QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Thursday, September 29, 2016

Pinterest: A Love Hate Relationship


Pinterest was driving me crazy. I use Google Images Search quite a bit and when you search for an image--- say the above search for "Chrome Orange Quilts" the majority of your hits will be Pinterest pages.

Looking at Pinterest pages is looking at secondary sources or tertiary sources. You just see pictures that people have saved to their boards like the one below for Red and White Quilts. And usually it's a re-pin of a re-pin. No information.

And you have to sign up to see the pictures.



No sources---just pictures with a small caption

It took me a long time to figure out that if you click on the picture and then once it's up there...

You click on it again it will sometimes take you to the source.

Which can be useful.

But still -


I don't see why I have to comb through everyone in the world's Pinterest pages to find a picture that hasn't been pinned and repinned etc.

Then one day I said to myself there must be a way to avoid a specific website in a search.



There is. And it's pinned in a sticky note to my computer.

Search: Chrome Orange Quilt -site:pinterest.com
The way to avoid the Pinterest hits:
[space]-site:pinterest.com

Of course if you are sick of me you could type in

Chrome Orange Quilt -site:barbarabrackman.blogspot.com

You would get pictures of chrome orange quilts with none from my blog.

So now you know how to hate Pinterest.

But while I was trying to figure out how to never see another Pinterest page I realized that rather than fighting them I should join them. 


If Pinterest is the first thing that comes up when you do a Google image search maybe I should have a few Pinterest pages.

So now I love Pinterest.

I use it as a cloud - a place to park stuff that is public.

Like free quilt patterns from my blog:

A page of quilts with a Civil War connection:


Inspiration for fans of William Morris fabrics:

Here are some other links to fabric history:




Click on my Photoshopped face to see all these boards.


I love Pinterest.

20 comments:

  1. the only thing I do not like about Pinterest is when people do not link back to the original site -- but then a lot might not know how

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  2. I absolutely know what you're talking about. The google search redirecting you to pinterest pages really drives me crazy! Thanks for the "omit this site" search hint :-) Even though I have by now signed up for pinterest, I haven't quite accommodated to it...

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  3. Other than being a big time suck, I love Pinterest! Following you since you joined.

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  4. I do find it strange that Google would show the Pinterest pins above the original source, but I am sure that the Pinterest pins are more popular because of the functionality and popularity. They probably also use better keywords. I really like Pinterest as a bookmarking page. Instead of saving a picture on my harddrive for inspiration, I can bookmark it. All the beautiful pictures are there, and I can click on it to get to the source.

    It is frustrating when a repin I click on goes nowhere, or goes to a plain *.jpg page, or worse, goes to a page that shows a list of repins so you have to click yet again to get to the original page. When I see those, I make sure I pin to the original page.

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  5. I have learned to love Pinterest too. Best thing I can suggest is to set a timer to limit your time wandering through everyone's pins. When I am trying to think of a gift for someone (especially young adults in the family), I like to browse through their Pinterest boards to get a feel for what they like.....it's sort of like shopping with them "ohhhh, I like this....I love that scarf......look at this pretty bowl...." Etc. great source of gift ideas!

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  6. Not a pinterest person over here. I get so tired of having to "join" and share my info. just to see a pix. (nor do I use twitter or facebook) To me, it's like a world of bumper stickers and I have more valuable things to spend my time on ~ like needle and thread:)

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  7. THANK YOU. I'm one of those persons who wants to see the original source for things, and it made me crazy to dig through for ten minutes because I had to start with a pin.

    That said, I do use Pinterest myself. Mostly to, as you said, "park" things. Inspiration, new techniques.

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  8. Welcome to Pinterest. I love pinning an idea to one of my boards instead of bookmarking or printing a copy and putting it in a folder in my desk. There have been some pics that I will not pin since they lead to nowhere. Those drive me crazy.

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  9. Great tip for how to avoid a website -- I know just what you mean. I belong to Pinterest, but I don't stay logged in over there, so it is always a hassle to look up my password.

    But, the benefit is that Pinterest adds relevant search terms that may not be available with the original image, so it does give you more options. Love/hate, quite right!

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  10. You are just a fountain of information.

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  11. Well, this is all very interesting and way over my head. I think I am a relatively intelligent person until I get on the Internet. My friend showed me how to use Pinterest and I loved it until I lost all of the "private" photos I had on one of my boards. Now I feel as if they have been beamed to another place and time. I can only hope someone found them and is enjoying their beauty. I will continue to plod through cyberspace.

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  12. You are too Funny!!!! Thanks for putting some balance in my day!

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  13. If you can't beat them, join them! I have the same love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I mostly ignore it.

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  14. HaHa great post! and thanks for the search tip- will pin that too!!

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  15. Now where are my sticky notes.... I need my own cheat sheet. Since I don't search much for specific images I may never use the tip. But it might be great cocktail party chatter. Actually what every you write I take verbatim so if you have gone to Pinterest than so shall I.

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  16. I enjoy Pinterest. I find it soothing, to look at pretty things that interest me. Years ago I had many paper files of clippings from magazines, same idea. Was the source always printed? No, and/ or back then we didn t expect huge amounts of info at our fingertips. One time I moved, and had to throw out all my clippings, all those gorgeous quilt ideas. Pinterest even if flawed, is an improvement---takes up no space, gathers no dust.

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  17. Fun post! I also have a love/hate relationship with most social media. I could spend all day looking at other people's stuff and never get to making my own. But, a lot of good inspiration is out there and you can find it quickly. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

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  18. Great post.I also have a love/hate relationship with some social media.

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  19. I wonder if this works better than using just -pinterest ?

    I'm not a pinterest user, and don't think I will be, so my issue is that non members can't see full pages any more.

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