and love. They are eroding it now, and they will eventually destroy it, leaving nothing but corporate content.

This internet I speak of was once a place that rewarded self-publishing. Freed of the need to please an editor, the costs and delays of print media, authors, photographers, teachers, etc. could use the internet to share information, and derive revenue from advertisement, sponsorships, licensing, print-on-demand etc.

Pinterest and other crowdscrapers incite people to strip that content from the people that create it, and surrender it at the feet of corporate entities.

Loss of vital web traffic and exclusivity of distribution removes the incentive to add more content. As Tara and others start to first stem the flow of content production, block access to image search engines, get tangled up in lawyerly pursuits... the homegrown internet content machine will dry up and die.

5 comments:

jafabrit said...

I discovered another place called my opera that users upload images, and I agree about the must read, but your site has been a great source of information and advice. Thank you.

paris parfait said...

Thank you so much for your supportive post and for helping spread the word! I really appreciate all your efforts to inform and educate. And I applaud your fight for the rights of artists and photographers against corporate entities focused more on profit than "fair use."

All the best,
Tara Bradford

bhbphotos said...

I wonder if the pinners were ever exposed to the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs as children.

If you don't believe in fables then maybe the study of free rider problem in economics is called for
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem

Leslie Hawes said...

I have had to remove longstanding blogs due to copyright infringement..."stripping content from the people that create it, and surrender it at the feet of corporate entities."
'Black Dog Diaries', a dog park diary, no longer exists. 'Leslie's Blog', my writing and opinion blog, is in process of being disassembled. 'Leslie's Drawing A Day' is now a redirect site, using only 'actual thumbnail-sized' images, which hopefully sends people to my art site, my only remaining website.
I have deleted Facebook photos, and my Flickr account.
For years I had happily contributed much to the content of the internet, but am pulling back completely now. Sad. It used to be fun.

jafabrit said...

Sadly Leslie, I am seriously contemplating quitting my blog. Like you I deleted flickr account, fb images,and yes it used to be fun :(