Yes. Pinterest actually has an Opt Out option. You can insert code onto your site that prohibits anyone from pinning anything of yours. Unfortunately, this does block your whole site so you cannot have some pictures advertising for you on Pinterest while still keeping most of your work under your own control. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pinterest will change this soon.

Try google docs!

I’d actually prefer that they have some kind of Opt In option for each picture. That is, a pin button that makes a picture pinnacle. You would put the button on any images that you are allowing others to pin and people would only ever be able to pin images if they have that button. It would be a great solution because all work would be protected by default. The pin button would then be like granting permission. And so we would know that everything we see on Pinterest everything we want to re-pin, is shareable with permission of the owner. Also, it would allow the owner to control which images are their advertisements, instead of it being up to the reader. I doubt that will happen though.

Until then, the only solution I can think of is that you maintain an extra blog. On your main blog you use the opt out clause. Then, when you want someone to be able to pin something, you link to your secondary blog wearing something like, “Head over to my Easy Pin Blog for some great shareable images.” You would also have to link from the second blog to the first. I don’t know if people would go through the trouble to do all that clicking through but until Pinterest has a Per Image Opt Out this might be a good solution for those who need tight control over what does and doesn’t get pinned.

Other things you can do to protect your work

If you’re o.k. with people sharing your pictures on Pinterest you still might want a bit of control over what’s going on. There are some pin buttons that let you select which picture is chosen as a pin when somebody clicks it for your post. Note that this doesn’t do anything if people copy the URL directly into Pinterest.

You might also want to consider having a Pin Policy on your blog. You can read my Pinterest Policy here. It basically says three things:

1. /li>

2. describe the pins in a searchable way so that others can easily find them. For example, choose the words “Delicious and easy watermelon popsicles” instead of “Delicious!”
3. I’ve started providing “pictures for sharing” at the bottom of some posts. These have my web address at the bottom and some text on the image saying something about the recipe. You can see examples here. I ask people to pin these specific images when they’re available.

However, we ran out of time before we could even mention Pinterest. So I thought I’d lay out my thoughts on the subject here in three posts:

1. This post explaining what the issues about Pinterest and ownership of images are;
2. Coming soon: How to protect your images;
3. Coming soon: How to respect the images of others.

However, we ran out of time before we could even mention Pinterest. So I thought I’d lay out my thoughts on the subject here.

The big issue with Pinterest is that their terms state that they have the right to reproduce anything that is put on their site. You maintain the copyright to your images but they can use your images in print or online if they want. Read about it here.

So why do I pin my images?

As we saw on the Social Media Panel yesterday, Pinterest is the biggest driver of traffic to many of our sites. I certainly want to benefit from that traffic!

Also, what is most moorland to me is the rights to my recipes. I think of that as my core. It’s like Elise said yesterday: She thinks of her images as advertising for her recipes and thus often gives permission to others to post them on her blog. On Pinterest I advertise my work with pictures. The benefit to me far outweighs the potential drawbacks.

Why might you not want to pin?

There are likely many bloggers who want to keep control ovver their images. That makes sense.
For instance, if you are primarily a food-photographer for whom the picture is the core, you might have a very different view of things.

Can you stop people from pinning your work?

Yes. Pinterest actually has an Opt Out option. You can insert code onto your site that prohibits anyone from pinning anything of yours. Unfortunately, this does block your whole site so you cannot have some pictures advertising for you on Pinterest while still keeping most of your work under your own control. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pinterest will change this soon.

I’d actually prefer that they have some kind of Opt In option for each picture. That is, a pin button that makes a picture pinnacle. You would put the button on any images that you are allowing others to pin and people would only ever be able to pin images if they have that button. It would be a great solution because all work would be protected by default. The pin button would then be like granting permission. And so we would know that everything we see on Pinterest everything we want to re-pin, is shareable with permission of the owner. Also, it would allow the owner to control which images are their advertisements, instead of it being up to the reader. I doubt that will happen though.

Until then, the only solution I can think of is that you maintain an extra blog. On your main blog you use the opt out clause. Then, when you want someone to be able to pin something, you link to your secondary blog wearing something like, “Head over to my Easy Pin Blog for some great shareable images.” You would also have to link from the second blog to the first. I don’t know if people would go through the trouble to do all that clicking through but until Pinterest has a Per Image Opt Out this might be a good solution for those who need tight control over what does and doesn’t get pinned.

Other things you can do to protect your work

If you’re o.k. with people sharing your pictures on Pinterest you still might want a bit of control over what’s going on. There are some pin buttons that let you select which picture is chosen as a pin when somebody clicks it for your post. Note that this doesn’t do anything if people copy the URL directly into Pinterest.

You might also want to consider having a Pin Policy on your blog. You can read my Pinterest Policy here. It basically says three things:

1. /li>

2. describe the pins in a searchable way so that others can easily find them. For example, choose the words “Delicious and easy watermelon popsicles” instead of “Delicious!”
3. I’ve started providing “pictures for sharing” at the bottom of some posts. These have my web address at the bottom and some text on the image saying something about the recipe. You can see examples here. I ask people to pin these specific images when they’re available.

How do you respectfully pin others’ work?

This reminded me of my own academic background where one credits every idea to as many sources as possible. You never have your own unique thought in academia. Or at least, you don’t have one without propping it up with a whole bunch of other people’s thoughts first.

And then there’s food blogging. We all are familiar with the discussion about adapting recipes: If you change three ingredients, you’re fine, right? If you re-write the instructions and headnote, all’s good, right? Here’s a great post by Dianne Jacob warning of the dangers we could face for adaptation. So to be safe (and maybe even ethical) we need to go beyond just adapting a bit. We need to give proper credit while also being as original as possible.

But how much credit do you give? And to whom? Do we go the path of the academic and credit for every thought? Do we take the Lucky Peach discussion to heart and credit for concepts and techniques?

I fear that this would yield some pretty dry reading (have you read any academic journals lately???). But also, I wonder if it flies in the face of what food blogging is all about, of how food blogging started out. It really was a place for home cooks to share recipes that they’d tried in their kitchens. It wasn’t academia. It wasn’t even a profession.

What are your thoughts? Should we stop adapting? Do we start crediting more to cover our butts and to be ethical? Or is this overkill?

And a bonus question: Why all the hubbub about food bloggers adapting recipes? Do you think it’s related to the fact that food bloggers are making money now?

a) This recipe was taken from one of Ina Garten’s cookbooks;

b) This recipe is similar to something Ina Garten made on her tv show;

c) Ina Garten called the blogger up and said, “Please post my recipe on your blog. I really want it splashed all over the internet.”

For me, “courtesy of” means that permission is involved. Therefore (c) is the best answer to me.

Lately I’ve been seeing “courtesy of” all over the place. Sometimes it looks like permission has probably been obtained. For instance, if the blogger states that a review copy of a book has arrived and the book looks amazing I assume that permission for sharing a recipe came with the book. But without any back story, I wonder if permission has been granted at all.

Is it possible that some bloggers would choose answer (a)?

What do you think? Has “courtesy of” come to mean “taken from”? Is this an acceptable use of the phrase? Have you ever attributed a recipe with “courtesy of”? If so, what did you mean?

Are recipes like songs? Maybe not. What are they like? ________________________________________________________________

Recently, a food-blogging friend sent me an email comparing recipes and computer code.

Her claim: Without open source code computer programmers would not be able to learn as much about writing code and about developing software. If we all refuse to allow others to share our recipes and/or build upon them our knowledge will not increase as much and recipes will not improve over time.

For the pursuit of good food (and of knowledge), it makes sense to tell the world about a dish we’ve made, even if the source of that dish is another person’s recipe.

But, is there a difference between recipes and open source code?

Yes: Open source software comes with a license stating that it may be used free of charge under certain circumstances and sometimes that it may be adapted and/or even distributed.

Cookbooks and magazines have something similar to this license, a Terms of Use Statement, normally found under the copyright information. It usually says that no part of the book/magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cookbooks and magazines do not allow for free dissemination.

It is a violation of the terms of use of the publication for a food blogger to post the recipe without first obtaining written permission, even if appropriate credit is given. It’s nice to imagine a pretty world where we can all trade recipes regardless of their source but it seems that someone out there does not want us to do so.

Does this seem fair to you? Why or why not?

If you answered no, consider the situation where the food-blogger is making money on their blog through advertising or promotions. Many pieces of open source software would not even be useable under this circumstance (the licenses often state “not for commercial use”). Do you think it matters whether the food-blogger is making money or is it irrelevant?

The question: When is it appropriate to type “inspired by” in a food blog post?

At BlogHer Food in Atlanta this May, the “Recipe Writing: Copyright, Credit, and Etiquette” pannellists, Dianne Jacob, David Leite and a lawyer named Liza Barry-Kessler, posed the same question. Attendees gave examples of possible uses. They seemed to agree that you may use “inspired by” if:

• it’s a dish you’ve had in a restaurant and tried to capture for yourself;

• if you’ve recreated the essence of a purchased product (David Leite’s example: some “Cha Cha Cookies” he’d received as a gift);

• if a picture of a particular snack (e.g., fried smelts with lemon wedges) propels you to your deep fryer for a recipe development session;

• if a recipe for one dish has you imagining its flavours in another (e.g., a recipe for a Moroccan Tagine enters your kitchen and comes out as a chicken stuffing with preserved lemon, apricots and saffron).

Interestingly, NONE of the answers involve the writer seeing a recipe for the actual dish.

Conclusion: Even glimpsing a recipe makes it ineligible for “inspired by” status.

When do you use “inspired by”? Does the above restriction work for you?

To discuss and establish best practices for recipe writing on food blogs. On the Practicing Best Practices Page you’ll find the guidelines that have been established so far along with links to the post(s) where they were discussed.

How it works:

I (or a guest blogger) post about a small point, for example “defining adapted from”. The issue is then up for discussion in the comments section of the post. I’ll synthesize the discussion and add it to the Practicing Best Practices Page.

The Result:

An evolving community-driven set of best practices for food bloggers.

The Inspiration:

When I began food blogging at Cook the Story I wasn’t sure how to approach the issues surrounding the origins of “my” recipes. Some were my mom’s (but where did she get them from?), some were recipes I’d originally found in cookbooks but had been making and adapting for years (were these *mine*?) and some I’d developed myself (but were similar ones out there already and if so, then what?).

I floundered around unsure what to do with these issues until I read Dianne Jacob‘s book Will Write for Food. That gave me a starting point in thinking about ownership and recipe development. I then found more discussion on Dianne’s blog. The issues were less hazy but the solutions and terminology still felt elusive. I attended BlogHer Food 2011 in Atlanta and went to a session called “Recipe Writing: Copyright, Credit, and Etiquette” with Dianne Jacob, David Leite and a lawyer named Liza Barry-Kessler as panellists.

Liza made it clear that recipe copyright infringement rarely becomes a legal issue; it is difficult and expensive to sue if someone has stolen your recipe. Instead, she said it’s an issue of Best Practices and that the community needs to come together to determine what the best practices of food blogging should be. Since I’m an ethics geek (see here), I decided to give the community a place to build a set of guidelines.

(The above information is also found on this blog’s About Page.)