A muting, a booting, and threats of legal action

The Muting: seller MIZombie has been silenced for a month. We didn't see this when it happened, but you can read his rant about it on his blog. From this example we learn yet another unwritten rule of the Etsy forums: Yes, it's okay to say that someone hates America, but no, it's not okay to tell that person to STFU.

The Booting: seller Rivkasmom/Sweet15 has had her account permanently deleted from Etsy. On October 30th she reported to us that she received an email from Emily at support@Etsy informing her that her accounts would be permanently terminated on Nov 7th, and until that time she would have access to her accounts to collect her business history and pay her Etsy bill. No specific reason was given, only a mention of "previous transgressions" and "a history of disruptive behaviour". However, since Rivkasmom had been permanently forum-muted earlier this year, we have to wonder just why Etsy decided to up the penalty 10 months later without explanation. Making vampire cupcakes and ignoring the Bugs forum must have gotten a little boring, we guess.

But as it turned out, she was unable to log into her account as of October 30th, receiving only an error message informing her that her account had been suspended. That's a fucking brilliant way to help someone pay their Etsy bill, admin. We bet you broke a sweat thinking up that piece of genius.

The Legal Threats: Rivkasmom received yet another message later that day in which Etsy informed her they were logging all of her IP information, and saying that this information plus her personal information was being sent to the Etsy legal team, who would take action against her if she chose to use Etsy.com again. She was also told to expect a phone call from their attorneys by the end of the next day.

On November 4th, Rivkasmom received a registered letter from the Etsy legal team, reiterating the TOS and demanding that she shut down all Etsy accounts and cease all further actions and communications. Apparently they forgot they had already shut down her accounts 5 days previously. Admin, might we recommend a day planner or other record-keeping device to help you avoid embarrassing yourself in the communications department once again?


So, dear EB readers, this is the warm, fuzzy, community-minded "human" face of Etsy. Sure is ugly, isn't it? Once again the kangaroo court is in full swing, accusing and trying and convicting all without ever actually stating what the guilty person is supposedly guilty of. And pardon us if we just say that the legal threats seem completely fucking unnecessary. Don't you have bigger fish to fry, like pornographically-minded sockpuppets constantly running amok in the forums, a never-ending barrage of resellers, and new handmade venues popping up all over the internet preparing to give you some real competition? Once again it looks like you've grossly overreacted to one minor issue while a hundred other important ones go completely ignored. If your legal team is that bored - handing out cease-and-desist letters to Etsy teams trying to use the Etsy name at their events can't be all that exciting, we know - then find a better use for them. Icing cupcakes, perhaps.