Etsy removes Sampler feature

[mandy]

Bye bye Sampler

We’ve removed the Sampler from the site. It had a good run. Why is it gone? The randomizer function was wreaking some serious havoc down below; top sellers & top items were non-functional; recentlys old items was also a troublesome database hit.

Will the sampler ever come back? Maybe, maybe not. For now we’re focusing on getting the rest of the site speedy and stable.

announcement/comments: http://blog.etsy.com/?p=153#comments

[thentavius]

I'm new to Etsy and from what I hear, the Sampler was an invaluable research tool. Many sellers used it to gauge what's selling.

There's lots of frustration that this app isn't back on the site yet.

Since I enjoy the other Web 2.0 tools on the site, I'd really like to get the chance to try the Sampler and I'm hoping they resurrect it.