Etsy Townhall: Assorted Reactions (in gifs)

Considering the Internet shitstorm that when down after Etsy's last townhall meeting, I'm surprised they didn't have a follow-up one sooner. A couple other sundry points were touched on, but the most important one was their response to the freakout over outside manufacturing.

Some Etsy members were concerned that the new allowance for manufacturing would change the character of our community. We’re right there with you — that’s why we decided to create an application process and we’ve been very selective about who we’ve approved. So far, we have approved less than 50% of applications reviewed. (Applications may be rejected if they did not demonstrate authorship or responsibility, but also pertinence, for example describing a hypothetical new product or disclosing information about where supplies were purchased.)

Reaction 1: If a majority of the applications you received were filled out out of confusion (i.e. "disclosing information about where supplies were purchased"), that's not you being "selective," that's your userbase being confused (or your standards misleading).

Reaction 2: Etsy seems to be completely deaf to the real concerns about outside manufacturing: resellers. I don't care about your guidelines for handmade, Etsy, or how many applications you have sellers fill out. If you have 20 new staff members going over applications for outside manufacturing, they're not doing half the good they could be doing were they devoted to going over flagged items and reseller accusations. (It would also be great if people were allowed to call out resellers in the forums, but I guess I understand the reasoning behind that rule.)

I think out of all my reactions this is the most important one: Etsy can't (or won't) understand the concerns of a majority of its users. They're still not getting it. Now their not getting it is throwing a whole bunch of t-shirt designers and print-makers under the bus.

Reaction 3: Someone in the Etsy thread devoted to the clarifications on outside manufacturing suggested that if you need outside manufacturing to do the work you used to do—like if I hired small children with nimble fingers to do the bead stringing I used to do but still according to my designs—maybe you've outgrown Etsy. I'm inclined to agree.

The common sense response to more work than you can handle would be (initially) to adjust prices (i.e. raise them) so that you are at least getting good money for your time, but also so that you filter out orders so that only the most interested parties will purchase. Supply and demand. Eventually, theoretically, you find the "sweet spot" between number of sales and free time. If you've outgrown even that tactic, then yes, you've probably outgrown Etsy.

As a smalltime seller, I can't help but wish that the top 10% or so of shops would disappear and set up house under their own names on their own websites. I think it would do a lot to level the playing field and give people who are just starting out, or who haven't been quite as lucky, the chance to get noticed.



Reaction 4: Of course, some of this is definitely sour grapes. Some Etsy sellers list items that are instant best sellers and they manage to turn their craft into a viable business over the course of just a couple of years and I guess a small part of the "do what you love" culture rubbed off and made me think I could do it, too. Lesson learned, I suppose: just having a niche item isn't enough.

Life is hard, yo.

Science Saturday: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. But how do we know this? Who do we credit for this insight?

I'll answer that for you: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

In 1925, she was awarded the first Ph.D in astronomy ever. Payne-Gaposchkin was the first to suggest that stars consist primarily of hydrogen—the prevailing theory at the time was that the sun (and therefore all stars) had a chemical composition more or less similar to Earth's. Instead, Pyane-Gaposchkin argued that silicon, carbon, and other metals content was more or less similar, but that helium and hydrogen were far more abundant in the sun than on Earth (for hydrogen, she calculated that it was more prevalent in the sun by a factor of one million). By all rights a discovery as important to science as gravity, special relativity, or evolution, yet it's one that often gets omitted from science curricula.

After a long career of crappy pay and little formal recognition, by 1956 Payne-Gaposchkin was one of the first female professors at Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She retired ten years later, at the age of 66, having taught and mentored astronomical luminaries such as Helen Sawyer Hogg, Joseph Ashbrook, Frank Drake and Paul W. Hodge.

If you'd like, you can read her paper "On the Physical Condition of the Supernovae" in its entirety at the website for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Commercial Levity: Fruits and Veggies are Tough!

This is the latest ad campaign by one of the big grocery stores in Sweden. It's much sillier than any grocery store ad I remember seeing back home in the states.

My favorite part is probably the dirt bike footage and its obvious watermark. Is this what the kids are calling "post ironic"?

101 in 1001

Forgot to post this yesterday!



In progress:

I'm making progress towards Rivendell every day. (6 - 1) I surpassed 300 km this weekend!

Another post and comment. (1 - 3) (7 - 3)

I watched a documentary recommended to me by a friend, The House I Live In. (9 - 6) I want to say that it was eye-opening, but it's no surprise to me that America's "War on Drugs" has terrible implications for the fabric of our society.

I also listened to another episode of "The History of Rome." (9 - 7)

I donated 3000 more grains of rice on FreeRice as well. (12 - 7) (56,000 / 70,000)

Completed:

None!

Failed:

None!

The entire list is after the jump.

Science Saturday: XKCD Explains Climate Change

Since I felt it was a point worth reiterating.

Friday Etsy Find: UpShirtsCreek

The whole "circles" thing on Etsy wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but it could too easily go to crap. I found myself following people turned out to have incredibly dull taste, so my feed was stuffed with ugly coffee cozies and poorly photographed children's clothing and other things that weren't really of interest to me. I took the time to unfollow maybe two-thirds of the people I had been following, and suddenly my feed was full of really great, interesting items again. A shirt from UpShirtsCreek was one of them:

Atticus Finch: Attorney At Law by UpShirtsCreek

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books of all time. Atticus Finch, what a stand-up guy:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

I love the design of this shirt, too. I love how subtle it is; if you didn't catch the reference, it would look like the kind of design a real attorney would put on a t-shirt (if an attorney felt like they needed to advertise via t-shirts). But there's more than just literature references.

 May the Force Be With You by UpShirtsCreek

For your favorite physics enthusiast!

Love is Blind by UpShirtsCreek

Okay, another literature reference, but the execution on this one is too good. In case you forgot the whole quote from Merchant of Venice: "Love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The petty follies that themselves commit."

Rush by UpShirtsCreek

One of the more understated band fandom shirts I've seen. Even though I'm not a huge fan of Rush (or missing Oxford commas!), I like it.

A couple of these are definitely going to be gifts for people in my life. Maybe even myself, if I'm feeling generous. I followed UpShirtsCreek on Facebook to keep up on new designs, and you should too!

101 in 1001

My little soapbox yesterday meant I had to wait until today to post progress on my 101 in 1001 list.



In progress:

I'm making progress towards Rivendell every day. (6 - 1) This week marks over 200 kilometers.

Another post and comment. (1 - 3) (7 - 3)


Completed:

I finally got to Skatteverket to submit the paperwork for my ID card. (1 - 7) I don't have it in hand yet, as I have to wait a week or two before I can go pick it up, but since I've done the difficult part I'm counting this task as finished.

Failed:

None!

The entire list is after the jump.