First - What's the philosophy of this process?

Members who post on the Etsy Forums do so, in general and in this arrangement, to give help to other members of Etsy or to receive help from other members of Etsy. We support this wholeheartedly, and our goal with this process is to make sure that the Etsy Forums are a welcoming, constructive and courteous space for these interactions. We understand that mistakes happen, and we accommodate for that (more on that in a bit). It does not, however, serve or help the Etsy community to allow members who persistently violate our policies to continue to post in this space. While we were previously more lenient, at the same time we were too often hearing from sellers that they didn't feel comfortable posting in the Forums because of members who were being rude to others.

Posted at 3:02 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

Second - What warrants disciplinary action?

While we do have several policies which pertain specifically to the Etsy Forums, what we feel warrants action really fits in a fairly narrow band. Being disrespectful to other members is one of the only reasons anyone has received disciplinary action in the Forums (sock puppets are pretty rare, we don't want to hound anyone for posting about transaction specifics, etc.) We do -not- give warnings or suspend Etsy Forums privileges for disagreeing with something that Etsy has or has not done.

We stress the importance of constructive criticism and we welcome it. Have we taken action when criticism has been delivered here in what we felt was a disrespectful way? Sure. But we want the Forums to be a place where we can gather important feedback from our members, and when some people are rude it discourages others from getting involved in the conversation. "I don't like this feature, it's too slow. Bring back [thing]!" is okay. "What have you done, you @#$% idiots!" …isn't. Everybody is able to share their thoughts in a fashion much closer to the former than the latter. In the moments you can't, that's the time to step away from the Forums for a bit.

Certainly there are other, unusual kinds of cases that have come up in the past that we felt warranted action from us and received it, but they're just that - unusual.

Posted at 3:02 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

Third - But people who lose their Forums privileges are still assets to the community!

This is often the case, yes. The good posts they make here remain. Any action the Forums Team has taken since the migration has taken place (save for the outright banhammering of spammers or sockpuppets) has not affected any member's ability to post in the forums of community-run teams. Those members can still buy and sell in the Etsy marketplace. Any idea or opinion that those members have can still be shared with us privately. We don't like suspending anyone's Forums privileges, especially not if they've shown us and the community how smart or funny they are, or the useful information that they have to share. That being said, the very best contributors are those who can be all these things and follow our policies when posting on the Forums.

Posted at 3:03 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

Fourth - What are the steps in this process?

When a moderator submits a post or thread for review by the team (which they might find from a thread report or simply reading through a thread themselves), we'll take a look at the post, the thread in which it sits and any other relevant information that may not be present in the thread. If the consensus opinion is that some action is warranted beyond either simply posting in the thread or closing it, then we will send along a warning which highlights the policies violated with links to the posts/threads. If you've been warned before and have a gone a good long while before receiving another warning, then we'll acknowledge that internally and we'll send along another warning. As I said previously, mistakes happen.

If someone whom we've sent a warning email is again subject to action from the Forums Team, the next step is, barring exceptional circumstances, to suspend that member's Etsy Forums privileges for one week. If they're subject to action one more time, the suspension will likely be an indefinite one. We issue indefinite Etsy Forums suspensions only due to really egregious incidents (which is very, very rare) or persistent policy violations. Warnings and Etsy Forums suspensions for Forums policy violations are only issued at the consensus of the Forums Team. We will and do address questions about specific action if the member who received it writes in to ask about it, and when appropriate we have rescinded that action.

None of us like having to make use of this process; you could ask anyone on the team and they'd tell you that it's their least favorite part of the job. We do it only to make sure that members who post in the Etsy Forums are following Etsy policy, and that the Forums are a positive and helpful place for any member who wants to make use of them.

Posted at 3:03 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

Feille says

Rob, do you guys take into consideration the person who is reporting posts? sometimes there's a back story between reporter and reportee and it seems, on the surface, anyway, that the reporter's role in the drama may not be taken into consideration.

Is there any kind of step that allows a muted/in danger of being muted person to state their case or explain what may have happened?

=======

To your first question, absolutely. Situations can get a little complicated, and while we're not going to invalidate anyone's reports on the basis of who they are or who they're reporting, we have seen instances where a personal dispute will be manifested in part by one person reporting another's posts in waves, where these posts may or may not follow our policies to the letter but often aren't really problematic. This tends to be pretty rare, pretty obvious, and if I could be frank, a little disappointing.

To your second question, not an official step. However, there have been many occasions in which a member might wind up contacting the member they were disrespectful to to apologize, and contacting us to acknowledge the error and apologize or otherwise voice a desire to be a constructive presence in the Etsy Forums. Doing so is not a guarantee of anything, but just as in real life it's a pretty good way to smooth out what could be a not-awesome situation, and we try to acknowledge that.

I'm not sure if that fully answered your second question; let me know if it didn't.

Posted at 3:21 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

drumchick99 says

Also, it was recently posted by admin that the Ideas forum was now open to topics of "feedback." Can you explain then why positive feedback is allowed, but those providing dissent are not? This is not about constructive criticism, as feedback is a totally different thing.

======

This is the shorter of the two inquiries you posted, so I'll get this one first.

If there was some misunderstanding that we viewed feedback (we try not to use that term in Ideas because of the specific meaning that it has in the Etsy marketplace, and we would prefer not to generate confusion...but it's just so doggone fitting sometimes) in a different light as constructive criticism, I think that's on us. I'm pretty sure none of us saw the notion of "feedback" as something that didn't have to be respectful, but dissenting opinions are absolutely not by nature disrespectful.

Dissenting opinions are important, and like I said before, when put constructively they are welcomed by and very helpful to us.

Posted at 3:28 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

drumchick99 says Edited on Jul 22, 2011

Thanks for posting this.

Why isn't there a set list of rules for the forums. Yes, I know there ARE, but it seems like things like posting with sarcasm, posting profanity, etc are SOMETIMES grounds for disciplinary action, and sometimes they aren't. This creates confusion, and can possibly cause someone to be muted when it wasn't warranted. Maybe they truly believed it was OK because there was no rule about it. Maybe admin didn't understand thier tone.

I think some are getting tired of some people receiving mutes for the very same infractions as others not receiving a mute.

I think some consistency needs to be made. Some real set rules. Things like:

"If you offend someone, even if you didn't mean to, and regardless of if you were using sarcasm, or your tone was misinterpreted, you will be warned, etc"

"If you use criticism continuously."

"If you curse."

======

Context will always play a significant part in what a member posts and how we and other community members will view it. Sometimes we don't see eye to eye with the person posting, sure. But by the time we've reviewed a thread and have elected to take action beyond posting in or closing a thread, a lot of eyes have looked over that scenario.

As I implied previously, this doesn't mean we're mistake-free, and in a few occasions in which members have written in to discuss the matter with us, we've reviewed the incident again, felt that we were mistaken the first time out and rescinded the action.

Posted at 3:34 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

foxaz says

Is it possible for someone to get muted in error? Without an offensive post? Without an explanation?

======

Very, very rare. Pretty sure it has happened before. I'm certain that no one was happy about it.

Separately there are some circumstances unrelated to the Etsy Forums, where if you were to violate other policies you could put some of your account privileges at risk, Forums privileges among them. If you're generally following our policies and addressing any issues as they arise, this should not be something you'd run into.

Posted at 4:00 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

OhFaro says

Thanks so much Rod.

There was a thread this last week about profanity. I asked and got a private reply from admin about the rule on profane language, but I could not post it as it was a private convo. Can you please make comment so there is a reference for everyone?

======

Sure. The use of profanity in the Etsy Forums is not, in itself, a violation of policy. However, it is a tricky thing to make use of in context without being disrespectful to others, and because it's so often used as a sign of disrespect (while being aware that there are other contexts in which it is okay), we very often end up reviewing instances where it is used to determine whether or not our policies were violated.

Posted at 5:05 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

cattuslavandula says

Wow, thanks Rob.

A quick question while we're on the subject of mutings, for anyone who has an answer.

When a muted member needs tech help or needs to report a bug, how do they go about getting it without access to the forum?


=======

(P.S. I had to step away for a bit, hence that delay for a bit there, but I am going to try to hit most of these questions that have cropped up)

Contacting Support would be my recommendation, which you can do here:

www.etsy.com/help/contact

And one of our Support folks will certainly respond to you as soon as they can. If you're present during our Live Chat hours, you should be able to get assistance a bit quicker.

Posted at 5:18 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

As I'm getting to these other questions, I need to offer a reminder that this thread really isn't the place to discuss specific scenarios. Please respect this so that the conversation can continue unabated.

Posted at 5:54 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

drumchick99 says

I guess my confusion is in the word constructive. You see, I'm a music teacher, and when a student is doing something wrong I can say "you are playing that part too loud." This is a negative statement, and at the same time it is constructive because now they know that they are playing too loud, so they need to play softer. They know how to fix it. I don't need to add the words "so play this softer for it to sound better." Sure, I actually DO speak this way, especially with children, but it is not NECESSARY, nor am I a mean person if I do just tell them it's too loud!

So all that just to say, maybe some clarification on the constructive criticism would be nice. Do we need to make a statement like this:

"Etsy, I don't like this. If you did this, it would be better."

Or is it ok to say, "Etsy I don't like this." Maybe I don't have a solution cause I'm not a website engineer, but I'm still providing a great constructive criticism, because now you know I don't like it.

I think if it was spelled out for us somewhere, it would help. I think I, and probably others, have a different definition of what constructive means.

======

I agree that this could be articulated a little better, and will see what we can do in that regard. "I don't like this" should be fine, though I'll say that suggesting a course of action tends to be more helpful to us.

Posted at 5:57 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

ananemone says:

[things I didn't c/p]

The problem, however, is similar: there are huge gray areas in between saying "fuck off" /"You are a terrible craftsman/Etsy employee" and "Please stop disrespecting the views of others"/ "Your application of site policy in regards to resellers is at times lacking and I respectfully suggest you add more stringent requirements" (or whatever, of course those are purely made up).

Most people post in the gray area most of the time. If you only keep people who post in the gray area in *favor* of Etsy (or are perceived to do so), then we all lose. And lots of people will think the forums are run unfairly or inefficiently or without an even perspective.

======

That paragraph rings very true, and most cases are not easy edge cases. Thus, inevitably, there will be disagreements (often even within the team) as to what is the appropriate course of action. The perception you cite here, however, is one that some people will hold regardless of how lenient or stringent with we are with virtually whomever. Who they think we favor will vary as well.

While we are less lenient in general now than we had been, we still put a great deal of thought into each review for each incident, regardless of who is involved and try now more than ever to be mindful of instances in which we feel that we're being too stringent or too lenient.

Posted at 6:08 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

TrudysPaintedLadies says

Rob is there any chance that the " Old " Forums will return and we will no longer have to go to a team for an answer to a question?

======

If you mean the prior structure of the Forums (and which sections were included on the main page), I don't expect a return to that state.

If you're referring to instances in which engineers have discussed features on separate teams, we're working on some things to bring more people (as opposed to the moderators, project managers and a few others you see somewhat regularly) from different parts of the company into the Forums to post where it's appropriate. Part of what makes them happy to do so is to be able to participate in and contribute to a welcoming, courteous environment.

Posted at 6:17 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

cindylouwho2 says

[some stuff I posted that she c/ped]

First, thank you Rob for addressing this issue - I think that was a good move!

In the past, I have heard that the average progression is
Warning >> 1 week >> 1 month >> goodbye forum
but it seems you are saying that getting a one month mute is more an exception than the rule?

======

Once upon a time that was the typical progression (specifically, I believe we changed that with the migration or shortly afterward). As you saw, I had a ton written up already and anything I felt like I could afford to cut I eventually did. I thought this might come up, so easiest to answer and say, we did once do things like this. When we switched and removed the one month step from the process, those who had had their Forums privileges suspended for a week at some point would still receive a one month suspension - if they had a policy violation in the not-too-distant future - and with that would come a warning in the email sent that the next step would likely be an indefinite suspension.

We wanted to make sure to notify any member who had broken our rules before that they risked having their Etsy Forums privileges indefinitely suspended with the next infraction (again, barring exceptional cases). To not do so seemed unfair.

Posted at 6:24 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

Gleeza says

Thanks Rob for acknowledging and trying to address this issue.

Couple questions and suggestions

Could you have a "Forum Rules with Consequences" written up and hot linked in the left or right side bars that shows up in all forums/threads.

How long do you go back or consider infractions for warning/action? Is there a time period of when you say, that's too old, issue is dead, move on?
I don't think it's right to discipline any posts weeks and months after it was written.

Again, can we have a list or something in writing that clearly states what the violations are and the punishment for each. Why do some get a few days, weeks or months mute???

As for the perma mutes, I seriously hope these are reserved for only the most serious of offences. I don't think it's fair or right to perma mute on cummulative basis over a period of years for minor infractions.

thanks again for touching this topic and not ignoring it.

======

I do like having our policies be very visible, though there are enough of them between what applies to Etsy's community spaces and what applies specifically to Forums that it could be a bit of a design challenge in not presenting a giant wall of text that looks cumbersome on the page and may not get read. Once upon a time, we had what you should and should not post in each section of the Forums in a sidebar on the "Start new thread" page and the number of threads we had to move wasn't really impacted at all. So to answer that point, I do think it would be good to make those policies more visible in some fashion, I'm just not sure what that would be.

Doing so with consequences I think draws too much of the focus away from what we want to see and encourage here in the Etsy Forums. I know some of you have been asking for parts of this discussion to be had for a long time and it's totally fair to want to know what the consequences are. But to focus on those in general is, I think, taking the wrong approach to posting here. If you're actively trying to be nice and respectful to others when you post in the Etsy Forums, you're already doing so much of what we want you to do.

To your other points -

Right now we're still not moving as quickly in organizing and making these assessments than as anyone would like, and there are a number of factors involved in that. A key goal of mine in the coming months - especially as we are less lenient than we once were - is to be able to define a specific timeframe in which we can say "If we don't contact you about a post by _______ then we won't" and to have that timeframe be a short one.

The process is a cumulative one. I know that many members who have contributed to this discussion don't agree with that, I know some other forums which do this and some which don't, and everyone is using the scheme they feel fits best for them. This is ours. The very first iteration involved a warning, a 3-day Forums suspension, then successive 7-day Forums suspensions until some arbitrary point in time in which everyone involved in the decision making process (there were way fewer of us in the company then than there are now, this was in my early days at Etsy). The second iteration I laid out just a bit ago and now we have what I described in the OPs.

Posted at 6:41 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

StinaStudios says

So, just for clarification, when deciding whether disciplinary action should be taken against an Etsy member, it is always up to a GROUP of moderators as to what to do? As in, could there be a scenario in which one moderator could mute someone without other moderators being involved or even aware of the action?

======

In edge cases the decision falls upon the judgment of a single moderator, almost always (there mmmmay be other cases but I cannot think of any) falling into one of three categories:

1) Sockpuppets - and they only ban the sockpuppet, action involving the "operator" involves a review by the team unless it turns into an urgent matter.

2) Spammers.

3) What I'll refer to here as "urgent matters." Violating Forum policies repeatedly in a short span of time (generally by repeating the same violation), when we've asked or directed you not to multiple times, doesn't tend to make anyone happy. We allow a lot of latitude with this, but belaboring virtually any point or message and breaking our rules repeatedly in the process is something that ceases to contribute to or create a conversation and instead just generates noise. This is really uncommon, especially nowadays.

After the fact, that moderator will always make the others aware of what happened, and since being promoted to lead this team in 2009 I've never seen anyone make that particular sort of call in error.

Posted at 6:51 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

AntoinettesWhims says

Hi Rob,
Great of you to be here and trying to clarify things.


My question is about resellers in the forums.

When they come here to start a TVP thread (or rather a "look at me" thread) why is it considered calling out to expose them? Seriously, I have a tough time wrapping my head around that.

I certainly understand the no calling out and coming to the forums with a look at this reseller thread and I do think that is an appropriate rule. It's just when a reseller comes and rubs it in the face of those who work hard on their art/craft and their stores to see these threads in which the seller is under cutting in some cases the very livelihood of others here and not allowed to say something, or gets a warning or muting for speaking out, it gets really discouraging. Especially in cases where the store remains open and the exposer is muted. So which is the greater crime ~ being a reseller or exposing a reseller?

Is Etsy going to lose it's identity as the handmade, supplies and vintage marketplace and formally allow resellers sometime soon? Is this perhaps why this issue does not seem to be taken seriously.

From my own time in the forums and personal observation the 2 greatest issues with the site are the search function and the resellers. Do you see it differently from the inside?

Thanks Rob!

======

This is reaching a little beyond my purview, but I'll tell you what I can.

For starters, the Forums are not the place to expose anyone, really and truly. Even if it seems like there's a moment ripe for justice and vindication on some level...this isn't the place to take someone to task. There have certainly been people who have posted on the Etsy Forums that have spurred us to contact our Marketplace Integrity Team and say "You should have a look at these folks." But that's the avenue to take, rather than to use the Forums as a point of warning. It might seem like a valid idea in the times that you're correct in your assessment, but should you be wrong you could really be doing a disservice to a fellow member of the Etsy community.

Search is probably one of the most difficult problems that we're actively working on; you can be reminded of how hard it is every time you search Google and have to dig through search results to find the information you were looking for...when tastes in things you want to purchase can be somewhat more esoteric, which is that much harder to judge accurately. Still, it's something we're working hard on with some really great talent.

Many new Support Team members have been training the past couple of weeks in the basics, and in time some of those (as well as some in future waves of Support hires) will move to Marketplace Integrity to continue to address the workload of investigating suspected resellers as well as potential tag abuse and the other matters that they look into. On top of that we're building more tools to make the work we do in Support overall, MI included, more efficient.

Posted at 7:14 pm Jul 22, 2011 EDT

I'm sorry that I haven't returned to this thread in the past week; I've been working on a project that will allow more of us to be more responsive to questions about features/site policies, as well as criticism of, praise for or ideas for features that turn up here. You all do have a lot of good input that you provide, and we do appreciate it. I didn't copy the post but I probably should've; peaseblossomstudio said that something to the effect of one's opinions are never problematic but the manner in which they voice them is what can run afoul of our policies. This is certainly true.

Dissenting views are important to us; they're the ones that demand more of you no matter the situation, and we always want to do more and better.
With that, I've read through this thread and there are some more questions I can answered, so I'll get to that now.

Posted at 10:25 pm Jul 29, 2011 EDT

StinaStudios says:

Why are some threads closed almost instantly, while others, even though they have almost the exact same content/title are left going for days/weeks/indefinitely? Even though they've been reported? The only difference I've seen between many of these examples was the person posting, or the person they were posting about. 

Also, why does it take so long for someone to be muted? Someone recently said that mutings should be done quickly after the fact, or not at all. I agree with them.

=======

Several factors play into your first question. The same point can be expressed in different threads in a myriad of different ways, with some of those following our policies and some of them not. Sometimes contentious topics will arise where we recognize that the community wants to have the discussion, and we'll try to be protective of at least one thread on the topic to allow the overarching discussion to continue. Sometimes we happen upon a thread by chance and see that it's violating our policies, sometimes we have a lot to do behind the scenes that prevents us from reaching thread reports in as timely of a fashion as we'd like. Other times still, one person will have to make a couple of attempts at starting a thread surrounding one particular idea to successfully do so without they themselves or some other participant violating our policies (this probably happens most often around feedback).

We're still not where we want to be with response time in reviews and taking action, and I realize it's upsetting to have that concern over whether or not we viewed x post as appropriate for disciplinary action not answered in a set period of time. I think that certainty is a core part of this system that isn't yet in place, and it's something that we will treat and offer as soon as we can (and will make clear once it's in place, "If you haven't heard from us in ______ days then you almost certainly won't").

Posted at 10:26 pm Jul 29, 2011 EDT

AntoinettesWhims says

Oh and the process, one warning, one short term muting and then permamuting. Is that always the case?

Are there any other factors involved? Such as... 

* How often a person posts. A member who posts 3 times a year and all posts are nasty in my opinion differs greatly from one who posts 1000's and has 3 nasty posts.

*What the warning was for. Say you are issued a warning for one offense in the forums, but the 2nd incident is a different offense and not related in any way. Is that factored in at all?

Time frames. Is there any sort of grace period? Or does a warning stand forever? If you had a warning years ago, would that automatically go to a short term muting now? If there isn't a grace period, why isn't there?

[concern about timeliness of action, not c/p'd here because I addressed it my post immediately prior to this one]

======

The context in which we view the post we're reviewing encompasses a whole lot of stuff, including how often one posts (though not down to specific numbers).

The nature of the policy violation can factor in (as opposed to the one or ones prior), as one of many factors to consider before assigning action.
There is a grace period for warnings, I don't want to get into really specific times because I feel that that's counterproductive, but it's there and if you had a warning years ago as you said, you'd get a warning now.

Posted at 11:18 pm Jul 29, 2011 EDT

FancyPantsAndMore says

First, thank you Rob for opening this discussion.

My question is this: After a period of time has passed since one was given a month long mute, is it too late to ask for an appeal? Because from what I have read in this thread, the mute in question, does not fit into any criteria you have given. 

Of course all of us (or at least most of us) who have been muted before, will think we did not deserve it, but I really do think that with what I am reading as mutable offenses, some did not. 

So is it EVER too late to ask for a review on a mute?

(so sorry for the vagueness of this post)

======

Technically, no. We've never set out a specific time frame after which we will no longer go back and look over the posts, reasons for action, etc. With that being said, each of these decisions made in the past few years have come at the hands of a consensus of people who were acting as Forum moderators at that time. While we have overturned action before, this has been very, very rare, especially prior to the Forums migration. In virtually every case we deliberate enough over each decision to feel pretty strongly about the decision that we've made, whether it be to assign action or not.

Posted at 12:56 am Jul 30, 2011 EDT

AntoinettesWhims says

I have a few more factors I wonder if they are being considered when taking action against a member.

*Edits. I love the edit feature for my fat fingered typos, mispunctuation and especially to remove something within the hindsight of those moments you feel was best left unsaid. Does self-editing in the latter circumstance factor in?

*Reporters. Does the maturity/sensitivity level of the person doing the reporting factor in at all? Or how often they hit the report button factor in? Do you even know who it is when you receive a report? 
And along those same lines, perhaps they didn't read a post right, the tone doesn't translate as it should, or a misplaced comma. I've seen it said like this "I can't control other people's delusions nor should I be punished for them".

Thanks again.

======

The prevailing reasons for requests to provide a post editing feature in the Forums surrounded the ability to make quick typo and punctuation corrections of the sort that drive people like me crazy (please leave my comma splices outta this), and that's the reason why we provided it. While I would agree that it's better to post something regrettable and use the post edit feature rather than to allow it to remain, you're responsible for the words you post here, including disrespectful statements or other policy violations later edited out of posts. If you think your'e on the verge of posting something you'll regret later or you know that you're at least upset enough to do so, please, I can't implore you enough to please take that time to step away from the Forums until you've cooled down.

The username of the post reporter is included in the post reports that we receive, so we do have that information. While we appreciate the reporter offering their interpretation of what they're seeing in the Etsy Forums (provided through the option they select when reporting the post, or typed independently in the comments) ultimately it's the view of the moderator on duty that determines what's done with that particular thread, and then the view of the team as to whether or not assigning action is appropriate in situations where that's even a consideration (which it isn't, most of the time). We will never ignore a report or take it as canonical based on the identity of the person reporting.

Posted at 4:18 pm Aug 1, 2011 EDT

BuzzPlanet says

Thanks for posting this info; as a relative newbie to etsy, I find this subject interesting and somewhat worrying. I can imagine a person having been at etsy for a long time, several years even; probably has posted in thousands of threads. It seems that the culmulative nature of the disciplinary action makes it more likely to affect long-standing members of etsy, just from sheer mathematics. The steps you've described are very few; and don't seem to take into account rare missteps, perhaps unintentional. It brings to mind, to me; a person's driving record, how a person's speeding tickets or traffic violations are able to be removed from a driving record after a certain period of time; otherwise, eventually, the best and most experienced drivers would likely have their license suspended, while new drivers would still be allowed to drive. I wish there was some process wherein more allowances could be made for a bad day perhaps; that would not count toward a person's disciplinary actions forever; because to me; it has a chilling affect of making myself in particular, almost afraid to post in the forums; almost as if there is a certain quota of forum posting that I'm allowed in my lifetime, and I don't want to "use up" the goodwill of admin, if you will. I know you've made it clear that you make allowances for the occasional slip-up; but it still feels as though you're walking on thin ice when posting. 

Wow, was that ramble-y enough? I hope you can make some sense of that and that you haven't already answered this in the time it took me to write this epic novel..... :D 

Edited to add that I'm only speaking for myself here, not attempting to say that anyone else feels this way, I apologize for my too-liberal use of "you're" and "their"......eek!

======

From having read through the thread, I can certainly see that you aren't the only one who has said something to this effect. I appreciate the feedback and this is something we'll take into consideration, going forward.

Posted at 5:06 pm Aug 1, 2011 EDT

SpiceofLifeDesigns says

I have a question unrelated to muting... Is there a reason that otherwise healthy threads are completely closed when removing a single post would after the discussion to continue? Threads that are restarted with admin permission rarely develop the same level of activity the original thread had....

======

It's a matter of policy that we have to follow. I know where you're coming from, and I'm sorry that we can't work in that fashion. Should this ever change, we'll make sure to make that clear.

Posted at 5:08 pm Aug 1, 2011 EDT

BlackStar says

I'm one of the old forum members that don't come around much since the change in February. When I do come, I rarely post. It doesn't look like the forums have changed much to me, as far as making it a 'safe haven' for those that were/are afraid to post. 

Negativity still exists, but many of the faces are different. I don't really know what's going on (the reason for this post) but I hope these new faces are also getting muted.

Rob, I do have a question. If someone is muted from the forums, are they also muted from their team forums?

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They are not. If a member has their Etsy Forums privileges suspended may post in any community-run team in which she or he is a member. If this were not the case, we wouldn't be quite so stringent with how we handle the Etsy Forums now.

Posted at 5:10 pm Aug 1, 2011 EDT