haters gonna hate?

.....and it happened.  Most of us knew it would.  An epic thread erupted in the forums, pointing fingers at us.  I got involved on page 1 and just wrapped up reading all the way to page 41.   well for f*cks sake, I'm going to be honest about it.

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Before we get anywhere into the debate, let me restate the basis of Curation Nation.  CN began with a group of people who simply love making treasuries.  I was not a founding member, but I was invited early on.  I remember getting so excited when the team became official with Etsy.  But why start ANOTHER treasury team (that's right, CN is not the first)?  Because one of the greatest thing about the Etsy community is the willingness and the means of its members to support and promote each other.  A group of people who enjoyed supporting, encouraging, and promoting each other anyway decided to make it official via their love for treasuries.

Straight from the CN Team Page on Etsy: [Curation Nation is] A treasury building team who is focused on helping each member build their business with promotion and support by being positive and encouraging while maintaining a good reputation with other Etsians.

To help promote Etsians on Etsy but also to help the members of the group personally. We’d like to have our team members use their strengths to help each other. For instance: One of the Team Leaders has been an office manager/firm administrator for 30 years. Accounting, taxes, how to run a small business, etc. These are things she can help other sellers with. Everyone has a strength in addition to being "crafty".

To build relationships with team members vs. having a long list of names of people who are on a team.

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That, simply stated, is the goal.  The goal is not to get on the Front Page.  It is to get others on the Front Page.  The goal is not to scratch someone else's back in hopes of getting yours scratched in return.  If I want my husband to scratch my back, I just ask.  I don't scratch his for an hour hoping he'll offer to scratch mine (we all know how that would work out).

On the topic of "the thread" which will not be linked to, simply referred to... a few points must be made.  CN does not intend to be a FP monopoly.  When we get more than one team FP a day, it's exciting... we rejoice and celebrate, have our fun, and move on with our lives.  We post them here on the blog in case team members missed it.  It is not to brag or boast, simply to record.  However, monopoly does happen.  In "the thread" dancesippydance (non-member) said, "I get what you are saying about the monopoly... that's just business."  To think that the FP will be curated by a different curator every single time and that repetition of featured shops should never occur is to have no grasp of the way that business works.  Commerce is not fair, by any means. 


view the fp as a magazine cover. a magazine cover is meant to grab your attention and make you want to view the contents.  I don't imagine there are a lot of magazine editors in meetings saying "yea, put her on the cover and she'll sell bazillions of copies...but that's not really fair to the other starlets" (dancesippydance)

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Etsy chooses the FP's.  We just make treasuries.  Lots of them.  Because we love to.  (I guess I also love sentence fragments?)  It is a simple fact that the more treasuries you make, the more FP's will be chosen from your work.  That is just the way that probability works.  Let me state, again, that CN team members are only required to create 3 treasuries a month with 50% or more team members.  So claims of stuffing ballots or putting our own eggs in our own baskets are quite empty.

Is CN "gaming the system"?  It is possible to be interpreted that way.  But it is not intentional.  The more lottery tickets you buy, the more chance you have of winning the lottery.  But all it takes is the right ticket.  CN members seem to have the right tickets (.....for now. Etsy's favor comes and goes).  We are incredibly grateful for this and try to pay respect to the other fantastic treasury makers of Etsy.

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In the end, there is more to life and success on Etsy than being on the FP.  Some shops get lots of sales and hearts from their features, but others do not.  This much is true:  dwelling on repetition or lack of FP appearances will not get you sales.  It will not make you successful, and it probably won't help you sleep at night.  There are better ways to occupy your time.  Go create something new and beautiful for no other reason than to create.  Read a book.  Fly a kite.  Eat a cupcake.  Be inspired.  Create an Etsy team.  Make treasuries until your eyes get dry.

CN members are incredibly supportive of each other and are united by a love for creating and for Etsy.  To all team members, haters gonna hate.  Keep it respectful in the forums.  If incorrect information is being presented as fact, do your best to provide the correct information.  If you are a non-member who has problems with the team, please contact one of the team leaders (links provided on the right) rather than take it to the forums and get another strike towards muting yourself.

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It was suggested in "the thread" that CN members make up a blog post (and present it to the Storque) about how to make a FP treasury.  I think this is a fabulous idea.  I would love it if all team members would message me and tell me what they love about treasury making and what they think makes a treasury FP worthy. 

Thanks again to the team.  You are awesome, and I do not have enough words to express my gratitude for your support both on Etsy and in my personal life.