19 Comments
User's avatar
iMarkAnX's avatar

Just my take on the platform. I never understood the point of Pinterest as it was always a hot mess with recycled content and dead it links. I tried using it starting in 2011 for some of my projects and for sharing my content and in the end gave up. Deleted my account and even added home networking settings to simply block Pinterest suggested links. I forgot Pinterest existed because I made the domain vanish.

I think this gizmodo article captures my frustration with the platform https://gizmodo.com/pinterest-should-die-1821521620

Expand full comment
The Velvet Chaise's avatar

Wow this is a telling article. I willingly plowed through the chaff of Pinterest to find the wheat for about 8 years longer than the reporter, then! It took that final blow of fake images to kill my interest I guess. The premise and the early days, however, I still consider as immensely valuable. They should have had more women running the show for sure.

Expand full comment
Mike Kinde's avatar

This friction between AI generated content and real, practical solutions that people can use is an interesting problem for an idea board. If the executives at Pinterest truly understood their customer’s needs, they’d make it easier to filter out … or ban it outright.

Expand full comment
The Velvet Chaise's avatar

Agree. But even Etsy and eBay have been damaged by their success. Companies kinda lose their purity of purpose and content. I guess it is inevitable.

Expand full comment
Mike Kinde's avatar

It seems like it’s the economic “need” to keep growing. Eventually your customer base is too small and you have to change to attract more people … and then your competition is different, too.

Expand full comment
The Velvet Chaise's avatar

It makes sense to my rational mind. Yet I still grieve for what was. That’s my problem I guess.

Expand full comment
Mike Kinde's avatar

It’s a societal problem … you’re fine!

Expand full comment
Hillary's avatar

Erika, I am loving The Velvet Chaise! Today your article on the Pretender, formerly known as Pinterest, struck me on so many levels. With great clarity (and a real beating heart), you’ve exposed a global transformation that’s unfolding with consequences we’re struggling to comprehend. Along with fellow artists, writers, musicians, and actors, I share your anguish. The current and future work lost to AI seems a cruel twist—knowing it’s our very work that AI mines to regurgitate. Thank goodness for The Velvet Chaise. I will skip Pinterest’s “house of mirrors” and come here for II—intelligent inspiration.

Expand full comment
Veronica (Niki) Fielding's avatar

This is a thoughtful and insightful post. I haven't been on Pinterest in a while, maybe 6 months or so. I was looking for ideas for turning part of the basement into a library (coincidentally to some of the searches you mentioned--is something in the air about hunkering down in a cozy subterranean space?). I expected to find at least 15 "ideas." I found 1 room that looked remotely like what I was searching for. Just one. Same happened when I went looking for hair styles. Google was actually better than Pinterest for finding ideas. So sad.

Expand full comment
Rebecca Ittner's avatar

Erika, you've said precisely what I've been thinking for the past year+. When I was building and decorating my new home in 2019, Pinterest was my go-to site for kitchen

and bathroom design ideas and decorating inspiration. Now, I can't find a decent, real human-written article on anything. It's been a lesson in frustration and sadness.

Thank you for your insight and voice!

Expand full comment
Brooke Jones's avatar

There was no creative spark or inspiration to be found on Pinterest when trying to gather ideas for a shed renovation on my newly purchased home. After becoming increasingly frustrated, I went to my local library, stumbled upon your book "She Shed", followed you on Instagram, and here I am. I am feeling beyond inspired and hungry to create. I am so thankful I serendipitously found your book. AI cannot compete with the tangible spark your book has ignited.

Expand full comment
The Velvet Chaise's avatar

Wow, that's incredible! Best thing I've heard all month. Thank you for telling me that.

Expand full comment
SA's avatar
Jun 6Edited

AI equally is going to plague our internet to the point that folks are going to be desperate for human content. In a way I feel it will cause a rebalance where we become more connected to makers we trust again.

Expand full comment
The Velvet Chaise's avatar

Someone else made that very same comment to me. A return to nature, if you will. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Expand full comment
Sunday Hendrickson's avatar

Soooo agree with you, Erika! Soooo sad! But also soooo glad there's a SubStack where we can talk about it!

Expand full comment
Jennifer Bioche's avatar

And here we have the Frankenstein of the modyworld… AI to me is a film I will rewatch only when I care to be disturbing… akin to Orwell’s 1984. What would Jane Austin say to all of this? What Elisabeth Leseur, SOG, wrote in her diary… and on and on… ❤️❤️

Expand full comment
Brooke Jones's avatar

There was no creative spark or inspiration to be found on Pinterest when trying to gather ideas for a shed renovation on my newly purchased home. After becoming increasingly frustrated, I went to my local library, stumbled upon your book "She Shed", followed you on Instagram, and here I am. I am feeling beyond inspired and hungry to create. I am so thankful I serendipitously found your book. AI cannot compete with the tangible spark your book has ignited.

Expand full comment
Brooke Jones's avatar

There was no creative spark or inspiration to be found on Pinterest when trying to gather ideas for a shed renovation on my newly purchased home. After becoming increasingly frustrated, I went to my local library, stumbled upon your book "She Shed", followed you on Instagram, and here I am. I am feeling beyond inspired and hungry to create. I am so thankful I serendipitously found your book. AI cannot compete with the tangible spark your book has ignited.

Expand full comment
Brooke Jones's avatar

There was no creative spark or inspiration to be found on Pinterest when trying to gather ideas for a shed renovation on my newly purchased home. After becoming increasingly frustrated, I went to my local library, stumbled upon your book "She Shed", followed you on Instagram, and here I am. I am feeling beyond inspired and hungry to create. I am so thankful I serendipitously found your book. AI cannot compete with the tangible spark your book has ignited.

Expand full comment