Most awesome forum thread ever!

You read the title.

Sick of Etsy!

The first post is spot on, it's both hilarious, excellent, and a reflection of the sad truth.
Of course, the first thing that was posted were comments by forum assholes about how the OP needs "drugs".
I guess that pretty much sums up the current etsy experience, if you're high you won't notice the lack of sales or traffic to your shop.

This was equally awesome:
Etsy Don't know the difference between Handmade and Mass Produced??

Also, how about answering this fucking question:
Etsy admin can you clarify something please?
just fucking answer it.

And, BTW, we'd love to see the questions posed by The Savant answered.

From the Desk of The Savant

From the desk of The Savant

Preamble: if you are ever out with your snotty college educated buddies drinking in a bar, do not ever tell them the story about that time you ran statistical algorithms from data that you derived from the phonebook....

-----------------------------------------------------------

Dear etsy,

Please explain why there are so many items on your site and so few of them seem to make it to the front page.

Please explain why there are so many items on your site and the same items keep appearing on the front page treasury.

Please explain why it is that when your own site users complain about this, completely and fully defining what they are complaining about (e.g. what constitutes a “repeat”, how often is too often, what moderation really means), that you continue to exhibit the behavior they are complaining about.

Please explain how your staff continuing to place the same items by the same sellers on the front page treasury in spite of the collective outcry against the practice by your site users is not an expression of contempt by your staff towards your users.

Please explain why the same treasury curator’s treasuries keep making it to the front page in spite of the fact that at any given time those treasuries by those same curators are literally less than 10% of the treasuries available for use at any given time.

Please explain why your staff cannot choose a broader range of different curators when placing member made treasuries in the front page treasury slot.

Please explain why the same items appear in multiple storque articles simultaneously.

Please explain why your staff cannot seem to broaden their horizons and feature and write about a range of items that they have no personal connection to. In other words, why can’t your staff write a Storque article without personal references or involving items that they personally like. For instance, I used to work in a deli, and while I may not be that fond of Amish potato salad, that never impeded my ability to sell it to customers. Why is it that your staff cannot express this sort of professional behavior?

Please explain how hard it is to be presented with a topic and simply write a few paragraphs about it in a concise and factual manner, and then choose saleable items that are directly relevant to that topic.

Please explain the lack of coupon codes.

Please explain the inability for shop owners to batch edit the prices of their items.

Please explain why you would redesign something as ubiquitous as the search bar without getting a broad range of opinions about your design choices before implementing them without so much as a bit of notification.

Please explain why the lettering on the new header was so small.

Please explain why in spite of the fact that in the thread started by Rokali regarding the design changes that there were an overwhelming number of complaints about the size of the font of the header and why nothing was done to correct this error within 24 hours.

Please explain to me the merchandising qualifications of your staff.

Please explain why 98% of the items featured on your front page treasury appeal only to a female consumer demographic.

Please explain how excluding mens’ items almost entirely from your merchandizing features is in any way, shape, or form proactive for the benefit of your sellers.

Please explain why everyone can’t have a treasury.

Please explain why it’s so hard to get a treasury.

Please explain why it takes sooooooooooooooo long for the treasury to load.

Please explain to your staff members that if they are going to use their etsy staff user names for their twitter accounts, that it is then completely inappropriate and unprofessional for them to twitter such personal information as whether or not they have “PMS” (specifically DanielleXO).

Sincerely,

The Savant, etsy shop user

-----------------------------------------------------------

They call me Vanty (which is apparently supposed to either be cutesy or short for The Savant… apparently “TS” just didn’t drip with awesomesauce). I have a college degree, I graduated magna cum-laude, and with honors. I have a full time job. I also have an etsy shop.

Items from my shop do occasionally appear on the front page treasury. And by “occasionally” I mean once every four months when etsy member’s bitching about the staff’s constant featuring of their own personal favorites reaches it’s fever pitch, the damn breaks, and there seems to be some forced altruism, which usually lasts for like 2 weeks before it’s back to the ugliest shit on the face of planet earth from lirola, toybreaker, absolutely shitty horrible mockery-bad photoshopping hell from maclancy, et al.

And you know what I tend to notice when my items make the front page? That your staff seem to have the inate ability to pick the ugliest fucking thing available for sale in my shop. I’m serious. I want to be happy about making the front page, but really, your staff chose that? Fuck.

And I’m not the only one who has noticed this phenomenon: that when your staff selects items from someone’s shop for one of their front page treasury they tend to pick the most disparate item: the item that is least representational of the overall theme, style, pattern, color, size, or general scheme of whatever it is that you sell.

That’s a horrible strategy: to display to potential customers the one item that most marginally represents your inventory.

Conveniently I have an example that is twofold: your staff pick’s the odd item out and front page repetition.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lucysnowephotography

Twice yesterday I saw this photo on the front page:

CHIHUAHUA IN A SCARF FINE ART PHOTO 8X8

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=26522462

And the only place I have ever seen this photo is on the front page. I have run many searches generically in the art category, more specifically in the photography category, and yet the only place I have ever seen this photo is on the front page.

Why is that? Probably because I don’t like dogs. So, I would never specifically type “dogs” into the search bar, let alone Chihuahua.

Now, aside from the fact that the title is in all caps, which is just obnoxious, as someone who simply doesn’t like dogs, this particular item has absolutely no appeal to me. So, seeing something that is actually an enormous turn-off twice in one day really isn’t spurring my ability to pull my credit card out of my pocket…

Which is funny, because I’ve clicked through Lucy Snow’s etsy shop before. And with the exception of that fucking Chihuahua, I actually enjoy most of her photography immensely. Unless she shuts down her shop or floods it with 400 repeats of that Chihuahua photo or cards, then the vast majority of the items in her shop could be classified as nature photography. You know, because the subtitle of her shop (as I type this) is “Urban Art for Nature Lovers”.

So, I went to her shop, which had 80 items at the time, and counted them; subdividing them into generic basic categories: outside, animals, inside / still life, frame.

outside: 56 items | outside = trees, landscapes, sky, landscape + animals

animals: 13 items | animals = animal is primary focus of photo

inside / still life: 9 items | inside / still life = Chihuahua/chair or flowers in a vase

frames: 2 items | self explanatory

Why did I separate the Chihuahua out of animals? Because the Chihuahua is sitting in a chair, all the other animals are outside.

So, 97.5% of the 80 items in stock are either prints or cards.

86.25% of the 80 items in stock are either prints or cards depicting elements of nature that were photographed outside.

Why is there any significance to those numbers? Because they are above 8%. If that raises a question, then I suggest you google a tutorial about statistics.

The reason that those numbers matter is because they are ridiculously high percentages. The vast majority of the items in Ms. Snow’s shop aren’t “like” that Chihuahua picture. The Chihuahua is a domestic animal, photographed as a portrait dressed up in clothes (which is not “natural”) in an indoor setting. Where as the vast majority of the images for sale in the shop are actually objects of nature photographed in the environment they exist in as they exist.

The Chihuahua, statistically, is the aberration. It’s categorically different than most of the inventory in that shop. Categorically, given my general dislike of dogs, I actually enjoy most of the rest of the photography in that shop… but no one on the etsy staff ever spends a second focusing on the items that constitute the majority of Ms. Snow’s catalog of work for sale on etsy. All they ever show me is that fucking Chihuahua.

Now if I hate dogs, or more specifically, I hate Chihuahuas, then I would have utterly no reason to click on the image and see real breadth, depth, or variety, or realistically the actual theme of Ms Snow’s work. And she has some wonderful photos. But I don’t like dogs, and all you ever show me is the one thing I don’t like. Which, in all actuality is not an average representation of the artist’s work.

Having a staff with marketing degrees or professional merchandizing experience would never create this scenario, let alone replicate it repeatedly. It’s completely antithetical. You should show me items from sellers that are not the exception or aberration to the bulk of their inventory, but items that are shining examples of the kind of work they’re actually trying to present.

I imagine Ms. Snow spent some time conceiving her photos, editing her photos, formatting them for printing, listing them, considering what theme / color scheme / style to use for her banner, inventing a subtitle / tagline for her work, etc. And yet, your staff can’t show me what by virtue of the bulk of her inventory, her tagline, and her banner — what she is actually intending to sell me.

You show me the fucking Chihuahua.

Why? Probably because some nitwit on your staff loves dogs or wants to buy a puppy. Because that seems to be the kind of reasoning that goes into the decisions that are made by your staff: they base their decisions on their own personal taste. That’s shallow. That is so shallow.

An actual professional would put the intentions of their sellers before their personal preferences. That is not what is done by your staff. Your staff’s philosophy seems to be staff first, sellers – meh.

That is simply contemptuous and ignorant.

Instead of sitting around the office drinking pretentious coffee and tweeting your favorites while trying to invent “trends”. How about looking at what is actually available for sale on your site, and find a way to make the most people successful at selling what they actually seem to intend to want to sell?

Don’t go to someone’s shop and pick your favorite, actually go to their shop and pick something that seems representational of the vast majority of their inventory.

Your staff needs to act like they’re staff. They need to act like professionals. They are not the average etsy user. They are employees. They are paid on the basis of our listing fees. They ought to be qualified to earn those checks. And they ought to act responsibly and professionally and in the best interests of their sellers.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, since I did all the reading and the counting, as I frequently supplied “The List” while some have suggested this is an inappropriate venue… I am too fucking lazy to start a blog and run around the internet randomly commenting on people’s blogs in a vain effort to get them to come to mine.

Since I can’t make a treasury because the feature isn’t amenable to the fact that I have a full time job:

Thursday Treasury

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33266048

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42859529

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42650566

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38864517

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42345390

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42867128

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36447276

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24519831

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42912334

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42966799

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30929384

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41745384

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39101848

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41381495

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42707553

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34688715

Etsy blog reader survey / St. Patrick

As I type this...
Seapinks
humblebea
munieca
terminy
and
SewnNatural
are on the front page.
The previous front page featured Lirola.

I'm sick of fucking seeing the same shit by the same people. Don't buy from these etsy sellers. Avoid them like the plague and advise your friends to avoid them like the plague.

It's pathetic that etsy continues to take home paychecks made from your listing fees but cannot be bothered to do any work promoting most of you.

Now, onto our scheduled editorial from The Guy
(and, yes, it's a little dated)

http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/survey-says-the-results-of-the-blog-reader-survey-are-here-7223/

I read this and nearly spit my cheerios at the screen:

"... I also want to acknowledge many of the sellers who commented that they want to see more diversity in viewpoints, rather than just those of the Admin. We do have partners and Guest Curators and contributors, but I agree that Etsy needs to do more to open up blogging to more folks in the handmade world. The Etsy marketplace is like a rain forest of tastes and styles and interests: there's more diversity of creativity here than anywhere else on the Internet. There's just no way that our small staff can accurately represent everyone while maintaining that authentic, personal voice. I'm looking forward to a day when we editors aren't bottlenecks (many of you have noticed that the pitch form is closed) or are seen as as gatekeepers who don't have the same Favorites as you. My strategic view is that Admin need to be facilitators in connecting our members, while also being the real people behind Etsy.com. There will always be Admin bloggers because of the quote above, but we'd like to develop an efficient system that allows for more content from our members."

So, then, your staff are collectively retarded? If so many of the people who responded to your survey indicated that your staff are completely self centered and narrow-minded, then you really don't need another survey to better serve your community. You need to fire your staff.

I believe I already stated that I am a graphic designer. I have projects, I have clients. If someone hires me to make them a brochure, then it shouldn't look like my personal scrapbook, it should be what they asked for, and I should have discerned their desires by asking the right questions the first time around.

For instance: the "keep it weird" posts are all stupid. Collectively, we here at this blog when discussing those posts refer to them not as "keep it weird" but as "keep it stupid". Why? Because it's all stupid shit, to put it as my girlfriend phrased it.

For instance: "Keep it Weird: St. Snakes"
If this was supposed to be about St. Patrick's day, then why not tell us something about the legend of St. Patrick? As the son of the two people who were the products of Irish immigrants I have to wonder how hard it really is to paraphrase the story? It boggles my mind. That and all the references are to ridiculous cliches.

My girlfriend has no Irish in her family, and yet, like most Americans she simply wears something green on St. Patricks Day. Neither she, nor I, nor my parents ever made green bread. How hard would it be to mention relevant cliches?

Moreover, it's an IRISH holiday, how hard would it be to find something on etsy that was actually from IRELAND?

How does linking to a wikipedia page constitute having actually done work? It's one thing to do it on your personal blog, where presumably no one is paying you to type things. It's entirely unprofessional for an employee of a company to do something like such a hack, especially without an adequate paraphrasing of anything relevant about the saint or the holiday.

I'm not interested in personally knowing Michelle. I'd be interested to see her fired. I've already seen enough of her posts to know that her imagination is quite limited and that she comes across as entirely self centered.

But back to that blog reader survey...
Had etsy sent a company message to every user encouraging them to participate in the survey then the results of the survey would be more stable, more accurate, and more meaningful. As I understand it, this is not what happened. Therefore, any statistics gleaned from this survey are relatively meaningless.

97% of the survey takers were female. The seller respondents were largely female, but not as highly skewed as the shoppers. The ladies love Etsy! One of the frequent comments people wrote in was that they wished there were more shopping content for men — and indeed more items for men made by Etsy sellers.

In spite of how flawed the data is: this is an alarming number.
So, here's the analogy:

If I own a restaurant, and for shits and giggles I'm going to call it "Snarf" (because I don't think that's a real word, and it also rhymes with... or because I enjoyed Thundercats as a tyke).
So, if I have chefs from all over the place in my kitchen and, technically, we offer just about every food dish on earth on the menu. Then my clientele should be all over the place. All races, colors, creeds, social classes and other cliches mentioned in Martin Luther King speeches should be frequenting the joint.

You know how I could fuck that up?
No, it's not the lighting. No, it's not the plates, or the silverware, or the staff uniforms. I could fuck it all up simply by only putting certain items in the deli counter, in the front of the menu, and in the display window.

If I only have lemongrass and organic fair trade sugar crystals on a stick in the front window, with a giant elaborate display of a montage image composed entirely of the vast array of legumes... you know, if I stock the deli counter with tofu and carrots, and have posters on the wall espousing the greatness of almond milk, then I'm going to end up with a customer base that is largely vegan or the slightly less crazy vegetarians (both of which are still crazy).

It doesn't matter if one of my chefs makes the best baby back ribs this side of Atlanta, if I never put that on display, then no one knows it's there.

Your staff are the drizzling shits as far as product placement and marketing are concerned. They should all be fired and replaced with people who are competent at understanding that 97% of respondents being female is unacceptable in a marketplace that professes to be the place to buy and sell ALL things handmade (whether you took that off the tagline or not).

The reason you don't have any men isn't because they don't exist, it's because you're morons.
How in the fuck does this appeal to me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40883256
It doesn't. It's not something my girlfriend would wear either; I wouldn't buy it for her.

How in the fuck does this appeal to me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35948928
It doesn't. It's not something my girlfriend would wear either; I wouldn't buy it for her. Moreover, as my girlfriend notes every time she sees vintage shoes: foot fungas!

How in the fuck does this appeal to me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41788713
It doesn't. And I've really tired of seeing this girl's shitty paintings. There are so many people on etsy who paint, with better technique and better substance.

How in the fuck does this appeal to me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39981103
It doesn't. It's not something my girlfriend would wear either; I wouldn't buy it for her. And, in her own words she said "this is retarded."

Are you shitting me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37236306
Oh fuck, I thought this was a lady's shirt. Vintage or not, I would not be caught dead in that, it's ugly.

Am I trying to be an ironic hipster doofus?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42627983
Because I wouldn't be caught cleaning the gutters in this t-shirt.

A yarn hat?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42582548
Fuck. Oh, but it's for women, so what the hell does it matter?

So that your child may contract someone else's athlete's foot
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41538632

Some sucker bought these
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39691954
but what the fuck do you do with what otherwise look like colored hairballs? Do you enjoy spending time trying to figure out how to meticulously clean the dust off of them?

Women's size 5 doc martins
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40796501
these are so ugly they're almost ironic. And I'm a guy, so they wouldn't fit me. Plus, they're used shoes so the possibility of foot fungus looms!

If a seventies baby blanket could be a hat
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40808868
then I imagine it would look like this, and you would smile at your crazy grandmother as you inwardly considered coming to her house in the middle of the night and bending all her knitting needles in half. This could only be worn for punishment.

I have a penis and testicles, how does this appeal to me?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35058043
Really, an apple cozy? What would I need that for? Am I prone to seizures and there's a fear that I will bash my lunch sack against a wall? I have no use for this other than mockery.

no talent hack
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28990491
Really, feature a real artist.

do I wear this to the tranny convention?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41142505
Or is it casual cross-dressing friday at the office? Again, I'm a guy. I wouldn't buy this for my girlfriend.

what did you guys get tired of amberalexander, so you found crap that looks just like hers?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30697498
twice in 24 hours, no less... and still, not something that appeals to me. Diversify, assholes.

Why?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42466961
I'm not into flappers.

no talent hack
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42245685
seriously, there's no ART on etsy actually made by the people selling it?

more lady stuff, this time in "charteuse"
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29285585
Again: penis, testicles, heterosexual, not a tranny.

Fuck, it's time for another round of drinks
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40505111
this + the apple cozy + the yokoo = me the winner of front page bingo!

99% of the items featured on the etsy front page have a consumer target demographic that is female. You have completely removed men from the equation, and when you include them, just as with Michelle's idiot storque paragraphs, the examples are idiotic and insultingly cliche.

Your staff is so fucking dense and retarded that they see nothing wrong with reducing men to the cliches of ties, t-shirts, and knitted hats... oh, and cuff links, how could I possibly forget cuff links. And that's your problem.

It's called moderation.
Mech
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27382070

Going East
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30754499

Chromed Grind Your Gears Mug
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35896968

The Farrago
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40925093

cherry pencil jar
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32420064

grey messenger / laptop bag
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40841628

Cowhorn Hair Comb
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31191308

hand dyed upcycled men's shirt
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38926958

beach bliss
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24331338

touch of wood pen
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39380827

baltimore oriole
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31167946

puzzle coaster
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33176736

You know, there are items that appeal to men that also appeal to women. It's not really that hard to find them. They can easily be incorporated with things intended solely for women, and they aren't entirely cliche. Likely, I could come up with 12 items that are just art.

I don't see why etsy doesn't understand what diversity means. I really don't. I've been a professional graphic designer for years. If I looked over my portfolio, no one would be able to pinpoint my gender in a heartbeat. That's what good design does, it defies immediate classification because it's appeal is broad.

Etsy's appeal isn't broad. If you can't understand that from the results of your survey, then you should be fired. Continuing to have narrow-minded self centered people making the decisions is a horrible idea; and they're doing a horrible job.

The Storque: I want my listing fees back

First off, on an aside, Seapinks sucks. Stop showing us this dull shit. Seriously, BORED.

International Women's Day? Really, Etsy?
One of us makes calendars and admits that this was googled, because, as that one said

"Women's Equality Day" is the 26th of August. I put it on the calendar every year. My sister is very active in a chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women). She was pleased to find that as the lone 'observance' in August when she got her yearly calendar.

Well, then we read the rest of the wikipedia page about International Women's Day and discovered why we never seen this on a calendar:

Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

Don't misinterpret: we're not anti Commie, and we're not anti-Socialist, we're not fucking retarded "tea-partiers". But really? Of all the obscure things our etsy fees go to as features was this Storque article? Man, I can't wait for all those Storque articles about Hindu observances, and the ones about the Muslim holidays... you know, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for those or something.

So, basically, the "article" is actually a PARAGRAPH. And it says nothing about what "International Women's Day" actually is historically, how it came to be a holiday, who celebrates it, etc. If this was English 101, then this paragraph gets a "D".

This holiday is primarily celebrated in Eastern European countries. So, the caveat tacked on at the end is:

"From Madame Curie to Gloria Steinem, Queen Elizabeth to Angela Davis, what women have inspired you?"

All of whom are Western women. Could the references be any less socially relevant to the culture that invented this observance? Michelle couldn't spend 10 minutes googling influential lady communists?

Moreover, than the paragraph completely lacks any context or definition of what this observance is, is that it references some dopey personal tale of religion. If you can't bother to look something up to write something relevant and the only thing you have to go on is personal experience, then, well, congratulations on opening the door for a personal attack. Fuck, your feminism is that you read about girls instead of boys? That's fucking trite. Fail.

So, basically, this holiday is like the communist / eastern european version of secretary's day ONLY for women. Fuck.

So you showed us a wrist cuff
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35356334

a painting of a woman in a bunch of leaves
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13562455

a librarian style outfit
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41493844

a women's fashion journal
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42031234

a stenciled t-shirt
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41851901

a plastic plaque
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36836573

a painting of a nude woman
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23628903

a paper mache fertility sculpture
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39486837

strange Yoko Ono poster
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37325233

zine
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40863610

a blue leotard (modeled on a waif with a blank expression)
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40956024

balm for stretch marks
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42241657

a woodcut print of the back of a woman's head
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40619523

a montage drawing of 1940's starlets
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39859676

a painting that shows a nipple
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7013295

Michelle is kind of like a nipple, isn't she? We mean that as the British slang. Go back and look at your Liam Gallagher quotes. Except she doesn't have the talent of George Harrison.

This Storque paragraph was idiotic. The collection of items that went with it were equally idiotic. The entire thing was a demonstration of ignorance.

You want to celebrate women, their accomplishments, their feminism, the equality they've attained? Fine. But do it like an adult, not like some idiot-fuck ignorant child with no respect for context.

The Cake
Yin
Whatever you want
Night Flight
Antique Style Butterfly Necklace
12 handmade heart embellishments
vintage women digital collage sheet
felted flowers necklace
hidden stories
Industrial Revolution Brooch
pendant
Happy Flowers

You know, International Women's Day, which has never appeared on any calendar I have ever purchased in America, whether it be at Hallmark, or Barnes and Noble, or Walmart, seems to be an international holiday, celebrated abroad. Logically, wouldn't you celebrate women by showcasing things that are made by women? And more apt, made by women from countries that actually celebrate the fucking observance? Oh, shit, that was using logic.

Now, we know, because we copied and pasted things into "shop local" that apparently there aren't a lot of shops on etsy in - let's say - Turkmenistan... so we went a little crazy with Romania, and the Ukraine. Obviously, I suppose, the entire list could have been composed of things made in China. Oh, go read the wikipedia entry.

How fucking hard is it for your staff, who are paid through our listing fees, to use the god damned wikipedia and a fucking online dictionary?

My mother was a feminist. I'm a feminist. I'm not a fucking nazi, I'm not militaristic, I'm not religious. I'm just a woman, and I make things. But that shit in your article? It doesn't do anything for me as a feminist, except raise my ire at the general ignorance of the etsy staff. That paragraph was a contextually bankrupt reference to a foreign holiday written by an American with no mention of the meaning or history or context of the holiday. That was fucking ignorant.

From the Guy

Keep it weird: a man's perspective

Hello Etsy, it's me, the one with the penis and the testicles. While it is true that I do have nipples, my girlfriend is the one who has the tits. I am male.

Now, I have conveniently pointed out, to the council, that I was left out of the fun fuckery that they had with that Storque article. I'd like to point out, as it pertains to all the women's accessories in the article: I'm male, I'm not a fucking cross-dresser. I'm 30, blonde hair, blue eyes. I work as a graphic designer. I wear a lot of blue jeans and dress shirts. I don't wear ties. The last time I wore one was for a funeral. Every time you write an article and you include some fucking run-of-the-mill silk-screened tie as the "guy" item - I fail to be impressed. In fact, I'm un-impressed. That's crap. Guys aren't just ties.

I'm not much into t-shirts either. In fact, my girlfriend is the one who wears the t-shirts in the relationship. Given my age, her age corresponds. And yes, she's a "throwback" to grunge. She has an entire wardrobe of black concert t-shirts and army green cargo pants. She also has an etsy shop. She's an illustrator, and I believe that's as much as I am allowed to say. Needless to say, she's not a connoisseur of silk-screened t-shirts. Although, we were up one weekend at three in the morning, and she was completely entranced by the Yudo commercial. Although, after realizing that it was just a screen printer, she did not buy one.

Other than t-shirts and ties, is there really anything that you feature that panders to guys? Fuck, after typing that I feel like I should be in a Seuss book. Was there a wallet somewhere? Or perhaps a belt?

Maybe I just don't understand? Am I supposed to go out and pierce my ears so I can get some of those wire-wrapped earrings that I see on the front page every day? Or maybe those dresses that look like they were designed in the fifties? I'm trying to imagine my girlfriend wearing one of those, and it's not working. That's not her style. She's a feminist. Too bad you can't pander to her. Because the fifties-style dresses sure aren't doing shit for me. But then, neither are the ladies cloth shoes. I guess one of my comments did make it into the last entry.

So, anyway, why am I rambling?
Oh, because I want the 10 minutes of my life back that I wasted reading this Storque article:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/etc/keep-it-weird-outlaws-7337/

First off, no, it did not take me 10 minutes to read the "article". I would have to be severely retarded to have spent that long reading ONE paragraph. No, what took up 10 minutes of my time was reading the slew of comments regarding the purported "article". Let's "keep it real" — that was a PARAGRAPH not an article.

The only reason I read the comments was because my etsian girlfriend read some inane thread on the forums about some comment about "sexual deviance" and realized that it probably had something to do with the NSFW picture she saw scrolling across the bottom of the screen. She tried to read the thread at work, but, as it turns out, the place that she works at has filters on the computers and she got the big "this page contains banned content" message.

Anyway, she read the thread. OK, so she read like the first page. The rest of the council read the thread. And the general consensus (which was more towards the article than anything in the thread) was that clearly the entire thing was my fault. Fuck. Yeah, I took that with incredulity. Of course, we are a sarcastic bunch. So, this "my fault" thing was meant with snark.

The culprit? Fetishistic Assless Chaps. Oh, don't pretend you didn't read that one. I know you did. And that little gem? Oh, that was all me.

Personally, I blame westerns and Shawn Michaels. Google it, separately.

Anyway, the jaded one said something along the lines of "this is etsy, not the fetishistic assless chaps pantatorium." Now, we all laughed when that line was conceived. Mostly, because that's our sense of humor, collectively. We've all seen the hipster crap on the front page and all this girly shit, and the enviro-fuck crap... it's a very narrow demographic. Simply by virtue of the fact that I have a penis: 99% of what appears on the front page does not appeal to me as a consumer.

So, when suddenly there appears an article with a quasi-NSFW picture on the front page, well, apparently, it's my fault.

So, here's the fun thing: the picture is fetishistic. It's a fucking bondage dress. I'm not evangelical, but I also don't have any weird sexual hang-ups that fill me with any desire to see my girlfriend wearing bondage gear. So, oddly enough, as a guy who regularly watches "pro wrestling" (with his etsian girlfriend) this does not appeal to me (or my etsian girlfriend). Personally, I'm just not into it. But it is bondage gear, and the photo with the fencing props on the model? Well, that makes it fetishistic.

So, congratulation, etsy hipster retards: you put fetishistic bondage gear scrolling across the bottom of you front page to "keep it weird."

It's actually just fucking stupid.

Moreover, it's childish and thoughtless. No, not the fucking lame bondage dress. I really don't give a fuck about it. That shit is for people with sexual hang-ups. It's not for me or my girlfriend. What is childish and stupid is the paragraph that is supposed to tie together this collection of objects.

If Michelle spends her weekend watching the brain-eater on MSNBC, then this should be a collection of shivs, Manson portraits, bullet riddled car doors, an actual fucking mask, and probably something involving a gun or blood... oh, and the fucking brain-eater.

Hold on, let me spend 10 minutes using your site's crippled search feature:
rusty brain
brain eater
sticky paws
brock
painted mannequin head
great pear theft
thief
clockwork heartnut
bandit milk cup
gwendoline red x-ray...
leather kitty hat
little wooden inmate
lego
handcuff necklace

What I really want to say, as a guy, is that this Paragraph is half-cocked. It's like a half erect penis. Because most of this shit is cutesy, girly crap. And the rest of it is just borderline offensive or tasteless. None of it is arty. I've seen pornographic art, and I spend time every week watching what used to be an "outlaw sport". This collection isn't edgy, and it isn't weird. It's just kind of sad. So, ladies, don't waste your time bickering over Michelle's half-cocked attempt to be provocative.

The bondage pic was completely inappropriate for the overall look of your site. I say this as the person who brought to the blogs-bitching-about-the-half-assed, sad, childish-behaviour-of-the-etsy-staff lexicon: fetishistic assless chaps. I also say this as a full time graphic designer.

Your target demographic evidently is not me (or men in general). Do your research first. If you think you have the chops to be provocative, then really, go all out and make a real collection of the fetishistic. Otherwise, have the tact to know when to edit. You're not Regretsy. Regretsy would actually have the balls to show you balls in an environment where that is appropriate.

I enjoy my "guy stuff", the crass, the low, the weird. But this? This isn't it. This was just fucking stupid, and stupid in a very girly way. Go find a guy, an actual guy, not some hipster douche, and he'll explain why this article is fucking retarded, especially if he's supposed to want to buy any of this crap. What on earth would I do with a "bandit skunk" plush thing?

Leave the fetishistic assless chaps to the folks at the pantatorium, where nudity is a precursor and the staff aren't a bunch of petulant wannabe hipster douches with contempt for their clientele.

Given your demographic and the childish nature of your staff: bondage does not belong on the front page. You are indeed not the fetishistic assless chaps pantatorium, you're etsy. Show me some better shit with a more coherent context. This was just fucking lame.

Oh, shit, that's right, I have a life

Funny thing is that I have a life, and a firm belief in lone-wolf style blogging. Otherwise, the co-conspirators would have been more than happy to have done the work for that week I was taking a real life vacation from my full time job.

Oh, fuck! I have a full time job, which means I have health insurance and paid vacation and sick days. Fucking A, my priorities must be all fucked up... you know, because I went on vacation.

Now, amusingly, there is a perfectly good list of front page repeats from last week or the week before — fuck, having a full time job that provides you with a paid vacation is FUCKING AWESOME! Yeah, anyway, somewhere in my email there's a list, but I'm going to skip it for the time being. Because, well, shit, I just got off vacation and my lazy ass doesn't feel like spending 20 minutes copying and pasting.

So, instead, I'm apparently just going to insult people, because really, that's what I feel like doing.

You see, when you keep showing me the same tired old shit by the same people, and I look, and I sneer, and perhaps roll my eyes, and think about what a narrow-minded insular group of jackass fucktards the etsy admins are, well, here's the thing: I've seen the fucking product.

So, it's focus group time:
shebboDesigns:
It's either a painted rock or it's a pre-made ceramic item with a decal cooked onto it.
What the fuck? Seriously, etsy staff? Did you guys totally suck in whatever entry-level ceramics course you took way back when at summer art camp or what? Because, yes, I've seen the shebboDesigns ceramics on the front page repeatedly, and after a brief consultation with the council this is what the focus group has to say:
"I should hand wash this mug? Really, why, because if I throw it in the dishwasher then I will discover that the decal was either applied at such a low heat that it will flake off, or is of such low quality that it will literally fade from the bleach that comes standard in almost all non-douchebag-idiot-fuck-environmentalist ordinary old fucking cascade or electrosol or whatever the hell generic store brand dishwashing powder that normal people who don't spend $7.99 for the smallest amount of ounces of 7th generation throw in their dishwasher, you know, because they have jobs and better shit to do in this era of technology than to sit there and fucking handwash dishes.

What we're really saying is that what shebbodesigns is selling, if it isn't a painted rock, looks like mass-produced pre-glazed ceramic elements that were probably made in China, which have a decal or china paint baked onto them on a lowfire kiln setting. Because, you know, when you can buy the mugs already bisqued with a coat of glaze, then you don't refire them on a high-fire setting.

Really? There aren't like any ceramics artists on etsy? It's very important that my listing and selling fees pay your salaries so you can spend your time promoting decals that have been cooked onto mass produced mugs? Holy fuck, take a ceramics course.

Oh, and my other option is a painted rock. If I wanted a painted rock, logistically, wouldn't I find a brownie fundraiser or a church bazaar? What the fuck am I going to do with a painted rock? You know, I mean if I was bat-shit insane and lived like a fucking hoarder, then absolutely, by all means bring on the painted rocks! Or, you know, if I fucking had children, well, my children could paint me some motherfucking rocks. But really, you want to help someone sell me a fucking painted rock? Holy shit.

The next thing we'd like to offer you some focus group advice on is this Storque article
http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/green-your-wardrobe-with-ecouterres-jasmin-malik-chua-7176/
We're a varied bunch, but we all read this and collectively groaned.
First of all, what's the age cap? Do you realize, that unless you have a reputation for being that annoying fucking bat-shit insane vegan asshole who thumbs their nose at the rest of their co-workers (oh, fuck, we here all have jobs, we keep forgetting that our real world perspectives get in the way of all this fantasy-envirofuck fun) — there is no way in hell you could conceivably get away with wearing this shit anywhere?

For shits and giggles we all took turns.

birthday romper: am I 22 going on 55? Because this makes my tits look like they're in my fucking lap. I guess if I buttoned the jacket I could try to hide this monstrosity. But on what casual friday holiday could I stroll into the office with this get-up? Is it dress like a 1990's catalog hipster day? Because, I mean, really: cleavage with a romper with a jacket with black leggings with saddle shoes? Where the fuck do I work at? An ironic hipster factory? If I have to wear this to show that I'm green, well, then, fuck it. Someone get me some styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer.

Hoodie Wrap: It displays both the horror of being a hoodie, and the idiocy of being a wrap. Oh, and the sleeves are apparently 5 times too long. So, you know, I could wear this to the office and look like I was fashionably inept because the design is for some 20-something that doesn't fucking work at an office. If I strolled in wearing this, I would probably be pulled into the supervisor's office for an inquiry as to whether or not I was ill... Also, what if I'm fat? Seriously, wrap-anything looks terrible on fat people, let alone a wrap hoodie with asymmetrical placement of pocket.

strapless flannel dress: Because nothing says "going green" like fabrics that contrast ridiculously with one another. Really flannel + strapless = WTF. Is this for when I miss winter in the middle of summer? Or because I have an ironic hipster dance to attend? Where do I wear this? And why does no one who sells clothing seem to own an iron? I can already hear my mother groaning.

supayana grey reconstructed top: First off, one of us actually works at a grocery store, and cannot imagine what the fuck the co-workers would be thinking if that person walked into work wearing a reconstructed top wherein an excess sleeve was used as a collar. The general feeling is that you would be sent home for inappropriate wardrobe. Do I have to be so impractical as an environmentalist that I have to wear clothing that would make ordinary people question my sanity? Do I recycle: sure. Do I occasionally buy things at Goodwill: sure. Is a shirt sleeve acceptable when used as a collar: no. Is the ribbed empire waist and the asymmetrical placement of pocket supped to add something to this monstrosity?

Alice's Dream: At first, like an idiot I said "lingerie?" But then I read that this was a "dress". Am I fucking Lady Gaga? To what occasion do I wear this "dress" in public? Yes, hello Grandma! Happy 77th Birthday! Awesomesauce! Thank God! I comes with a slip sewn in, you know, because really my guy friends should politely use their imaginations and creatively ponder my pubic grooming habits!

Wool SeaWeed Neck Garland Scarf Yellow: This one was in the article just so that we could laugh at the title right? Again, if I wore this to work there would be inquiries about my sanity. The only suitable occasion we could invent for such a garment of such lengthy description (c'mon, it's both a GARLAND and a SCARF!!!): hoighty-toighty church. Because while I am an atheist, I am told that if I wore this to normal church, people would be looking at me funny. Or, I guess since it pulls apart, if I were to ever lose my "honor cord" from avant garde fashion school. This would be excellent for a back-up.

Organic Vegan Weekender: The Savant says "osh-kosh-pagosh," and "I was so ten years too old for Osh Kosh Pagosh way back when it was in fashion, what's with all these shitty eighties color combinations? Is it because all the hipster doofuses of my generation already bought out all the good seventies crap that we have to move on to what is currently available?" Do I have to be kooky to be "green"?

sweet hat: I have long hair. Really long hair. I don't wear hats like this. I'm also not a flapper. And none of us can name a "flapper church" that we could wear this too. Other than a costume party, none of us could think of a single place to pragmatically wear such an article of clothing without presenting as some sort of hipster fucktard.

Herrinbone Harris No More: 1989 called, it wants it's bow fetish back. Seriously, herringbone and hot pink? I'm not sure even hoighty-toighty church would accept this one.

Gina Michelle Jigsaw Falling into Place: I'm being told that "my mother's McCall's patterns from the seventies called... you know, the ones you bought at my garage sale for 25¢ a pop. Anyway, they want their — holy shit this listing comes with a poem! — decade back." Again flannel? And no less "silk and flannel" — to what occasion do I wear this attire? Surely not the office, unless I want to get called in for the sanity check, again, or violating the "it must have sleeves" dress code.

Pretty Birdies Military Jacket: Only if I'm 22 and I don't know any better. Look, I recycle, but I'm too old for this crap, and this is looks like something I would be wearing to the ironic hipster fucktard equestrian something or other where there are no real horses but we talk about how terrible it is when they turn them into glue.

Eco-chic Ballet Flats in Purple: I'm not into cloth shoes, particularly the kind made out of canvas. Go kill me a cow and get me some fucking suede.

East Earrings in Bamboo: okay, these are kind of cool, but I'm guessing I'm going to get one of those anonymous emails later about my patchouli perfume / deodorant.

As it turns out, the only thing in this article that was neither snarked or resulted in "meh" was the alice in wonderland necklace. Of course, then we clicked on it and saw that it was from Singapore. Eh, whatever. My lazy ass isn't forking that over for shipping.

It's funny, because with 1 or 2 exceptions, most of us recycle, and many of us are female, and under the age of 35. But none of this shit in this article appealed to any of us. We could all see who it was meant to appeal to, but in that we recognized that familiar stereotype, well, we all know what we think of that stereotype, and it's all negative.

We don't hate the earth, it's just that the vast majority of this shit is either crazy or completely impractical. And all of it is not our demographic.

We're tired of seeing hipster shit. Apparently we're ten years older than the rest of you and not enamored with your cause de jour, or your demographically stunted impractical items of your cause de jour. I'm an adult, an annoyingly responsible one with a job, friends, and a social life. And none of this shit works for me. And yet I recycle and craft and garden; like a normal person with a full time job.

a special case: elinart

elinart.
what a surprise to see your forest fungus on the front page today!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36799480

we remember reading this forum thread just two weeks ago:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6424779
you see "elinart" has another shop called ElinThomas, and using the ElinThomas username posted this:

I've just seen the most gross....

I've just seen the most gross shop ever. My jaw just dropped, I still can't believe it. Don't convo me about it please.

Just to say, seeing it has made me decide to leave Etsy, this place is really starting to stink! Just having my work on the same site as seedy trash makes me feel sick.

----- page 2
Well, I'm not going to call anyone out. I've closed my shop so please don't convo. Over-reaction?...it's the straw that broke this camel's back. I've had enough, it's my choice, I don't expect anyone to follow suit.

-----page 9
Yes...I will be shutting my other shop, but I am working on a few custom orders at the moment so need to stay open.

So, since your shops are both open, then you were just fucking with all of us when you said you were closing up shop and leaving etsy?

Don't buy from unstable sellers like elinart a.k.a. ElinThomas

herding cats... PART 2

You see, we read the etsy forums. We do. And we tend to notice things. Sometimes it's deader than shit in there... and sometimes you're all posting the same damned things over and over. Now, unlike some people, we don't get all pissy about the 8 millionth person who has posted the same fucking question that has been posted a million times already. It is actually not that easy to search forum topics.

Now, what we had noticed, besides the front page repeats, was that there was something that had been missing from the forums... And the thing that was missing is the sort of thing that connects directly with front page repeats. What was missing were those goofy dumb threads where someone we've never seen post a god damned thing before comes on to the forums screaming with CAPITALS and exclamation points!!! in site help (where it actually doesn't belong) about how happy they are to make the front page.

No shit, motherfuckers.
What, did you jealous, no-FP-feature, heartless bastards hate those people?
(yes, that was sarcasm)
Sure, they're dopey, sappy, saccharine... but those are the kind of posts of utter happiness that make the place seem like it isn't filled with a bunch of self centered douchebags.

I don't see maclancy popping onto the forums everyday to thank the fuck out of etsy for the daily front page treasury features. Likewise, I don't see any of those threads by Seapinks, or thrush, or duende74, or slinkymalinkicat, or krize, or allencompanyinc. Now why is that? Is it because they're ungrateful bastards, they "know better", they expect front page features, they don't fucking care? It's happened so often that it is no longer in any way shape or form special to them? Apathy? Greed? Gluttony?

You know, the people that never get the front page treasury feature are all happy to be all greatful and teary-eyed and red in the face about it because they're just so tickled that someone finally came and looked at their shit. But the fuckers that the etsy staff works so hard off the dime of your listing and selling fees to constantly promote can't be bothered to show up with public displays of gratitude.

Amusing, no?

Probably about as humorous as herding cats. Oh, google the phrase, for fuck's sake.
Now, it has been pointed out by the council that we failed to properly harp on something to the necessary extent in the intial "herding cats" post.
Sold items in treasuries: don't do it.
Now, when I say: "you sent me a convo with the link to your treasury that you featured my item in, and I go there and click on shit and it comes up as sold" — I'm not referring to things that were sold yesterday, or that day. When I'm talking about don't put sold shit in your fucking treasury, I'm talking about things that seem to have been sold for days, a week, multiple weeks...

So, the problem solver says:
The curator is careless.
The curator is an idiot.
The curator didn't click on the items they copied from their list, favorites, or poster sketch.
The curator did click on the items they copied from their list, favorites, or poster sketch, but they left the sold items in there because...
The curator is careless.
The curator is an idiot.

OR... there are long since sold items in the curator's treasury because they copied the items out of their favorites, their list, or their poster sketch which they made a long damned time ago, but because it's so fucking hard to get a treasury that it's been sitting around on their desktop or in their cache forever, and they didn't even realize it.

So, is it that you guys are a bunch of dumbasses who won't click on the items that you put in your own treasuries to bother to see if they're available for sale? OR is it because it's actually so much harder to get to actually make a treasury than the forum assholes insist that it isn't (you know, if your priorities are in order)?

Likely, it's a smidge of the former and a whole hell of a lot of the latter. We're talking 10% curator is a dipshit who didn't click on their own picks, and 90% the curator complied the items for the list and then had to wait for weeks for the treasury to open at a time that was convenient for them.

What a broken fucking system.

For instance, right now Galit has two treasuries going with Lirola, MyMoms, and rafya in them:
http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?user=lirola&com=th&x=0&y=0
Really? Because riorita has two treasuries with gaialai... one of which features Lirola and MyMoms, the other with galit, rafya, and TeaPartyHats (who is in one of the Galit treasuries).
Now, gaialai has a treasury which also features MyMoms, duende74, and rolyzcreations, where rafya is an alternate...

You know, because it's really important to always have 2 treasuries all the fucking time that feature exactly the same fucking group of people... while the rest of the peons on etsy with the wrong priorities can't snag a single fucking treasury. And when they finally do, it's weeks after they actually made the list, and they're so unfamiliar with the system that they don't know to click on their own treasury picks (like all the regulars do) to make sure that they're current, because, likely, some sanctimonious lying sack of shit forum asshole has told them that clicking on their own treasury picks is cheating or some such bullshit because it increases your number of clicks, and my god, you're a horrible person... why the fuck do you think anyone wants to look at your favorites? Man, it's probably inferior crap with shitty photos. You should go back to your craft room and hang yourself with some of that cheap tacky fucking silk garland flowers that we know you own, you low class peon. Leave the treasury making to the stay at home moms, and people with working spouses who have connected themselves to one another exclusively who are entitled to show everyone their favorites constantly because, fuck, those lazy and careless dipshits on etsy staff are willing to call them "tastemakers."

Here's a clue, Pat, they're not tastemakers. They're people who have the free time on their hands to manipulate the system to their benefit because the system is being run by a bunch of fucking idiots.

According to MaryMary, the etsy staff cannot figure out what constitutes a repeat.
A front page repeat is a seller who repeatedly appears on the front page treasury. How fucking hard was that?

Now apparently, the etsy staff have no ability to know who has been featured on the front page.
Now, you can choose to believe that. It reads as being pretty unbelievable. It reads as exceptionally unbelievable in light of the fact that the etsy staff have told us that to make the front page you need to have:
an exceptional product
exceptional photos

So, how does etsy staff see exceptional product with exceptional photos and somehow not have the ability to process or remember the username of the person who makes such exceptional shit? Does etsy only hire people with short term memory problems, or are all of you illiterate? Because, if I go to a retail site and see exceptional shit, I'm bound to either simply remember it or bother to take the time to jot the fucking info down (yes, literally by hand).

How am I supposed to believe that your staff actually spots exceptional stuff but cannot see that they keep featuring the same stuff by the same people. How am I supposed to believe that you are so perceptive when you act so imperceptive? How does one have such selective vision?

Unless, of course, this shit about "exceptional product and photos" is actually one big exceptional sham, which, pretty much is what it has to be at this point... and as it turns out, we take exception to exceptional shams, and in general, shit that doesn't work for everyone when you keep trying to feed us this bullshit about how we are such a community.

This line you troll out about "exceptional photos and products" is just empty misdirection. It means nothing. The only means that having the forums act like some retarded echo-chamber of this nonsense about "photo quality" is to send your non-featured, non-repeat, non-favorite members into a tailspin of false self doubt. It's one big it's not etsy, it's you; and that's bullshit. It's a broken system that a bunch of lazy motherfuckers won't fix.

There's likely nothing wrong with your photos, because really, this is a shitty photo
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=25529468
Yeah, it is. First off, the model is looking directly at the camera. That's actually a clothing seller's merchandising photo no-no. The dress is so much in the shadows that it blends right in with the dresser behind the photo. And the photo is actually blurry, which means that the trajectory of the shot vs. the setting on which it was shot were not in sync.

Your staff doesn't know shit about photo quality. There's nothing in any of their profiles that suggest they know jack shit about anything about the professional aspects of retail. So, seeing this same nonsense from them all the time is just insulting.

If you can't see how many times you feature the same people on the front page, how do expect me to believe that you can determine what is an exceptional photo? I need an explanation for your qualifications as it pertains to your inability to compile basic statistical information about your choices.

I don't have that, because you have failed to supply it, because being honest about how dishonest and biased you are isn't really something you want to admit.

That, and your system is broken, because everyone can't make a treasury, and because the same people always still have multiple treasuries. Until the whole thing stops acting like the echo chamber of exclusivity based solely on who has nothing better to do than sit on their ass for endless hours waiting for shit on the internet to expire, then etsy will never realize it's potential to truly act as THE place to buy and sell all things handmade.

You have the diversity of the world at your fingertips, but you're too lazy and childish to embrace it.

Utter etsy fail.

front page repeats...

Oh, we didn't forget.

front page repeats for Saturday 02-13-10
krize (regular repeat, multiple times every week for the last 3 weeks)
malam (regular repeat, twice in one day)
rabbitstop (regular repeat, this week + last week)
shecological (regular repeat, Treasury Mafia / treasury incest member)
shecological was one with fellow treasury incest members lisaburkin & decoratethediva!
sleepyking (regular repeat, this week + last week)
thrush (regular repeat, regular curator)
toybreaker (perennial repeat)
zygopsyche (twice in 1 day)

front page repeats for Sunday 02-14-10
duende74 (regular repeat, this week, last week)
eneeme (regular repeat)
seapinks (regular repeat, repeat curator)
sharonclancydesigns (regular repeat, Treasury Mafia / treasury incest member)
shebboDesign (regular repeat, TWICE on SUNDAY, god, there must not be any other ceramacists on etsy...)
shecological (regular repeat, Treasury Mafia / treasury incest member)
slinkymalinkicat (perennial repeat, last week, multiple every preceding week)
yaelfran (regular repeat)

front page repeats for Monday 02-15-10
allencompanyinc (regular repeat, multiple times every week...)
AwakenJournaling (regular repeat, this week, last week, the week before last)
man, could there possibly anyone else making journals on etsy? We see AwakenJournaling so often that there must not be anyone else...
duende74 (regular repeat, this week, last week)
eneeme (regular repeat, twice today)
likekittysville (regular repeat, multiple features in Storque articles)
maclancy (regular repeat, multiple times every week for the last 3 weeks)
poppyswickedgarden (regular repeat, you know, those fucking twitter tights)
shebboDesign (regular repeat)

since we've come to the conclusion that it's easier to copy and paste, we just dumped the last 3 days together for our own personal benefit...
allencompanyinc (regular repeat, multiple times every week...)
AwakenJournaling (regular repeat, this week, last week, the week before last)
duende74 (regular repeat, this week, last week)
eneeme (regular repeat)
GollyBard (perennial repeat, multiple times per week for the last 3 weeks)
krize (regular repeat, multiple times every week for the last 3 weeks)
likekittysville (regular repeat, multiple features in Storque articles)
maclancy (regular repeat, multiple times every week for the last 3 weeks)
malam (regular repeat, twice in one day)
poppyswickedgarden (regular repeat, you know, those fucking twitter tights)
rabbitstop (regular repeat, this week + last week)
seapinks (regular repeat, repeat curator)
sharonclancydesigns (regular repeat, Treasury Mafia / treasury incest member)
shebboDesign (regular repeat)
shecological (regular repeat, Treasury Mafia / treasury incest member)
sleepyking (regular repeat, this week + last week)
slinkymalinkicat (perennial repeat, last week, multiple every preceding week)
thrush (regular repeat, regular curator)
toybreaker (perennial repeat)
yaelfran (regular repeat)
zygopsyche (twice in 1 day)

likekittysville elicits her own special game from us. Every time we see an $80.00 cat perch we laugh sarcastically and think back to likekittyville's very revealing featured seller interview:

How do you promote your work?

Ugh. I hate that part. I have an imaginary press kit. Word-of-mouth has been good to me, so I try to foster that goodwill by using creative recycled packaging for kitty bed shipments, check-and-double-check communication, and oversize biz cards.

By word of mouth you mean the paid (through all of our listing and selling fees) etsy employee who spends their time promoting your fucking cat perches in Storque articles, etsy finds, the gift guides, and on the front page, right? Because if you don't then we're going to go get a shovel and dig a whole in the ground, and then pull your pants down and take a shot and ask you if you can tell the difference between those two. We're guessing that you can't. But, wow, someone on the etsy staff loves their cat.

Ask yourselves: why can etsy do so very much for maclancy, sharonclancydesigns, shebboDesigns, and the rest of the front page repeats in regards to the free front page exposure at the behest of employees who are paid through your listing fees, but what have they done for you lately?

There are more than 40 sellers on etsy. Do Not Patronize front page repeats. Don't buy from them. Don't put them in your treasuries. Don't enable the unprofessional etsy employees to continue to put them on the front page with your shop name credited as responsible. Favoritism is an unfair business practice. Do Not Patronize front page favorites.

perennial etsy fuck up, favoritism, repeats and other unsavory behavior that erodes the trust of your member community.
"etsy suck" on every level of social commerce.

herding cats...

a deep dark journey through the mind-fuck of the etsy treasury.
(this is a long one, hey, we warned you)

Making treasuries: a special case

Most of our recent posts have centered around issues that stem from the treasury. So, we'd like to cover some ground.
Someone (in some forum thread) asked "why bother to make a treasury?"
There is no short answer. But there are a panoply of interconnected reasons. It's relatively free (we'll let you decide whether or not you account for your personal time). It's a free feature on etsy, why not use it? To show other people stuff you like on a site sponsored format where no one should be accusing you of being spammy. To be altruistic and promote stuff by other people on a site feature where no one should be accusing you of being spammy. As a way to meet other etsians: both as a means to give a shout to and perhaps receive a response from people who make stuff that you admire, and also as a way to potentially meet all sorts of people who happen to like looking at stuff that other people like. In other words, make a treasury for the potential social interaction whether it's social networking, social marketing, or just being a people person. Because sometimes your treasury might make it to the front page: where the general public can click on the things that you like and perhaps also the link to your shop. Front page exposure for the people featured in your treasury may result in instant or future sales. And front page exposure in that you're credited for coming up with the list might lead to sales or future sales for you as well.

In essence, at its core the treasury is a tool for social networking, social marketing, and potential sales.

Now, don't get us wrong: we like the treasury. What we don't like is when people bastardize, monopolize, or just plain abuse the treasury.

So, we'd like to offer some advice with the hopes that those of you who happen to read this blog are altruistic enough to forward this information.

We see some stupid shit sometimes when we go to the treasury or when we read the forums and see people asking questions about the treasury. So, help your fellow etsians out and be honest with them.

"How do I know when the treasury is going to open?"
You don't. Yes, you can either go to page 17 and use your math skills to figure out how many down from the top constitutes 333. Or you can go to craftopolis and look at the treasury clock. Neither of these things is actually a guarantee as to when the treasury will really open.

"It's a fucking treasury clock, motherfucker, TREASURY CLOCK — why did you just tell me to go FUCKING look at a TREASURY CLOCK like it had the answer and then tell me not to believe it? What kind of a vicious asshole are you?"
We will cop to being assholes, I'm not committing to agree to the vicious part. Anyway, the reason that the clock or the time on the 333rd treasury on about page 17 aren't exactly completely accurate indicators of PRECISELY when the treasury will open is because etsy users who create treasuries have the ability to delete their own treasuries. So, if they want to make another treasury at the time around when they know the treasury is about to open, they may then delete their current about-to-expire treasury.

"Motherfuckers!"
Yes.

"So, then, what the fuck, when does it open?"
Well, look at when the thing is about to open and show up an hour before it's supposed to open.

"An HOUR? Are you out of your god damned mind? What do I have a warehouse that stores an endless supply of free time?"
Don't ever ask this question on the forums. Some sanctimonious asshole will tell you that you clearly have the wrong priorities. Yes, in all seriousness, they will tell you that if you do not possess a free hour to sit in front of your computer and wait for an opening on a feature that you, in fact, just don't have your priorities in order. Kids, scmids. Fucking kids... go, the fuck away, mommy needs to make a list of other people's crap in the vain hopes that mommy's list will make the front page so mommy can make some sales on this online marketplace with the crippled search feature... You can clean up the dog's piss later, and crochet yourself a new sofa cover to hide whatever the cat did while you were staring in vain at the computer. Job, you son of a bitch, jobs are for pussies? Sleep, motherfucker, sleep is for pussies. Crafting? Why the fuck would you take time to make your own stuff, you asshole, you're supposed to be making stuff for other people. Oh, and while your at it, go fuck yourself.
Yes, it's all about priorities.

Now, the forum assholes will tell you that supposedly there's something magical or fun about sitting in front of your computer waiting for shit to expire.
Here's a thought about these people: they're stay at home moms, or they live in a residence where someone else is taking care of the bills, amenities, etc. Because anyone who is currently employed is going to tell you that when the shift is over, there is no joy in coming home to whoville to sit down in front of a computer and waste an hour of your precious free time waiting for shit on the internet to expire. You are not crazy for thinking that the people who tell you that there is joy in waiting for shit to expire to get to use a feature are in fact retarded. That's like saying it's fun to stand in line at Christmas time at Best Buy. Only stay at home moms or people who otherwise don't have to leave the house to earn a paycheck would ever try to sell you on something so viciously false as the suggestion that metaphorically standing in line enhances the fun. It doesn't. Yes, Virginia, they are crazy retarded.

"Okay, so I sat there for a fucking hour (my cat has thoroughly humped my leg), now what?"
Did a box appear on your screen?

"Yes."
Then type a title in it as quickly as possible and either click on "accept" or hit return or enter depending on whether you're using a mac or a PC.

"What kind of a glutton would I have to be to have a PC? That's like having the internet through the landline."
We know, and that wasn't a question, let's try to keep this on topic. Pretty soon someone is going to come in here passing out imaginary drinks and cupcakes...

"Fine, although I could go for a cupcake... So, I typed in my title, now what?"
Now you can begin to make your treasury. Either copy and paste URLs from your favorites or some list you may have complied for yourself or use the items in your poster sketch.
We have some recommendations about the items you use for your treasury:
Make sure the listing are ACTIVE; check your treasury choices before you put them in your treasury. Seriously, no one is going to enjoy clicking on your treasury if all they get are a bunch of error pages. Also, make sure the items are NOT SOLD. We cannot stress this enough. As etsy users (and, gasp, the occasional makers of treasuries) it boggles our minds when you tell me that you have featured an item from my shop in your treasury, I click on the link, and then I start clicking on the items in your treasury and see that they literally sold like a week ago. ALWAYS USE CURRENT LISTINGS WHEN MAKING A TREASURY. Do NOT place sold or inactive items in your treasury.

Most importantly: have 16 different items from 16 DIFFERENT sellers. Yes, we know, only 12 of those items show up in the treasury that the average etsy user clicks on. Alternates are for if in general something from your treasury sells, or are necessary if you expect your treasury to ever be in the running to be promoted to the front page of etsy. We're not fucking with you. You need 12 different seller's items for the part that everyone can see, and 4 more different seller's items for the part that only you and the etsy staff can see. USE ALL 16 slots, USE 16 different items by 16 different sellers.

"It says at the bottom of the treasury that I may include one of my own items."
If you don't want your treasury to have a chance at making the front page, then sure. Yes, Virginia, it's a catch 22. If you're only making a treasury apparently just to make one and you have utterly no hope of having your treasury be on the front page, then by all means, include your own item... The fact that your shop name is credited with making the list — that is supposed to be enough. Featuring yourself in your own treasury negates your chances of making the front page. We advise against the practice.

"So, what should I put in my treasury?"
That's up to you. We really have no interest in telling you who or what you should feature. No, really, we're serious. What we do suggest is looking for things that you like with listings that are well executed. Yes, to a certain degree the pictures count. I mean, the listing really does need to have A picture, because, quite frankly, the treasury that you make, whether it's just in the treasury or makes it to the front page is essentially a collection of 12 gallery style thumbnails. Yes, there is tiny text, but really, what I'm looking at is a gallery-sized thumbnail. So, when I look at it — I need to be able to identify the item.

-----------------------------
So, to summarize:
Use all 16 slots with different items by 16 different sellers.
Wanna be on the front page: no sold items, no inactive / error message listings, must have discernible pictures, don't put your own items in your own treasury (from you or any alternate accounts), we advise against religious pandering, nudity, and generally offensive shit. This is, after all, etsy (the place to buy and sell all things handmade), not the fetishistic ass-less chaps pantatorium (where, of course, nudity is a precursor).

"Yeah, but you assholes will still bitch about whatever I picked if it makes it to the front page... especially if I'm fond of your beloved repeats or part of the Treasury Mafia."
You're right, we will. But then, we don't expect to stop you, hinder you, or slow you down, buckaroo. If we see your name attached to a list of repeats on the front page repeatedly, will we be asshole about it? Absolutely. But you know what? We shouldn't. And it's not us, and it's not you: it's the etsy staff. Unfortunately for you or me or us: etsy does not disclose the empoyees who curate the front page. Like some assholes running some sort of vitriolic blog devoted to issues stemming from their unhappiness with the way features are being run with no transparency to the methodology — they do it anonymously. Believe me, we'd happily skip all you motherfuckers over in a heartbeat to get to the heart of the matter.

In all actuality, there is nothing wrong with your crappy treasury filled with front page repeats. Sure, we'll waste 32 seconds of our time opening it. We might click on anything that's not a repeat that by our own personal standards isn't exceptionally terrible, but really, we're not the kind of assholes who post the stupid fuck comments in your treasury. Yeah, we've read about those assholes who do that shit on the forums; we're not them.

No, the problem isn't with your crappy treasury chock full of front page repeats, the problem is 2 fold. It's the treasury system itself and it's the etsy employees choosing the front page treasuries.

Regarding the etsy employees who are curating the front page, as some asshole said: get a spreadsheet. Or fuck, spend less time fucking up the convo feature and invent yourself a program not unlike a spreadsheet where in which sellers make the front page will be tracked by date and which employee put them there will simultaneously be tracked. That way, the lone etsy employee with the actual ability to feature the depth and diversity of the talent available on your site won't be dragged down by the assholes who keep hitting me over the head with Lirola, maclancy, toybreaker, etc.

Regarding the treasury system itself: it sucks.
The previous text wherein we explained catch 22 facts assumed that nothing goes wrong when you go to make a treasury. We know this isn't the case. Not only have we read over the years scores of threads with etsians bemoaning blank or missing spots in their treasuries. But we have also read of the numerous times that someone has sat there for an hour waiting for the number to dip below 333, typed their title into the box, hit enter, and got no treasury. What the fuck is that?
Because, you know, first that person had to figure out when the treasury was going to open. Sit there with their thumb up their ass waiting for the damned thing to open. They type in their title, hit enter... and nothing. Would that really make you want to try again? Because how pissed do you think you would be? We figure you'd be really fucking pissed. You don't, as it turns out, have an imaginary warehouse with an endless supply of free time. And you just spent an hour in line to wait for what turned out to be nothing. How utterly disappointing.

There is rarely a week that goes by without one of these tales of woe. And these people aren't fucking with you. They didn't make this shit up because they were lazy or had the wrong priorities or wanted to come to the forums and whine like assholes. This shit happens every week.

So, when is etsy going to fix the treasury so that more people can participate? There's a proposal out there that would almost completely eliminate everything that we decry here. It involves opening up the treasury to everyone, essentially whenever. Because, if anyone could make a treasury, then we imagine, just about anyone actually would make a treasury. Yes, we know, even the ass-less chaps people. We don't begrudge them their regular treasury, as they are trying to sell their (presumably handmade) ass-less chaps. That's right, none of us are in the handmade ass-less chaps business, so what the fuck do we care? We just don't want to see it on the front page.

We imagine that if everyone could make a treasury that the treasury would pretty much be the same but different. It would be different in that it would be harder to find the same 40 people who ALWAYS have a treasury and a treasury west going at the same time. You know, the assholes you meet on the forums who think their treasuries don't suck shit so much that they should have 2 going at the same time all the time. Yeah, the assholes who really think their opinions matter, and they're entitled to it or some such shit because their "priorities" are in order. Those stupid fucks, the ones who keep putting the same people in their treasuries, who ALWAYS have time to wait for the treasury to open and make one, the ones who are always featured on the front page because they're in the treasury so frequently that the staff knows them by heart... yeah, we'd like them to be harder to find. We'd like to destroy their echo chamber, because we're really tired of the cacophony of the same old crap.

We'd like to be able to see all of you make 1 treasury that lasts for only 48 hours at the only treasury on etsy. And when your 1 treasury expires or you delete your own treasury then you can make another. Oddly, we have a reasonable amount of faith in all of you, because we know that you all don't like exactly the same things. You are a diverse crowd, so don't be crowded out by a small group of people who are so exclusive to one another that they can't be bothered to be honest or altruistic enough to include you.

Go forth and make treasuries, and make the kind that have a chance at being on the front page:

• 16 different items from 16 different sellers
• none of your own items
• no sold or inactive listings
• nothing offensive
• no listings without discernible pictures