Etsy has added two new forum categories: Critiques, where you can, “give and receive specific advice about your shop” and Techniques & Materials, where you can, “share and seek advice about creating items.” You can find out more about the changes in this Storque article.
According to the Storque article, some staffing changes are accompanying this new set-up. Daniellexo will oversee the forums as the “forum conductor”, and MaryMary will also now moderate the forums full-time. Robwhite will continue to keep an eye on the forums at night, while Stellaloella has been moved to “large-scale projects”.
edit Feb 19 by JB
The Storque article is closed to comments but the forum thread is still open for now.
EDIT by GreenMamba 2.24.08: FYI
Apparently, when the forum categories were updated, a change was also made to the forum link titled “Visit the Storque for Etsy News”, found in the upper right corner of the page, below “View topics you’ve posted in”. It now takes you directly to the News section of the Storque, rather than the Main Storque page. The ‘News’ link in the top grey nav bar, which appears on each Etsy page, still links to the Storque’s front page.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
PicketFence I saw that Storque article and I was so confused. That thread by Dyno is 18 months old! It was a very useful and insightful post when it was made, but why hasn’t Etsy done anything in those 18 months to make it easier? The whole tagging system has supposedly been overhauled since then, and at the time admins said not to do it, but now suddenly this is “news” and they are endorsing the thread?
What happened to Etsy’s hare-brained “who-what-where-when” tagging system? (the one suggesting socks needed to be tagged with “feet” since you wear them on your feet. Like anyone shops that way??)
February 19th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
My remedy, collect all the unprofessional comments and other notes posted by Admin in a nice little document to mail to the CEO and VC’s - it’s already about 6 pages long and more fodder is coming up from you know who hourly! And now 3 of them are commenting on dozens of threads at the same time!
Etsy, find something constructive for these employees to do! Please!
February 19th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
how is referencing an thread that’s more than a year old an article?
February 19th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
PicketFence, same here. I will stay out of the forum and just confine myself to the buying and selling part and occasional friendly convos with the others. The more I read the more I know, the more I head desk.
I personally am not too excited about the new forum sections. It will explode into another “Hey guys come take a look at my shop! What should I do?” promotion section.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Speaking of the lovely Dyno, and Danielle’s lack of official policy……
This stellar article appeared in the Storque this morning: http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/howTos/article/seller-tagging-tips-a-semi-epiphany-on-tags/1232/
Even within the thread they reference, Admin are on there saying ‘don’t tag that way’!!
I’ll be spending much less time in forums, and staying out of Ideas. Since the ideas are not taken seriously anyway (or take 1-2 years to implement), it isn’t worth the risk of the dreaded brick wall.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
The additional forums are fine, I guess I didn’t comment on them but I think they are fine. I’d prefer to see Ideas and Bugs a bit higher up, but I have no objections to the new forums. I’d also really like to see an admin announcements forum and all the Admin excuses not to have one ring false to me, but that’s just my opinion.
Retroacttic, no I don’t have irrefutable proof that staff members reply with the “Emily” name. I put that in comments so that is my opinion just based on the emails I and others have received. There is frequently a disconnect with the replies seeming as though they did not read the earlier emails, or contradicting what they previously said, answering questions that were not asked but refusing to answer the questions which are asked, etc. In some cases the replies are in broken English with many grammatical errors, and other times are well-written. In my opinion, it’s either multiple people using the same name, or it’s one very disorganized, repetitive, absent-minded and forgetful person. I’d actually prefer the former t the latter!
February 18th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
““Emily” is the shared name that various other CS staff use when replying to emails, which accounts for the weird changes in tone and writing style from one day to the next.”
I don’t disagree that this may seem true but do we know this for sure?
February 18th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
The additional forum categories are long overdue, however sticky items would be even more beneficial than repeat posts about same topics that recirculate as new people join Etsy.
As for having someone with the maturity level of said admin being the conductor of the forums, I believe that is a really BIG mistake. That position needs someone with maturity, a thick skin, and who knows Etsy inside out, not to mention someone who’s professional AND tactful rather than ever “sickenly sweet.” That’s a train wreck waiting to happen. And I’d think that Rob would really have much better things to do…
February 18th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
… a huge mistake!
February 18th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
For a professed “out of the box” company, their thinking is definitely “under the box” and to have made this collosal mistake of designating an inexperienced, rather nasty personality as the Forum Moderator shows they have no clue. None.
So, 50% of the forum threads will be trying to straigthen out the erroneous comments made by Admin in the other 50% of the threads, and ya know, this may be their real goal after all! Silence the selling community by driving them completely out of their minds!!!