Etsy Locks Down Technical Issues Forum, Raising Fresh Concerns About Transparency
Etsy has taken another step toward sealing off its seller community from public view, quietly making the Technical Issues section of its forums private as of January 12.
The move comes amid ongoing spam problems, unanswered seller complaints, and lingering questions about a months-long search visibility issue, raising fresh concerns that Etsy’s increasingly closed forum structure may be doing more to limit scrutiny than to protect users.
Until 2024, Etsy’s community forums required an active seller account to participate, but posts remained publicly viewable in read-only mode. That changed last year when Etsy blocked public access to most forum sections, leaving only Announcements and Technical Issues accessible without logging in.
Liz Morton
At the time, Etsy positioned the move as a reaction to security concerns, saying making the community private would help them protect users from spam and scams that had been running rampant through forums and messaging.
But many questioned whether it was also a tactic to reduce scrutiny of the platform, since journalists, market analysts, and other outside observers would no longer be able to read posts and keep tabs on issues affecting the marketplace.
In October 2025, Etsy announced it was moving its community forum to a new platform powered by Bevy, promising a streamlined, AI-powered experience, educational resources, and live seller events.
However, despite Etsy’s claims that a closed, restricted community would be safer, the new forum has continued to be inundated with spam, often including fraudulent links.
One recent thread in the Technical Issues section directly called out Etsy moderators for failing to address ongoing spam, warning other users not to click dangerous links:
Scammers active in the forum
Fake sellers with no shops attached are able to post in the forum, with posts being left up for hours on end containing dangerous links designed to scam those who click on them.
Please be aware, never click on any links or images which appear in the forum.
Geez..........just saw those 4 posts from yesterday.
WTH are they still up when clearly it's SPAM with dangerous links?
How did they get approved at all?Yet, when some of us post a message for a shop in "critiques" and if the comment is negative in anyway our messages go POOF just like that or they're not approved.
@ModAngie Please escalate this issue to the appropriate "higher level" ASAP because reporting the Post / Issue has not had any effect and these Threads are a serious risk, especially for newer members of our "Community"
A week later, there has been no response from moderators to that thread, but a pinned announcement now says that the Technical Issues section has also been made private as of January 12, supposedly in response to community member feedback.
That leaves only Announcements and Etsy Success sections publicly viewable- effectively removing a key venue for documenting unresolved platform issues.
The Value Added Resource reader who brought this to my attention says they had not seen any posts where users had explicitly been asking for this, so it's not entirely clear where the feedback Etsy says they are responding to came from.
The reader, who requested anonymity out of concern for retaliation, also questioned whether this was Etsy's way of trying to deflect attention from larger issues at the company, specifically the massive visibility issues some sellers began reporting in late November which some say are ongoing.
Liz Morton
Conveniently, this change has now hidden from public view the many posts about this topic that were posted in the Technical Issues section, including one which has had over 800 replies with new ones still coming in as recently as yesterday.
Etsy says the latest restriction was made in response to “community feedback,” but it’s difficult to square that claim with the lack of visible calls for tighter access.
Coming on the heels of ongoing visibility concerns and widespread frustration over moderation lapses, the timing raises questions about whether the company is prioritizing control over communication.
Each step toward a more closed community may insulate Etsy from public criticism, but it also distances the company from the "keep commerce human" ethos on which the platform was built.
If Etsy continues down this path, it may learn the same lesson that others who have sought to censor or restrict access to information have before - the truth almost always finds a way out.
On that note, Etsy sellers are encouraged to continue sharing their experiences in the comments section here on Value Added Resource or by contacting me privately - requests for anonymity are absolutely respected and a big thank you to the reader who sent in this tip!
