Etsy's Handmade Blog
Forum Decorum: Etsy's Suggestion Box
Story by Community, RobWhite, stellaloella
Published on December 13, 2007 in Etsy News 		Photo by Hashir Milhan on Flickr

The community has always had an active role in shaping Etsy. We love hearing from the people who use the site. Etsians are creative, which generally makes us great problem solvers, too. The Ideas Forum is an amazing think tank for brainstorming, discussing and refining new and better features. More than any other section of the Forums, Ideas demonstrates the intense passion and sense of ownership many Etsians feel when it comes to this website.

As Etsy staff, we love that passion. We appreciate every word of it – even if we sometimes feel compelled to shyly read the posts while peeking out from our hands covering our eyes. (There's lots we know we can improve around here!)

The Ideas Forum is not a voting booth; the number of posts or "poll" type threads don't necessarily result in quicker action. It's more like a suggestion box – one where you have the opportunity to brainstorm and discuss your suggestion with other members.  While we take user input into consideration when planning new features or changes, it's not possible for us to implement everything.  

In the past two years, Etsy has grown at an astounding rate, both as a community and a company. This has had an impact on the physical structure of the site, the company and the process by which decisions are made. While we still read every suggestion put before us in the Ideas Forum, it's not always possible for us to take an active part in all those discussions.  Often before making any comment on an Idea, we need to have an internal chat about how that would work on the site and if it's even possible. Most Forum regulars would agree, there is rarely a sense of instant gratification these days. This can lead to a perception that ideas fall on deaf ears. Let us reassure you, this is certainly not the case!

We read your ideas with great interest. We catalog suggestions and constructive criticism, to help us make decisions about future changes to the site. The discussions between members are really helpful; these threads provide valuable insight about how people use Etsy. Constructive criticism and brand new ideas are the best kind of Idea threads. See room for improvement? Please give us your thoughts on how to make it better, instead of just venting about the problem. (Ideas is not the Etsy Complaint Department; please air all grievances to community@etsy.com instead.) Often ideas are fleshed out and refined just by conversation back and forth between members. It's great to see all the different possibilities for improving Etsy. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us!

Extra tip! If you have an idea and you're not comfortable posting it in the Forums, shoot us an email about it to community@etsy.com. Thanks!

In the Forum Decorum series, Lauren (stellaloella) and RobWhite of the Community team explain some of the finer points of cultural etiquette in Etsy's community spaces. When something is an official site rule, we'll be sure to link you up to the DOs and DON'Ts or Terms of Use. Simply consider these as tips for avoiding a forum faux pas.

Tags Forum Decorum, Forums, Ideas, suggestions
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20 comments     Login to add your own!

Dec. 13, 2007 at 12:37 p.m. JustAnotherDay

Thanks for all your hard work admin!! :D

Dec. 13, 2007 at 12:39 p.m. PicturesofLily

off topic, but where do you guys find all the great photos and images you use for the Storque articles? You seem to find just the right one for each article. Nice work.

on topic, good point to remind some people that the ideas forum is NOT a complaint forum, but a place to bounce ideas off of each other.

Dec. 13, 2007 at 12:48 p.m. stellaloella

PicturesofLily, sometimes we find images from Etsy listings, but often we use the Creative Commons tagged photos from Flickr. Follow the link on the photo credit to see more photos from that person and explore Flickr!

Dec. 13, 2007 at 1 p.m. junkprints

I heart you guys/gals!

It would be super duper snazzy if the checkout supported google checkout as well as paypal.

Dec. 13, 2007 at 2:33 p.m. celenajustine

I would love it if favorites could be organized by your own wish list and also a separate place for gift ideas.

Dec. 13, 2007 at 2:35 p.m. stellaloella

It's great to hear you suggestion -- but as the article notes, the Ideas Forum or an email to us is the best way to pitch your idea. These great thoughts will just get buried in the Storque comments.

Go post 'em here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_board.php?...

Dec. 13, 2007 at 4:43 p.m. PrettyInPeace

another well written article, thanks admin! :)

Dec. 13, 2007 at 5:12 p.m. GreenMamba

"The discussions between members are really helpful; these threads provide valuable insight about how people use Etsy."

stella and Rob, very good article. I know it is meant to be reassuring. But it seems a bit disingenuous - and confusing - to be told 'we are listening; your suggestions/discussions are helpful to us' when many, many useful and important (and civilly conducted) topics are shut down with the now-invisible lock for no apparently valid reason.

Dec. 13, 2007 at 5:55 p.m. tortillagirl

Others may not agree, but in my own personal experience, I've always gotten input on messages I've sent and on CONSTRUCTIVE criticism I've given. Simply venting doesn't provide results; it may make the one venting feel better for cathartic purposes but in the end, it isn't productive. Just something life's lessons has taught me.

The only suggestion on which I continue to wait and which I've seen proposed on the forums: A currency converter. But I'm being patient and I don't harp on it endlessly because I have a feeling that this will come about in the future. Besides, patience is a virtue :-)

Dec. 13, 2007 at 9:39 p.m. eclipse

"Constructive criticism and brand new ideas are the best kind of Idea threads."

It is very rare these days to see any *brand new* suggestions. Most of the good ideas have been suggested a bunch of times for the past year or more, and are still being suggested by new people frequently. This indicates to me, that those are the best ideas because so many "great minds" have thought of it independently. For example the suggestion just made by celenajustine about organizing favorites, it has been suggested at least once a week (in new threads by different users) for the past year. Each time someone suggests it, they don't know it's an old idea, it may seem old to us but it's new to them. I don't think suggestions like that should be dismissed just because they aren't "brand new".

Dec. 14, 2007 at 5:12 a.m. DoorNumberFour

You discourage etsians from stating "complaints" in the Ideas forum: "Ideas [forum] is not the Etsy Complaint Department" but to "air all grieveances [complaints] to community@etsy.com instead."

How then is it possible to encourage the generation of constructive suggestions and solutions regarding how to make etsy better, which you acknowledge "are often fleshed out and refined by conversation back and forth between [community] members"?

Dec. 14, 2007 at 8:38 a.m. BlackStar

Very well said RobWhite.

Dec. 14, 2007 at 9:28 a.m. Vanessa

The "great minds think alike" issue, does come to bear here. New people don't know that organizing favorites has been suggested many many times, and that in fact the admin love the idea and we want to make it happen.

I wonder if there could be a link on the forums that takes you to a page with all the ideas (brainstormed in the Ideas section, as well as by admin internally). Some of these ideas won't happen right away, or may, in the end, turn out to be not good ideas for one reason or another. But at least we could tack them up for all to see?

Perhaps I should go post this idea about Ideas in the Ideas section of the forum...

Dec. 14, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. stellaloella

DoorNumberFour, the distinction we're making is between a *complaint* and *constructive criticism.*

A complaint is merely venting a grievance with no potential solution offered. It's inherently negative and tears down Etsy without offering hope of rebuilding or fixing anything. Public complaints create a very negative atmosphere in the community.

On the other hand, constructive criticism identifies a problem and then proposes a solution. This is where great things can happen, when the community engages in a productive dialog that actually builds back up after tearing something down. It's a positive contribution to the site; it creates community involvement that results in beneficial changes to Etsy. This is our vision for the Ideas Forum.

Dec. 14, 2007 at 11:09 p.m. DoorNumberFour

You define “complaint” as “venting a grievance with no potential solution offered.”

I have checked several dictionary definitions of “complaint” and the “with no potential solution offered” part is nowhere to be found in any of the standard definitions given. It is simply “an expression of dissatisfaction; a grievance.”

However, even if we for sake of argument use your definition, I fail to see why a complaint MUST also ALWAYS be accompanied by a suggestion from the poster making the complaint.
Perhaps the individual making a "complaint" has identified a valid problem but has not yet been able to come up personally with a feasible solution, and wishes to put it before the etsy community in an effort to encourage feedback and input from same. Once a "complaint" is raised, collective brainstorming ensues, and the etsy community eagerly chimes in with possible solutions.

According to "A Complaint Is A Gift," a book that encourages companies to recognize the value and validity of ALL complaints, a complaint is in fact:

“fundmentally…a statement about expectations that haven’t been met. But more importantly, it is an opportunity for the organization [or] business...to make helpful changes.

...The authors warn against a strategy of reducing…complaints. Complaints can be avoided by closing down lines of communication. But all this does is bury problems and maintain the inadequate status quo.”

Instead of differentiating a grievance that is also immediately accompanied by a possible solution from a grievance which is not accompanied by a possible solution, thereby dictating what constitutes an appropriate complaint, the book suggests that companies and organizations must instead “distance the content of the complaint[s] from the emotion of being blamed. In other words, don’t take things so personally!”

Like it or not, complaints and ideas for improvement/suggestions for solutions go hand-in-hand. You simply can not have one without the other. I see no advantage that can possibly be achieved by separation of the two; in fact, separation of the two, it seems to me, is illogical and counterproductive.

Dec. 15, 2007 at 4:12 a.m. interrobang

Yowza! Good call, DN4.

Dec. 15, 2007 at 4:38 a.m. eclipse

Great minds do indeed think alike...and they have been thinking alike and asking for the same things for the past year or longer. The best way to prevent repetition in suggestions is to build the things people keep asking for. No one expects it to happen overnight, but over 365 nights is a *long* time. And the things people ask for most frequently are not rocket science.

I would love to see an organized list of all past suggestions along with the dates they were suggested. Perhaps if people could see how LONG we have been waiting, they would stop labeling customers as "impatient".

Dec. 17, 2007 at 2:24 a.m. InfiniteCosmosGirl

very interesting! DN4, very well said.

Jan. 4, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. haptotrope

"I fail to see why a complaint MUST also ALWAYS be accompanied by a suggestion from the poster making the complaint. " (DN4 , above)

See, because a complaint without a suggestion, is just a dead end. And Its not a community building activity to present people with a gaggle of "dead ends"... Give suggestions, make doorways.

May 6, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. lillybugboutique

I love to browse on etsy and have pages of favorite items and favorite sellers. One feature that would be nice is if you could organize/sort your favorite sellers/items into categories/folders in your etsy account. It would be easier to shop when you'd just like to look at your favorite jewelry, soaps, etc. without clicking through pages of favorites to find them.

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