The Pinterest community is already self-censoring with regard to porn and on a number of occasions I have observed images voluntarilly removed by a “pinner” at the request of another user.

While Pinterest does attempt to describe its terms regarding the posting of inappropriate (or illegal) materials, as we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Pinterest’s biggest hurdles, IMHO, are the myriad issues surrounding rights, digital rights and rights management. And, while they have already taken actions to address this issue in response to the cries of certain entities, it is my belief that this issue has not yet been put to rest. In the end, how Pinterest navigates issues concerning rights will determine whether or not it is able to survive.

Mark

@TOGOMedia

That’s why I think it’s important for every business/blog/website to have a Pinterest page – to make sure you can pin your stuff and have it link back to the original source.

That’s why I think it’s essential for every business/blog/website to have a Pinterest page – so that they can pin their own stuff to make sure it’s leading straight back to the source.

Freedom and order in massively scaling functions are inevitably dynamic. As the number of Pinterest users and pins continues to grow, not only will the development team’s original design assumptions be put under stress but their ability to measure any potential perversion of their vision as well.Probably a good idea to consider your points as this time—before Pinterest users do something that raising more than the eyebrows of “rights” trolls.

Mark

TOGO Media

While there is no doubt the “feature” you describe has the potential to negatively impact sharing and proper crediting of pinned content, I have actually found the ability to alter a URL after pinning a useful tool for effectively linking a correct URL to a resource that, due to one reason or another, is not “pinnable.”

Consider, for example, wanting to share an interesting resource with no image. The ability to alter the URL after pinning allows me to find and pin a relevant image (perhaps one I have available locally on my machine) and then point the URL to the original post or article.

Another example where the changing a URL is useful is when the images associated with a particular resource are not “pinnable” due to the way they are imbedded on a web page. I have found this issue arrises approximately 1 in every 10 pins I attempt to post.

Finally, on numerous occasions, I have found while an image may, in fact, be “pinnable” at low resolution, there exists a higher resolution, higher quality image available by clicking through the reference image. Pinterest generally does not look at this link. In this case, I am able to click through the image, pin the higher resolution image then, edit the pinned URL so that it points to the original post and not the URL of the image, alone.

Clearly, making the URL editable has opened Pinterest to potential abuse but completely eliminating this feature at this early point in the fledgling social network’s development would, IMHO, be tantamount to throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater. I believe there may be other solutions should this particular feature become a problem over time.

In the end, the ability to quickly and easily “click through” a pin to a relevant resource, as you point out, is one of the key, killer features of Pinterest.

Mark

TOGO Media