Hi,

I'm Brendan! No doubt this thread has lost some steam, but I'll do what I can to answer some of the questions posted here.

About the Synth:
The PCB came from Music from Outer Space (MFOS) which is probably the best website on the internet for Synth DIY enthusiasts. I encourage anyone who even knows how to pronounce "solder" correctly to spend a few minutes there.

Ray Wilson, owner of MFOS, has a specific policy that allows for the resale of his designs in the form of completed synths. He only sells the PCBs and makes all the information public. However, It's not an open-source of GNU license. You CAN'T use his schematics to print your own PCBs. I honor this, by purchasing his boards even though there are obviously other ways to bring them into existence. I've emailed him about this whole situation and received his blessing!

What Went Wrong:
My guess is that Etsy was trying to prevent resale items. They probably have staff who use their search engine to find duplicates of unique terms. No doubt "MFOS" and "Noise Toaster" popped up a bunch of times and they rightfully became suspicious of me reselling completed synthesizers. However, if the staff member had taken ONE SECOND to read my description it would've become obvious that MFOS is simply a hobby shop that I purchased the board from.

Looking over the emails now, it's so glaring that even the slightest change in word choice could've prevented this situation escalating to the level that it did. If the rep had at any point known a ANYTHING about electronics, it would've been obvious that I had made it.

The one thing that still drives me mad and even now I can't find an explanation for was why Etsy decided to pick on a twerp like me. I had probably 6 items in my shop and hadn't grossed more than $1000 in 5 months. Like many have pointed out, they've got bigger fish to fry.

This thinking lead me to believe that this was an all out assault against electronic artists on Etsy. Perhaps, even part of a larger campaign to remove them entirely from their site now that alternatives like Tindie exists. I reacted with emotion and wanted to defend the community of other electronics designers on Etsy. I thought of them FIRST when I posted this email conversation.

Hand Assembled Haters:
Half of synth DIY is designing your own interface. That's what modular means to some extent. This is the exact reason why many designers put their schematics out for free. THEY WANT TO SEE WHAT PEOPLE DREAM UP. And dreaming takes a lot of energy and time. You can bet your ass I sanded this thing to holy hell and watched over it liked a baby when I was assembling it. I love that someone pointed out the issue of wiring in the comments.

Look guys, if there's that much wiring, it's put together by hand. No one in their right mind would outsource that much wiring if they were trying to turn a profit. Printing your own boards with mounted potentiometers would save at the very least HUNDREDS of dollars.

Inexcusable Closure:
The knee-jerk reaction Etsy has to possible non-handmade items is atrocious. Close my shop without warning? That is not cool at all, especially when I'm willing to work with you! How about 5 days? And how about removing that specific item and not my whole bleeping store!

Etsy's documentation on "Dos and Don'ts" is lacking for sure. And accusing legitimate artists of being LIARS can only lead to outrageous responses like this from the artists themselves and the broader internet community who support them.

End:
I've reached out to Etsy and told them I'm willing to work with them to point out the spots where I think this all went wrong and how they can change their policies to grant sellers the respect they deserve. If things go well, I will stress to no end, the importance of creating a specialized team to work with electronic artists as their discipline requires the special attention that if present would never had lead to this.

Thanks:
The support has been incredible and I can only say, I'm completely undeserving of it. I'm truly an enthusiasts who makes synths, because I love them and want the whole world to experience the beauty of weird sounds!

The real designers and electrical engineers out there deserve a billion high fives.

(hope i didn't forget anything)