The $30/Day Pinterest Method - WARNING - DANGER!

[singingsleep]

THIS METHOD IS DANGEROUS. PLEASE READ!

I'll start out by saying I came across this method, and found success with it after lots of work and totally changing it up. I worked super hard, dug super deep, and learned enough to author this thread with tips about driving pinterest traffic. I did a lot of research, and I am real good at research. I'm hoping disclosing this will convince you to listen to me when I say this method, as it sits, is dangerous, beyond blackhat, and can get you into some real deep, dark, corn-filled shit. I know it seems innocent. I know it works. But I can't just sit on what I've learned and let you guys do this to yourself. I'll try to explain.

This method is simple, straightforward, easy, and works. Have you guys stopped to think about why it hasn't been done before? The short answer is PHOTO COPYRIGHT LAW. Oh please, don't stop reading here. It's much, MUCH worse than you think. I know what you're thinking. Fuck copyright law. This is the internet. This is a blackhat forum, fuckem, etc. The thing with this is, if you follow that method exactly as written, at the very least, you are gonna get your site taken down, and if that's all that happens, you will be lucky. Please read on.

In a nutshell: every photo taken is copyrighted. This method involves stealing and reposting copyrighted photos to your own site. When someone finds their photo on your site, they can send a DMCA to your provider and have your site taken down instantly. You may have already known that. But did you know that the owner can SUE YOU FOR A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY EVEN AFTER YOU TAKE IT DOWN? Oh, fuck yeah they can, and it's happened before. Altering the photo or giving credit or a backlink DOES NOT PROTECT YOU. Every single photo you post on your site is a liability, and to top it off, you're driving traffic to your site by promoting the stolen picture on a site CHOCK FULL of broke-ass food bloggers just waiting to sue the everliving FUCK out of someone for stealing their photos. These people don't sue for the going amount of what that photo should be worth on shutterstock, they sue for the thousands and even millions, and they get it, for various reasons. There, I've said it. If you want to continue after reading that, be my guest, at least you're informed. If you want to know the details, keep reading.

Do you remember not too long ago, the outrage over facebook, instagram and other social sites changing their terms of service to include full rights over your photos? Of course, most people thought this meant that these companies were gonna use their family thanksgiving photos for commercials or some shit, that couldn't be farther from the truth. The truth is, they HAD to do this in order to keep from getting sued by photographers because technically, every pic you upload or share anywhere is copyrighted, and someone can be sued for it.

Do you know someone actually sued google because their photo came up in google image search results?Oh yeah. Thank goodness they lost, mostly because the results were in thumbnail form. This is the only case to set precedence in this particular area, so as it stands, it MAY be okay to steal these photos and post them as thumbnails, but even then, you better watch your ass. Also, if you post pics on your site in thumbnail form, they will show up all shitty when re-pinned directly to pinterest anyway.

You may still not give a shit. People steal pics all the time, fat chance. Here is why you should care. This particular method combines a few factors that makes it a whole lot more likely you're gonna get your ass handed to you. Number one is that the primary traffic source is pinterest, which is full of food bloggers, and food bloggers are a real special kind of asshole. Food bloggers are mostly bored housewives who read food blogs, heard they could make money with food blogs, tried to take the shortcut and make blogs where they re-posted great recipes they found elsewhere, got in trouble for it, and started food blogging themselves, because that's the only way not to get in trouble, or so they think. They already hate you. They have created a culture where they follow copyright law like the bible and are militant about photo theft, because they can't steal photos and profit, and they're damn sure not going to let you, either. The photo owner does not have to find your photo for you to get in trouble. Any disgruntled food blogger or wannabe can see it, and do their damndest to rat you out. These are people with a lot of time on their hands who know what tineye is, and they love being able to DMCA a site with little effort. They will come after you, they will hit hard, they won't give up, and lawyers will take them because they win. This method involves putting an untold number of copyrighted images in one place, making you the biggest target possible.

Food bloggers struggle because they don't know proper SEO and promotion for the most part, and they have to do everything the hard way-- through backscratching, begging for backlinks, kissing ass and following the rules. Food bloggers are the people that buy the stupid ass SEO books and shit like that. They know each other, they talk to each other, they kiss each other's asses and they will work together to get you in trouble.

Add that to the fact that in order for this method to work, you have to deal with powerful pinners and board owners on pinterest who are also aware of this law, who are also thirsty to build followers, and don't want you to have it that easy, either. The big, exclusive, elite community boards on pinterest have food bloggers as contributors. You gonna get raped.

Add that to the fact that pinterest's legal terms of service puts YOU in the hot seat, should anyone decide to sue you, or them, for something you did on pinterest. Yep, that means if someone sues pinterest because you promoted your site with their pic, YOU HAVE TO PAY PINTEREST'S LEGAL FEES. Lawyers are deleting their entire pinterest accounts because of this.

Yes, these bloggers sue over their pics. Yes, they will sue even if you take it down. Now that this method is taking off, they're gonna figure it out. They're broke, and they will see suing you as a money source.

They are bloggers, so they know all the ways you monetize your site. They will get your adsense banned with DMCA. They will get your site de-indexed by google with DMCA. They will will go after any other ppc or affiliate company you use with DMCA. If you are selling digital goods, they will go after your payment processor with DMCA. They've got the time, and they will win everytime.

I thought about it, and there ARE the common, obvious ways around this. You could incorporate offshore, use bulletproof hosting, etc. But that's just gonna piss them off more, and once you have a site populated with thousands of stolen pics and thousands of militant bloggers coming after you, something's gonna give, methinks. The method also becomes much more of a hassle with this in mind.

That being said, there ARE legal ways around this. You just have to use your head. Keep in mind these ways will add a significant amount of extra work to this method.

I could cite many good sources here but I don't want them finding the backlink and figuring it out. Feel free to google "stealing food blogger photos sued" without quotes and read the replies to get a taste of how these people operate. Google getty images and other image conglomerates suing the pants off innocent people. Google lawyers deleting pinterest accounts. Inform yourself.

I posted this because I hate the thought of so many people putting so much work into these types of sites, only to get screwed in the end.

Tread with caution, and thanks for reading.

 

[VonDoom]

Thanks for the warning.

Correct me if I am wrong tho... Once someone post a method... in my opinion that means that this niche is so saturated that there is hardly a profit to grab... if it isn't than it will be quickly anyway.
So... anyone who follows this food blog method blindly and tries to make a dime through pinterest by following this is just very stupid, and maybe deserves to get in some sort of trouble? That might teach them to think for themselves...

Anyways, then again copy right law also applies to any other niche so it's a fair warning to anyone getting into this =)

 

[TheVigilante]

Thanks for the warning.

Correct me if I am wrong tho... Once someone post a method... in my opinion that means that this niche is so saturated that there is hardly a profit to grab... if it isn't than it will be quickly anyway.
So... anyone who follows this food blog method blindly and tries to make a dime through pinterest by following this is just very stupid, and maybe deserves to get in some sort of trouble? That might teach them to think for themselves...

Anyways, then again copy right law also applies to any other niche so it's a fair warning to anyone getting into this =)

Its not like that you need to think outside the box and utilize it because many of them will apply the same method and get busted...

 

[VonDoom]

Its not like that you need to think outside the box and utilize it because many of them will apply the same method and get busted...

Yeah.. of course, if you don't think for yourself and just blindly follow something than that is bound to happen.

If I would post my money making method (if I had a good one...) than I would not explain it a 100%. But only get you on the right path, so if you than follow the posted method blindly of course you'll get caught. And that's the point the OP tries to make, think for yourself too. (And of course.. Be warned!)

 

[singingsleep]

You make some great points, and lord knows I have stolen my fair share of digital goodery, but I believe this method in particular is a ticking time bomb that could result in the type of trouble that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Most of the time, going after someone legally is more trouble than it's worth. In this case, going after you is more profitable for them than just having a blog, and it's easy for them to do. I personally wouldn't even trust whois protection, offshore hosting, and proxies with this because of the nature of the people I'm pissing off. This is coming from a person that sold pirated rosetta stone on ebay.

 

[Dj Co2]

I think a person who's in a third world country could get away with this method easily.

 

[singingsleep]

I think a person who's in a third world country could get away with this method easily.

I thought about that too, but then monetize it with what? It's gotta be an an affiliate company that's gonna ignore a shitload of DMCA's.

 

[alexa_s]

This thread is so funny I especially like the abundance of colorful words. Yes guys, if you do this method, you will receive a shitload of DMCA's, get sued for extremely enormous amounts of money and lose absolutely everything. You will also probably in jail for an extremely shitload amount of years.

 

[cloud34]

In a nutshell: every photo taken is copyrighted. This method involves stealing and reposting copyrighted photos to your own site. When someone finds their photo on your site, they can send a DMCA to your provider and have your site taken down instantly. You may have already known that. But did you know that the owner can SUE YOU FOR A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY EVEN AFTER YOU TAKE IT DOWN? Oh, fuck yeah they can, and it's happened before. Altering the photo or giving credit or a backlink DOES NOT PROTECT YOU. Every single photo you post on your site is a liability, and to top it off, you're driving traffic to your site by promoting the stolen picture on a site CHOCK FULL of broke-ass food bloggers just waiting to sue the everliving FUCK out of someone for stealing their photos. These people don't sue for the going amount of what that photo should be worth on shutterstock, they sue for the thousands and even millions, and they get it, for various reasons. There, I've said it. If you want to continue after reading that, be my guest, at least you're informed. If you want to know the details, keep reading.

I understand where you're coming from, but to be honest the threat of a lawsuit is very slim to none. I mean, a DMCA is a rare occurrence even, but a lawsuit? Let's take a look at YouTube for example. Youtube has been fighting back the usage of copyright footage in people's video for a LONG time. Major corporate/industry level content is being reproduced illegally daily on YouTube. And these companies have been breathing down YT's neck because of it which of course has led to the increase in copyright protection over the years. If suing someone was really that easy and worth it, trust me, don't you think these companies would have been all over it? They certainly have the resources and the money to do it. Class action lawsuits are very complex, time consuming and costly. Not just something your average food blogging housewife can pull out in one afternoon while the roast is cooking. Lawyers have to contacted, many whom have consolation fees. Letters are mailed back and forth between both parties which obviously includes a waiting period. It's just a mess.

If what you're saying was true to the extent that you say it is, then everyone on Pinterest would have been sued the living fuck out of. And if that's Pinterest then what's a giant like YouTube? Do you see where I'm going with this?

 

[integrity101]

I've already been warned by a certain lady to take down from my site food pics she had posted on a popular board or else she'd take action. How did she catch up on me? My bad...I actually followed her after I had pinned the pilfered pics to my board and clicked 'follow' in "also posted by...". I guess she visited my site and probably thought her pics drive more traffic to my site than hers. So so damn foolish of me, but we learn by mistakes. I removed the pics. Hope she cools it off and let the matter rest.

 

[lmxftw]

OP uses walltext!
It's a critical hit!

 

[Enryu]

A bit too much exposition for the casual BHW reader, but the risks you speak of are certainly real.

I've experimented with a food blog on Pinterest that has earned me low $$$$ and still brings in a couple $ daily from Adsense. I'm also a member of some hugely exclusive food boards alongside some very prominent Pinterest food bloggers, and despite the fact that I've never personally made a single recipe on my site and that none of the images belong to me, I've never had an issue with copyright.

Why?

Because, as you mentioned, you can legally get around this (by finding images that won't get you in trouble), although I would disagree that it requires a "significant amount of extra work."

In any case, I'd advise against going this route in Pinterest's current state. Too much effort to gain traction and acceptance into the bigger food boards. Though I'm sure there are other niches less exploited.

 

[Techxan]

Then dirty bastards, trying to keep honest thieves like you from using their images for your profit without paying for the use of their property. How dare them?

It ever occur to buy your damn images? They can't sue for stealing a recipe, so buy images and problem solved.

Believe it or not, there are certain expenses a business has to deal with.

 

[Tensegrity]

This is just pure alarmist drivel.

"Ticking time bomb"?
"Warning - Danger"?
"Lawyers are closing down their pinterest accounts"?
"They will win everytime"?

Really?

Are you actually running a food blog yourself? Have you been through the process of receiving a DMCA request or having your site taken down? How much of what you are talking about actually applies to your life thus far? Or are you just making assumptions based on your own insecurities?

Yes, most food bloggers are rabid about their precious copyrighted photos. Yes, they will do everything they can to take you down and they definitely have too much free time on their hands.

But, as you said so yourself, there are plenty of legal loopholes. So why all the alarmist drivel? Maybe you just got your first ever DMCA request with an angry "shame on you" legal threat attached and you're freaking the fuck out. But a single person angry at you is nothing compared to Facebook or Google being mad at you (or even Pinterest, for that matter).

For anyone who is actually scared of this non-threat, here is what you should do to keep yourself both hidden and compliant (something the OP should have shared instead of freaking out):

1. use fake accounts through anonymous proxies
2. set up reverse proxies on your websites
3. link to the source
4. set up a way for your visitors to report an image (i.e. submit a DMCA request)
5. promptly respond to a DMCA request with patience and understanding and explain that you sending them traffic
6. Wait for the legal threat to come. It won't.
7. If for some reason you do get the legal threat, either up-front or after your response, all you need to do is remove the image and the link to their site and replace it with someone else's

It's crazy to me that someone who's been a member since 2008 would take the action that you did. Hooray for bringing this to everyone's attention, but BOOO for getting freaked out about it and not offering up any real solutions.

The bottom line is that there is a real threat of legal action, but it's very low and fortunately for us bored housewives do not have the understanding of computers, networking and law that an internet marketer has.

 

[Cratos]

This is just pure alarmist drivel.

"Ticking time bomb"?
"Warning - Danger"?
"Lawyers are closing down their pinterest accounts"?
"They will win everytime"?

Really?

Are you actually running a food blog yourself? Have you been through the process of receiving a DMCA request or having your site taken down? How much of what you are talking about actually applies to your life thus far? Or are you just making assumptions based on your own insecurities?

Yes, most food bloggers are rabid about their precious copyrighted photos. Yes, they will do everything they can to take you down and they definitely have too much free time on their hands.

But, as you said so yourself, there are plenty of legal loopholes. So why all the alarmist drivel? Maybe you just got your first ever DMCA request with an angry "shame on you" legal threat attached and you're freaking the fuck out. But a single person angry at you is nothing compared to Facebook or Google being mad at you (or even Pinterest, for that matter).

For anyone who is actually scared of this non-threat, here is what you should do to keep yourself both hidden and compliant (something the OP should have shared instead of freaking out):

1. use fake accounts through anonymous proxies
2. set up reverse proxies on your websites
3. link to the source
4. set up a way for your visitors to report an image (i.e. submit a DMCA request)
5. promptly respond to a DMCA request with patience and understanding and explain that you sending them traffic
6. Wait for the legal threat to come. It won't.
7. If for some reason you do get the legal threat, either up-front or after your response, all you need to do is remove the image and the link to their site and replace it with someone else's

It's crazy to me that someone who's been a member since 2008 would take the action that you did. Hooray for bringing this to everyone's attention, but BOOO for getting freaked out about it and not offering up any real solutions.

The bottom line is that there is a real threat of legal action, but it's very low and fortunately for us bored housewives do not have the understanding of computers, networking and law that an internet marketer has.

Wise Words of The Pinterest Master...

Thanks for adding value to this thread. +rep

 

[deBling]

In my country (not third world) , to get you sued for this activity first of all you have to go with police. That A LOT hassle.

 

[lexa500]

So much butthurt of simple food pics. If there is so much trouble with copyright, why not to use legal sources of images? Like stock fotos, user generated content or public domain? Yes, it it will rise your costs, but it is super safe!

Posted via Topify using iPhone/iPad

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

OP, I can't find anything that new in your post but you do seem to be over reacting.

You need to take a chill pill Mate. You are becoming hysterical.

 

[singingsleep]

This thread is so funny I especially like the abundance of colorful words. Yes guys, if you do this method, you will receive a shitload of DMCA's, get sued for extremely enormous amounts of money and lose absolutely everything. You will also probably in jail for an extremely shitload amount of years.

You can do what you want man, and make fun of me all you'd like, but I posted this here to help and inform others, and hopefully keep someone from getting sued for money they don't have. If I help someone, then it's worth it to me, no matter how much I get made fun of. Once I read enough stories of whitehat people getting in trouble, I thought the threat to us would be very real. We disagree, and that's ok.

I understand where you're coming from, but to be honest the threat of a lawsuit is very slim to none. I mean, a DMCA is a rare occurrence even, but a lawsuit? Let's take a look at YouTube for example. Youtube has been fighting back the usage of copyright footage in people's video for a LONG time. Major corporate/industry level content is being reproduced illegally daily on YouTube. And these companies have been breathing down YT's neck because of it which of course has led to the increase in copyright protection over the years. If suing someone was really that easy and worth it, trust me, don't you think these companies would have been all over it? They certainly have the resources and the money to do it. Class action lawsuits are very complex, time consuming and costly. Not just something your average food blogging housewife can pull out in one afternoon while the roast is cooking. Lawyers have to contacted, many whom have consolation fees. Letters are mailed back and forth between both parties which obviously includes a waiting period. It's just a mess.

If what you're saying was true to the extent that you say it is, then everyone on Pinterest would have been sued the living fuck out of. And if that's Pinterest then what's a giant like YouTube? Do you see where I'm going with this?

This is the point I'm trying to make. I'd rather be in court against a huge company than a housewife blogger. I'm gonna look far worse in court against the housewife. And yes, these housewives ARE pulling this out in an afternoon while the roast is cooking. They are asking for a lot of dough and the lawyer just has to send some letters, easy work.

OP uses walltext!
It's a critical hit!
View attachment 45075

I noticed that, and seriously didn't know how to fix it, but I tried. Sorry for the eye rape.

Then dirty bastards, trying to keep honest thieves like you from using their images for your profit without paying for the use of their property. How dare them?

It ever occur to buy your damn images? They can't sue for stealing a recipe, so buy images and problem solved.

Believe it or not, there are certain expenses a business has to deal with.

Buying images is not the solution, IMHO. Even if you buy a photo, the owner can change the rights later and change their mind about what you can do with that photo. On a site with potentially thousands of images? Fuck that shit.

This is just pure alarmist drivel.

"Ticking time bomb"?
"Warning - Danger"?
"Lawyers are closing down their pinterest accounts"?
"They will win everytime"?

Really?

Are you actually running a food blog yourself? Have you been through the process of receiving a DMCA request or having your site taken down? How much of what you are talking about actually applies to your life thus far? Or are you just making assumptions based on your own insecurities?

Yes, most food bloggers are rabid about their precious copyrighted photos. Yes, they will do everything they can to take you down and they definitely have too much free time on their hands.

But, as you said so yourself, there are plenty of legal loopholes. So why all the alarmist drivel? Maybe you just got your first ever DMCA request with an angry "shame on you" legal threat attached and you're freaking the fuck out. But a single person angry at you is nothing compared to Facebook or Google being mad at you (or even Pinterest, for that matter).

For anyone who is actually scared of this non-threat, here is what you should do to keep yourself both hidden and compliant (something the OP should have shared instead of freaking out):

1. use fake accounts through anonymous proxies
2. set up reverse proxies on your websites
3. link to the source
4. set up a way for your visitors to report an image (i.e. submit a DMCA request)
5. promptly respond to a DMCA request with patience and understanding and explain that you sending them traffic
6. Wait for the legal threat to come. It won't.
7. If for some reason you do get the legal threat, either up-front or after your response, all you need to do is remove the image and the link to their site and replace it with someone else's

It's crazy to me that someone who's been a member since 2008 would take the action that you did. Hooray for bringing this to everyone's attention, but BOOO for getting freaked out about it and not offering up any real solutions.

The bottom line is that there is a real threat of legal action, but it's very low and fortunately for us bored housewives do not have the understanding of computers, networking and law that an internet marketer has.

I am not running a food blog, none of this applies to my life thus far (besides significant previous experience working with photographers) and yes, I am basing this on my personal research (personal insecurities, if you insist). The "alarmist drivel" is due to the fact that I see these people as being more dangerous than a big company to the average pirate, for reasons previously explained. I don't know why you don't understand this, since you said yourself--

"Yes, most food bloggers are rabid about their precious copyrighted photos. Yes, they will do everything they can to take you down and they definitely have too much free time on their hands."

I appreciate your reply, albeit overly condescending, since you attempted to help, but you are wrong. This is not just my opinion, either. You're factually wrong. I'm not trying to be an asshole, this is why I posted this. The biggest thing you're wrong about is:

"The bottom line is that there is a real threat of legal action, but it's very low and fortunately for us bored housewives do not have the understanding of computers, networking and law that an internet marketer has."

No, they do not have the understanding that we have, but yes, they do have the knowledge they need to get you in trouble. Like I said in OP, they're bloggers, they know how to DMCA, they know how to deindex, they know how to report you to adsense. They can't rank their own fucking sites, but they do know how to roast your ass for stealing their photos. They talk about it with one another. Each and every example you gave of staying "hidden and compliant" is also wrong.

Using proxies and fake accounts is not going to protect you from them going after whoever you're monetizing with or your hosting.

Setting up a way to report DMCA's does not protect you, and many board owners on pinterest frown upon sites with disclaimers like that, I know this first hand.

Promptly responding and waiting for legal threats does not protect you. Please stop and think about it. This is a method that involves populating a site with stolen photos. In order to keep traffic coming, you have to add more and more. Do you honestly think that when you have thousands of these photos on your site and possibly hundreds of complaints that NOT ONE is gonna end in a legal threat? Please read up on the subject.

And your last tip is that all you have to do is remove the image? Did you miss the part where I said they can sue you even after the image has been taken down?

You managed to call me a freaked out, insecure, crazy alarmist in your reply, responded with false fixes, and chided me for not including a solution I don't have, all in a bid to try and tear down someone that took a significant amount of time out of their day to try and prevent their fellow BHW family from getting in trouble/wasting their time-- and even got +rep for it. Good job.

Call me names, disagree with me, whatever, but please do not give out false information on this topic. There are people who are already struggling who cannot afford the strife this method is likely to bring them, contributing to hurting these people is not the kind of karma you need in life.

OP, I can't find anything that new in your post but you do seem to be over reacting.

You need to take a chill pill Mate. You are becoming hysterical.

I appreciate your opinion, and respectfully disagree.

I have been around the block enough to have seen good people get in deep shit over methods and if I could have warned them before it happened, you damn sure better believe I wouldn't have warned them with a calm, quiet voice.

You guys are perceiving this as "hysterical" because the shit hasn't hit the fan yet. It will, and if it hasn't within a year, I will come back to this thread and personally apologize to all the naysayers. I'm not trying to scare you away from doing this method, I'm trying to scare you away from doing this method AS-IS.

If the naysayers manage to find an anonomyous and untraceable way to pay for a bulletproof host that won't care about potentially thousands of takedown notices and won't yield to subpoena requests for personal information, an affiliate company to monetize the site with that won't care about potentially thousands of takedown notices and subpoena requests and an anonomyous and untraceable way to receive the funds you earn from that affiliate, have the cash to buy new domains constantly since you'll be reported so much on pinterest and still manage to make the method work on pinterest after you become known as "the recipe aggregator site that steals original work" my black hat off to you. After you do all that, just like I said, you will have added a significant amount of cost and extra work to this method, which I guarantee most of the people in the method thread either can't afford, don't know how to do, or both.

 

[Tensegrity]

@singingsleep, lordy lordy you so wrong. I'm not going to feed this anymore, though. You're doing me a favor, perhaps, getting rid of all my competition with the fear mongering