Pinterest Rant - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Pinterest Rant

Day Vies

Veteran

Pinterest used to be this wonderful tool for me to see a visual representation of all the latest and greatest looks that attracted me. It almost seemed to visually track my mood. I loved it. Now all I see is crap I pinned 2 years ago.

My feed used to be looks my friends pinned, and people I chose to follow. Now it seems that if the people I follow are not a top blogger their pics are drowned out of my feed.

It seems my Pinterest account has devolved into a place where I pin looks from my favorite shopping sites. The only redeeming feature is the fact that I can shut off the visual noise by seeing only the pins I pinned. I essentially go there to remember the cute top I pinned that I can't remember where I saw it.

Any one else feeling similarly disenchanted?

General

36 replies

Latest reply was from Caro in Oz

columbine(erin)

Veteran

Yes. Pinterest is mostly a place to save and look up recipes to me now. /:

Deborah

Veteran

No I am loving Pinterest! Is it anything to do with your settings??

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Yes - same for me, drives me so crazy I hardly use it anymore. It doesn't seem to be the settings Deborah.

Day Vies

Veteran

If anyone knows that it's the settings please let me know. I have googled it and come up with nothing. I have looked at my settings and have not been able to unfollow the "picked for you" selections in my feed which seems to be 75-80% of my feed these days.

Astrid

Veteran

I have these "picked for you" pins too... I found it kind of addicting and at the same time I didn't really do anything with all those pins I pinned! So a while ago I deleted most and now have boards with very few things. Way more effective. And I'm mostly using it to keep track of my online orders, I have a private board with all the items I ordered and kept and I pin very few things otherwise. My usage dropped to five minutes a day maximum. And I don't really miss it.

fieldmouse

The 'picked for you' pins should have an option below the pin to get rid of it (I forget what it says, I managed to get rid of them and can't check..) and when you click it, there should also be an option to not get any more picked-for-yous based on a specific pinboard of yours. Depending on how many boards you have, eliminating the picked-for-yous could take a very short or a very long time.

Anonymous

Hmm, Pinterest is still ok for me. I started getting 'picked for you' pins a week ago, but on the very first two days of them I just clicked on each one and clicked the option to hide all pins picked for each board and I'm now just back to the people I follow. I did go through a bad spell about a year ago with the 'related pins', but I sent a few very, very disgruntled e-mails and messages (I can't remember which route I took to send the messages, but it wasn't easy) to Pinterest, and they stopped.

Astrid

Veteran

Fieldmouse, thanks for the tip! I didn't know that.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yes, you can "thumbs down" those "Related Pins" (or "Picked for you" or however it is they show up), but I sometimes like to look at Pinterest on the iPhone app, and that doesn't include that option. For a while I had all but eliminated the Related Pins from my feed, but recently they came back with a vengeance. In my frustration, I sent a message to Pinterest about the problem, asking for a way to opt out of Related Pins.

A couple of things might help. Look in your account settings, and make sure you've checked "no" next to the Personalization options that ask about pinning items from third party users and advertisers. And then the tip that fieldmouse suggested should help too -- I just did that a couple of days ago from my laptop (doesn't work on iphone or ipad app) and it's improved my feed.

It's kind of a shame, because I saw some interesting things in the Related pins, but I nixed them all anyway because *I* want to be in control of what I see on Pinterest -- that's the whole point to me!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Pinterest. Don't get me started. I eliminated all my boards a while ago because I was so frustrated. Then I started up again, wanting to collect some visual ideas -- and now I have that "picked for you" junk and NOTHING I have done seems to have stopped it from coming. I'm going to systematically go through the steps that Janet mentioned just in case I have missed one, but I don't think I have. And junk is still coming.

celia

Veteran

Yes. Whenever Pinterest adds some 'Picked for you' pins I deliberately don't pin them in the vague hope they get the drift.
But I better follow Janet's instructions.

Helena

Veteran

I only look at my boards, or search for specific items ... otherwise I either get a) annoyed or b) sucked down the rabbit hole (and YLF is my exclusive rabbit hole allowance)

Beth Ann

Veteran

I hear you, DV! I've had trouble with some mildly inappropriate "clothing" pins that are "picked for me." I used to give my DD open access to my Pinterest -- I have a board just for her, but I've had to change that policy. Most of the Pinners that "pick for me" seem to be Russian. I hate to classify a huge nation of people unfavorably (must be lots of great Slavic style, yes?), but the real issue of hacking crosses my mind , and I'm hesitant to click. Fortunately, most of the pins are awful, and not the least bit tempting.

AM

Veteran

I create powerpoint point boards instead of Pinterest.

Day Vies

Veteran

Astrid - Thank you. That's a great way to use Pinterest based on the way they want to use us.

Fieldmouse - Thank you. I have found nothing half as comprehensive as your directions in my google search. Ironically all I could find was directions on how to best use Pinterest for business.

Diane G - I had a very similar experience. I didn't click on any of the picked for you pins for fear they would multiply. I really started to hate the picked for you pins that featured "inspirational" quotes because the quotes that were picked for me always had a malicious undertone or the note they struck was always in the vein of "I'm superior" or "sour grapes".

Janet - THANK YOU! This kind of advice is exactly why I've missed the forum. I'm opening a window now and following everyone's instructions to clean up my feed.

Suz -- Noooooo! So that's why I no longer have anything from you in my feed. Wow I knew it was frustrating for me to have my feed change but I did not know it was so frustrating for others. I hope this advices makes things better for you. I loved getting your pins. It's nice to see what your friends are pinning because they have a different perspective and like similar but different things. Friends enhanced my Pinterest feed. Now I feel adrift out there.

Day Vies

Veteran

Beth Ann - Yeah mildly inappropriate was one if the issues I dealt with last year when my account was hacked. I got a lot of inappropriate Asian pins. I guess it depends of the point of origin of the hacker?

Day Vies

Veteran

So there's no longer a thumbs up or down button on the picked for you pins on my feed. I clicked on the first picked for you pin and there is no way to delete the pin. It will only show you others who have pinned the same pin. I have noticed that this is no longer available for pins you have already pinned yourself.
Then I went to account settings and scrolled down to the personalization settings. There they ask you 2 questions about promoted pins: Is it OK if we use sites you've visited recently? Also use information from our ad partners? I clicked no for each. The button itself is odd. Yes might already by highlighted but you'll need to click on the opposite side of it to the right so that "no" will show up. Be sure to save your new settings. The button appears on the lower right of the screen.

K.M.

Veteran

I must say I never really got into Pinterest in the first place. I liked the idea, but when I tried to use the site a couple of years ago I didn't find it very intuitive or rewarding. My account is all rusty and cobwebbed.

Maybe a non-commercial platform or app would circumvent these issues... that would probably mean not a free one.

Marilyn

Veteran

I love Pinterest. I'm constantly adding and deleting things on my boards as my likes change. I often do searches when looking for ideas on how to style a particular item.

Regarding the "picked for you", etc.......If you drag your mouse down to the bottom right corner of the image in your feed an "x" will appear. Click on it and you will have the option to hide all of the picked for you items related to the corresponding board.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Marilyn - I was doing that but they just keep sending more - I have hundreds of "picked for you" images & 99% of them are so not what I look at/pin.

ETA: That's not counting all the pins that aren't "picked for you" that mysteriously appear too. Grr.

Marilyn

Veteran

Oh really, Caro. Hmmm....I just did it recently and my feed looks good so far. Will have to see going forward. There are two options....hide this pin and hide all pins. And you have to do it for each board.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Thanks Marilyn - it doesn't work for the images that are not "picked for you" yet not ones I've pinned. Oh well.

Marilyn

Veteran

Caro.......Have you tried going to Account Settings > Account Basics > Personalisatiion? There are two options there and I have them both set to "No".

Day Vies

Veteran

Caro & Marilyn - I was able to remove the picked for you pins the way Diane G suggested. I went to the lower left corner of the pin and an X button appeared when I clicked on it and a menu appeared: "hide this pin" and "hide all pins picked for fill-in-the-blank board". Click on either option and follow the remaining steps. I've been cleaning up my feed today. Thank you all for your input and saving my Pinterest account.

Marilyn

Veteran

Happy to hear you're having success, Day Vies. Have fun pinning!

Marley

Veteran

Another one here who only looks at her own boards - along with the peoples' boards that I specifically follow.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

They're probably re-tooling for this:
http://jezebel.com/hark-pinter.....1685461939
Can't make money off of pretty pics.

Day Vies

Veteran

annagybe - I believe you're right. I'm not against Pinterest trying to make a little money. I just think they need to figure out how to get the buy button to appear when I voluntarily click on a pin to pin or like it. Don't try to get me interested in some crap shoved in my face and forced down my throat. Buying doesn't work like that. I don't want what eve happens to be around, I want what I think is pretty and what will fit my body.

Anonymous

I use Pinterest as a means to record stuff I want to fully check out at a later date. Many of these are recipes, sewing patterns, knitting/crochet projects, new makeup ideas/dupes, etc. If I find the info is lacking and instructions unclear I delete the pin. Lately I find that I am pinning less and less.

12