This. Is. The. Best. Thing. Ever.

This really is the best thing ever... a video about coralgate that will make you pee your pants.

Sellers Silenced Sanctimoniously about Storque Scandal - it SUCKS.

The epic thread on Etsy's forums, and the one area of the site members were allowed to discuss the topic of the Storque coral article by Temple St. Clair - has been closed.

Expect mutings and bootings in the days ahead, as Etsy cleanses its image for an upcoming partnership with HGTV, and other corporate interests.  

Meanwhile, I have just finished writing up my experience with Etsy and sending it to EtsyBitch which has generously invited me to share my story.  Stay tuned for more details.

On a personal note, I took most of yesterday off to rest and unwind from a stressful month of Etsy-related upheaval.  Thanks to all for your messages of sympathy and support, I sincerely appreciate it.  I didn't realize how exhausting the whole thing was until it was really over.  I swear, I could sleep for a month.

I look forward to re-connecting with my Etsy friends in the weeks to come, (off-site), as well as working on getting my Artfire shop ready for the holidays.  Incidentally, I just found out that sellers there have organized themselves to tweet about #artfire all day Thursday to get the term to trend worldwide!  I will definitely be participating in that to some extent.

yours,
Joan

The Rokali Situation

If Etsy is a cult, Rokali is its deity.  And he came from on high to answer the pleas of his suffering subjects around page 575 of the "consolidated" A.K.A. "Quarantined" thread about Coralgate.  These were his words:

"

Rokali says:

DesignedByLucinda says: I am going to pitch Juliet to let some of us post a rebuttal-type blog post that gently corrects the facts while reminding buyers most Etsy sellers are ethical and if in doubt about the sourcing of any of our materials, please ASK us first. -------- I totally support this.  I have otherwise been uninvolved with this situation. I know everything comes back to me on the outside, but inside Etsy, it's really important that people own what they're doing. "Make everyone the CEO of something," as they say. Juliet (julietgo), Etsy's editorial director, has been giving this a lot of thought, and there has been a lot of discussion here."

This is my response:

Ok, kinda caught up and ready to weigh in. I am still leaving Etsy. The treatment I've received here as a paying customer sickens me beyond words. I also see Etsy truly becoming "The Other Ebay" in the coming months and years as the investors remodel the place to be publicly traded. That said, I hope they DO print an article, and NOT a half-assed one, about "the other side" of the coral debate so that some of the same sellers here who happily jumped on the Temple St. Clair bandwagon, and signed that sham of a pledge, will get to see that the facts DO NOT add up here. A well-written and informative article at least would expose TSC's "post" as nothing more than a flimsy, insulting advertisement for a mass-produced item on a handmade site, and I am ALL FOR exposing that hypocrisy. I think our side needs to be heard in the same venue where they gave a voice to a Target supplier who bashed us. I think its better than indignantly slinking off into obscurity, which is sort of what I want to do out of principle, but I think a "response" on the Storque would be the right way to go. If they publish a good response article on the Storque, can we all kiss and make-up? No. Actually, let me make that a HELL NO. I am really excited by what I have discovered about an Etsy competitor's treatment of its sellers, and totally disgusted beyond all hope of redress at the way Etsy has conducted business with me, and others here. I'll still be leaving, and not looking back. I just want you to know that I love you all very much, and you have inspired me in a profound way. This has been a strangely life-altering experience for me, and for that I credit each of you. I see that there is a powerful movement in this country with die-hard supporters of our cause who will not bend to corporate fuckery, but will "call out" bullshit, even if it doesn't directly benefit them to do so. Many sellers stood up and linked arms with us just out of principle and solidarity. That's amazing. It just goes to show how awesome the micro-business community is. It reminds me that we work hard every day for more than the bottom line of dollars and cents. We strive for more. Bless you all. Ps- you can't pass the buck to Juliet on the thread closings, mass mutings, and disrespect we have gotten as a result of all this, Mr. Kalin...  And also, you may be having discussions over there on Mount Olympus, or wherever the hell Etsy staff "considers" issues, but you failed to have a DIALOGUE with US, the people this directly impacts.  Instead you completely stonewalled us in every attempt we have made to contact Etsy on this issue.  All we have had are copypastes of Juliets inadequate pronouncements. So, refugees, what do you think about all this.  Comments are open!