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Considering how hard I avoided Pinterest for so long, I have spent an obscene amount of time in the past 24 hours thinking about whether I want to stay or go.

Over the weekend I read this article that Elisa linked to. I thought about it and chatted with my mom about while we were out of town. Then Charlotte wrote about it, and I talked about with my oldest son and my husband. I admit I didn't think a whole lot about ownership rights of internet material before then, but now that I do it makes sense that a few bad apples would mess a good thing up. The issue at-hand is that some people pin photos without the links to the original source, and that is, in effect, stealing. Though I haven't seen evidence that anyone has taken my photo and called it their own, I have seen plenty of my photos out there that have no link back to me, and so they belong to no one essentially.

It could be a matter of pride for me, but I don't think it is. I am not a photographer and I don't think I really come up with any great ideas that I feel compelled to protect. I think it's a matter of principal. I follow rules and I think every one should.

I thought about whether me leaving Pinterest would change anything, and it won't. I admit I have gotten some great ideas there just in the few short weeks I've been on. I could make my boards private and I guess that would protect me, but I play by the rules, so I don't feel I need to be protected. I do think I will start pinning ideas from their original source, meaning when I see something I like there, I will follow it to the original source instead of repinning. If you see something that I have pinned that you just pinned, please know I didn't not repin it from you because I don't like you. It's just my way of making sure my pins have original links.

What to do about my own content? Well, there is nothing I can do if someone wants to steal, even unintentionally. I am going to add the "Pin It" button to all my posts from now on, just to help accommodate those who want to pin the right way (you can do that here). I'll tell you it took me an obscene amount of time today to figure it out though -- the way Blogger has pictures configured now, my own browser's inability to get to Picasa Albums, and I accidentally screwed up my whole food blog and had to design it over. A few times I might have wanted to throw the whole thing out the window and just quit the internet. Not very practical I know, but you know how frustrating technology can be. It's great when it works, but oh boy when it doesn't...

So I tell ya, I have had a frustrating day today. And to top it off, I went and voted in the Ohio primary against the local school levy and it will probably pass costing us more money every year. The levy was soundly voted down in November, but the government is like little kids and they think "no" means "ask later." Sigh. I think I need to go make dinner and have a drink.

"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." -- Scarlet