Pinned and Slightly Pissed

If I post something on this blog or on Pinterest I expect it to be pinned.

BUT

As part of the Welcome Mat subscription I provide about 10 or 12 videos a year on varying topics, some tied to the lessons I give there, some showing dyeing and other good tricks of hooking, all with the same intention, to provide good info for my subscribers.

As part of the great service on the Mat  I offer a free month perusal, no holes barred, you can look everywhere and see everything.

In the last 6 months someone joined the Mat for their free month.
While there they pinned several videos which said right under the title: for Welcome Mat subscribers only.
They never did get a subscription.
And the videos were pinned and repinned and repinned.

On the Mat on every page it is clearly stated:

Contents of the pages of the Welcome Mat remain the property of the authors or artists and cannot be printed, copied, saved or stored without the express permission of that originator.

Last night I used some code to disallow pinning from the Mat.
And I realize  getting back my property is like trying to gather up spilled tea from an oriental rug and put it back in the cup. But I think we can do a few things.


I asked the pinners who had these videos on their boards please remove them so I can act in an honourable way towards my paid subscribers.
It was somewhat akin to making The Matters something to tuck under their pillow only to see it kicked down Main Street.

I'm also going to ask you a few things; I think for these things to stop we need to say and do something.

If you see my videos pinned, unless the title mentions RHM you can be assured it is a Welcome Mat production.
Let me know please, or if you are brave, let the pinner know yourself by commenting on it.
Maybe you could say:

Did you know this video was not released for public viewing? The original pinner pirated it. I suggest you delete it.

Also irritating was seeing one of my rugs pinned ad infinitum with the title "hooked rug".
Here is the comment I added to that:
 This rug is hooked by me, it's title is, And The Day Came, please help stop the anonymous pinning of artwork.

It would be good if we all stop pinning anonymous work and when we see this let the original pinner know, ahem, your slip is showing.

Another trend I noticed was the gay abandon of  many rug teachers pinning artwork without credits from other disciplines. The video pinner was also a teacher, that is effing disappointing behaviour.
Pinterest has serious guidelines about the unsanctioned use of intellectual property. It is making me look at all my pins pretty hard.

It is fun but only if used with common sense. 

AND it is not Pinterest who is at fault here, it is the users.

I like the idea of peer pressure being the best resource.  

Tell me what you think of all this.

It has made me seriously rethink my free month policy among others things.