much ado about pinterest

there's a lot of chatter going on out there about pinterest. first, it was about the pinterest business model. and then it was about copyright issues.  today, flickr blocked all copyrighted images from being pinned. which is actually kind of a shame, because as i see it, pinterest is flickr faves categorized. if flickr had kept up with what was happening, they would have given us the ability to categorize our faves long ago, without leaving their site (but i digress).

in my view, it's all much ado about nothing. i pin because i want to find images again. because i am inspired or prompted to think or cook or drool. or because i think something's clever or beautiful or shocking. i'm not using a single pin for commercial gain, and i always leave the link to the original pin intact (if i'm originating the pin and not repinning, i don't always have control then). plus, i am flattered to be pinned, even if don't feel the prick itself.

here's the deal, people, if you're putting your work out there, whether it be words or images, someone is undoubtedly appropriating it. if you don't want that, don't do it. in my experience, the rewards are far greater than the drawbacks. my photo would never have appeared in the moosletter, my kitchen never been on apartment therapy and i'd not have been asked by multiple ikea publications if they could feature my house if i hadn't been sharing those things online. so get over it. and get pinning. i am.

blue in the blogosphere

B is for blogosphere

it feels to me like changes are afoot in the interwebs. it's becoming a more hostile place and i wonder why. first, i got bawled out by some righteous witch on flickr for tumbling her photo, despite the fact that tumblr gives full credit to the original and provides a LINK to it for odin's sake. and despite the fact that my tumblr clearly states that i'm sharing my flickr faves. honestly, i created it because it has a dark background and i enjoyed seeing my flickr faves on a dark background. but, i've gotten downright afraid to tumble anything after that. i don't do well with the righteous ones. the way i look at it, if you put your things online to be seen, you shouldn't be surprised when people see them, nor should you object to someone giving you both full credit and directing more traffic your way.

then, yesterday, i got an email from someone whose name wasn't familiar to me, accusing me of constantly "backpacking" on her blog (her: 73 followers, me: 1249, hmm, "backpacking?" methinks not.) by creating a link to her posts which she then had to delete. i didn't even recognize the blog initially because she blogs under another name, but i later came to find out it was on my blogroll as an "inspiration." needless to say, it's not anymore. granted, she also said she was notifying me, in case i didn't know, which i didn't. i had no idea that those blogroll lists would create links elsewhere in the blogosphere. but even if i'd known, i don't think i'd have imagined that someone would be upset by it. nor did i imagine how upsetting i would find it to be on the receiving end an accusation of "backpacking" (which i think i would call piggybacking, but that's just me).

but these are strange times in the blogosphere.

it seems to me that a big part of what the blog as a medium is about is linking. linking to other bloggers, to articles of interest, to inspiring photos and art around the interwebs. but it seems it's not about that anymore. people are getting protective of themselves and their content. the spirit of sharing and crediting and sending your bloggy friends to your other bloggy friends by way of links and favorites, is fading. and it makes me sad.

and it also made me take down my blogrolls today. so, it's not that i don't still love all of you, i've just gotten a little afraid about whether that's still ok with you...