Pinterest Pet Peeves (and how to avoid them)

I've been loving Pinterest since 2010, but it seems like it has changed so much in 2012. I'm really crazy about what I will and will not pin, and since this past winter's copyright ordeal (which is the reason why I deleted a LOT of my pins and boards a few months ago), I'm also very careful about what I pin. I have a few rules of my own:

I won't pin something that I can't find an original source for.

I won't pin something that isn't visually pleasing.

I won't pin something against someone's wishes.

So that means if it comes from Tumblr, if it comes from a website that says: PLEASE DO NOT PIN, and if it's dimly lit and fugly, I won't pin, no matter how useful it is.

Here's how I make sure not to break my own rules:

When browsing Pinterest, I always "Like" pins first.

Later that day, I'll go through my Likes and click through, to make sure they go through to a real source, to make sure they're legit, and to make sure they're not spam. If they check out, then I'll repin. If they don't, then they'll stay "Liked". They'll also stay "Liked" if they're more useful information than they are attractive. I don't want to ugly up your Pinterest feed.

So when checking out my Likes, I have a few Pet Peeves. They can be major bummers when I can't share something really awesome with my followers, but I just won't break my own rules. So, here are my Top Three Pinterest Pet Peeves - and how they can be avoided.

Pet Peeve #1: A Pinterest pin that links to a blog or website's homepage, and not the actual page or blog post (permalink).

Sure, it gets you to the correct source, but then you have to dig around and search for the original image.

How to avoid it: When pinning an image, make sure you click on the title of the blog post, and THEN pin.

Pet Peeve #2: Pins that link to an image, and not a source:

I don't even know how to go about finding where these come from! I think the way to avoid this would be to not click on an image and pin it from the button on your bookmark bar.

How to avoid it: Make sure you're on the source page before pinning from your bookmark bar.

Pet Peeve #3: Pinterest TMI (+ nobody will buy the ice cream truck when you're giving away the Popsicles for free!)

I zoomed way out on my screen to illustrate this point, and I still couldn't fit the entire pin on my screen. I'm not a fan of when a pin has the whole recipe in the text, or every step of a DIY in a photo collage in the pin. It really gives people no reason for people to click though on the pin - doesn't the creator deserve some traffic love? Plus, it takes up way too much space.

How to avoid it: Just don't pin that. Or, click through to the original source, and create your own original pin from the content using just one image and a short description.

I'm sure I'd be guilty of a few of these if I really dug through my Pin boards, but as more and more people start joining Pinterest (my own mother included - she's new last week) it seems important to create awareness of the faux pas before the site loses its appeal. You can also checkout Pinterest's Pin Etiquette if you are ever unsure about something.

So how about you, fellow pinners? What are your Pinterest pet peeves?