Etsy Critique from the New York Times
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Original Post
As a spin off from the thread about the USA Today article, this quote is from a similar New York Times article. I think it is a wake up call.
www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16Crafts-t.html?_r=3&ref=magazi...
"Browsing Etsy is both exhilarating and exhausting. There is enough here to mount an astonishing museum exhibition. There is also plenty of junk. Most of all there is a dizzying amount of stuff, and it is similarly difficult to figure out how to characterize what it all represents: an art movement, a craft phenomenon or shopping trend."
How can we make this better and not exhausting, difficult, and junky?
Posted at 7:04am Dec 16, 2007 EST
Responses
I don't think we can eliminate the "junk" because what is junk to the author of that article is not junk to every buyer, and definitely not to the seller. I think you could say the same thing about lots of great shopping venues. Everything seems to have it fair share of "junk".
Posted at 7:08am Dec 16, 2007 EST
sorry, i don't think a wake-up call is in order. i thought it was a thorough and fascinating article. in your quote the author was saying that etsy is so large and varied that it's hard to know what it means or what it's place is. then he explores that.
Posted at 7:10am Dec 16, 2007 EST
i agree with interrobang, although YES, it can be very difficult to shop here and that should change. but i don't know who is decide to what is or isn't junk. i know i see plenty (LOTS) of stuff here that, to be polite, is not my style, but that's just me. and i know plenty of people could say the same about what i sell.
Posted at 7:12am Dec 16, 2007 EST
Unless this became a juried site, we can't eliminate the junk. And as interrobang says, "junk" is subjective.
Posted at 7:13am Dec 16, 2007 EST
Etsy is not a unified body of artists with similar tastes or juried to look semi coordinated. There is depth and breadth to Etsy that is similar to what one would experience in the orld at large. That seems to me what he means.
Posted at 7:16am Dec 16, 2007 EST
maybe it is and maybe it isn't difficult to shop here. but that's not what that prargraph says. it says that it's difficult to characterize the meaning and context of etsy.
Posted at 7:16am Dec 16, 2007 EST
"one mans junk is another mans treasure" , in this handmade and recycled world (especially) we should not forget that famous quote!
Posted at 7:17am Dec 16, 2007 EST
I don't think there is a bunch of junk here - I quoted an article... remember?
Is his impression more about the organization of all the stuff or the search or something else?
I like that the interviewer seemed impressed with Rob and his vision of etsy. I wasn't sure whether to read his comment that etsy seemed like a giant art project as a compliment or a dig. I suppose that depends on who is reading it.
Posted at 7:23am Dec 16, 2007 EST