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.

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.

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.

a special case: Janice

We encourage all of you non-moron, non-assholes to go off to the forums and participate in this thread:
Tell Etsy what you consider to be FP repetition
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6436305

So far, popular answers to how frequently should one seller be featured on the front page range from once per week to once every 10 days. Great practical and pragmatic responses, for the most part.

Now, of course, we do expect some dipshits to post in the thread, fortunately we didn't have to wait long for JaniceCordeiro to give her trite and meaningless opinion... it's a whopper, and yes, you will be dumber for having read it.

The front page belongs to Etsy. That should be their decision. I think the front page is obsessed over way too often. I'm getting tired of seeing people stamping their feet and saying me, me, me. We get incensed if Etsy puts something in "our" shops yet the group mentality is that the shop keepers own the front page too. That's Etsy's advertising space. Took me awhile to come to this conclusion because the group mentality becomes invasive at times.

First of all, fuck you, you moron. My god, could you possibly have anything of less value to add to the discussion? You're almost as bad as favoritism / repetition denier Tinahdee, who I gather wishes we would stop mentioning her idiotic posts here.

If etsy didn't suck balls with the front page favoritism and repetition in the first place, then none of this would currently be a topic of discussion.

However, if you did happen to be around a few days prior you might understand why Janice thinks the staff does such a fine job...

What the Heck Is

What the hell is wrong with you people. I have never seen such nonsense. The jealousy on this site is beyond disgusting.

You should be happy that someone did something very well. And was honored for that. But instead you whine like little kids. If you want to be honored for something here's a clue --- get better than they are. If you don't want to put in the work to get better, then shutup! Let the people who did something really good shine for their brief moment and congratulate them. Like a grown up!

Read your posts. If you haven't embarrassed yourself you didn't look closely enough.

Guess what! I made the front page yesterday. Picked by Etsy. You know how many people said well done? One!

I'm also going to be in the next edition of Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Magazine.

I also was requested to include some of my sculptures in a new gallery in Silver Springs, Maryland.

There, you weren't, so now you really have something to complain about.

To the people who won the latest honors I say VERY WELL DONE AND CONGRATULATIONS!

To the childish complainers I say GROW THE HELL UP!

Yeah, thanks to the fact that we have been rightfully and relentlessly critiquing the front page favoritism and repetition, etsy has gone out of their way to do a sub-standard job of pretending to feature more people, while still relentlessly featuring the SAME people. As you can read, JaniceCordeiro is one of the people who has benefited from our efforts.
(fortunately, we appreciate irony)

And yes, you did read that correctly, JaniceCordeiro had no one tell her what a great person she was for making FP or whatever she claimed to have accomplished, so she started a snide thread to let all you people know how ungrateful you bastards are for not falling at her feet when she entered the room... that, and apparently she was incapable of understanding the sarcasm of another forum thread which was really why she went on this tirade to begin with.

So, hey, if douchebags like JaniceCordeiro can make the front page, of course they don't want a level playing field, and yes, apparently Virginia, you are expected to pepper her with praise.

Fucking moron.

-----
Okay, I had to edit this post to point out a few things (at the behest of the council):
JaniceCordeiro is apparently no friend of grammar and punctuation.
First up "---" this is not an actual symbol of punctuation. It is a short dash "-" for a thought that will be interrupted but then completed, e.g.
JaniceCordeiro is a moron of the highest degree - not that that's an honor - just stating a fact.
OR it's "--" or "—" (the long dash, for a thought that will be interrupted but not completed).
Learn your dashes, motherfucker.

"get better than they are"
God, my head hurts. You don't end a sentence with a preposition. I guess it's hard to get better than they are when you can't formulate the sentence correctly.

"If you haven't embarrassed yourself you didn't look closely enough."
It is called an "If / Then" clause, you dipshit. "If" being followed by "Then", which comes after the comma.

"Let the people who did something really good shine for their brief moment and congratulate them." You mean the people who did something really well? And how about a comma? Are you familiar with that form of punctuation?

"Like a grown up!"
This is a sentence fragment. It's not artsy.

Fucking learn to form sentences, you moron.

*this concludes this brief session from the language police*

front page repeats

Yeah, sometimes we take a day off. We're human, although I'm sure there are a few of you who think we're scary assholes or something equally heartless and android-like. And then there are you stupid assholes who think that we're bitter and probably terrible crafters who take bad photos of our crappy products... and we're litterbugs and hooligans or whatever.

Actually, we're gamblers.
We played some front page bingo, and we placed our bets. Much to the chagrin of everyone, I nailed it! Whooooooooo! Boo-yeah! That's right Lirola made the front page on Wednesday, not once but TWICE! Who called it? Oh yeah, that's right, me!

So, we did the only appropriate thing we could do: we went out to a bar and got hammered to celebrate the fact that I totally called it.

It was the only thing we could do, clearly.

Front page treasury repeats on Wednesday:
humblebea (perennial repeat, this week, last week, etc)
Lirola (TWICE on Wednesday, every other week before that X infinity)
olaladesign (regular repeat, repeat curator)
maclancy (regular repeat, TWICE on Wednesday, + last week, the week before last)
rafya (regular repeat, regular curator; she was on FP on Tuesday, TWICE on Wednesday)
seapinks (regular repeat, repeat curator)
yoola (regular repeat)

Front page treasury repeats on Thursday:
humblebea (perennial repeat, this week, last week, etc)
iktomi (regular repeat, this week + last week)
IslaNewYork (regular repeat)
Lirola (TWICE on Wednesday, every other week before that X infinity)
maclancy (regular repeat, today, TWICE yesterday, + last week, the week before last)
rafya (regular repeat, regular curator; she was on FP on Tuesday, TWICE on Wednesday)
terminy (regular repeat)
yoola (regular repeat)

------------
On a general note: where goes Lirola, generally one finds galit, rafya, and terminy.
Would someone on the etsy staff like to specifically explain to the rest of us peons why it is that the ISRAEL ARTISTS TEAM gets so much face time on the front page so frequently? Because it certainly doesn't escape the average viewer that not only does Lirola appear there on a weekly basis, but usually always with galit, rafya, and terminy... Why the favoritism of the ISRAEL ARTISTS TEAM?

It's not like we see POE (photographers of etsy) on the front page every day, or Quiltsy, or the Dachshund Team, or Trashion... okay, so I'm just guessing that maybe one of these teams makes regular treasuries. But seriously, why the preferential treatment of the Israel Artists Team?

And really, etsy, you just can't go ONE fucking day without featuring maclancy? Because, really, you're making my photoshop cry. There's a reason it's crying, and from what I can gather it's sputtering something about bad editing. How many fucking etsians are there who make prints or cards of images they have created with photoshop? How many fucking etsians are there who make prints or cards of images they have created with photoshop that they are actually licensed to use? Really, maclancy is inevitable? Unavoidable? Like inclement weather? Or bad photoshoping?

Your treasury rules still state that you may promote whole or partial lists to the front page.
How about showing me a whole hell of a lot less maclancy? We can't start placing meaningful bets on it until it disappears for a few days.

Ask yourselves: why can etsy do so very much for maclancy 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.

front page repeats, again

Oh etsy staff, you're such a heap of disappointment.
If this was a drinking game, I would still be hammered from yesterday, the day before, and every preceding day. At some point I would probably need to check into a rehab facility.

Tuesday's front page repeats:
DearDodo (regular repeat, featured twice in the span on 1 day)
krize (regular repeat, TWICE this week + last week)
munieca (regular repeat, this week + at least TWICE last week , the week before last X infinity)
rafya (regular repeat, regular curator)
xenotees (regular repeat, TWICE this week + TWICE last week, the week before last)
xenotees was featured on the front page on Sunday and Tuesday.

It was also apparently somehow impossible to not feature irenesochocki on the front page twice in the span of a day.
As it was also apparently somehow impossible to not feature sjengraving on the front page twice in the span of a day.

You know, in spite of the fact that etsy's own policies dictate that they may promote "whole or partial lists to the homepage".

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.

A word about Treasuries, repetition, and curators

From the editorial desk in response to emilybidwell

If you make claims about faults in the member curated treasuries, then as an employee you should seek out means by which to correct those faults.

If etsy has a policy about not promoting treasuries to the front page that lack alternates, then it should be stated at the bottom of the treasury with the rest of the rules.

If etsy has a policy about not promoting treasuries to the front page that contain items from the curator, then it should be stated at the bottom of the treasury with the rest of the rules.

Why isn't it?
If etsy is misleading its users about a feature, then the fault lies with etsy. Only a total coward with no integrity whatsoever would place the fault on it's users.

So, while this here is a strictly volunteer endeavor, I am fortunate to have a savant at my disposal.
Having read the comments that emilybidwell left in the thread -- I sent The Savant to the treasury. The Savant is the one who generally supplies The List. Yes, I'm capitalizing these things to be An Asshole. It just sounds more official that way, anyway The Savant approves, just like Mikey.

So, The Savant went to the Main Treasury. Mind you, The Savant is a generic run-of-the-mill etsy user. So, The Savant has no admin powers, and therefore cannot see your alternates. But well, fuck it, because The Savant is a savant. You know, one of those phonebook reading "Rain Man" types.

The Savant took some statistics based on the groupings:

category 1: no repeats / no curator featured in the treasury
category 2: front page repeats
category 3: curator featured in treasury

There is no bleed between the numbers compiled in The Savant's assessment. Curators who featured themselves in their own treasuries were treated as their own grouping which negated any qualities of repeats or lack of repeats.

Total number of treasuries sampled: 293 in 1 sitting of the Main Treasury.
category 1 - there's nothing wrong with this treasury: 200 treasuries
category 2 - front page repeats: 51 treasuries
category 3 - curator featured in treasury: 42 treasuries

The Savant looked at 293 treasuries; 200 of which contained no front page repeats or curators featuring themselves. Of those 200 only 4 were blatantly Christian-only, 1 was Jewish. There were no Hispanic, Arabic, Indian, or Asian themed treasuries in the Savant's sample. There were no treasuries involving nudity or Nazism or racism.

So, if you disqualify the 5 religious pandering treasuries from the mix, then 195 out of a sample of 293 is 66.55% of treasuries that ought to be usable with no repeats or crossover or curators featuring themselves. And those were just samples from the Main Treasury.

If there are currently 195 treasuries with no repeats, why then, are there all the repeats? This doesn't square.
It doesn't square more when you consider that 12 front page treasuries per day are specifically selected by the staff. If the etsy staff who are paid via the listing fees of the etsy users have the time to "browse through etsy's categories" to find things, then you should easily be able to come up with 1 to 4 items to use as alternates in the instance that a member-curated treasury does not contain them.

What is the justification for having the ability to select items for etsy curated front page treasuries while not possessing the same ability to add potential alternates to member curated treasuries that don't have alternates? You have the unbelievable ability to compile your own treasuries, but you are suddenly incapable of finding 1 to 4 extraneous items to potentially add to someone else's list? Really? That seems contradictory and mendacious.

The only way that it's believable that etsy employees are incompetent when it comes to generating fresh alternates is if the "search" function is completely useless or your employees are in fact all comatose.

And moreover, the curator featured treasuries: why don't you just use your own policy about promoting a whole or partial list to the homepage? Again, etsy is capable of cobbling together approximately 12 front page treasuries per day, has a policy about promoting whole or partial lists to the front page, and yet will not take a few minutes to edit a treasury simply because the curator put one of their own items in it? How fucking lazy are you motherfuckers? That has got to be the most incompetent pool of humanity on the planet. A cat running across a keyboard could generate alternates and replacements, and probably without repeats.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, because The Savant sat there and stared at the computer for 2 hours reading, observing, tabulating, and otherwise being savant-like, The Savant wrote down some treasuries of note.
It does actually feel kind of wrong to feature these people here, but, what the hell, if it keeps my emotionally dead quasi-autistic number cruncher happy...
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111757
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111759
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111749
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111735
and The Savant recommends this replacement after 1 minute of searching
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39101681
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111905
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111904
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111938
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111937
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111805
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111722
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111667
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111569
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111638

front page repeats...

Etsy staff are completely incompetent and shameless.

Now, these are some of the repeats from SUNDAY
Sunday saw these front page repeats...
allencompanyinc (regular repeat, this week + TWICE last week, the week before last)
AwakenJournaling (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
humblebea (perennial repeat, this week, last week, etc)
NanLawson (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
quotesandnotes (this week + multiple times last week)
RUBYrecycled (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
slinkymalinkicat (perennial repeat, this week + multiple times last week, and the week before last)
xenotees (regular repeat, this week + TWICE last week, the week before last)

So, surprise surprise, who are the MONDAY repeats?
AwakenJournaling (regular repeat, this week Sunday + Monday, + last week, the week before last)
humblebea (perennial repeat, this week Sunday + Monday, + last week, etc)
maclancy (regular repeat, this week + TWICE last week, week before last)
marysgranddaughter (regular repeat)
NanLawson (regular repeat, this week + last week, week before last)
olaladesign (regular repeat, repeat curator, this week + last week, week before last)
StudioZen (this week + last week)

So, emilybidwell, what was that you stated?
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6190337&page=4

As a rule of thumb, we do not alter member's Treasuries. We are currently using nearly all the Treasuries that are offered, but cannot force people to select different items for their collections. Since there is no way for community curators to cross reference eachtother's items, the more community Treasuries we use, the more repeats we should expect to see.

Not only is that statement completely false.
While humblebea in a 11 treasuries: http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?user=humblebea
That still leaves a minimum of 544 treasuries to pick from.
When you featured a treasury with XX on SUNDAY, you're then going to justify featuring XX on the front page on MONDAY and blame the repetition on the curators of treasuries? How is that?

The most plausible extremely half-ass excuse for curators being blamed for repetition by etsy staff is in a scenario where etsy staff have endorsed favorites. If you put people they like in your treasury, then you might make it to the front page. As it turns out, it's the way etsy staff have been operating the front page treasury curation for the past year. Etsy staff have entrenched the favoritism and have fostered an environment with has encouraged the repetition.

What kind of paid employee of a company blames its members for its own faults? A coward.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php?ref=fp_nav_treasury
Only one Treasury list per person. Do not create lists with multiple accounts at the same time.

Treasury is not intended for personal promotion. Please do not include more than one of your own items.

Etsy may, at times, promote whole or partial selections from a Treasury list to the home page.

This list will expire two days after creation. Bonus time (up to 24 hours) may be randomly added to the lifetime of your list.

Etsy reserves the right to remove Treasury lists at any time.

So, if etsy may promote whole or partial selections, why then are they A. incapable of removing repeats, and B. incapable of replacing them with items not by other repeats?

Presumably, the listing fees generated by your users are generating your salaries. You know, etsy isn't staffed by volunteers. So if the paid employees are "browsing through etsy's categories" as they so often claim with the front page treasuries curated by etsy staff, then why are those treasuries always riddled with repeats? Why can't etsy staff find new things? How fucking broken is the search feature? Is there something wrong with etsy's computer equipment? Is your internet connection fucked up? Do you need to call tech support? Are you blind? And if you are, then are the universal access features on your computers broken?

What's the next excuse? Because apparently the current one is that you can't be bothered to use your own provision to "promote whole or partial selections from a Treasury list to the home page."
If you can't follow or practice your own provisions, then what can you do?
Perhaps etsy should have some staff turnover and employ some people who are competent.

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.

front page repeats, still...

You know, I wrote some long ass editorial on Saturday, but it's not like I stopped paying attention or something...

Saturday saw these front page repeats...
GollyBard (perennial repeat, more than TWICE this week)
krize (regular repeat, TWICE this week + last week)
thrush (perennial repeat)
toybreaker (perennial repeat, TWICE this week)

Sunday saw these front page repeats...
allencompanyinc (regular repeat, this week + TWICE last week, the week before last)
AwakenJournaling (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
humblebea (perennial repeat, this week, last week, etc)
NanLawson (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
quotesandnotes (this week + multiple times last week)
RUBYrecycled (regular repeat, this week + last week, the week before last)
slinkymalinkicat (perennial repeat, this week + multiple times last week, and the week before last)
xenotees (regular repeat, this week + TWICE last week, the week before last)

Now at the bottom of etsy's front page is the "New Storque Articles & Related Items" box, you know the thing with the scroll screen...
So, there's this article:
Etsy Finds: Revenge of the Nerds
And what is featured in the graphic for the article? Why the foliage handsoap set, of course.
So, guess what's already on the front page (if you guessed hand shaped soap by foliage, give yourself a silver star!)? Why it's a treasury titled "browsing through etsy's categories", which of course, was selected by etsy staff -- you know the people who are paid through your listing fees. Hey, guess which item was found by etsy staff while supposedly "browsing through the categories"!!!!
(rolls eyes)
if you guessed: foliage handsoap set
then give yourself a gold star.

What are the chances that an item that is A. already on the front page, and B. has already appeared so god damned many times on the front page, in Storque articles, the etsy finds email, and too many times in the gift guides to possibly count — anyway, what are the chances that some paid etsy employee was actually spending company time looking through the etsy listings in the categories and found that one? What are the chances? Zero.

Stop fucking calling it browsing through etsy's categories. Call it shit that I found a year and a half ago while I happened to accidently be forced to browse a category, which I have then featured in every possible location on this site I could jam it into because it's one of my personal favorites.

Showing us the very same shit by the very same people who have been featured there previously that week, the week before that, and every preceding week is fucking insulting, it's a demonstration of contempt, and it's lazy.
I'd like to end with "etsy fail", but well, I think the employees are too dense and self righteous to get it... so we'll go with:
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.

etsy, it's not me, it's you

This has got to be the stupidest thing I have read in this entire thread. I am simply gobsmacked by the total and complete stupidity of LucyBlaireCreations. I am so stupefied by this shit that I had to share it, well, that and I am now dumber for having read it, so I think the rest of you should share in my shame and horror.

LucyBlaireCreations says
First off I love Gift Guides and I'm SUPER pissed they're gone.

That being said, lets start out by saying, life isn't fair and that uphill battle should be what motivates you, not makes you quit and ask for the unfair thing to be completely removed because every single one of us can't be involved. Trust me, I get frustrated all the time seeing the same sellers on the FP and GG's and the Storque but it makes me work harder! Photographing and rephotographing, working on my descriptions, etc etc.... learn to live with disappointment people and maybe tell yourself perhaps I'm not there because my stuff isn't good enough. If you don't believe that about yourself than maybe its because you aren't "out there" enough, how can Etsy put you in something if they don't know you exist?

There is ALWAYS something to improve upon. You can say its Etsy's fault if you want, and hey, it pretty much is, but thats a battle you can't win, but if you tell yourself its you and if only YOU could be better, then theres hope.

I'm sorry, but there is A LOT of crap here on Etsy and as a seller with MILLIONS of things to do I don't have to time to "shop" through the crap. I start in Gift Guides, get an idea, and then go search for the more specific thing. I don't know how thats not useful. I have a feeling there will be a buyer backlash on this.

Now that you've read that, I would actually suggest that you log into your etsy account and report LucyBlaireCreations' post. She just insulted you: "there is A LOT of crap here on Etsy". People have been muted for less, so the more of you who report the post - the better.

Can you believe this asshole? Seriously? This fucktard just told you guys that you suck, your products suck, it's your fault, and the quicker you blame yourself... then, well, you're still never going to be featured... so, uh, yeah, learn to live with disappointment.

Holy shit, what a moron, and what an asshole.

Newsflash, LucyBlaireCreations, quitters never win, and winners never quit. But, apparently you're a quitter, and a lazy one at that. I am also assuming that you quit that whole "spelling, grammar, and punctuation thing" in the fourth grade too. Because, my god, what the fuck was that abomination of words thrown together without the use of punctuation or apostrophes? My spell check / grammar check is about to have a seizure.

Double negative time here, but there isn't nothing that we Etsians can not do about problems with the staff; doing nothing is what gets nothing done. Doing unnecessary shit like fixing things that aren't actually broke (your listings) is actually a waste of time.

It's assholes like LucyBlaireCreations that give all the forum assholes a bad name.

If you are one of the many etsians who was never in a gift guide and hasn't seen the front page in ages (and by ages I don't mean since last week... 7 days is not an eternity), it is not, in fact, because you suck, or your products suck. It's because the etsy employees continue to feature their favorites / the same sellers over and over in all those free promotional spots because the etsy employees are careless and lazy. It's not you, it's etsy. Let the blame lie with the real culprit: etsy. Go ahead, actualize it.

The gift guides, at their peak, and well, always, were a beacon of etsy favorites. CardboardSafari was once featured in 8 gift guides simultaneously. Toybreaker was regularly in 7 gift guides simultaneously. Lirola was usually in 6 simultaneously. It's not because these people make great stuff. It's because etsy staff are lazy, shallow, and incompetent and with the protection of "no calling out" in place couldn't possibly be held accountable for actually being altruistic about the free promotional spots on the site. If no one is allowed to say anything, then who can voice dissent?
No one.
So, you know what, start fucking talking. And I don't mean TOU violating or blanketly insulting your fellow etsians like LucyBlaireCreations did by suggesting that there is "A LOT" of "crap". I mean cleverly omitting the names, and just state the facts.
Everything that PetitPoulailler stated on the next page was dead on correct, and also lacked any form of TOU violations.
It is annoying to have to take the high road when dealing with the employees of a company who have acted in such an unprofessional, immature, incompetent, and childish fashion unchecked for way too fucking long, but it's the way to get things done.

Don't let these stupid fucks tell you it's you and 'learn to live with disappointment.' Don't get pissed at them and lose your forum privileges. Take the high ground, rebut them like some technical thesis paper, and when they blanketly insult: report their posts. But don't get all reactionary, unless, of course, you're doing it from the comfort of your blog.

Demonstrate to etsy that trust is a thing that they have lost, and that it is the hardest thing to regain. I don't trust their employees, and neither should you. Let your lost trust be known. Because they let you down. It's them, it's not you. You quit, they win. Never quit pointing out that they continue to let you down with their incompetence, their petulance, and their continual favoritism.

A special case from the editorial desk about repeats

This blog is not supposed to make people happy. I think you all know that. At least, I hope you all know that. The purpose of this blog is to make people angry or at the very least make them very uncomfortable.

I stated my mission statement in the first entry of this blog, if you need a refresher, then seek it out.

Regarding front page favoritism:
Naming names is a necessary tactic. It is imperative. It isn't supposed to feel good.

Etsy has a policy of not naming names. Except, in etsy's own childish and immature fashion their policy refers to "calling out." What a stupid phrase. It's naming names.

As an etsy member you are not allowed to publicly on etsy specifically refer to anything when there is a problem. If you do, then you are in violation of their terms of use.

If you email a problem or concern to etsy, you get an immediate form letter, and days or weeks later you may get a short, generally non-helpful response from a staff member.

You can't actually get in touch with anyone in a reasonable amount of time, and when you do, the communication is generally useless. That is not good social commerce. Societies communicate. The good ones communicate effectively.

So, this blog names names. This blog also suggests that you should not patronize those who are named. Why? Because activism is necessary. Otherwise, some forum assholes would just try to misdirect and pretend like this was free advertising. This is advertising, just not the good kind.

You should all be angry, or, at the very least, very uncomfortable with the fact that etsy has a front page treasury that is curated by paid staff members that continues to feature the same sellers repeatedly with no explanation, accountability, or transparency. If those were paid spots, like their showcases, then there would be nothing to gripe about (unless, of course, the ability to purchase such paid spots was somehow limited to the same small group of people). The front page treasury is not a paid spot. Essentially, it is free advertising.

Now, some goonie moron is going to throw up some half assed tripe about "front page doesn't equal instantaneous sales." First off, fuck you -- you moron. Seriously, you're an asswipe. Don't you have better things to do with your time, you idiot motherfucker, than to not understand anything about sales or marketing and have the gall and stupidity to put forth something so absolutely mentally void as a counter opinion. Really, dipshit? C'mon. That is the dumbest fucking canned response on earth, emphasis on dumb. The room is all stupider from having heard your moron ass give that for the millionth time. Shut the fuck up.

Answer: being featured on the front page treasury is exposure. Exposure is very important in every business. Every time I drive through a new city, and go down main street, do I see the shops (we'll assume I'm not speeding or blind)? Yes. Do I stop my car immediately and go in? Maybe, maybe not. But I've seen them, and unless I have some sort of memory problem, then chances are, I will remember them, and if I have a need in the future, since I know where they are, then I will probably patronize their businesses instead of lugging out the phone book and trying to figure out what glossary term I am actually trying to look under.

Exposure is important in business. Is is everything? No.
So, if the front page treasury is theoretically free to all users with reasonably non-offensive products who are presumably within the bounds of acceptable items in terms of etsy's handmade, supply, and vintage categories, then why do we see the same people getting featured there with regularity?

There are 2 simple answers, and actually, one of them is a gateway to the other: laziness and favoritism.

Laziness, by the way, is the gateway to favoritism.

Why should I see slinkymalinkicat on the front page every week? Could that possibly be the only person with an endless supply of "vintage" prints? I could name 3 sellers off the top of my head who sell similar items. And yet I don't see them on the front page every week.

Why should I see prints by GollyBard on the front page multiple times in a week? Is GollyBard the only person selling prints of badly drawn illustrations? No, there are tons of people on etsy selling badly drawn illustrations. Just like there are tons of people on etsy selling prints of big-eyed girls.

Why should I know by heart that those baby-doll hand shaped molded soaps are by foliage every time I see them? Because I've seen them that many god damned times. One of these days I'm actually going to order some just to see if they have their original molded copyrights on them just so that I can contact the company from which those are molded to ascertain whether or not that's legal. Fortunately, I'm lazy and I don't like buying crap that I find distasteful.

But I see the same things on the front page by the same sellers because of incompetency on the part of the etsy staff which stems from laziness and favoritism. I'm tired of seeing the same 40 people get all the exposure, and the rest of you should be tired of it as well... especially if you see etsy as a venue for full time employment. A responsible social commerce site would have a level playing field for all of its selling members with items within the bounds of its categories that are not mis-representational or offensive. Yeah, I'm saying no nazi crap on the front page, and really, I don't want to see gay-hating crazy christian jesus freak shit there either, or your genitals (whichever they may be). And, yes, your listing needs to have a picture. So, what, that leaves 80% of the 3 million items on the site up for consideration.
2.4 million items could not possibly all be by the same 40 shops that I have seen constantly for the past eternity. Lirola could not possibly currently have 60,000 ruffle shirts in stock... unless, of course, she's a factory, which she isn't.

So, Lirola doesn't have a current standing inventory of 60,000 items, and yet, not a week goes by without her shop specifically making the front page? Why is that? I know people who haven't made the front page in over a year, let alone the last 6 months. Why is Lirola on the front page on a weekly basis? Why is GollyBard on the front page on a weekly basis while being featured multiple times in a week and also appearing in a current Storque article. Are the spots in Storque articles paid advertising? No. So, why do the same people get the same free opportunities for exposure over and over again?

Well, some idiot fuck asshole will try to feed you some tripe about "photo quality" or "quality products" or "photo quality" or "photo quality." Yes, I said it 3 times just to demonstrate what an asshole someone sounds like when they say that shit about photos. You moron motherfuckers are really willing to passively insult your fellow etsians with this "photo quality" bullshit? What an unbelievable bunch of cunts you are.

Some of the most successful sellers on etsy have some of the crappiest photos. There's someone who sells an awful lot of soap that comes to mind. Beyond that, most people's photos don't actually suck. That's like telling someone who buys a medium cardigan from the misses department of an average clothing store that they're fat. You're fat when you're buying the one with the label that says 3X, not the one that says M. If some moron motherfucker blanketly says the reason you never make front page is probably your photos, then know that they have just insulted you, remember them, and let's say: don't buy from them.

Speak with your dollar.
Speak with your dollar because you're not allowed to speak freely with your mouth. You're not allowed to pop onto the forums and wonder why artmind is featured on the front page treasury on average of 3 times per week, every week... when so many people haven't had that level of exposure ever or in the past 6 months. So, speak with you dollar, and don't buy what their paid staff, who earn their salaries from your listing fees, are specifically using company time to promote: the same 40 sellers with regularity while leaving the vast majority of their sellers with no free exposure or promotion.

Every time you pay to list, you are paying for the operation of the website. When the website's employees can do so much to promote 40 specific people with regularity — if you are not one of them, what are you really paying for? Why don't your listing and selling fees go into time and energy exerted by the staff to freely and indiscriminately promote your work?

Etsy needs to answer for that.

Now, there are the whiners and bitchers and complainers and bellyachers who will tell you that the 40 people who get the constant front page exposure that your listing and selling fees pay for the salaries of the company employees who promote them are not to be named, blamed, or take any level of responsibility or negative publicity for being favorites.
What an utter line of bullshit, eclipse.
If you're "in it to win it" as some recent forum thread suggested (e.g. you are listing here to make money) then you ought to be paying attention to all aspects of your business. From you materials and craftsmanship, to the accuracy of all parts of your listing, to your packing and shipping, and all other business expenses and necessities. The ones who are paying attention know how much materials cost, the cost of labor, shipping, packing, and possibly advertising... and that just popping onto a site like etsy and simply listing stuff with no extra effort probably isn't going to get you a whole hell of a lot.
There are plenty of people who do that: take care in making the item, the listing, shipping it... every thing but promoting the product... and generally, their stuff just sits there. Mostly because etsy's searching system is almost completely useless.

So, if your shop seems extra busy and you know you spent no money on advertising, aren't part of a team, group, faceboook fuckery, twitter nonsense, etc. Then, as a "business person" it is your responsibility to figure out where your exposure came from. You know, it's what Google Analytics is for. Pop into your account every now and then and you'll be able to find if you were featured on the ultra popular some crazy fuck's blog, or craftgawker, or art wall, or whatever the hell. How fucking arrogant it is it to just assume that you're spectacular? If you can't be bothered to figure out how your shop is getting exposure, then I really doubt you're reading the forums, random blogs, or whatever other source of information would require a nominal amount of effort to ascertain.
If you are, and you're bothered about the way you've been treated, then consider contacting someone who is not me, like say the etsy employees who are being paid to do your promotion for you while not promoting a damned thing for the vast majority of the site users whose fees are generating their salaries. Drop them a line that says "I'm grateful and all, really... but uhmn, maybe cool it a little, the natives are starting to get restless and I think someone just threw a stone at my window."

Etsy's paid staff and what the items they place in the front page treasury, the storque articles, and wherever else on the site there is room for non-paid spots are acting as the invisible hand of the market by specifically choosing what gets into those spots. Why not make them accountable for only promoting the same 40 people repeatedly? Oh, wait, because we're not allowed to say anything.

So, you know what, if we can't say anything, then the responsibility in an atmosphere of social commerce does fall on the heads of the people who are getting all the exposure: the front page repeats.

Don't want to be on this blog? The act on behalf of your own best interests and the interests of the rest of your social commerce etsians — start privately holding the staff accountable.
You see the repeats and the favoritism, then contact a valid staff member every time and point it out.
Look at which staff member wrote the article and specifically contact them with your concerns about having seen the same items featured repeatedly. Ask why, specifically request an accurate explanation. Be polite, don't get yourself kicked off the site, but be firm and criticize the repeats and the favoritism, and specifically name the shops you have seen repeatedly.

http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=julieincharge
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=marymary
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=missbatch
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=mtraub
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=stellaloella
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=TeenAngster
http://www.etsy.com/convo_new.php?to_username=Vanessa

These etsy employees get paid because you sell and pay fees. Have them work for you.

Better yet, start a movement to specifically identify the etsy staff members who curate the front pages. Transparency is like light to mold. Once you know who they are, then you can ask them directly.

front page repeats, again...

Apparently 24 hours without front page repeats of the same sellers would be too lofty a task to be accomplished by etsy's employees.

allencompanyinc (regular repeat, TWICE this week + last week)
cocoabeans (regular repeat, this week + last week)
GollyBard (perennial repeat, more than TWICE this week)
HAREandDRUM (perennial repeat)
humblebea (perennial repeat)
maclancy (regular repeat, TWICE this week + last week)
missbird (regular repeat)
munieca (regular repeat, at least TWICE this week + last week)
xenotees (regular repeat, TWICE this week + last week)

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.