Painted Bull Gallery

Friday, January 9, 2009

Explanation for outburst

I wanted to send something to explain my actions today. Please understand this has nothing to do with anyone on the weaveteam.

I have been lobbying to Etsy to give the weavers some recognition. We do not have a main category, and that is okay...but there is not one subcategory for handwoven. Not even in the fiber arts sub category.

I have repeatedly sent weaveteam news and updates for etsy to at least make a little announcement that we even exist. I have sent some info on our members and the work they do, I sent mini articles about Kirsten Kelly article in Handwoven, and Syne Mitchell...about her weavecast and weavezine. I sent just recently a little thing about Claudia Segal and her weavolution.com. These emails were sent in text format and on time...just as Etsy wants, they must be received by the 15th of each month. They also use this text format for updates to the member list on the team global page on etsy. They just cut and paste what the team leaders send them.
It has been very obvious that weaving is not a favorite craft for Etsy. There has been a lot that I have been doing behind the scenes. But, this last stab from Etsy put me over the top. Did you see the excitement from a lot of the commentators? They were getting information, they were curious, they were excited about weaving. Some were even discussing weaving theory and technique.

There was no calling out, no shop names mentioned, it seemed like there was no reason for that to be closed. If they wanted to move it to a different section fine. Move it.

I was posting on that thread, I had to leave to make my brother lunch (he has downs syndrome so he can not cook for himself) I come back an hour later and typed up a comment to someone who mentioned lace and the structure she uses...I go to post it and get that very big black message that reads "this thread has been closed" and I see that Michelle had shut the thread down.

I lost it completely. My emotions got the better of me and I wrote that new thread and clicked the post button. I went and wrote that letter to all of you on the team and sent it out. Then I went and posted the copy of the letter in the thread because I truly did not want any of you all to be affected by my actions.

It was closed after that.


I will still do the guild over at Artfire and have my main online shop there, and I plan to continue the WEAVEmeet project. (online global guild for weavers) http://weavemeet.com

I still want to be very active in promoting weaving, but I do not want my actions in anyway to affect weavers that sell on etsy.

Thank you, JJ

4 comments:

KayzKreationz said...

I guess I missed all that. So sorry that has happened to you. I need to remember to check out your artfire shop. I always forget when I log into my artfire shop. Looks like you've got some great fiber art.

PaintedBullShop.com said...

I am riding this wave:

see my new blog:

http://weftywoman.blogspot.com

Donnalda Does Art said...

I too, have participated in forum threads that were closed, by an administrator that did not read the whole thread. This has been happening a lot lately on Etsy. I understand your frustration. I used to be a basket weaver, imagine the respect that garners in the general public.

CLKcreative said...

I do a tiny bit of beadweaving and also noticed that Etsy does not have a category for any kind of weaving, or for macrame. What a shame to be treated so badly, just for asking to have your own category. Sheesh.