10 Things That Really Annoy Pinterest Users To Avoid

Pinterest is the newest social media craze that’s blazing through the Internet right now, and people are securing invites to the site in droves.  The general idea behind the website is a good one, but like everything in life a few bad apples can spoil it for everyone.  The concept is to allow users to virtually pin up pictures they like, ranging from categories covering recipes to photography to DIY home projects, amongst others.  Users are able to pin pictures that are already on the site, or original works that they found across the web. Before you start pinning, though, you should take into consideration these ten things that really annoy Pinterest users:

1. Pinning without permission:  A lot of sites want the publicity gained from pins, so they will make it easy for you to pin their work. However they also want you to give them credit for it.  When you are attributing credit to a pin, it’s good practice to post the original site or blog where you found it.  This allows other people to track it back to its origin; in some cases Pinterest will do this automatically.  There are many people that feel that pinning is a form of copyright infringement and are fighting it every step of the way.  Make sure what you are pinning won’t infringe on any copyrights before you pin it.
2. Making negative comments about pin: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that doesn’t mean you should take advantage and post derogatory comments about other people’s pins.  The idea of Pinterest is to get ideas out there to be shared, and there may be pins that you don’t like that someone else may love; if you don’t like it simply move on.  Far too often people seem to make picking apart things they don’t like pinned to Pinterest their new hobby; find something more constructive to do with your time rather than wasting it degrading other people.
3. Not giving credit: Many people that post things on their blogs don’t mind if you pin something from their post, but you need to give credit to the person who did the leg work or took the picture.  Again, this can be done by including a link back to their site in your post, which will allow them to get more followers.  You don’t want to give the false impression that the work is yours.
4. Fake users: People have started creating spam bots to go out and pin things and make comments on them.  These posts usually include links to sites where something can be purchased.  These bots are crowding out the comments made by real people, and are a good example of one of the bad apples that is going to ruin Pinterest for everyone if something isn’t done to stop it.
5. Free advertising: Using Pinterest for free advertising is not the point of the site, and is something that annoys legitimate users. The site is designed to share ideas, not for people to try to make a buck on every good idea.  It’s amazing how many ways people can figure out to make money.
6. No link: There is a wide array of DIY (do-it-yourself) projects shown on Pinterest, but many don’t link back to the original blog or website where it appeared.  The same thing happens with pictures of other projects. You see the end result, but there’s no link to give you more details about the picture or instructions on how to do something. This defeats the purpose of the pin because users are unable to find how to execute the project.
7. “Photo-shopped” pictures:  Pictures that portray something fantastic, like a person standing on a precarious looking place such as a high cliff or rock formation, tend to get repinned by other users who find the picture inspirational. However users are generally annoyed when they find out that the picture was nothing more than an ordinary photo that was then photo-shopped into something amazing.
8. Arguing in a post: It really annoys users when there are tons of comments on a pin, but instead of being nice, constructive comments it’s a heated debate going on about the picture.  If you don’t like the picture move on.  There’s no point in arguing about where it was taken or what it’s a picture of.
9. Misidentification: No one is perfect, but a common pet peeve among pinners is when something is misidentified in a picture.  Say you posted a picture of a bird you saw in your back yard that you’ve identified as a blue jay, when it’s really another kind of bird. This is an easy mistake that can be corrected by doing a little research before pinning a picture.
10. Pedophilia:  Apparently there are a lot of photos posted of little girls, and the intent of a mime called Pedobear is to cause other pedophiles to look at the pictures.  Originally it was used more as a way to point out pedophiles and now it’s somehow become a mascot for them. 

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