Keeping Things Professional, Mature & Classy at Etsy!

Yes, this is two days late...so what? It's still worthy of a post, and I guess it's high time I showed my face here again.

Of course, comments on the blog article linked below have now been disabled because they don't like the non-cupcake responses that started flooding in. OH, the irony, oh the hypocrisy! "Do as I say, not as I do" at it's best! They don't like being told how unprofessional they are, and this was absolutely done in poor taste. Is this how you like to see your money spent? Because if you're still paying Etsy fees, then your money is going towards stuff like this.

I'll ever bet that several shops will be closed once again ("accidentally" of course!) as a result of the comments made, but the article itself will not be removed no matter how many people make the request, no matter how many take offense. I've done neither, as I no longer sell on Etsy and I'm not a prude, but I certainly think this was incredibly inappropriate for a place of business.

Methinks those editors need some serious supervision.

Giving Etsy my sincerest one finger salute once again!

Etsy Dorque article suggests "Herpes" and "R U GAY?" conversation hearts.

Forum Post - "Would you write an article for your shop discussing masturbation & herpes? - Etsy did!"

Mature sellers getting the shaft

Etsy likes to make changes to what sellers have to do without enforcing current rules or actually giving sellers something functional. It appears they're at it again.

Mature content filtering: A treasury experiment

Experiment would imply they aren't deadset on this being permanent, but since they aren't responding to much of the feedback they're receiving...well...it is Etsy after all.

This isn't the first group of sellers to be treated as substandard members of the site. I remember a particular dolls and miniatures hubbub...then there's vintage and supply sellers...yeah, it's Etsy. Five years in and they still don't know what they want their site to be. It would be so much easier if they were just straightforward and honest about who is and isn't welcome to sell there.

From the Auxilary: Nudity on the front page

I think with the hullabaloo surrounding the Treasury East and its lack of control over the mature listings, this needs to be reported on.

Its not that we're a bunch of prudes, in fact several of us love some of the gorgeous mature pieces of art. Its that Etsy fails to enforce its own TOU. That's it, plain and simple. These sellers who fail to comply with the TOU are only hurting the mature sellers that actually comply with the rules.

We have a screen shot, thanks to an Aux reader, that shows that Etsy has allowed nudity to hit the front page. Again, let's reiterate for those slow on the uptake. We're not against the mature listings. We're against Etsy not enforcing its own rules.

Pricks, Pussies and Periods - Oh My!

So now that Etsy is providing a link to the new Treasury (East) from the front page, sellers are rushing to the forums in alarm over the fact that link takes you to the most poular treasuries first... which all in all is fine except that most of the first page is Adult Themed. Here it is, don't say we didn't warn you.

Upon loading the page the viewer is immediately greeted immediately with images of handcrafted penises (#1), vaginas (#4), ironic menstruation items (#3), "What dad really wants" featuring a large ass shot with a pearl G-string, and a darling one with carton sperm and shagging animals - all without the Mature warning thumbnail as first pic that Etsy states you are supposed to have.

This exposes underage children, and non-willing adults, to adult content they might not have willing opted to see. These new visitors don't know it's a popularity contest that placed them there, but they will see it whether or not they want to.

I am no prude trust me, but I agree this is not images you want shown to new visitors to browsers stumbling around the site since the first impression is everything.

Some Points to consider (thanks to any who may have mentioned these on the forums or on Twitter): see PS at the end for changes since this was prepared

1. Why doesn't Etsy have a setting when making a Treasury stating that the content is adult?
   
   
2. Why aren't they filtering out these Mature treasuries on this landing page, or to be more correct all pages, with a link to display them by choice? (While the US law is rather grey on some parts on what is or isnt "mature" or "obscene", other countries are extremely strict on what is or is not illegal online with or without some safeguards for unwilling viewers).
   
   
3. Why aren't they enforcing the rule about first pictures having a "mature titlecard" to avoid these problems to begin with?

Oh wait that would mean they would have to do something. Right, we'll see this fixed in the second quarter of the Apocalypse.

Before any of you go apeshit banner waving crazy on my ass: I am not advising censorship, what I am saying is Etsy has adhere to the numerous regulations and conventions regarding adult content. And they aren't.

At the very least they can follow opt-out conventions of international powerhouses like Yahoo and Google with opt-in for the mature stuff.



EDIT: This article was marked published by another of the team before I had a chance to sum up today with the news Etsy has announced just such a plan of Opt-in for mature.

While many in the forums are crying foul about censorship, and it might seem unsavory it really is the only correct thing to do. Many countries have tight restrictions on online content and how you get to it, and unless you want Etsy blocked in major countries like Germany ( who a couple years ago had a big issue with mature content on Flickr that resulted in all moderate to adult content on the site being blocked from German access entirely). Yes ladies and gents, you can be a civilized country and have morality laws.

No, it's not fair to Mature sellers exposure wise, but they sell these items all the time, this can't be the first time they've been met with resistance. Etsy is just astoundingly late in act on it. It's not about the sellers, it's about what's legal in all the places Etsy is accessed.

For once they are acting in the best interest of the site, and believe it or not you. If they don't at least put this content behind a simple by-passable wall to avoid inadvertent viewing in foreign countries that you sell to could decide to block the site entirely for not having such protections in place.

It's not censorship if you still have access to it freely and only if you choose to do so.

Other Bitches might disagree with me, I'm pretty sure at least one does, but that is just my take on this. We don't all agree on everything that gets published here, but I say kudos for Etsy making the right move in a swift fashion for once. It might not be palatable to all you reading, but you're not the one who might send in FauxNews with Glenn Beck in a choke collar itching to hump this story for the next 10 weeks.