In this thread, Etsy memberTwistedThicket inquired about the status of the promised, and much anticipated, search overhaul which would aim Etsy’s primary focus at handmade goods. Admin kfarrell had this response:
Hey folks,
I know you’re all patiently waiting, but I think this is a good time to mention the last line of Rob’s Storque article: “Like all tasks that require engineering work, things could take longer than expected, so please keep this in mind.”Because Etsy is such a vast site, it is often hard to estimate exactly how long something will take. Doubly so because the site is constantly changing even as we’re working on it. Search changes in particular can be finicky because of the huge impact they have on the site’s speed.
Chris recently put through a bunch of great changes that have sped things up dramatically - meaning we can handle much more traffic before anyone will notice a slowdown. This is one of the many steps towards the improvements everyone is waiting for.
Thanks for your continued patience, although you might want to exhale, oxygen to the brain is a good thing!
Stay tuned to the Storque ( http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsyNews/ ) for tech updates about site changes, since the holiday madness ended the ninjas in Engineering have been cranking things out at a good clip. :)
Posted at 5:15 pm, March 1 2008 EST
Read the original Storque announcement here.
Previous coverage on UEN can be found here.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Very glad to hear that vintage got some much needed attention. I blocked the Etsy Finds emails a month ago, since they were consistently full of such odd items, that they were more irritating than anything.
To continue getting attention, tho, handmade needs to be separated from Supplies and Vintage - and each one should get their own promo tools, lots of opportunities for store visibility, and much easier shopping for buyers.
March 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
So I find it sort of interesting that yesterdays “Etsy Finds” email featured handmade supplies, and today’s is all vintage items. It’s the first public acknowledgment I’ve seen that these things actually exist on Etsy!
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
that was one of the most ludicrous changes they made. I suggested over and over that when you started listing you get asked “did you (or someone in your family, etc.) make this item?” then the program could be set up to only allow listing in commercial supplies and vintage if you answer no. But they stuck it in after, where it doesn’t help anyone!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Ah, advanced! Lessons to learn from other storefront sites: Make choices for any listing so finite with a simple template for product uploading that the product either fits, or it doesn’t. Including tags. The be everything, let it all hang out, even a dog can open a store, may have been ok and cutesy with 150 stores, but it isn’t working for 130,000 (or whatever the secret number of stores may be).
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
You’re right, picket fence.
The way they ask if you made the item yourself ONLY for the supplies and vintage categories, after you’ve chosen one of those, is completely missing the point!! Whomever laid that out really doesn’t understand the issue: people in need of that question don’t know to choose those two categories in the first place.
I agree, this would increase the incentive to mistag, and considering there are no consequences - why not, I’m sure some will think? Not that I think there should be consequences - I know Etsy is as rarin’ for ‘punishment’ as a teacher with a yardstick, but they need to fix their system, not ‘punish’ people of of course.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I don’t think it will make a jot of difference even if they DO accomplish this, other than penalizing people who tag properly. If I see another commercial supply without either tag……argh! I’m starting to see quite a few handmade supplies without the supplies tag, too. I haven’t ventured into vintage for awhile, so I don’t know how that is going.
Until Etsy forces the choices at the top of the tags page, people will either be ignorant, or pretend to be ignorant. It will get worse when the search separation occurs, unless it is done in a way to make it more appealing to appear in the search that actually targets your customers.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
22
hazel Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Okay, so that answers a lot - Etsy really is very advanced, much more so than anyone ever expected.
When did it cross the threshold? Nobody knows. However, Etsy itself is alive… changing… they have not achieved Artificial Intelligence, but rather, a different milestone: the site has achieved Artifical Stupidity.
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Uhm, I hate to say it, but it may be a hollow victory; I’m afraid it may be natural.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Okay, so that answers a lot - Etsy really is very advanced, much more so than anyone ever expected.
When did it cross the threshold? Nobody knows. However, Etsy itself is alive… changing… they have not achieved Artificial Intelligence, but rather, a different milestone: the site has achieved Artifical Stupidity.
It had plenty of help along the way.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
“The site ITSELF changes? Like by itself? Wow, how unusual - no wonder they have such issues.”
Number 5 is ALIVE! NO DISASSEMBLE!