My thoughts on the Pinterest ethics debacle

Well, as you know I read tons of these crafty/ home decor/ handmade blogs.

It makes me feel like I can do cuter things than I normally would.

Of course we all pin and I am a self-professed pinterest lover.

It's a very compact way for me to organise all those bookmarks without cluttering up my computer.

I saw one post about Pinterest one day talking about attribution - interesting, I thought and moved on through my very full Google Reader.

And then yesterday I saw another post about Pinterest ethics.


And finally a third one today.

I'm sure if I've seen three just in my GR, there are tons more floating around the internet.

I thought initially that people who sell their handmade goods on etsy were getting their knickers in a knot (do you use this phrase?) because people were labelling their pins as DIY. But it's bigger than that.

Go read those links - I'll wait.

Honestly, someone "re-categorised" one of my boards as "DIY" the other day and I got my knickers in a knot til I saw that it didn't actually mess with my board's name.

Okay, so then what do I care?

It seems that they take offence that people think they can do the same stuff for a lot cheaper whereas their versions are artistic.

To be fair, I've seen some really crappy imitation versions of etsy spinoffs and some things that I thought were even better.

I think it depends on your style and taste.

However, when there's a bit of controversy, especially when handled beautifully (no trolls), I love reading the comments because I love seeing people respond in a courteous, if passionate manner.

And so I did read all of the comments. Which is why I'm still behind on my Google Reader.

I've decided my take on the issue is this:

1. there are always people who are really good at making things and can make anything once they've seen it
2. those people would most likely not ever pay to have someone else make something they could make themselves and they actually enjoy spending the time to make said cute thing
3. then there are others like me - my ability to make cute, etsy-type things is verrrrrryy limited. My time is even more limited so I happily pay about 10 different etsy sellers to make things for me.
4. I thought of going into my paypal to check how much I've spent this year alone but I'm scared since it's probably thousands of rands, all in the name of cuteness. Basically I am the etsy target market because I have no skills to make the stuff myself and if reasonable in price, I will buy.
5. I don't think the naming of things on Pinterest is such a big deal - I personally name things so I know what I liked about it and so that if I search my own Pinterest, I can find things (like washi tape).
6. However, apparently people take HUGE exception to what things are named. Am I missing something or is this just semantics?
7. I also don't think there are many genuinely new things under the sun. We're all being inspired all over the place and that's just fine, isn't it?
8. I don't think it's right to take someone's idea (as is) and make money by selling it, but that's not what Pinterest is for.
9. I use Pinterest for inspiration and so do others; don't we all pin things now where in the past we used to pull pages out of magazines?
10. I saw some fabulous comments that said a lot of DIY/ home decor/ crafty blogs do exactly the same thing as is now the issue when they make Anthropology/ Pottery Barn/ etc. creations on the cheap. That's what the average person is doing with Pinterest. I agree.

Anyway, what do you think?

I really would love to know if you think this is an issue, if you're going to change the way and what you pin, etc.
PS for the record, I'm not. I pin etsy sellers' things and hopefully that brings them some marketing :)