Sometimes it's worth it.

So I stuck my neck out. I knew I was taking a risk but I decided to. It was all such a minor thing to me - seemed like a nice thing to do, thought if I did it - maybe some others would take my lead, ahem.

The Etsy forum police were out and they shut me down. I did the smart thing. I ducked. Then I left. :) Before it had a chance to actually get bad. Amazing. I'm talking about 'Kitty' below. Reading through the forums today I came upon a post from this Etsyian whose son is competing in a photography contest, a pin up photo contest. Well, I like pin up art so it caught my eye. I went to the contest site and I really did (do) think her sons photos were the best. I voted for his pictures but it was obvious to me that being a small contest - it very well could come down to who had the most friends. I wanted to have more people look at it and make up their minds - knowing full well they would pick Kitty once they saw the pictures.

I bumped the thread up a couple of times but it kept dying, people weren't paying much attention. I offered to add the link to my blog - hoping a couple other people would do the same thing. I think it was the lack of interest or response that got me going. As far as I know, no one put the link on their blog. That was in Etc.

I moved to Promotions - started a thread - said - who would like .. to help support another Etsyian? Please check my blog and vote! ONE person responded. ONE. Then the thread died a very quick death. Promotions is a tough place to keep a thread alive because people are climbing all over themselves to plug their shops. It's the nature of the beast and I was afraid of that when I posted there. So I decided to be daring.

Dum de dum dum DUM!!!! Hear it? It's ominous isn't it? Pppbbbttthhh - my version of a raspberry. I went into .... Buying and selling. My thought was - this isn't really a promotion because I'm not trying to sell anything, and it's not even for me. Maybe in the Buying and selling forum - people might stop long enough to at least look at the link before deciding not to respond to it and letting it die.

WRONG.
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THERE REALLY WAS SOMETHING HERE

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There were a few people who said they looked and thought Kitty really was the best and they voted. One of the gals convoed me and said she was upset about how people treated me and actually started a brand new thread about how people treat others in the forums sometimes. I've done that - sent a convo to someone about something that was said in the forums because if I had said it in the middle of the thread I would have gotten jumped on. (just made a sale while I was typing this) :)

Why do people feel the need to just shut somebody down just because they don't like where they posted? Isn't that Admin's job? Admin DID move it to Etc in the middle of that, but I bet it wouldn't have gotten moved if no one had objected. What was the harm? I wasn't saying - hey everybody - look at this it's really cool - only to have it be something I am trying to sell! I do not even know this seller or her son. Never even saw her name in the forums before. I honest to God was just trying to be nice. That's all. So shoot me.

There wasn't a whole lot to the thread because I wasn't going to stay and play. If it starts out that way - then the best thing to do is back out and be quiet. Do they win that way? No, I don't think so. It leaves their snotty remarks echoing out there and that's what people remember. I hope that's how they want to be seen because the Internet is a permanent record.

So I guess this blog is MY permanent record and I stand by it.

One good thing that came out of that forum stuff tonight was that it sent me outside for a walk. I so enjoy walking at night, up and down the sidewalk past all the homes smelling the smells and hearing the crickets. I always bring my cell phone with me since the night I was walking and broke my ankle in the freezing rain, in the dark, alone, in front of a house where obviously no one was home. But that's another story for another day.

Tonight the air was heavy but not as bad as the last couple of evenings after the strong rain we had this afternoon. The ground was wet but not so much that there were puddles to navigate, although I am still very careful now about where I put my feet. Walking past someone's house I could smell their laundry in the dryer - the sweet smell of fabric softener wafting out of a dryer vent. There was the smell of garlic as I was passing one house, yum, and cologne when I passed another as if a man had just exited his car and walked up to his front door.

Someone's 2nd floor window showed the flickering light of a TV playing on the wall of a child's bedroom, blue with orange fish and a mermaid. It was very quiet but there was activity here and there, it was nighttime activity. People getting ready to end their day, closing up their homes and putting kids to bed. Very peaceful.

It was good to walk, good to breathe in the warm air and breathe out the stress and frustration. Ah-h-h. I feel better now.

By the way - can you take a look at the link below? :) I still think it's a nice thing to do. :)

Ver-r-r-y-y-y Interesti-i-i-n-g!

Yesterday and today were very interesting to me. In my quest for Etsy knowledge I went into several forum threads, read, posted some, hate to be only a "lurker". I have a lot to learn - I think it's a good idea to just kind of keep my mouth shut about some things - I am forever conscious of being a seller. I know I can be turned off very easily by small things sometimes, and not want to buy from someone. Having been a long time buyer on ebay - I am very familiar with the way different people handle themselves as sellers, and what I respond to as a buyer. The difference is - on ebay I never went into any forums to see what the sellers were talking about behind the scenes.

A couple of weeks ago there were technical difficulties on Etsy that kept the site down for over 24 hours. The forums were down but the blog was up and people were using it like a forum. There were people who were whining and complaining and demanding something be done -- that admin start treating Etsy like a "real" business and give the sellers the support they pay for - yada yada yada.

More people were very light-hearted about the outage, cheering Haim on, thanking admin for working 24 hours straight and trying so hard for everyone. I had to laugh at how many people listed all the chores - mostly housework - they got done because they weren't in front of their computers!!

When it was pointed out that Etsy does not charge that much, is growing by leaps and bounds, and working very hard to correct the problems - some of that first group got downright nasty - dropping the F-word and railing against admin, Etsy, and anyone who was daring to be patient! It was also pointed out - by me - and by several others - that buyers read that stuff and people might want to keep that in mind. But apparently being angry yelling about being treated unfairly was more important because they kept on.

So, putting on my customer cap right now, I can tell you there were 2 sellers in particular that were so demanding, ungrateful and nasty, that even if they have an item I want in their shops - and it is the only item of it's kind available anywhere - I will pass it up rather than buy from them. Such is the mindset of a customer. Not just "BetteJo customer" - but all customers. Not all are turned off by the same thing - but you never know what it may be so why be offensive if you don't have to be? It's funny because I think political correctness has gone to such an extreme in this country these days that less gets done because everyone is afraid to speak their mind. But there is a difference between being PC - and trying to always remember that online - I am always in view of a potential buyer.

So today, in "etc" there were a couple of threads that struck me as being in very bad taste - and WAY too much information for anyone trying to attract customers to their stores. I am aware that Etsy has targeted the the artsy, edgy, contemporary younger crowd out there. More "artists" than crafters, and that's fine. But not all buyers are young and certainly not all buyers are edgy! I can guarantee you right now that I could name 5 people off the top of my head who would be turned off enough by those threads to not buy from those seller's shops. So what happens? Censor them? Oh no, of course not! I just wish there was more common sense. Really the people engaging in that type of behavior are in the minority, but I do think it reflects on the rest of us to a certain extent.

I have come to really enjoy the community feel of Etsy, how nice people are and how personal it all feels. But seeing someone I have already bought from - and thought was really really nice - in a forum thread being irresponsible with their language and thoughts - makes me feel a tiny bit betrayed - like the person I bought from was fake. I don't know about anybody else - but I want to TRUST the people I buy from. HMMM.

So I suppose I need to ask myself right now - are these thoughts I should keep to myself? I dunno, I really don't. I feel a little like - how dare I - being so new to Etsy and all. I think I just like it so much - I want to believe it - and the people in it - are all wonderful, honest, and peaceful people.

I suppose I'm not too worried about what I'm saying because I have done nothing to bring people to my blog - until today when I posted it in my shop. But it's not a flashy blog, probably boring in comparison to others - and I guess I don't really think many people will read this. I still want to emphasize that anything I am saying is because I want Etsy to be good - to STAY good - and to get even better. I really like it - I want to LOVE it!!! I really have the best intentions.

On a completely different note - I am working on my big pot holder order and need to get back to it. My girlchild is home from school (college) and I was excited when she expressed an interest in actually - maybe - possibly - beading!! How fun!!! The boychild picked up a cake for Mother's day, and my JD brought me a bunch of flowers to plant in front of the house - his Mother's Day gift to me, just like last year. I think this will be a good weekend, I just have so much to do!!

Hope all the Moms out there have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, and treat themselves to something special - hey - maybe something from my shop? LOL!! Shameless I tell ya!! :)

Nite! Hope it's a good one!!!

BetteJo