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Today I found, unpleasant to me, changes to my Pinterest account. As I open/log in to my account and view my home feed page, I find my pins, and the pins of those I follow, and hundreds of pins that Pinterest "has chosen for me". They are all mixed together and almost 100% stuff in which I have NO interest. For example, I am allergic to cats, do not own, nor wish to own a cat, and would not have a cat anywhere but perhaps in a barn. Pinterest has put a pin of making a cat dish on my home feed as something I would possibly be interested in having in my pins. There are dozens more that have zero interest to me. After quite a bit of frustration of how to get rid of this cluttered mess, I finally e-mailed Pinterest. I received a reply that this is something new they are testing and I can't remove the pins from being added to my home feed. If Pinterest makes this change to your account, perhaps you will love it. If you do not, however, please email Pinterest and ask them to allow us to opt-out of this feature. It is frustrating to have all of this clutter and I am very unhappy about this change. Hopefully I will have saved you the time and frustration of trying to figure out how to change your settings. If you don't like the changes you are stuck with them, so please let Pinterest know if you are unhappy.
I just went to Pinterest and it looks the same to me. The first page I get to has all the pins that people I follow have pinned recently. So Im not sure if this is the same thing you get. I know you can go to each person you follow and instead of following Everything they pin, you can just follow what interests you, from their Pinterest boards. So if they have a "Cats" board and you dont want anything to do with cats, you can unfollow that specific board.
Maybe you got the "new" look, and I havent yet. I will have to keep looking to see if mine changes
Thanks for your suggestions. I understand that you can choose to follow certain boards of certain people. But, this is a new change to Pinterest that they are "testing". I don't know how many people will have the changes made to their account. I was one of the unlucky ones. They changed my account and even though I requested in an email to opt out or not be included in this change, their email said I can't do anything about it except send my feedback to them. I did that this afternoon.
My home feed page is now a huge disorganized mess (in my humble opinion) and filled with hundreds of images that I do not want to see. Hopefully other people will like the changes or not be included in the test. My home feed is something I always scan quickly to see what the people I have chosen to follow have pinned. Sometimes I repin something, or perhaps take note of something one of my daughters have pinned. My home feed is now stuffed with hundreds of pins in which I have no interest or desire to see mixed with the ones I actually would like to see. It is sort of like viewing the main page with every category mixed together with the pins of people I have chosen to follow. Pinterest has changed a simple feature that was, in my opinion, working and made it very undesirable.
When I first joined Pinterest, I wasn't too savvy on what it was all about. When I found someone whose Pins I liked, I just clicked on "follow all boards" I was wondering why I was getting all of these weird Pins that I had no interest in. Luckily my daughter set me straight (like she does on all computer issues). I had to go thru everyone I followed and un-follow most of their boards so I was just following the boards I wanted to. I haven't heard of any recent changes they have made.
Cindy
Here is the response I received after I sent an email inquiring how to fix my problem.
I'm so sorry for the trouble! We're always trying out new things behind the scenes at Pinterest and it sounds like you're a part of something new we're testing out.
The pins you're seeing in your home feed are part of our Picked For You feature. We suggest pins you might like based on what you've pinned onto your own boards.
Unfortunately, I'm not able to remove these pins from your home feed. I understand your frustration, but hopefully these pins are similar to things you like and you can find more boards and pinners with content that interests you.
Your feedback is great and we really appreciate it! If you have any comments or suggestions on the feature, we'll be sure to keep them in mind as we build out new products.
Let me know if that answers your question or if you'd like more information.
Mine's a hot mess, as well! I almost never go there (time suck), nor do I go to Facebook very often (time suck) unless there's something VERY specific that I'm looking for, so I hadn't seen my feed for a bit. There's ZERO way to see which boards you're following, and which items Pinterest "chose" for you - ridiculous! In my mind, it totally defeats the purpose of Pinterest - for you to "catalog" things that you want to refer back to - how do you do that with all that other crapola mixed in? I may delete my account, it's that messed up! I have to go tell the folks at Pinterest now...
I just checked mine and nothing looks any different to normal (thank goodness!) and none of the "extra" pins that you have mentioned. I sincerely hope that they DON'T do it to my account as I would hate it - it sounds incredibly annoying!
I'm not surprised. Sorry this has happened and has totally ruined the intended purpose of the site for you.
When Pinterest first started up and came under fire for claiming "rights" to anything you pin, I canceled my account. Even though I have heard that they have changed their terms of use in regard to this, I would not go back. They showed right from the start that they were not going to put their users first.
I hope they discontinue this absurd "test" for those of you that still love the site!
(I also am very disappointed in the lack of pinning "etiquette." Far too often, the pins are not linked back to the original source. Of course, this is a user error, not Pinterest, but it's one more reason that the site doesn't work for me.)
makes you wonder if they are targeting people who have accounts that do not pin very many things for being test subjects to try to get you to be more active??
( mine looks normal today ) but my pins are in the thousands...
(crossing fingers it does not happen to me either)
that's weird - I don't see any changes on my Pinterest either and I don't have thousands pins - just about 200
occasionally I get emails from Pinterest with suggestions about pins or boards I might like... but nothing on my account...
I would suggest contacting Pinterest support/customer service...
I am taking the advice given here to send daily emails. Yesterday I got two personalized responses. Today I got an auto generated email that said their staff was too small to respond to my email, but, of course, they "care" about me and my account. I had used the feature button on many pins yesterday saying please don't send me more pins like this. This morning many of those very same pins were back on my home feed. There were 265 pins that they selected mixed in my home feed. 265!!! There is no way to delete them and I have decided the only thing I will use Pinterest for now is to send them a daily complaining email. How sad.
Shame they aren't addressing the pinning etiquette and testing & notifying of bad links rather than spamming their users.
From an IT point of view they probably can't single out a test user to change back. It is like using a blanket, it covers what it covers and they don't want to start cutting holes in it while they are testing it.
I have one pin on Pinterest. It was so hard to figure out! I just logged in now and it's full of pictures for me to "browse". It doesn't look as if they've been pinned for me... So confusing. I never did get the hang of Pinterest. Logging out now. I guess I'll visit it again in about a year.
What would make Pinterest think this is a good idea? Oh yeah, businesses are paying them to spam you. Obviously they're not basing their pre-selected pins on anything the user has previously pinned or the OP wouldn't have gotten info about cats. It's these kinds of "surprises" that have kept me off of FB, Twitter, Pinterest (which until now I liked but hadn't joined).
And thanks to the moderators of SCS for not doing such nasty things to us and for trying to keep us safe from other ne'er-do-wells.
Dea
Today I looked at my home feed and I had a bunch of pins from "GroopDealz"....clicked on the name "GroopDealz" from one of the pins and it took me to that home page with all the dozens of boards...I clicked Unfollow All at the top of the page and when I went back to my home feed page they were gone!
Don't know it this is the same thing you ladies have experienced...I don't remember following this group...so I think maybe it was "given" to me as possible things I would be interested in. There were a few crafty pins, which is similar to things I pin the most but there were so many other things from this same group that didn't interest me. Glad I was able to get rid of them so quickly!
I went in to the settings on my Pinterest account today and noticed there is a box to say yes or no to about allowing Pinterest to use sites you visit to personalize your Pinterest account. I changed it from yes to no so they won't take the sites I visited and put things I might like on my Pinterest page. Just because I visit a recipe site, doesn't mean I want recipe pins sent to me...
I went in to the settings on my Pinterest account today and noticed there is a box to say yes or no to about allowing Pinterest to use sites you visit to personalize your Pinterest account. I changed it from yes to no so they won't take the sites I visited and put things I might like on my Pinterest page. Just because I visit a recipe site, doesn't mean I want recipe pins sent to me...
Thanks for the info! :p
I changed my settings.
__________________ The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. Practice safe eating always use condiments
I guess what the say about the squeaky wheel getting the oil is true! I sent multiple emails to Pinterest. Even after being told I was part of the test and they could not remove me from the test, I went to my account yesterday morning and found all of the messy clutter gone. I was so relieved to have my home feed back to MY home feed again! I sent them a thank you email, but haven't heard back from them. I am fine with that providing they don't do this again. It was such an awful idea on their part. I did tell them that it might work if they put it somewhere that people could choose to view it, or choose not to view it. I keep wondering if they got so many complaints that they ended the test quickly. Whatever the reason, I just keep crossing my fingers that they never go back to this idea again.
I have really enjoyed looking at all the wonderful inspiration that you can find at pinterest. So...last week I decided to give it a try and joined the site. So now I read this...Oh, No! I just checked my account and so far, nothing has changed, but I just received a letter in my email, about them testing pins! So maybe I'm going to be a target in the future. If I am, I hope I can unsubscribe! (Sometimes things like this don't go away---because you are connected to other people, sites, etc.) From the time I joined till now. I clicked the NO function for them NOT to personalize my pinterest! But that may not mean anything to them. I will be watching this thread for updates on this latest news!
__________________ Jill
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Thank you for bringing all this to my attention. I could not figure out why I was getting the stuff I didn't pin. I also cannot find the Pinterest e-mail address to voice my opinion to them. Am fairly new to Pinterest so am still navigating my way around.
Thank you, Sue
I just got an email from Pinterest that they're going to start advertising. According to the email, it won't be banner ads or pop-ups, but:
For our first test, we'll promote a few pins in search results and category feeds. For example, a pin for a Darth Vader outfit from a costume shop might be promoted in a search for �halloween.�
Sorry, I was already turned off from the first intrusion. I'm done now - closing my account...
I got this email too. I dunno how to close my account. As it is, I had to search and search for my password to log in.
If you click on your name/pic, you get a drop-down menu. One of the options is "settings". Go there, scroll to the bottom of the page and there's a "deactivate account" button. Click that, confirm that you mean it - done!
It's just too bad that they have to mess with it - they had such a great thing going! Even though I didn't go there often, it was still a great resource. I have enough "stuff" to wade through in the course of my days without "extra" to deal with - totally not worth it to me... Still kind of sad, though...
Ahhh, thanks!! I just deactivated it. I never did get the hang of it. Maybe I'll try it again in a few years. The same thing happened with me with MySpace and Facebook. Never did get the hang of MySpace. Got on Facebook for a while, and then deactivated the account permanently. A few years later I got back on and it's okay now.
a while back... they had TOU that said you claimed you owned what you pinned ( remember that?) during that time frame I did de-activate my account... and you know what? ( you can use that site the same way you do now but without actually pinning anything, so as a source for inspiration the search box works just fine if you are signed in or not)
I also got the email yesterday. I think the answer is quite simple MONEY! They don't make any for those of us that simply pin cards and recipes etc. They did not create this because they are nice people and wanted to do a good thing. Once they got people well invested into Pinterest and people started asking about it like Facebook, they bring out the hook.........gotcha....meaning us.
Now they can make money from those that want to use Pinterest to gain customers. At least that's my opinion. :
I'm sure it's true about money being the reason - it is for LOTS of things (even where you wouldn't think money would/could be a factor) - but it's one more reason for me not to stay involved. And Stacy - you're absolutely right about being able to peruse without having an account. That's what I did before I started any boards or anything, and I'll continue to do that when I have any time available or need to find something specific. Meanwhile, maybe I can motivate to make a card or two in all of the time I'm saving by not wading through Pinterest (or joining conversations about it)
I recognize that they are in a business to make money. Nothing wrong with making money for a service you are providing, creating jobs, etc. We should not expect someone to develop and support a website for free, right? Even SCS has advertising.
I'm just not sure I want the advertising blended in with my pins. I think I would prefer to see it called out separately as a banner.
So far, I have only seen pins that blend in with my existing pins in terms of content (ex: recipes). I would be really annoyed if I saw things outside of my expectations that come up on the main Pinterest board (political "humor", nudity, etc.).
I recognize that they are in a business to make money. Nothing wrong with making money for a service you are providing, creating jobs, etc. We should not expect someone to develop and support a website for free, right? Even SCS has advertising.
I'm just not sure I want the advertising blended in with my pins. I think I would prefer to see it called out separately as a banner.
So far, I have only seen pins that blend in with my existing pins in terms of content (ex: recipes). I would be really annoyed if I saw things outside of my expectations that come up on the main Pinterest board (political "humor", nudity, etc.).
And you have hit the nail on the head with why I've deactivated my account... I don't expect them to forego advertising - they are running a business, like you said. BUT - if the idea is to pin things of interest to yourself, why do they think it's a good idea to choose for you, whether it's mixing in images from who-knows-where or promoting anything in a search? If I'm searching "Halloween", it's for darn sure I don't want to know about the Darth Vader costume - I'm an empty nester and I'm certainly not going to wear it! (that's the example they used in their email) Put the ads across the top of the page or in a sidebar, if you have to have them, and I'll click through or not - MY choice!
Today I looked at my home feed and I had a bunch of pins from "GroopDealz"....clicked on the name "GroopDealz" from one of the pins and it took me to that home page with all the dozens of boards...I clicked Unfollow All at the top of the page and when I went back to my home feed page they were gone!
Don't know it this is the same thing you ladies have experienced...I don't remember following this group...so I think maybe it was "given" to me as possible things I would be interested in. There were a few crafty pins, which is similar to things I pin the most but there were so many other things from this same group that didn't interest me. Glad I was able to get rid of them so quickly!
this is not the same thing. never pin something from a group - you end up with thousands of pins just from them and your feed page doesn't have anything else in it. I found out the hard way when I was hungry one day and pinned a bunch of recipes from what were several recipe groups. took days to figure out what to do, but I did the same thing, unfollowed all from the groups.I will be very, very sad if pinterest does this with all pinners, not the intention of my using pinterest.
Thanks for the information. Now I know why I was getting multiple pins of crazy lamps. I even went to the source page to make sure I hadn't clicked on the lamp category by accident. I do enjoy the "pins of the week" and the sites they suggest I check out, but I don't want them randomly choosing categories for me.
I just found an email from Pinterest too - must be what they are sending to everyone:
......... "That's why for us, it's so important that Pinterest is a service that will be here to stay. To help make sure it does, we're going to start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses. I know some of you may be thinking, "Oh great...here come the banner ads.� But we�re determined to not let that happen. While we haven't figured out all the details, I can say that promoted pins will be:
Tasteful�No flashy banners or pop-up ads.
Transparent�We�ll always let you know if someone paid for what you see, or where you see it.
Relevant�These pins should be about stuff you're actually interested in, like a delicious recipe, or a jacket that's your style.
Improved based on your feedback�Keep letting us know what you think, and we'll keep working to make things better.
For our first test, we'll promote a few pins in search results and category feeds. For example, a pin for a Darth Vader outfit from a costume shop might be promoted in a search for �halloween.� Nobody's paying for anything yet�we want to see how things go and, more than anything, hear what you think. Thanks so much for all your support these first few years, and we hope you'll keep pinning with us for many years to come!........"
I REALLY hope they don't fill my feed with "stuff", otherwise what is the point of Pinterest :???: ? I know they have to pay their bills but put ads down the side like someone already suggested if they need to have some sort of advertising 'cos I just know the ads won't be relevant to what I have pinned. It would be like those EBay emails that I get that say: "because you looked at (insert picture of snowflake dies), would you be interested in (insert picture of giant stuffed green frog) or this (insert picture of antique hairbrush)? :???:
Changes to Pinterest
