Pinterest has CHANGED (again)

This week my Pinterest account has a new feature.  When you make a pin, a window pops up that lists another board where the pin is featured.  You then have the opportunity to "follow" that board.

At first, I liked the idea, and pushed the button to follow several new boards.  If you follow the featured board, the next time you pin the same picture, it will give you yet another board that shares that particular pin.

I'm not sure how many times I've decided to follow someone in one short week.  But from my feed, I think it's a lot!  I need to select a wider variety of boards to follow.  I'm up to my eyeballs in flower pictures.  Not that I mind.  I LOVE flowers.  But I like to look at a wider diversity of pictures.  :)

The other thing about this new feature is there is no
way to bypass it.  I'm learning to be patient, as the window stays open for about 5 seconds.  It seems like a long time when I'm impatient, and it tends to make me mad.  So I'm using it as another tool to remind me to stay calm, breath deep, and let go.  :)

Guess other people are pushing the button to add ME to their feed, because I now have 840 people following me.  That's up from 660 last week!!

I'm also sporting 184 boards, and 23,736 pins.

Pinterest is back as my #1 addiction!

http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/

Group Boards

I've been invited to join a couple of group boards.  This is new to me, but something I'm finding enjoyable, and is another source for pins!

The first board is titled "Color Our World"
http://pinterest.com/grandok/color-our-world/
and contains some wonderful, vivid colors and subjects.

Next, I was invited to join a board titled "Olympics"
http://pinterest.com/grandok/olympics
Today I got this image off Facebook, and have to publish it so I can pin it to the board.  :)   Hope everyone has a sense of humor.

Changing My Ways

I'm always looking for things to pin to my various boards.

Facebook has some great photos posted, but we are unable to pin directly from FB.  I've learned to download the photo onto my desktop.  But I have to post the picture to a website in order to pin it.

Guess it's time to get an account with Pisca or Shutterfly or one of the other photo account services.

Just one more thing I have to find time to research.  Then it's one more login I have to remember along with the password.  I hate that passwords have become so complex.  I need a memory boost just to remember all the various passwords!  :)

Meanwhile, I want to pin these photos, so I'm publishing them here so I can get them onto my Flutter-By's board.
http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/flutter-by-s/

23,342 photos on 183 boards with 669 followers

I'm Back!

I'm Back!  It's been a little while since I've been able to access my blog!  We moved the end of April, and when I set the computer up in the new apartment, it wouldn't start up.  Yes, it was old.  And, YES, I have had problems with it for a few years, but I didn't think it would just up and die on me. (sniff...sniff)

With all the moving expenses, I couldn't afford a new computer.  I looked at some old ones, but in the end I got an ipad.  I thought I could use it as a computer and it cost less than a new computer, so I bought it.

While the ipad is fun, it is NOT like a computer and I soon realized I still needed a computer.  For starters, I couldn't PIN!  All the various apps that claim to let you enjoy Pinterest are totally inadequate.  I found I could do a little pinning, but it was such a hassle that I didn't bother.

At first, I missed it. I was addicted and it was not an easy transition from pinning daily (multiple times) to seldom or never pinning.  But after a few weeks, I forgot about it.  Out of sight~Out of mind was real for me!

But I'm back.  I finally bought the same old model of computer that died on me.  It will get me by until I can afford a new computer.

Now I'm back pinning and blogging and generally finding life fascinating.

Currently I have 22,694 pins, 180 boards, and 648 followers.
http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/

Pandora and Pinterest

Pandora and Pinterest...A Winning Combination!

I'm in the mood to look at my own boards.

Let's see what took my fancy.

Observe how it's put together.

Turn on Pandora in a parallel tab.

Pick Smooth Jazz.

These are a few of my Favorite Things
http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/

Update: Things I've Noticed

All of a sudden, there is an option to select the cover photo for each board!  The picture can be moved around to center it where you want it.

Underneath the cover photo (large) are four smaller photos of your most recent pins.

As I have 158 boards, this was a process!!
It took me nearly a week, but I've selected a photo that represents each of my boards.  I'm so happy with how it looks.  I can also rotate these photos as I grow and change.  Yeah!!

Now, if they would just add "like" buttons for the boards.  I'm always looking for this option because of Facebook.  Also, it would be nice to send a message easily.  I suppose that is what the "comments" section is all about.  I don't use it much, but may develop that skill. 

Pinterest Account I LOVE!

Today, while checking out the people that are following my boards, I happened upon the account of Kindelina Nova.

Her Pinterest Account is about TRAVEL.  Only about Travel!

This photo, from the board Mauritius, introduced me to something I've never even heard of, much less seen.  This is beautiful and now it's on my To Do list.

Kindelina has 77 boards, each a photo essay of a different Country and/or Vacation Destination.

Just so I don't lose this valuable resource in the shuffle, I'm leaving myself a link here, so I have access to all this material that promotes daydreams and wishes.
http://pinterest.com/kindelina/

Thank You Kindelina for making such an interesting Pinterest Destination!

Things I've Noticed

Pinterest has certainly caught on!  The traffic on my pins has increased and I'm getting a few new followers every day.

The main thing I've noticed is that people are no longer signing up with their REAL names.  I remember when this happened on Facebook.  Suddenly there were people with names like Annie Gameplayer, and IM Happy.  Not real people.

Same with Pinterest.  More than half of my new interested people have bizarre names.  We all know that the computer is traceable.  So it really doesn't matter what name you're using, unless you consistently use the computer at the library or an internet cafe.  Who you are is really there, somewhere!

I've also found I have a few International followers!  I love that the pictures are the same, but the comments and board names are often things I can't read and/or understand.  It's fun and I'm all for having International friends on Pinterest!

There are also more men becoming Pinteresting.  The men tend to pin manly things, and I find many of their boards particularly interesting, as I hadn't yet pinned trains, or boats, or sports.  The men that share Pinterest with me also seem to have a great sense of humor.  I get lots of grins following some of these boards.

Mostly I'm happy with where my Pinterest account is going.  When I signed in one day to find they had changed how our boards look I was a bit upset.  They went from being in groups of nine (3 down and 3 across) of the last things you pinned to one big photo with four small photos underneath.  This large picture didn't always represent what you'd just pinned. Only a portion of the pin shows!

This makes looking at other people's boards rather difficult.  You can't get a good idea of what is contained in the board because the photos aren't representative.  My own boards look uninteresting as well.  I always want to repin a photo that represents the board at the end of a pinning session.  However, since I have over 150 boards, this isn't realistic.  On a positive note, you now have to actually click open a board that sounds interesting to see if it really is.  I find I spend more time on other people's Pinterest Pages because I'm afraid I'll miss something wonderful otherwise :)

Addiction Anxiety

I'm beginning to understand the Nature of Addiction.  I've always prided myself on not being addicted to much.  I admit my addiction to breathing and sugar.  One is good for me :) and the other not so much :(

The sugar addiction has taught me a lot about addiction.  I can "control" it, meaning I can try to dictate the time and amount of sugar I ingest.  However, I often find myself eating it unconsciously and in larger amounts than I intended (eating the 3rd or 4th cookie when 1 would have been sufficient).

So who is controlling whom?

I'm often heard giving thanks that my addictions are small.  I've not allowed addictions to tobacco, or alcohol, or sex :)  I've also never become addicted to exercise, schedules, or salad :(

My life limps along in the middle of the road.  No extremes but also not lot of highs or lows.  It usually works for me.

Then, Pinterest comes along and I find an entirely new category of addiction.  It's neither good or bad, per se, but could become one extreme or the other.

When the addiction takes over (and YES, it does take over)  I find myself at the computer for HOURS.

I know better.  It hurts my body.  My shoulder will ache from this much abuse.  My legs my develop cramps when I finally stand up.  My wrist will protest for days.

But I pin on.  There is always the next image and the image after that.  From experience, I know that the images that are available to pin disappear after 24 hours.  So, if I don't look every day, I'll miss something.

Forget that many of these images are things I pinned back in November and December.  They look pretty and I pin them again, and again.
I need to work up a little self respect and discipline.  Pin responsibly :)

Apparently this is the only way I can work with the addiction instead of giving in to it?!

Pretty Pins

  http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/color-palette/
This is from my board called COLOR PALLET.  I'm fond of looking at these pins because not only do they have beautiful pictures, but then they have a Color Pallet of the Colors used in the lovely image.


I want/need to learn how to do this.  I love composing things.  I have a great eye for color.  It would give me endless pleasure to make these for others.

However, I would want to NAME the colors.  I know that with the millions of variations in digital imagery, it would be impossible, but I'd like to try.

For example, I'd name these colors Persimmon ~ Butter ~ Avocado ~ Jacaranda and Deep Slate.  Sure, they could also be called Clementine, Daffodil, Lime, Dark Lilac and Pewter.


OK, I see the reason for the numbers.  It's just so removed and impersonal.
Excuse me, I going to just to look at more images!

Pinterest Changes Terms of Service

Yes, Pinterest is the new kid on the block.  It's also one of the fastest growing sites.  So, of course there will be problems and trouble along the route to success.

When I saw this "pin" popping up everywhere, I clicked on it and read the article and many other articles posted by supportive people.

The articles pointed out that the Terms of Service reserved the right to sell anything we posted.

The dilemma was put like this:  You post a picture of a cat.  This is not your cat and not your photo.  However, by posting this picture, you claim responsibility for it.

Let's say that a cat food company likes this photo and purchases it from Pinterest.  The cat food company then uses this cat photo on the new cat food container and promotion.

The rightful owner of said cat sees the cat on the package of cat food and sues the cat food company.  The cat food company sues Pinterest who supplied the photo.  Pinterest comes to YOU, who posted the photo, and YOU GET SUED because you didn't check to see  if the photo had permission to be published in the first place.

400K people responded to this glitch in the Terms of Service, and Pinterest responded by CHANGING the Terms of Service.

We were all notified, and the Change takes effect on April 6.  I looked at the New Terms of Service, and find that they did withdraw the right to sell anything posted.

However, it looks like the rest of the language has been tightened to protect Pinterest.  We (the pinners) are Really, REALLY supposed to find the original source of our pins and make SURE that the permissions are in place before pinning.

This is a good thing.  I think.  But also a little impossible.  I have 19,000 pins on 154 boards.  I'm never going to be able to go back and find the original source.  Some of these photos have been circulated far and wide and I don't know if it's ok or not.

I'm basically in the same dilemma that I was in from the beginning.  I like to pin images that please my eye.  I don't plan to do anything with them except enjoy them.

Yes, I'm trying to justify  myself and my continued piracy of other people's work.  I credit anything that comes with a credit already attached.  But looking for the original source?  I don't see it happening.
Shame on me, but there it is.

Pin Pals

 My interest in my Pinterest account is  gaining momentum.  After brooding about the rules, and realizing I was not going to let it scare me off, I got back to it slowly.

I wasn't pinning much, because suddenly everything looked vaguely familiar, and I didn't want lots of repins.  The only way to avoid it is to actually scan your boards.

I'm over 17,000 pins now, on 140 boards.  So, the chance of me repinning something I already pinned is pretty good.  Especially when I realize that I gravitate toward things I like.

So, I went back to my g-mail account and started thinning the list of people following me. (SMILE)  I go to the person's page and look through their boards.  I try to pin a few images and like to follow one or more of their boards.  Quid pro quo.  Often I find that the person is so new that they don't have much to look at.  I smile and move on.  I know their boards will fill up.

Occasionally, I get on the page of someone with similar interests to mine and find myself spending HOURS looking through their pins, and repinning.  One thing leads to another and suddenly I've invented another board!

I've begun thinking in terms of my Pinterest boards.  While we were driving around the countryside last week, I kept looking at the scenery and mentally putting in on one of my boards!  It was fun and pathetic at the same time.

On my mini vacation from work, I've spent the equivalent of an entire day doing Pinterest.  My imagination has been goosed and I keep finding something new to do, or say.  I've begun adding my OWN comment to the pin.  Usually I just pin whatever someone else said, but recently I've begun to realize that saying something is half the fun.

Plus, the e-mails from Pinterest are containing the comments people make about my pins.  I'm embarrassed to find they are commenting about something I didn't even write.  Slap on the wrist.  I'm doing better, making it authentically mine.

Meanwhile, I've created some more boards.  My official count is 146 boards, and 18,522 pins.  The addiction is back!

See the results at www.pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/

Everything Under Control

My Pinterest addiction seems to be on the wan.  For the week that I was mulling things over I apparently got a little self control back!

Now I can visit my Pinterest site because I want to, not because I need to.  Small distinction, but it makes a difference. :)

Yesterday I only pinned a few dozen things.  Before, I pinned hundreds and only quit when my wrist hurt.  I'd go to the site multiple times every day to be sure I wasn't missing something.

Part of the reason I'm slowing down is because I find that I've already pinned many of the images that present themselves! The flood of beautiful things has become a trickle.  It's good!

Now I'm finding that I need a couple of new boares to reorganize one old board.  I see why people have a board fore Each Season, where my pictures are grouped under a single Seasons board.

I've noticed really organized people have broken down the flowers into subgroups.  I need to do that.  My flowers board has 827 pins!  Even I get exhausted looking at all those images :)

I'm not sure where to start.  It's easy to repin to a new board, but deleting the pictures from a board takes lots of clicks!  LOTS

Ha!  My addiction has not gone away.  It's merely shifted its attention.  I've gone from a Pinning Addiction, to an Editing fixation!  LOL

Meanwhile, take a look at the beautiful flowers, plants, and flower arrangements on my board.
http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/flowers-plants-and-floral-arrangements/

Freak Out

Last week, I followed a Pin that scared me.  It was a link to an article that spelled out the terms of the User Agreement on Pinterest.  You know, that document that no one actually reads, but that your must agree to before you have access to a site?

So, I read what was posted, and the articles posted by several other people from links on the original article.  It was scary!  Basically, we (pinners) are responsible for EVERYTHING we pin, and could be in serious violation of copyright laws and subject to fines, sanctions, and jail time!

It made perfect sense.  We've recently been through the SOPA and PIPA controversy.  I support people receiving credit and compensation for their work.

But, again, I'm not doing Pinterest to make money off other people's efforts.  I'm collecting images that make me happy.  I like to look at the pictures.  Period.  I don't intend to do anything but look at them.

The effect of the article was to curtail my enthusiasm about Pinterest.  I did very little pinning last week.  I thought about what it means for a week.

Today, I went looking for the Pin with the link to the article, so I could put it here and steer anyone interested to the information.  It wasn't there!  I looked several places, but the pin has vanished!

I took that as "permission" to move forward in my benign way and pin pictures that I find interesting, beautiful, moving and/or controversial.

I've included two (2) pins that help figure out how to Pin "correctly" and give credit to the proper person.  If you're interested.
http://thedailydigi.com/how-to-properly-pin-to-pinterest-a-tutorial/
http://www.graphicsfairy-crafts.com/2012/03/how-to-find-original-source-of-image-on.html

Unpinned

Yesterday I got two (2) letters from the Pinterest Crew saying they had to remove a picture I had posted because the owner of the photo didn't want it posted.  They told me this was an unusual request, that most people are happy to let their photos go out into the world, with the proper credit.

So, I opened the file to see the offending photos.  I expected to find wonderful photos of faraway places, taken while someone was on vacation.  One was a very ordinary picture of a flower.  The other photo was of a bird.

Wow.  Now I'm starting to take seriously that business about crediting photos.  So far, most all my pins are from pictures I've seen that others have pinned.  A few times, I've tried to click through to the original pin to see the credit info, but haven't been too successful.

Which doesn't bother me, really.  I'm not trying to sell anything, or make money from the labor of others.  My boards are for MY entertainment.  I like to look at them.  They make me happy.  In my heart, I'm so grateful to the people that have taken such great photographs.  Otherwise I'd not get to see most of these places or things or events.  I'm happy to share my photos.  Trouble is, my photos are ordinary.  I keep trying though.  One day I might just capture a moment that makes others gasp or smile or sigh.  And I'll be happy for it to go out into the world, as long as no one is selling it, or making money off it, or claiming the credit for capturing it.

By the way, I took these two photos!

Followers and Following

Today I opened the e-mail account associated with my Pinterest account, and found I had dozens of e-mails from Pinterest.

I opened one to find that someone had chosen to follow one of my boards.

It was flattering.  The e-mail asked if I wanted to follow the person back.  So, I clicked on their account and spend some time looking.  I pinned a couple of pictures, decided to follow a couple of boards.  Then I deleted the e-mail.

There were DOZENS of these e-mails.  After several hours, I'd only accessed maybe one dozen of the e-mails.  This will keep me busy for weeks!

It is a treasure chest of new pins!!  Now I'm busy looking at the pins of others, as well as my own pins.  If it makes me happy (and it does) then I don't count it as time lost, but as time well spent!

Thanks everyone that is following me, and Thanks to those that I'm following.
It's a win/win.

Pinning

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours on the computer, trying to install an app to my blog that would show the latest things I've pinned to my Pinterest account.
www.pinterest.com/pinterest4jan
I don't speak enough "computer" to make it happen.  Always, it seems to be written in plain English, but I can't make sense of the actual words.  I'm not really interested in learning to speak "computer" other than to make my life easier.

It's much like my car.  I drive the car without understanding HOW it works, or how to fix things that go wrong.  I could learn, but why?  It's not something I'd really put to use.

Same as speaking the language of Computers.  Technology is evolving and going forward at such a fast pace, I'm afraid that by the time I learned how to speak, the language would be obsolete!

So, rather than entertain you with titillating glimpses of what I'm pinning, I'm giving you the link to look at the whole thing!

Today, I'm up to 126 boards and just under 16,000 pins.  Can't help myself!

Figuring it Out

At first, I didn't know how to see more of the kind of pins I like.  By trial and error, I clicked on one of my pins, it took me to the larger picture and told me who had pinned it.

I clicked on their name and voilà I had access to all these pins and boards.  Then, I found I could do the same thing from a pin I found on these new boards, and another name would appear at the top and I had access to more pins and boards.


Eventually I found I could select "Follow this Board" and the new pins from this board would appear on my pin page.


Within a few days, the kind of pins I wanted to see began to appear with regularity.  Also, I noticed the names of women appearing with regularity.  My followers and the people I followed were becoming a really interesting mix.


Of course, now I want to spend more and more time pinning!  It's a dilemma.

My Introduction to Pinterest

My addiction began over the Thanksgiving Holiday, 2011. My cousin, Kelli, who is always on the forefront of new ideas, had posted on Facebook that she was trying out Pinterest and did anyone want an invitation.

I was on a 4 day vacation from work, so I thought "Why not. Let's see what this is."

Being somewhat obsessive, I actually READ some directions! I spent some time looking at what you can do, what others have done, and some guidelines for how to proceed.

Then I created an account and signed on.

Within moments, I was hooked. Such lovely images to pin. Repin. I do very little actual pinning, as you have to have your own photos on the internet, and I haven't done that yet. So, my pins are mostly the pins of others.

I created a couple of boards, as the photos soon needed organization.

In the beginning, I probably didn't look in every day.

That was Then. This is Now.
http://pinterest.com/pinterest4jan/
Currently I have 15,000 pins, 120 boards, and my imagination has only begun to see the fun I'm going to have.

So, YES, it's officially an ADDICTION. But I'm happily hooked!