There are several websites out there, in addition to the official Pinterest Etiquette, that will tell you the many steps you need to do to be a good Pinterest citizen.
Yes, you should be respectful, be authentic, and report objectionable content. Don’t copy the recipe/instructions/part of the article into the comment. Be clear with your comment. Consider your audience. etc. etc.
But the cardinal sin of Pinterest is to pin blindly and not checking for the source of the pin.
Hello, my name is Oakley. I have been a bad pinner.
When I see something cute/funny/yummy/geeky/awesome on Pinterest, my instinct tells me to click “Like” and possibly “Repin” right away without even knowing what that image is linking to, or to whom it belongs.
I see your mouse hand twitching. You know what I’m talking about then. Don’t be shy. We all have done it at some point.
A few days ago while on a Pinterest binge, I actually followed through a few pins to check out the recipe or the story behind the image. I landed on Google Image a few times and a few more Tumblr images that were NOT linked to the respective sites. The grand finale was that I ended up on some random websites that people set up just to trap wanderers like me and cash in on the website traffic.
That is when I decided to write this post and made this nifty graphic.
Being a blogger, amateur photographer, and graphic arts hobbyist myself, seeing someone’s gorgeous work pinned and repinned as an image lifted from Google Image or Tumblr just breaks my heart. And those misleading links people put on great images just make me angry.
So let’s put a stop to it.
It’ll take you just one more minute to find out if the Pin is a good one, the one that is really worth sharing with your friends.
Yes, it will take a bit of adjustments. But after a while, you’ll start doing it automatically.
If we all do it, then going forward, we will put an end to the sharing of bad links and uncredited work.
So, from this point onward, I pledge to no longer like or repin any bad pin. I will also inform the pinner in the comment that s/he has a bad pin. If I have time, I will also find the original link for the poster so the pinner may make the correction. If the pin’s link is misleading, I will also report it to Pinterest.
If you agree to help stop bad pinning and would like to pledge to be a better pinner, please pin this image on your board and/or leave a comment below.
Have fun pinning consciously!