Profanity = highly unprofessional
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Original Post
Just had to put this out here. I've seen a lot of shops (many of which do a good amount of business) that use profanity in their shop name, item descriptions, announcement, etc. I can understand if your shop is a particular crowd - adult, grungy, clearly that very hip vintage-offensive look I've seen out there, whatever. I'm just saying, to me, when I hear an adult curse (when they obviously do NOT need to do so) it seems gratuitously offensive and certainly not professional. I really do not understand why people would purposefully act in this way!
Like I said, if your shop is directed in that area, whatever, it doesn't bother me - I don't buy magnets or clothes with cursing on them (even if they are funny) so I probably won't be trolling your store anyways, ya know? But if I'm just cruising for a nice pair of silver earrings, or a cool old vase, I don't need to be cussed at gratuitously. In fact, I'm already headed to the next store.
Anyone hear me on this?
Posted at 2:31am May 3, 2009 EDT
Responses
nutmegclick says:
...just like it would be strange to sell doilies with profane language and irony. whatever suits the nature of the item is fine with me.
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Actually I find that brilliant. I am sure there is a niche market for that :)
Posted at 2:20pm May 3, 2009 EDT
Here's the deal. When you pull a wide swath of community members into your discussion and you say, for instance, "I don't see why these people are allowed here, I don't think it's right for Etsy," (vintage has run into this in particular, and my apologies for bringing that up, but it's a working example) Or, "do you see those people with the word ________ in their username, that seems kinda juvenile," that's a pretty harsh sentiment that you've got aimed at those folks.
And it could be you one day. Maybe you disagree, maybe you think that you're doing everything correctly and that what you're selling is above reproach. While you may think that, others might disagree, and you might find yourself reading one of them disagreeing here (for as long as the thread lasts) not just with you, but with a number of members who share those disagreed-upon characteristics with you. How will you feel, at that point? Maybe you'll just brush it off, and if so I commend you for doing that. But maybe you'd wind up being upset because of how you were portrayed.
We ask that members of the Etsy community be respectful to one another when posting here, and that carries over into discussions business practices, with a great degree of caution against highlighting specific groups of individuals.
Posted at 2:20pm May 3, 2009 EDT