I can't find another explanation towards this rage against Pinterest that some of the posters above have, besides the fact that Pinterest took a minority investment of $100M and hence came into the light as "making money". Also, it seems t [Mehr lesen...] geschrieben in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!

I can't find another explanation towards this rage against Pinterest that some of the posters above have, besides the fact that Pinterest took a minority investment of $100M and hence came into the light as "making money". Also, it seems that most of you don't have an account there and didn't really look into what this site does. I can't see why else you are not mad on Facebook or Google Images, the threats are the same and they've been around for much longer.Just as Instagram, these websites don't have a monetizing factor and such investments may guide them into ways to make them profitable. They will also make them legit and will address any potential threats because investors want to protect their investment.One problem that I admit as being real is the ability of a user to strip the original URL when repinning. That could be an issue and I encourage everyone to email Pinterest and share their thoughts about this feature. The fact that someone can take an unwatermarked image and post it there... it can be done with or without our button. There is no connection whatsoever. I already explained what our button does. It is the same as in Twitter, Facebook or Google+. We are not encouraging theft. Whoever is using that button on Dreamstime is already aware of stock photography as the site provides all needed infoThese are social times and we should make the most of them. Simply being against them would bring nothing. Trade associations address threats by tweaking new models not by completey denying them.@Cathy you have a photo on Facebook. No watermark, no credit line. I can share that to my friends via FB. It would keep your original address and you could say it is ok. I can save it and share it to my friends. That would strip the original address and we will have an "orphan work" (others prefer to call them hostages). One would be legit the other will not.There are ways to use a site or a tool and make it legit. We should advocate legal usage and this is actually what our button does. It tells people about stock photography's existence because the viewers of those images arrive on our site and some will purchase or help boost your SEO ranking. We can deny it and lose an opportunity. Theft will not end, there are other ways to steal images. While we do make serious efforts to combat these, you have to be aware that there is no way to limit theft 100%. We surely aim for that but if you want your images to be safe, you should not even take them. Once you share them (either by email to your close friends or by sites, agencies etc), there is a possibility that someone will use your image.People are not born thieves. Most don't know they need to pay to use images, only a few will actually steal. You better try to have as many legal users as possible even if there will be thieves as well. Their percentage is minimal compared to what you have to gain. I encourage you to read the article below, it's a very interesting point of view of Paul Melcher, who is deeply involved in traditional stock photography. As you know this side of the industry was most affected by new models. First came RF, then CDs, then consolidation, then microstock... This trend continues, you are either a part of new models and try to make them work for you or this industry will chew you and spit you out. posted in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!

I think one of the potential issues that hasn't been addressed is how does the Dreamstime contributor know?How do you know that someone else is sharing your image through Facebook or linking it from their site via referral program? How do you know G [Mehr lesen...] geschrieben in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!

I think one of the potential issues that hasn't been addressed is how does the Dreamstime contributor know?How do you know that someone else is sharing your image through Facebook or linking it from their site via referral program? How do you know Google images is not displaying it along with their ads? You don't know. If you find your image on Pinterest and it is linked to your page here and displays the copyright there is no infringement. There is no significant "usage" of an image as long as it wasn't included in a design, website nor stripped of its credit line/watermark. It is simply a sharing of that image taking the user to Dreamstime. Do you think removing your image would help? They will find another one and it will not be linked to a stock agency. Their visitors will not know what stock photography means, end of story. This is a way to make stock photography known and advocate legal use. Chase these users away and they will turn to Flickr where they have Creative Commons for real usage for free.Yes, there could be ways when a user pins a non watermarked image, those are cases we need to be vigilant about. But we're talking different things and different outcomes. Again, you can use a knife to cut bread or to kill someone.Am I a fan of Pinterest? Not really, but one must admit they have success and a better approach to visual content than other social media websites. posted in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!

@Cathyclapper, judging by your post, you misinterpreted something you read somewhere about our policies. Nobody is allowing your images to be shared for free in Pinterest. If we would do that we would be denying our own business model and our efforts and [Mehr lesen...] geschrieben in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!

@Cathyclapper, judging by your post, you misinterpreted something you read somewhere about our policies. Nobody is allowing your images to be shared for free in Pinterest. If we would do that we would be denying our own business model and our efforts and hard work to protect photographers rights.Dreamstime has only two features that interact with Pinterest at this moment. One is through our own account, that shares thumbnails (with our watermark all over them and site address) AND link these images to their own page on Dreamstime. There, the visitor can purchase the photo, obviously.The other allows users to pin a photo for their Pinterest boards. That photo is also linked to its page on our site and also includes watermark and site name. Others can take them, but they are watermarked. They can take them from our own website too.These are both tools that help us promote the site to a new medium. There are other agencies that may prefer to wait and tolerate images being used there as long as there is no profit and react only when profits show up. This link may be useful to you: posted in I do not want my images shareable on sites like Pinterest. Please opt me out!