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Serial "Copy and Paste" Commenting. What do They Get Out Of It ?

By Karen Anne Stone

Real Estate Agent with New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County

August 22, 2010 11:55 AM

Every once in a while I run into something on Active Rain that "catches my fancy." Sometimes this is a good thing, and some other times... not so much.

Here is one of those "not so much" times.

There are some Active Rainers out here in RainerLand who write posts... lots of them... and then have a few folks who appear in the comment section of their posts and make either this comment below...

"Thanks for sharing another interesting post with us today. Best to you"

... or other such "numby" comments that really don't say anything. Where is the dialogue, here ?

Time after time... these people continue to copy and paste, copy and paste, copy and paste... until they get in their "ten comments" for the day.

Now... I thought of bringing this to the attention of Active Rain... but, then again... I thought about it a while longer.

I decided that simply letting these folks continue to DO this... allows them to continue to look really "foolish" in front of all of their fellow Active Rainers who read their silly, inane comments.

Looking foolish in front of your peers... is a pretty steep price to pay... for either saving the time needed to write actual comments... or for thinking you are "gaming the system" for getting your ten comments ands 250 points each day.

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Gabrielle Nemes

RE/MAX Realty South - Tumwater, WA

206.300.8421, S King & Pierce County RE Advocate

Oh shoot, I was gonna ""Thanks for sharing another interesting post with us today. Best to you!," but Roger (#12) beat me to it. :)

Aug 22, 2010 06:06 PM

Jane Peters

Home Jane Realty - Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles real estate concierge services

Karen, this has been an ongoing discussion but doesn't seem to change things. And per Steve's comment, obviously they are not reading the posts on which they are commenting. It would be good to track whether those comments are left on posts like these. That would be the ultimate test.

Aug 22, 2010 06:07 PM

John Grasty

for real estate results in the Tri-Cities. - Port Moody, BC

Your Tri-cities REALTOR, neighbour and volunteer.

Why don't we all develop a "cut and paste" question back; something like, "So what did you find interesting about this post (name here)?

BTW, I don't know how many people noticed but the "flag" button was removed and Brad reported: "I'm sure the programmer is working on something for flagging in the future, I'm just not aware of it at this point. Thanks. :-)"

Aug 22, 2010 07:11 PM

Bill Burchard

3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA

Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

I’ve seen this , too, Karen Anne. As an ActiveRain member, I find their comments… well… sad. To me they are missing the tremendous value of connecting with peers. I’m an independent broker, and I don’t have an office filled with fellow employees to commensurate with, nor senior mentors to confide in. AR provides that… and I feel sorry for those that are blind to this enormous benefit.

Aug 23, 2010 02:11 AM

Mark Hitz

Keller Williams - The Colony, TX

Hello Karen Anne - I commented way up at #7. Appreciate the insight in your reply. Being newer to AR I just wanted to say that the comments on this thread have explained a lot to me. There is a learning curve.

To respond to your initial Q of Why do they do it - the answer is probably "All About Points" and the need to manipulate the system to one's advantage. Same reason why many people play video games using the "cheat codes".

I see a number of "AR member only blogs" that look like spam to me. If they are only internal why do these people waste time posting spam? To get the blog points?

Something competitive about "getting points". Those of you with hundreds of thousands of points have a different perspective than the person who has 6,000 points at the bottom of the active rain barrel.

So what do the points really buy these people? Let me irritate someone by comparing adults to 5 & 7 year olds. Today I'm taking my 5 and 7 year old daughters to Chuck E Cheese (God give me patience - school starts in 7 days). They play games and earn tickets (AR points). In the end a machine "munches their tickets and gives them a total score. The prizes are just trinkets and penny candy. My kids are more concerned about who has "more tickets" than the prizes they get. Not the best analogy but probably rings true for some.

Enjoy the day! Mark

Aug 23, 2010 03:34 AM

Kristen Wheatley

Better Homes & Gardens | The Masiello Group - Brunswick, ME

Supporting Success - Best Job in the World!

Yup, they are the only losers in the end. Points can be easily gained, but they will miss out on creating relationships, learning, and improving their business. Who knows though, there is hope for them yet. Maybe they will wake up one morning and accidentally leave a meaningful comment that the blogger then responds to...starting them down the road to real participation. :) It can be addictive!

Aug 23, 2010 04:57 AM

Greg Nino

RE/MAX Compass - Houston, TX

Houston, Texas

Hi Karen,

"Thanks for sharing another interesting post with us today. Best to you"

Aug 23, 2010 11:22 AM

Karen Anne Stone

New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Real Estate

Greg, your originality is exceeded only by your good looks and your personal charm. Uh oh... I think yer in trubble now, buddie. <smile>

Aug 23, 2010 11:38 AM

Karen Anne Stone

New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Real Estate

Mark in # 28: Just a quick response here... perhaps more later. The "Members Only" posts are not spam. The "free" membership in Active Rain, as far as I remember, ONLY allows the member to post to other members... and thus their posts are labeled "Members Only." There are some excellent "Members Only" posts being made... and probably the great majority of them are worth reading... obviously some more than others.

Once a "free member" joins and agrees on the monthly fee to Active Rain... then that member can either post to the "Public" or make "Members Only" posts.

Oftentimes... "members only" posts contain stuff the is either more appropriate to other members, or is of such nature that the writer would rather it NOT be a public post. Kind of like not wanting to air "dirty laundry" in public. Hope this helps.

Aug 23, 2010 11:44 AM

Geri Sonkin

Douglas Elliman Real Estate 516-457-7103 - Merrick, NY

Long Island Real Estate & Staging Expert

Karen,

I have found those generic, one size fits all, comments irritating in the past, especially when it appears to make no sense whatsoever. Something happened recently that made me wonder about it though. Now don't get me wrong, there are those who are only in it for the points. They do whatever it takes, without giving or sharing anything of themselves and climb the points ladder to some modicum of success. But ultimately what do they gain. If they now become visible to their target audience, but all that audience finds is "thanks so much for another great post. Have a nice day" over and over again, what message do they send?

But back to the thing that gave me pause. There is a guy, newer to the rain as I recall, who was doing this. I was trying to return a comment on his blog but couldn't since he kept rebloggig people. After awhile I noticed he's really trying to interact. You can see by his comments that he's still feeling awkward. So I had to ask myself, could it just be he needs to feel more at home and more a part of the group before he begins to really engage in the conversation.

Aug 23, 2010 01:09 PM

Judy Chapman

Referral Network of Illinois LLC - Chicago, IL

And then there's the serial copy and paste bloggers. You know ... write one original sentence, then follow that one sentence with a personal sales pitch. I know one blogger who quickly racked up more than 150,000 with virtually empty, meaningless words. He'd do his 10 posts in one sitting, one minute apart, and be done for the week. He also does his 10 comments in a day, also copy and paste. I almost reported him but figured he looks like a jerk all by himself.

Aug 23, 2010 01:50 PM

Matt Grohe

RE/MAX Concepts - Des Moines, IA

Serving the metro since 2003

Karen: This is a curious phenomenon, and widespread. I'm pretty sure there are a number of folks out there that are beyond caring what anybody thinks

Aug 23, 2010 04:24 PM

Cindy Cranston

Fulmer Realty- Floresville, LaVernia, San Antonio - San Antonio, TX

"Thanks for sharing another interesting post with us today. Best to you" JK

The best punishment is simple to ignore them and don't comment on their post when and if they actually post!

Aug 24, 2010 07:59 AM

Endre Barath, Jr.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA

Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Karen Ann, this seems so funny to me, once in a while when I get one of those, I say to myself " ok I get it,you really do not know what is going on with my post nor the true purpose of AR" What get's my goat is when I go and comment and I do not get a comment back in one form or another....

Aug 24, 2010 01:36 PM

Karen Anne Stone

New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Real Estate

Endre: I feel exactly the same way. When I take my time and think about a response to a post, and then make what I think is a pretty decent comment that really adds to the post... and then... "nothing." Do response, no acknowledgment, no nuttin'.

Serious question here. When something "gets your goat..." do you go out and buy another goat, or do you just remain "goat'less ?"

I remember once... quite a while ago, when somebody really got my goat. I was ticked. And it wasn't the first time they had "gotten my goat..." so I thought... that's not gonna happen again. I am NOT gonna have you get MY goat... and then be "goat'less" again. So, I went out and bought TWO goats... so I'd have a spare the for the next time my "goat got gotten."

Well... ya gotta know what happened. We split up. No more of any of that "gettin' my goat" stuff. But... since I now had TWO goats... just in case... I thought... "what the heck do I do with this extra goat ?"

And then, wouldn't ya know it... my two goats got "romantic" on me. Yeah... they "did it." They had a kid. So then I had THREE goats. Well, technically, I had to goats... a mom goat and a dad goat... and one kid.

I guess it's just all a part of living in this frustrating world... and having my goat get gotten... one too many times. Arrrggghhh !

Aug 24, 2010 02:06 PM

Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Ms Karen-Since I, like you, try to acknowledge my commenters by commenting on their comment, it's kind of hard coming up with anything to say to the "cut and pasters" other than "thanks for stopping by" which in and of itself sounds kind of lame.

Aug 24, 2010 03:41 PM

Gail Robinson

William Raveis Real Estate - Southport, CT

CRS, GRI, e-PRO Fairfield County, CT

I personally haven't had much experience with the cut and paste remarks, but I've seen them when I'm commenting and it irks me, because I'm taking the time to make an intelligent reply. Wouldn't it be great to copy and paste a really long diatribe about copy and pasting on one of their blogs? What about a copy of Moby Dick? Do you think they'd get it?

Aug 24, 2010 05:38 PM

Randy DeLaMare

Realtypath LLC - Salt Lake City, UT

Helping friends Realize their Real Estate Dreams

Hi Karen, Greg already beat me to it

"Thanks for sharing another interesting post with us today. Best to you"

I just couldn't resist. I always enjoy your posts although this one prompted a different reaction which I couldn't resist.

Aug 26, 2010 08:47 AM

Jan Mullins

First Credit Union - Chandler, AZ

Good afternoon Karen,

I'm still working my way through the newbie stage here (went to raincamp yesterday though, and it ROCKS).

Would you mind letting me know where I can find instructions on how to link to another ar member's site in a post? In otherwords, I'm mentioning an AR member in my post and want to have their name show up as a link back to their site.

Thank you,

Jan

Aug 27, 2010 10:55 AM

Kathryn Acciari

Central One Federal Credit Union - Shrewsbury, MA

Mortgage Loan Originator

One of the things I like best about ActiveRain: You can learn a lot about human nature! Obviously, some folks are just here to play their points. Who knows if it helps their business. Love the discussion here, Karen Anne.

Aug 28, 2010 03:04 PM

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