Pinterest "Ettiquette"

...or, "Don't Act Like You Made that Art all by Yourself."

So if you're not familiar with Pinterest, it's a somewhat new social media site where you can 'pin' images from around the web to a virtual cork board.  It's a repository for recipes, DIY projects, and all forms of art.  I have a lot of fun with it myself, and have boards for things ranging to decor inspirations to DIY dog houses & beds.  But these past few weeks, I've had a few annoying things pop up that just made me want to...wait for it...slam my head into my keyboard.

Not only did I find that I had been blocked by one or two other pinners, but one of the boards I follow had this image pinned, along with the following notice:

"1) Please BE CONSIDERATE.....DO NOT pin more than 10 pins from any board at one time! 2) If you enjoy our selections enough to repin 10-20 images from our ENTIRE PROFILE, PLEASE have the courtesy to at least FOLLOW US! 3) BE ORIGINAL!!! It takes MANY hours to curate our boards, covers, titles, etc. It's very DISRESPECTFUL to simply COPY their original order and content! 4) Please be advised that abusers of the above rules will be BLOCKED! Thank you!"

Ok, let's back up for a second.  I'm all about respecting the work of other artists.  So I could understand if a pinner is the creator of the artwork, and gets pissed if other folks are repinning it, claiming it as their own.  But in each case, all of these other pinners are doing exactly what I am - browsing the site and pinning things they like.  Claiming that there's something special about 'curating' a Pinterest board is an artistic endeavor, a breach of which worthy of banning, is like a DJ claiming to be just as creative as the musicians who made his music.  You've seen the meme:

You didn't do anything special, you just used someone else's special thing to get attention.  Just like the people you're blocking.