Alchemy has had a status of “being refurbished!” for approximately 11 months. In this thread sellers asked why the Alchemy button remains in the Etsy header.
RD explained Etsy’s reasoning:
It’s there because I made an awesome picture. ;P
28 Responses to “Why the Alchemy button lives on”
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October 29th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Oh thanks for that link Karina, I didn’t see that thread where he explains why he locked it. I do agree moving it to Help would be a better reaction. It was a legitimate question and no one got rude or called out. It sounds like he just reacted emotionally without really thinking.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Here’s the link to the other thread:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5291827
October 29th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Yup…..and that’s why I started the second thread pointing out RD’s rude response to an entirely innocent question forcing him to respond in the thread as to why it was locked.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:03 am
It *used* to be that a favourite item that was removed or expired would remain as a thumbnail but when you clicked on it, you’d get the error screen (remember the monkey screens?). That way at least you knew what it was, and could see the store name, and look for something similar in their store.
RD claims it was a potential privacy breach. Somehow this seems like small potatoes compared to some of the other privacy breaches they’ve had and not taken seriously.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5000377
You’ll note that almost a year ago I suggested that they at least leave the store name there but as usual I am ignored.
October 29th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Hazel that is another GREAT point, thank you for mentioning it! The expired or removed listing should point back to the shop, not just vanish completely. I hate seeing those grey boxes and not being able to remember what was in that spot.
You know what else would be awesome for Etsy search would be a spell checker thingie to suggest the right spelling.
for example if I search for “adventurine earrings”, well I won’t get great results because it’s really spelled aventurine. I might get a few results of sellers who also made the same mistake, but it won’t be a great selection. Why not suggest the correct spelling to buyers who make typos? Then they could see lots more relevant results (and more likely make a purchase) instead of thinking only a few items meet their needs.
You don’t need to read their minds to do that, google doesn’t read minds and they manage to know what I meant when I make typos, most of the time. It’s just a basic spellcheck not a mind reading program!
October 28th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Who knows what they are doing with the google analytics info, if anything.
Etsy’s database and server logs are full of information that is not being put to use, is not being extracted and used to help anyone. It IS sort of depressing. Who are our off site referrers? Onsite, what tags bring people to my shop? Do they understand how important that is? Also, by now they have a potentially quite large volume of info on buyer preferences, locations, searches, trends, etc. and I don’t think that it’s being put to use.
Another seemingly wasted resource is the ideas forum. Right there, that’s what your sellers want… they ask for the same things over and over again, and are not met with really anything in the way of meaningful changes. A real business would treat that forum as a treasure trove. Maybe Etsy’s competitors do? Etsy seems to treat it as a bother.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Wow, two marriage proposals in 20 minutes!
Rivkasmom just proposed to andymathis on Etsy, now glittercritter to JB!
The common thread : both of the suitors were impressed by the others grasp of the inadequacies of Etsy Search. Etsy brings people together.
I’d also like to mention, that Legend of Zelda screen must be copyrighted by Nintendo! Can we hear from Etsy’s counsel on this?
Indeed, all sorts of search engines, MODERN ones, have a ‘did you mean this?’ function.. As usual, it would benefit not just the sellers, but also Etsy themselves.
What bugs me is when I look through my favorites, and find the gray box, item expired or removed, listed by ‘unknown’. That is simply lazy programming… if they cared to fix this, the database for your favorite items would hold not just the item number, but also the number of the shop that listed it. Then there would be at least a link to the shop instead of a puzzling empty spot.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Glitter, I accept, providing you are not reincarnated as a cheerleader.
I know Etsy is using google analytics, that program is very good for identifying bottlenecks in a site and what is the last page people view before they leave the domain, what step of the buying process people abandon their cart or cancel their attempt, etc. I wish Etsy would use some of that info, the goal of normal commercial sites is to keep the customer “in your store” as long as possible, so error pages should never send you AWAY, they should invite you forward. In a bricks and mortar store, if someone comes in and asks for bright green leather gloves and you don’t have them, the well-trained salesperson does not just say “nope, sorry” and go back to reading their book. The well-trained salesperson says “what about these lovely bright blue leather gloves? Or This bright green leather wallet?” They try to suggest similar items which the customer might buy instead.
A good 404 error page politely says the page you want doesn’t exist, but offers helpful links such as sitemap, search, and help.
Etsy’s error page is like a slap in the face. It says “Oops, you f*cked up, and we don’t want your money”. A literal brick wall, the same wall we’ve all been banging our heads against, the wall which represents Etsy’s stubbornness and closed-mindedness. What a depressing image to represent the spirit of Etsy. Closed, hard, unwelcoming, unreasoning, unfeeling.
A dead end.