I've received a lot of messages, complaints, counter-complaints, and other responses lately about cheaters on this thread. I'll try to respond to this as best as I can.
1) IS THERE CHEATING? Yes, absolutely. Some posts are removed immediately because it's easy to see (ie - someone posts 3 items instead of 1). Unfortunately, with the new Etsy Stats and other changes, other actions are much more difficult to regulate. It can take up to 24 hours for views/hearts and other actions to appear in Etsy Stats. This allows a lot of good players to have their posts removed unfairly and bad players to remain even more unfairly. Changes have been requested for Etsy Stats that remain unresolved.
2) WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT CHEATERS? Select the "report this post" button under their post. I review each one for violations. Some violations are easy to spot and promptly removed. But, some posts are not removed because I have no evidence of a violation. If you have a found violation, I will send you a note to follow the rules. After three violations, you will be removed from the team. Violators can appeal and each case is given special consideration. These are very rare. Maybe 1 per year.
3) WHY DO YOU GIVE PEOPLE SO MANY CHANCES? First, because it's the right thing to do. Some people are new to the team and Etsy and don't understand. But, another reason came along a few years ago. A group of members decided they didn't like the competition from other shops. So, they would each individually make false claims against their competing shops with the hopes of getting them kicked out of the team. And, they were pretty successful. These were good players that were being attacked by bad players. And, these false complaints still occur.
4) WHERE ARE THE LEADERS? About a year ago, the ART Team was hacked. Someone was able to gain access to the team, kick out lots of members, delete posts, remove threads, and cause all kinds of other havoc. Etsy suggested that I remove all the leaders until a cause was found. As many of you know, Teams are a very low priority for Etsy and this is remains unresolved. Once fixed, I'll invite the leaders back to help with cleaning up the team.
5) SOME MEMBERS ARE IN CONSTANT VIOLATION AND REMAIN, WHY? There are some members that are far beyond the 3 violation limit mentioned earlier. I know them very, very, well. And they have been causing problems in many other teams too. And I've actually removed them from the team dozens of times, but they keep coming back. This issues has been reported to Etsy and, again, remains unresolved.
6) WHAT CAN WE DO? First, select the "report the post" button for violators and give me as much information as possible so I can correctly and fairly. Also, send Etsy a message. Tell them what you want. Tell them you like teams and you want them to stay. That you like playing games. That you want Etsy Stats to be accurate and updated in realtime. That you want team captains and leaders to have management tools. That Captains have the ability to control members rights and restrictions. Tell them what YOU want. When I make these requests and complaints, I'm only 1 person. But, when you make them, you are a part of nearly 30,000 members of the ART Team.
I hope this answers you questions. If not, please let me know and I'll include them or clarify. THANKS AGAIN!
