Pinterest WTF?

I have had a Pinterest account for more than 12 years. Over that time, I haven’t really used it that much. That had never been a problem until now. 

I have been working on promoting this blog more. One of the things I wanted to do was post on Pinterest more regularly. I created a nice image to promote yesterday’s handbag post and made a pin with it. I also followed a blog I read regularly. (So one pin and one follow.) I then went to update my profile. While I was in the process of doing that (the second time since my changes didn’t stick the first time.) I received an email saying my account had been suspended for spam.

What the heck? I could maybe see that if I had been following a whole bunch of accounts or pinning a lot of things. I didn’t think one pin was enough to make one a spammer. (I know some social media sites do suspend accounts for things like excessive liking posts or following accounts. I am always very conscious of that and careful of what I do. That is why this is so weird.)

I looked at the community guidelines and I don’t see how I violated anything. Right now I feel angry and frustrated. You would think they would have a better system for catching actual violations. 

I’m wondering now if any activity after not posting for a long time is a red flag. That doesn’t make sense if it’s not a huge amount of activity in a short period of time. This is the image I pinned.

The photo is one I took. I didn’t think promoting your website was spam. I also only used three tags. (Target, vintage purse, vintage bag) Does Pinterest have banned tags like Instagram does? I’m really confused right now.

I’m also really glad that my important content is on my own websites. I don’t have to worry about getting suspended or having my posts taken down. I also have total control over them.

Now, I just have to wait and hope my account is reinstated. You would think they would have a better system for that. In my case it’s annoying but not a huge issue. I could see it being one for people who rely on their pins to drive traffic to their sites. A suspension for any length of time could mean lost income. That isn’t right at all. I also created a new account for my writing and photography site. I hope that one doesn’t get flagged too.

Update: moments after I posted this I checked my email and saw a new message from Pinterest that my account had been reinstated. I’m definitely relieved about that. I’m also still confused about why it happened and how to avoid a repeat of the situation.