Etsy shuts down new buyer's thread

A buyer who just joined the site started a thread in Site Help asking for help finding a seller to make a miniature for a 25th anniversary gift for his wife. Several Etsians provided information, noting that Alchemy and Promotions used to be ideal tools for finding sellers to create special orders.

Twenty minutes later, Admin Knickey slammed the thread shut with her canned response about finding the appropriate team. Nice. Way to welcome new users.

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Alchemy is taking a rest on Etsy

Maybe it needs a FreakyOldWoman sleep mask.

Announced January 27th, Etsy put Alchemy down for a nap beginning February 3.

According to the Etsy Blog article, Alchemy had enabled 80,000 custom creations since its inception. Alchemy allowed buyers to request a custom item, take bids from different sellers, and then choose a seller to make their special request. This is what Etsy is all about for me, buyers and sellers connecting on a personal level to realize a creative vision.

Alchemy was also the backbone of a lot of sellers' business. They bid and built relationships with customers through the Alchemy process. It was an ideal way for sellers to be seen. The Alchemy screen also provided a photo board of completed projects. Browsing shoppers could click those pictures and be taken to the seller's shop.

With wedding season heating up, many brides used Alchemy. Lots of shoppers used it because they couldn't find what they wanted with Etsy's less than stellar search.

This action hurt buyers and sellers, while wiping out one of the best ways for them to connect on a personal level. Once again, can I point out that the language ("taking a rest" and "it needs its beauty sleep") is both condescending and unprofessional.

Etsy's blog article goes on to say, "We love what Alchemy represents, and we want to do it even better." The article offers no details for these improvements, and no date for waking up Alchemy. The article also doesn't explain why Alchemy couldn't remain up and functioning while the tech team works on the improvements.

Many Etsy members doubt that it will ever return. Sad.

Greetings and salutations

"The extreme always seems to make an impression." One of many great truths I learned from the movie "Heathers."

Why am I here? I've been buying and selling on Etsy for a couple of years. I have supported and promoted this company, recruiting other buyers and sellers along the way. I have put countless hours into this site, all the work of listing, customer service, selling and becoming part of a community that I have grown to cherish. And I kept my sense of humor and rarely bitched about the sporadic nature of sales, the invisibility of shops, even the unpredictablity of those running Etsy and their many ill-advised, badly timed and incoherently explained changes.

Then, they recently did three things that caused me to lose my sense of humor:
1. Mucking up the forums, obliterating certain sections, policing the remaining sections like Nazis, and creating the horrifying abyss of a mostly useless billion teams.
2. Giving Alchemy "a rest" while it is "tweaked," managing to wipe out some sellers' businesses with one flippant announcement and providing no date for its reopening.
3. Introducing the EtsyFacebook revolution, involving mining data from members' email address books, circles of senseless promotions, and a gift finder button that automagically links to your Facebook account without notification.

These three announcements and changes were made in about a week's time. Etsians are reeling with the implications of what has already been announced and what might be announced next. I want to use this blog to examine and analyze what's really going on. That can no longer be done on Etsy proper, because threads are being closed with lightning speed if they are not deemed "constructive." Your constructive post is my antiseptic party line.

As Christian Slater said in Heathers, "You say tomayto, I say tomahto."

Let's see where this goes. And please feel free to chime in and let me know what you've seen, how you feel, and what it means to you.

To use a popular thread closing word, "Cheers!"