I was going to delete my last post, but decided to leave it up and just eat some delicious crow.

Today was a day of celebration at Etsy! Oh yes! Sooo… what happened? Rob Kalin is what happened.

Yesterday Rob started posting in the forums, answering questions, erasing fears and generally calming people down. It continued into today, complete with a party in the Virtual Labs. (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stick around for much of the party, but I will be posting the how-to for TrashCan Chicken-or-Turkey after Christmas.)

Not only are they not going kamikaze corporate on us, they’re actually going to implement some much-needed, long-begged-for improvements, and are eliminating some of the less-than-desirable “enhancements” that have been implemented over the last year or so.

Rob states they’ll be adding more (desparately needed) seller tools, redoing the category structures, working on marketing (an affiliate program – yes!), completely eliminating the “Weekend Deals” crappola, and moving into social marketing as opposed to the sterile retail “experience” that’s been going on.

That’s just to name a few things. Wow. I have to say, I haven’t been this excited over a marketplace – ever. Matter of fact, I’m just not real excited about marketplaces in general. But Etsy is a different sort of environment. I saw this years ago when I first stumbled on the site, and it’s with heartfelt gratitude that I’m there now to see it take wing and fly again, and be a part of it.

Yes, I’ll still be developing my sites, but Etsy will play a prominant role in my online presence.

I’m sitting here with a glass of wine, continuing the celebration. I offer a toast to you, Rob Kalin, with deepest thanks for stepping in and saving what is the most incredible site online today.

Merry Christmas, Etsy :-)

Etsy posted a suprise article on the Storque (Etsy’s blog) today. CEO Maria Thomas is leaving and co-founder and ex-CEO Rob Kalin is coming back.

This is very sudden – no major announcement, no fanfare, like you would expect for a change like this, just a quiet post. Also, Maria seems to be leaving with very short notice.

Overall, Maria has done a good job getting Etsy organized and steering it off the chaotic path. So why is she leaving, especially after less than 2 years on the job? Something’s screwy here…

Etsy’s been running in the red since Rob first “opened the doors”. I’m sure Maria’s been under tremendous pressure from the VCs to “show us some black.” This would partially explain some of the questionable actions taken by Admin (pushing Etsians to spam social networking sites comes to mind here…).

Have the VCs gone too far in their demands? Have they asked Maria to do something stupid that she knows would start a major uproar with sellers, and she refused? Is this why they’ve brought Rob back in?

Rob left Etsy because he didn’t like what was being done to the site, the direction it was taking. He could hardly argue with his backers, since their money was keeping the show running, so his only alternative was to leave. Now his only alternative is to cave to their demands, whereas Maria is able to take her marbles and go home.

It will be interesting (to say the least) to see what develops with Etsy in 2010. In the meantime, I’m stepping up the work on my own sites, and will be reworking the business plan… once again.

Oh, Etsy will still play a part, but not as dominant as was planned, and certainly in a way where I can hit the door running, if necessary.

Call me paranoid, but I learned a hard lesson with eBay.