Pinterest grievances

Some time ago, I joined Pinterest. I got interested in it after I noticed the child I was babysitting was using it on her phone. Curious, I asked her about it, then checked it out myself. I liked what I saw so I signed up. Soon I learned people I knew were also using Pinterest so I started following them. I also followed people who shared my interests, as well as boards that I liked. Wasn’t long before it became an addiction for me, and I am happy to report that I curbed that addiction in time. I set up a system of “Pinterest use” where I was not ALWAYS on Pinterest.

Still, it’s a fun site. I have enjoyed using it.

That was, until I followed someone who thought it was okay to spam his followers.

Because my son plays soccer, I set up a soccer board on Pinterest. This is for me to learn more about the sport, pin pictures about it and just anything related to soccer, really. I did the same with baseball because my daughter used to play baseball – and I just love baseball, anyway.

Well, I followed one particular pinner who has a lot of soccer boards on his account. In fact, he wrote an ebook about soccer playing tips. I know this because I saw it advertised as a free download when I read his “About” description. (I read that of everyone who follows me on Pinterest.) Soon after I followed this guy, he sent me a message letting me know he had a FREE ebook about soccer and I could just email him for a copy. That particular message irritated me, first of all because I already KNEW about the free ebook, and if I wanted a copy, I would’ve contacted him about it. Second, it’s outright spam. And spamming people is NOT cool!
 
This dude also used something called a “pinbot” to send me pins he thought I might like. I did not look at these pins. I did the same thing I do when Pinterest sends me such emails: I DELETED THEM.

I don’t want people sending me pins to check out on Pinterest. When my family or friends do it, fine. But with people I barely know? Not so much. It’s really annoying because they do not know me at all, I do not know them, and why the heck do they think it’s okay to send me pins I might like? Let me find it on my own! Even better: Just pin it! I’ll see it in the feed! Y’know?

Despite these grievances with this person, I have not unfollowed him. I ignored him, yes, but he’s got good soccer stuff on his boards I know I’ll want to check out. But if he does spam me again, or uses that “pinbot” thing again, he’s gone. I won’t tolerate that from people I don’t know.

Pinterest has been a pleasant experience thus far and I enjoy using it. I only hope the spamming and the “pinbotting” thing does not come at me from strangers in a flood of emails. I really don’t want to deal with that. I am fine with people commenting on pins -- and, sometimes, I'll even comment, too, if I have something to say. Comments are not the problem. Spam is the problem. And if it gets out of hand, I might contact Pinterest about it or set something up where messages have tighter filters.

P.S. I also find it annoying they changed the way the pins appear when you click on it in the feed. In the past, I clicked on a pin so I could see the WHOLE thing or read it better or watch a clip, and it would come up without the feed changing or anything. Then it closed right back to where it was. Then they changed it. If I click on a pin, it goes to that page. I have to go BACK to get back to the feed but it automatically reloads with NEW pins added when I do that, taking me back to the top to see all the new pins. And thereby losing my place. I can’t go back to where I was. It’s REALLY aggravating! I have started to open pins in new tabs to avoid this but sometimes I forget and lose my place in the feed. And I lose pins, too. I don’t have the TIME for that, people. But that’s just me!  NOTE: They changed it back! YAY!!! Thank you, Pinterest! You rock!