Grim5next On Pinterest: We Pin Because We Care

Rumour has it Pinterest is quite the social media typhoon these days. It’s only a few months old, but it’s definitely eclipsed some platforms that have been with us for ages! It’s probably because it’s such a positive force: a place where you can find inspiration and appreciate good art. And people use it for all kinds of reasons: find daily inspiration, make portfolios, promote businesses…

And then there’s Grim5next’s reason to pin… to give thanks!

Grim5next has been fortunate enough to find great artists and great supporters for the past few weeks, and that’s more than any infant site could have hoped for! I have been thanking people left and right – on twitter, facebook, goodreads, digg, stumbleupon – for spreading the word.

But I also wanted to have some visual representation of what we do, who we are, and who’s on board with us! After all, Grim5next is about bringing art – and artists – together. And what better way to both thank and bring everyone together than pinning the art of our artists and supporters?! 

Let us spread the word about you for a change. ^_^

So I’ve created two boards: Grim5next Artists & Grim5next Supporters. The first one is reserved for the artists who have contributed or signed up to one or more of our projects. The second is for all of our supporters out there! Both boards will showcase YOUR art in gratitude of your support of Grim5next! It’s our way to say thanks for playing!!!  

And because there’s no way to hunt down every single person who’s RT’ed or liked or dug or stumbled or whatever, you’ll have to leave a comment here, stating that you’d like us to display your art. Then Grim5next will choose one piece of art to pin on the Supporters board.

We can make quite the collection, don’t you think?

If you’re one of the Grim5next artists, please let me know if you’d like to be included on the Grim5next Artists board. I’d love to actually gather you all up and display your genius in one place. Who knows, I may even create a Grim5next Art board where we can pin works-in-progress in the future. The more art, the merrier the artists. :D

If you want to feature on the Supporters board, all you have to do is… spread the love and tell us where you spread it. Don’t forget to include the link to your portfolio/site/profile so we can find something to pin/re-pin as soon as! Bonus points if you share a hot topic (e.g. Calling for Writers, Illustrators, & Composers). Super-bonus points if you include #Grim5next to your tweets. Obviously, Pinterest works with images and videos, so these formats are a given.

Now, you’ll notice that both boards are glaringly empty. It’s mainly because some people still have issues with Pinterest. You may know that there was a huge controversy about Pinterest’s Terms of Service. So Pinterest had to change their terms and the update is effective TODAY (April 6).

The problem was that the old terms basically threatened to exploit artists by obtaining the rights to sell and distribute the content they pinned (though some will say otherwise, I’m in two minds). And because anyone could pin anything, every artist out there was screwed because Pinterest actually reserves the right to keep your content even after you delete your account! 

To make matters worse, Pinterest discouraged self-promotion.

Today I took the time to revise the new Terms of Service and *think* that it’s now safe to display your art on Pinterest… well, as safe as any bookmarking site can be. There will always be people who’ll plagiarise and steal, but at least you know your work won’t be sold by somebody other than yourself, right? But don't take my word for it, go check. ;)

The other reason I have not filled the boards yet is because it specifically states in the terms – and rightly so – that one is not allowed to pin if that infringes somebody’s rights. If you think about it, a lot of people are pinning left and right, while others try to booby-trap their sites so that Pinterest won’t be able to access their content. The result is… a bit of chaos honestly.

Personally, I respect the rights of every artist and the last thing I want is to overstep my rights and invade theirs. This is why Grim5next will not pin art if not specifically asked. We’ll pin it only with your permission and blessings! The point is to give thanks, not to infringe anybody…

If anyone still has any doubts about Pinterest’s intentions, go read their revised Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. In addition, I have included a few quotes below to help you out.

I really believe that Pinterest is a positive force, but because it’s new, there’s bound to be some malfunctions. As long as the team keeps updating and communicating with its users, everything will work out fine. God knows Grim5next has had several malfunctions and yet, everyone has been so supportive. All the more reason to give thanks!

Terms of Service (Pinterest)

(excerpts)

You retain all of your rights in all of the User Content you post to our Service.

You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify (e.g., re-format), re-arrange, and distribute your User Content on Pinterest for the purposes of operating and providing the Service(s) to you and to our other Users.

Following termination or deactivation of your account, or if you remove any User Content from your account or your boards, Pinterest may retain your User Content for a commercially reasonable period of time for backup, archival, or audit purposes. Furthermore, Pinterest and other Users may retain and continue to display, reproduce, re-pin, modify, re-arrange, and distribute any of your User Content that other Users have re-pinned to their own boards or which you have posted to public or semi-public areas of the Service.

Acceptable Use Policy

(excerpts)

You agree not to post User Content that:

--infringes any third party’s Intellectual Property Rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other personal or proprietary rights;

--displays any information or content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; 

--use the Service for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party, except as otherwise explicitly permitted for you by Pinterest or in any manner not permitted by the Terms;

Pinterest reserves the right, but is not obligated, to remove any User Content for any reason or for no reason, including User Content that Pinterest believes violates this Acceptable Use Policy or its Terms of Service. Pinterest may also permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend a User account without notice and liability for any reason, including if, in Pinterest’s sole determination, a User violates any provision of this Acceptable Use Policy , our Terms of Service, or for no reason...

You therefore agree that any User Content that you post to the Service does not and will not violate any law or infringe the rights of any third party, including without limitation any Intellectual Property Rights (defined below), publicity rights or rights of privacy.

...we grant you a license to use the Service, including accessing and viewing Pinterest Content, for your personal, noncommercial use to allow you to express yourself, discuss public issues, report on issues of public concern, engage in parody and as expressly permitted by the features of the Service.