It was asked a couple of months ago, but given the AI enshittification, it seems a good time to ask again.
I looked around and found:
- Pinetta is/was in development but seems dead with only an alpha release. I am chasing this up on Matrix. edit: Apparently still, technically, active although progress has been slow
- Pinry is a FOSS alternative, but not federated, that seems dormant. However, it works and is in Python, so someone could bolt an AP server to it, he says airily.
If you find one, keep up updated! It’s one of the things where you really need a critical mass already for it to be useful so it’s hard to kick off.
Apparently, Pinetta is still active. There is an alpha release but it seems like the devs were struggling with time limitations and getting the AP protocol right. It is in Python if anyone wants to take a look.
If it integrates with the fediverse, it can be promoted on other platforms and doesn’t need critical mass.
That’s the advantage. All the platforms are trying to synergize, not steal from each other like the corporate apps.
How does one use Pinterest? I never got it
You look for a images
You get recomanded other similar images (thus engaging to a pleasant, but dangerous endless scrolling)
You can pin you images on “boards” (for instance I have one for fashion, illustration, etc)
There’s probably a workaround to make something similar available online, but I didn’t look info it do far
Similar? No no no. That’s a shit algorithm.
Let me give you an example. I search for leftist content. I somehow get served a British guy who does floor refinishing. It’s fantastic. I also get people doing skits about working in a restaurant.
A good algorithm follows patterns in people’s preferences, not patterns in the content.
You simply don’t get the usecase. I don’t want Pinterest to show me stuff that I’m into. I want it to show me similar pictures to build coherant yet creative moodboards.
Oh boy… I’m sorry. I’m arguing on another thread against someone who is saying algorithms are inherently bad and we shouldn’t use them. I thought that was you. I will try and remember to check context next time.
Yes, you’re making a lot of sense. I think that’s why I never got Pinterest. I used it for link storage, not idea generation.
Algorithmes aren’t inherently bad. The fact that they are opaque blackbox imposed to you by the plateforms so you get addicted is why they are bad. The day we have the choice between multiple client-side transparent algos it will be better.
I use(d) Pinterest to collect fan-dom stuff and wallpapers. Each board for a movie, series, anime or game.
Nowadays I just search for a wallpaper and hope it isn’t AI, download it and leave the platform again. There’s no use on actually using the platform for what its intended (pinning, saving and sharing). Almost anything you do gets flagged by their AI bot for “inappropriate, adult or violence”.
I mean, they flagged a plant as “adult” content and smiling Luffy face as “violence”. Oh I forgot, their platform is just one giant advertisement crap now. 3/4 of the screen will be taken up by a video/gif of an advertisement.
I use it heavily for images for TTRPGs. As a GM, I grab images of Monsters, NPC’s, background images, maps. For the Star Wars RPGs, ships, NPCs, deckplans. I use TokenStamp to create the map tokens of those NPCs I found… It is a great resource fot that kind of thing. I think I have “saved” over 2000 images for use in games.
So it’s like image storage? Or bookmark storage? What happens on the website you’ve pinned changes?
Image Storage. Image meta data / descriptions can contain links to sites. Images can go away if someone takes down the original or requests it be removed. I wouldn’t use it to store images I build, I use it for existing images and curate those into the way I need them for my game.
I have been searching for one, for a year or two. Ever since they keep removing pins for the most mundane things or literal no actual reason.