On: How Etsy Alienated Its Crafters and Lost Its Soul

[akgerber]

That is, in fact, Etsy's goal. But the DIY & handmade is a movement on its own with its own set of virtues, probably an heir to the Arts & Crafts movement as a reaction against mass production: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement#Social...

So a whiff of mass production is seen as taint.

[michaelt → akgerber]

The question is how Etsy wants to position itself relative to Ebay.

Now, there's nothing wrong with being ebay! It's a fine way to find traders selling mass-produced items. But I was under the impression Etsy wasn't trying to compete with them directly.