As if you needed more reasons to quit Etsy

[azurelunatic]

I had a delightful conversation with Etsy tech support about the use of basic Boolean operators (namely, NOT, or the minus sign), in which tech support told me that I could filter out unwanted results by saying, for example, crazy daisy -Pyrex.

After the photo of my computer screen with a search like that, and the first two results bearing Pyrex in the product name, tech support told me that it wasn't a matter of me getting the syntax wrong, but I could narrow things down by Category! :D :D D

I pointed out the Pyrex pattern Crazy Daisy embroidered tea towels. And said that in fact it was so crazy to not include a basic Boolean operator like the minus sign in one's search that tech support themselves had instinctively said I could use it.

And that I was not interested in an email back unless it was something like "You're right, it is a mistake to not have basic Boolean operators in search, and we are re-implementing it."

I fell short of requesting the article on how to delete one's account, but I was tempted. People who were on the fence, however, might be able to get a little mileage out of that.

Comments

[vass]

Where does one go to from Etsy?

ETA: That's a very frustrating interaction, and I hate this for both you and whoever they're underpaying as human shields between their customers and anyone with the power to fix anything.

[azurelunatic]

IDEK.

I was on there because someone on Tumblr had a Crazy Daisy (neon mismatched color daisies) situation, and I decided to throw myself against the internet for some recreational searching during dinner. I think I found the shower curtain hooks, at least, but the actual shower curtains are so inundated with Pyrex (YES PEOPLE GET THEIR BELOVED PYREX PATTERN ON SHOWER CURTAINS I UNDERSTAND BUT I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT) that the results are ... not great.

Swans to the dick, all of those decision makers.

[kaylarudbek]

This is like Adobe Acrobat breaking the CTRL-F function (which is a known current bug and the fixes don’t always work)

[azurelunatic]

Oh, oh dear. Aggggghhhhhh.

[musyc]

*sobs* Feels like nobody does boolean search anymore. I can't minus NOT OR or AND my way to exact results on so many searches. Fuzzy results everywhere. Even quote marks only works sometimes.

[silveradept]

A search appliance that does not understand Boolean operators or negation is useless. No amount of fancy natural language processing on top of that can make up for such a fundamental fault.

[pauamma]

Faugh!

double-plus notgood

[jesse_the_k]

I purchase lots of bead working materials on Etsy--it's great for when I need just 10 grams of that one color.

It's so frustrating searching there. When possible, I track down the seller's own website, where things cost less and I can communicate readily.

[amberite]

Search with a lack of Boolean operators drives me up the wall, too. Just a mess all around.

[ursamajor]

Augh, I just love when things go from functional to not. How do they (and, it seems like everyone else running a business website with a search function) not understand that NOT is so core to search as to be table stakes?

[azurelunatic]

Hi there,

This is Preya from Etsy Technical Support. We appreciate your patience waiting for our response.

I can see you are having issues using the search feature on Etsy and would like Boolean search implemented.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write in with your idea. I can see why this would be helpful.

I'm noting your feedback and will be sharing it with the team to consider for a future update. Please know we take comments from the community to heart, and we make many changes to the site based on what we hear.
Regards,

Preya


--

This message is a private conversation between you and Etsy. Please respect this confidentiality and refrain from distributing this communication without permission from Etsy. If you feel this message was sent to you in error, please delete it and let us know.

Please note that feedback or ideas you share with us are non-confidential and non-proprietary to you. You can read more in Etsy's Terms of Use (Section 6).