January 09, 2012

Firefox and I Are About to Have a Parting of the Ways

I have been getting this popup for quite a while.
Closing and reopening the application makes no difference. Updating made no difference. Uninstalling the old version and installing the newest version made no difference. Some websites load like cold molasses, especially if they have big photos or music. And I've had enough.

The problem is that I have a ton of favorites saved onto Firefox. You know how easy it is to save something to either read thoroughly later, or save as a future project idea. The annoying thing about my favorites list is that I can't tell what is what just by scanning the list, and have done repeat searches for things I thought I saved, only to find that I really did have them saved, but the title was so obscure I missed it.

So I started a new blog for all the neat tutorials and patterns I saved, coincidentally called Tutorials and Patterns, and I am transferring everything else to another website favorites list.

I also joined Pinterest. That has been a trying experience as well. I don't really understand the appeal of it, but I've noticed on my sitemeter that a lot of people are pinning some of my projects, especially the headboard bench, so I thought I'd see what it was all about.

For one thing, if you go to the Pinterest main page at pinterest.com to request an invite, it takes weeks to get it. If you know someone, it just takes a few minutes. They say the enrollment is easy, but of course it wasn't for me.

Here are the screens that walked me through the process.
The first screen:
So there's the first problem. You have to have a Facebook or Twitter account. I have a Facebook account, but it's got my real full name on it, including maiden name, and I didn't want that on there. So I opened an account for this blog. Then went back to register at Pinterest.

The second screen:
Easy enough. I put the email for my new Facebook account, and it's password.

Next screen:
Well, alright, that was easy. Apparently I'm registered and logged in now, right? Just a few of those fill in the circle pages and I'm good to go. On this page (in case you can't read it), Pinterest asks permission to post to my facebook page as me, and to access my data at any time I am not using it. Well, I certainly don't want them posting to my facebook page and pretending to be me, and I don't know why they need to access my data either, so I clicked the "Don't Allow" button.

Next screen:
Ok, that's odd since I've already done this page once. I didn't know if I put the wrong password in before, or if I'm supposed to make up a new password now, or what. So I put in my Facebook password again, it took me again to the screen that said they wanted to pretend to be me so they could post stuff to my Facebook, I clicked "Don't Allow" again, and back again to the Facebook sign in.

So it dawned on me that the deal is, either I agree to let them impersonate me, or I don't get to play in their backyard. So the next time, I clicked the "Allow" button, and was taken to a page to put in my name, choose a Pinterest password, and all that. Then there was a button to click to get started.

And this was the next page:
I tried again. Same screen. And again. Then I gave up.

The next day, I tried again, and managed to finally get on.
This was the next page:
What?!!! They signed me up as follower to twenty people. Twenty people I didn't even know. So I promptly unfollowed.

Now the next thing is to download something that will allow me to pin a picture with a simple click of the mouse. Unfortunately, I was using Firefox at the time and didn't see the point of downloading something when I was going to uninstall Firefox as soon as possible. But I did check out the site, and went to my profile or main page, or whatever it's called, only to see that they had linked this account TO MY PERSONAL Facebook account! With my whole name and photo. AND there was no way to delete the photo. I have no idea how they made that connection, unless it was by cookies or my first name only, or both. The Facebook account name was different and the email was different.

I also saw that a lot of people from my personal facebook account had followed me, and Pinterest had, in return, followed them for me. So I unfollowed all those people too. Then I went to my personal Facebook account and deleted my photo so it would disappear from my blog's Pinterest page.

What a pain. So I'm not really thrilled with Pinterest right now. I can see where it is nice to have all the related projects in snapshot photos in a collage that is easy to see, and so much easier to click one time and have access to the tutorial. It's just that whole invasion of privacy thing. That and I don't like being told what to do unless it's by an employer. And even then....Photobucket









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8 comments:

  1. I thought I was the only one in the world that didn't find Pinterest appealing...perhaps I just don't know how to use it properly but I don't really bother with it anymore.

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  2. Hello Marti! Just an FYI, I had that same pop up from AVG with the Google Chrome browser. So I got rid of AVG (uninstalled) and downloaded the free version of Avast which I now use for my virus protection. Make sure you register Avast otherwise it will "expire" after 30 days.

    Thomas

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  3. You are preaching to the choir here! I am having problems with Chrome - it crashes a lot! I gave up Firefox several years ago, but I am going back to it often now.

    I also am not finding Pinterest worth anything. I think I don't know how to use it - at all. Plus all the sudden I have two people following me - with nothing on it! Go figure.

    To geneabloggers - I tried to uninstall AVG. It is still lurking about! I would love to get rid of it. I need to re-load the new Avast again.

    Ugh - computers and all their headaches!

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  4. Marti, thanks so much for posting this.

    I did try to hook on to Pinterest a few weeks back and it wouldn't let me on... I didn't go through anyone, I still haven't heard back from them.

    I am so glad it worked out that way now. I won't be jumping on that band wagon anytime soon I can tell ya.

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  5. GrandmaK, I wonder if Pinterest just assigned those followers to you the way they signed me up to other people?

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  6. Marti

    I was in the IT field for 30 years and I've had to deploy virus scanning software to thousands of users at big companies. For my personal use, I've now switched from AVG because of integration problems. I've been using Avast (the FREE version) for two months now with no problems.

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  7. I was going to register with Pinterest until it told me that I had to give permission for all my Facebook friends information to be available to Pinterest. There is too much invasion of privacy already. No thanks, Pinterest. (I save all my favorite photos and sites I find online in my own computer, I feel no need to share them with everyone else... if I did I could just blog about them)

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  8. Great post Marti!! I think I tried to get on Pinterest once and had trouble. By the sounds of things, I should be glad I couldn't get through. Thanks!

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