So why all these interesting changes?

Last week Etsycorp unveiled the Gift Guide amidst much fanfare and brouhaha.

Now this week, a much quieter change - they've cleaned up their Privacy Policy. It actually reads like someone who has experience as an attorney wrote it now. (You can read about it over at my personal favorite place to read the real news - the "Unofficial" Etsy News.)

Could this be even more evidence of a "cleanup", as suggested over on Etsy Dirt?

Will I really get what I want for Xmas? I'm all atwitter in anticipation.

Yes, even I am thankful for Etsy

It's Turkey Day here in the US, and since I'm already up at this ungodly hour of 8 am waiting for the oven to reach temperature, I thought I would reminisce about all the parts of Etsy I am thankful for.

I am thankful that it's a marketplace, where other small, mostly home-based businesses can get a foot in on Internet sales without knowing how to create a website.

I am thankful that the forums are always such a huge source of drama that I have something to talk about nearly every day over the dinner table. It's a ritual now for me and the Mr. - I ask him about work, he asks me what today's drama was. And there's always something!

I am thankful for the Storque, because I know it's always going to give me something to point and laugh at.

I am thankful for all the Flash-based ways to buy things. Who needs that pesky, slow, old school way to search like an advanced search engine. Shop with the Geolocator instead! It's a great way to waste time!

I am thankful for the chance to have been to the Labs, and to meet some of the Etsy staff in person - and realize that yes, at least one of them really does have NO SOCIAL SKILLS and needs to learn the basics like INTRODUCING YOURSELF.

Speaking of the Labs, I'm very thankful that I didn't actually STEP on on any of those pins on the floor. I should send them a broom for Xmas.

I am thankful that the Labs hadn't been shut down for serving alcohol to minors before I went there. Seriously, someone should keep an eye on that.

I am thankful that they use what I call the Grand Moff Tarkin Method of Crowd Control - it makes them look like idiots, it foreshadows what will eventually come, and it has given me the total freedom to create a blog that is not attached to my real name or business name so I too can spew forth my hatred of their stupidity out into the ether.

What I'm most thankful for, srsly, is my friends I have made through Etsy, and the friends I continue to make, because Etsycorp is SO FUCKED UP. So thank you, Etsy, for being such idiots and totally screwing up a great idea.

Now go eat some cranberry sauce or something.

What I hate about Etsy, part 1 (probably of many)

The one thing that Etsycorp has done that angers me the most is that they aren't just pulling themselves down - they have the potential to harm literally tens of thousands of individual businesses with their shenanigans.

So many people have put all their eggs in the proverbial Etsy basket. I would hazard to guess that the average Etsy seller doesn't know much about running a business - these are college students scraping by on next to nothing, stay at home moms with toddlers trying to keep sane amidst diapers and playdates, and empty nesters who have a knack for making things other people want. People who see what they sell on Etsy as a real, 24/7/365 business are the smaller group, even if it's a 60/40 split.

And there's nothing wrong with that (lest anyone think I am slamming anyone - I've been in two out of three of those groups).

Many Etsy sellers don't have the time/money/knowhow to create their own websites, and the other options like lov.li and mintd don't have the traffic that Etsy does.

It's really too bad that Etsycorp can't seem to put their egos aside and realize that they have taken a really great idea and turned it into a huge catastrophuck.