I thought I'd post some interesting facts you might not know about ActiveRain, the real estate network that is run by the same folks who bring you Localism.com. There's a perennial debate there, usually in non-public ("members only") posts, as to whether Realtors should be allowed to post listings so our colleagues can see them. In one recent thread, we had a lively discussion, in which myself and a few others were on the side of "yes, we should post our listings -- that's what our sellers hire us to do", but a substantial group (the majority?) wanted to prevent real estate listings from being posted.
I got to the point where I was going to sum up where we were, and I thought, you know, this really should be made available to consumers. Anyway, here's the summary I was going to post to the "members only thread":
- We've have four members who are on record as saying that people who post listings in the Professional section of ActiveRain should be publicly flogged. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt that presumably they don't mean that in a literal sense, yet the precise figurative usage they mean is unclear.
- Predictably, not a single member of the public flogging crowd or anyone from the anti-listing crowd suggesting less draconian measures has responded to my challenge to go on record on their own public web site or blog in front of their own potential sellers as agreeing with ActiveRain's policy against posting listings in the Professional Category.
An interesting upshot of this is that the advocates of "public flogging" probably do not advocate public flogging where their potential sellers will see them, but rather, flogging in yet another "members only" post. So what they're really advocating is nothing so open a process as a public flogging, but rather privately discouraging members (beyond the prying eyes of those interfering "consumers") to refrain from activity that is normally considered a part of their fiduciary duty, i.e., informing colleagues working with active buyers about new listings they have. - No one objected, however, to me quoting them as being on record against posting listings here. Now's a good time if you do, however, if I do get around to it I will honor retroactive requests.
- Ted Maitski was good enough to document ActiveRain's policy against posting listings in the professional Category.
- Diane Szoke and Carolyn Dubrofsky have pointed out that this policy appears to conflict rather obviously with ActiveRain's stated mission, of being "a free online community for real estate professionals designed to help them promote and grow their business."
- The moderator of an ActiveRain group where we are allowed to publish our listings came in and commented on the correct process. Please note, however, that the correct process constitutes publishing our listings to a group that consists of 6/10 of 1% of ActiveRain's membership.
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