How the mighty have fallen...

Oh Etsy... I really wish we could stay friends.  I wanted to keep on good terms with you and not have it be uncomfortable when I ran into you at parties or when other friends mentioned you in passing.  But now I'm just so annoyed with you I think we really need some time apart.

I heard about the minor Etsy glitch the other day from chatter on forums outside of Etsy's site (read: on ArtFire).  And being curious, but not overly concerned, I headed over to Etsy's forum and read the offical post about how some people's real names were displayed instead of shop names in Treasury lists... that it was a small number of people, and only for a short period of time, and so on.  But what I read and absorbed most was this:  "We will be contacting all members who may have been affected and are taking steps..."

That quote was posted at 3:07pm on September 20th.  And I read it sometime in the evening on the 21st.  So I shrugged my shoulders and went on with my shop figuring that since I hadn't been notified that my personal information was unaffected.

And today, September 24th, I received an email from Etsy Admin (apparently sent at 12:30am) notifying me that I was one of the sellers who had indeed had their names displayed and "We have reason to believe that not all of the 2% affected by the Treasury issue on Monday, September 20 all received their notification emails."  No kidding!  This was certainly the first I'd heard from them.


Now, I don't actually care that my name was out there.  I have my name listed in the intro section of my profile so it isn't the actual result of the "glitch" that bothers me... But to have a security problem, and then somehow not be able to manage a simple thing like a mass emailing?  Now you're into my epic FAIL category.  And that makes me worry about the site's ability to handle the security of information I do care about.  I'm extra glad right now that I keep my online shop accounts paid through PayPal, so it isn't as if Etsy has my banking info stored that they could lose or expose or heaven knows what else. 

I won't be taking my toys and going home quite yet, the shop will stay open because there's nothing really to be gained by deleting it.  I may as well have the extra exposure of two online stores at least through the holidays.  But I'm going to have to think really hard about whether or not to start re-listing items when they expire.  Giving my hard-earned money in fees to a place that has lost my confidence just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Most likely I'll let the shop fade away there and focus on my ArtFire presence instead.