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Dear ActiveRain. Is it OK for Me to Only Make Comments ? Why Do I Need to Write Blog Posts, too ?

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

Recently, Active Rain came out with the policy that required its members to write at least one public blog post every three months.  This was announced as a condition for previously established Active Rain members to maintain their "grandfathered" and, as I insisted, their "grandmothered" status as a "Rainmaker."

This position has been debated round and round... with folks trying to support their various viewpoints.

One of the comments that I read... was from an Active Rain member... whom I will not name... who insisted that they NOT be required to write blog posts.  They maintained that simply making good, worthwhile comments was enough.

Here was what I had to say:

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To the writer of that coment:

As every coin has two sides, here is my take on this. 

You stated that the fact that you comment on other people's posts... and make an effort to make that comment meaningful... should be enough.  And, that your  comment... IS your contribution.  Yet... you do not create blog posts for OTHER people to have the same opportunity to comment on... just as you comment on their posts.  Again, you said that just making good comments... should be enough.

What if... the person on whose post YOU commented... didn't write that post ?  Or write ANY posts ?  What if all they wanted to do... what comment ?

That would obviously mean that YOU would not have your chance to comment... which you say forces the author of that post to support their stance.  And yes, you said, as a result, the person who wrote that post, and the people who read it and comment on it, you claim, are then able to "see both sides."

Active Rain is a Two Way Street.  Everyone who writes posts... writes according to their ability to write them.  They contain the ORIGINAL CONTENT that makes up a large part of what Active Rain IS.

Making a comment... is a RE-action.  Writing a post... is "new" ACTION.  It "creates."

Trying to "require" you to write one post every 90 days... is simply an effort... even though it appears to be coerced effort... to get you to where you contribute original content... rather than just attach yourself... and ride along on someone else's efforts.  Writing your own posts benefits AR, but it also benefits our AR members as well.

Does that make sense ?  Two-way streets usually go somewhere.  One-way streets often end up a dead-end.

What are your thoughts ?

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NOTE:  If you liked this post... why not subscribe to my blog ?  Go to the upper right, and click on the link that says "subscribe..." right below my picture and below the "email me" link.

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Comments (37)

Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate

John:  Just a quick answer here, as I was about to go sleepie pie, and am quite tired.

Active Rain is NOT meant to be only about real estate, and about the communities in which we offer our services.  Not at all.

It is about real estate, and about making and maintaining relationships... both between ourselves as Active Rainers, and making relationships with the prospective clients who read Active Rain stuff when they Google a subject, and end up finding an Active Rain post.

If you have read very many of MY posts... you will see lots of stuff about me, my teaching past, my cat Mollie T, my moving after my apartment flooded, my daughter Robin, my going to see my Clinique Consultant Jennifer at Hulen Mall, and lots of other non-real estate stuff.  At least that all APPEARS to not be real-estate related.

But, the point of that stuff... is to, besides sharing my real estate expertise so the public can see I know my stuff, but also my sharing of myself, and what I am all about, so that someone can read about my cat, my daughter, my Clinique visits, my prior school teaching, how I love tomatoes, and through all of that... they may decide... hey, this woman knows her stuff, and also, from what I read ABOUT her... she really sounds like someone I would not only work with, but someone I would ENJOY working with.

Gee... my quick answer turned out to not be so quick.  Prolly a hold-over from my teaching days.

Feel free to ask any follow-up questions you wish, John.  Nighty night.  ZZzzzz

Sep 04, 2010 09:02 PM
Satar Naghshineh
Satar - Amiri Property and Financial Services Corp. - Irvine, CA

Karen - The answer to your question is "Yes", I read your blogs and they look good. Thanks!

Sep 04, 2010 09:51 PM
Andrea Swiedler
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties - New Milford, CT
Realtor, Southern Litchfield County CT

Karen Anne, I can understand why they did this. With the growth AR went through, with the costs associated with the company, with all of this, I understand. I also can see why someone would get upset when the rules change.

Rules change all the time according to needs. What can you do. There may even come a day when granny and gramps will also have to pay. Who knows?

The point is, AR certainly has a lot to offer, including the posts created by members. But it is their party, their house.

Cleaning house is the idea I am sure. Look at all the people who never posted, who never even bothered to put in a photo. Or those who are still showing up but long ago left the business. I remember when I first started the long hard climb over those who hadn't posted in over a year.

Sep 05, 2010 12:46 AM
Don Spera
CR Property Group, LLC - East York, PA
Serving York and Adams County, PA

In all areas of our life, if someone does not police it, someone will take advantage of it.  That is no different than thiefs, scammers, fraud's etc...  We are working as a team to create a common goal, not just me, myself and I.

Sep 05, 2010 01:46 AM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good morning Karen Anne,

Very good point and we do have to remember AR has rules (as they should) and sometimes they need to change as AR continues to define itself. Writing a blog every 3 months is not a hardship..it's a piece of cake!! If that is something a member can't live with then maybe AR isn't the place for them to be!

Sep 05, 2010 02:35 AM
Al Raymondi
Ocean View Realty Group in Ormond By The Sea Florida - Ormond Beach, FL
Ormond By The Sea Florida - Home and Condo Sales

Great post Karen Anne.  With so many inactive accounts my opinion is that the rules are established in an attempt to reward participation and contributions to the community.  Anyone who does not like the rules is not obligated to continue.  He who has the gold makes the rules.

Sep 05, 2010 04:12 AM
Wendy Hayden
Photographer, Home Stager, ePRO - Richmond, VA
Chesterfield, Richmond & Powahatan

My understanding was that you just couldn't post to the public if you didn't write your blogs every 90 days.  If all you want to do is comment, this shouldn't be a big deal and you dont have to pay $39 a month.  I didn't pay that much attention since I blog almost daily.

Sep 05, 2010 04:56 AM
Craig Snead
Quality Home Investments, LLC / Dearborn Heights, MI - Dearborn Heights, MI
Real Estate Investor

Karen, well said. I am one of those "part time" bloggers. I NEED to say more and contribute more for the benefit of others and for myself. I can learn a lot from others comments on my posts. . As for the two sided coin, each side can learn from the other.

Sep 05, 2010 06:21 AM
Jack Mossman - The Nines Team at Keller Williams in Stockton
The Nines Team At Keller Williams - Stockton, CA
The Nines Team at Keller Williams in Stockton

Karen Anne:

When I first started with Active Rain - I just read ... rarely even commenting .... just lurking for over 6 months.  Then Chris Alston taught a social media class, and as a result I thought to thank him for the effort by doing it in a very public way ... my first blog.  That resulted in comments .... about which I had no idea what to do.  I thought there was some response key for comments that gave a wonderful blue background" and completed the dialog.  (See, sometimes even simple things need the tiniest bit of instruction ....)

The whole experience was painless .... and not nearly as traumatic as I imagined.  I blogged again, then again ... and recently took up the 30 day challenge.  However, even as you read this commentary in this blog you see the value of the comments, not that the original content was flawed, but the whole scope of the human drama is opened by varying points of view.

Inclusivity is an issue with me now and has been for over 30 years:  in contracts, in writings, in web sites and now in blogging.  The whole issue deserves more than a passing comment - but over those years the biggest obstacle to inclusive language is not mindset - it seems to be grammar!  Grandparenting is a fine example of an inclusive collective.  So is the use of "they" instead of "she" or "he" .... but when the context of the writing is obviously a single person ... and the verb is a single person verb .... purists are ready to go to war ... not about inclusive constructs ... but the wrong choice of verbs ....  

Sep 05, 2010 08:10 AM
Ruthmarie Hicks
Keller Williams NY Realty - 120 Bloomingdale Road #101, White Plains NY 10605 - White Plains, NY

Hi Karen Anne

Its a question of creating a dialogue. Initiating is far harder than contributing once it has been established.  But we need both. And to be a true participant you need to do both.  Although AR boasts nearly 200,000 members.  Many agents have long since quit the business.  Some house cleaning was in order so that the public wouldn't be confused by the presence of hundreds of bloggers who were no longer active agents.  Think about the image this presents to the public.  Great forum- but half of the membership has quit the business!

Also - I have often said that blogging is hard work.  What I mean by that is producing posts on a near daily basis is WORK I don't care how you spin it - it is work. But its not the writing...its creating content that will be found by the search engines and gobbled up by buyers and sellers. It's creating enough links so that search engines will see you. It's working with keywords etc.  Each post in that context is a hard climb.  However,  If you are putting up one post every 90 days to save yourself $39 a month - you don't have to worry about all that.  Just put something - ANYTHING up and you save $117.00. I think that's a very reasonable deal.

Sep 05, 2010 08:52 AM
Christine Hart Howlett
Painesville and Eastern Lake County - Painesville, OH
Keller Williams Greater Cleveland NE

Karen Anne, it's like a marriage.  If both parties give 110%, it's probably going to last forever.  The identical premise works here.  How are we to grow and prosper if no one contributes? 

I often come to A.R. to get answers to my questions and to ask for advice about how to handle situations I haven't encountered before.  It's my "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Real Estate, but Were Too Afraid to Ask."

I actually enjoy contributing and if I receive a comment or two, that's icing on the cake.  I also know continuing to post more valuable, interesting articles will improve my following which is, you got it, more icing. 

 

Sep 05, 2010 09:38 AM
Roger D. Mucci
Shaken...with a Twist 216.633.2092 - Euclid, OH
Lets shake things up at your home today!

Sounds fair enough to me Karen Anne...........hate those one-way streets.

Sep 05, 2010 12:09 PM
Bob & Leilani Souza
Souza Realty 916.408.5500 - Roseville, CA
Greater Sacramento Area Homes, Land & Investments

Karen Anne, I don't see why anyone would have an issue with this situation...if they don't want to write blog posts, their membership will convert to "non-rainmaker" status, which means their (non-existent) blog posts will not appear publicly. As far as I know, commenting is still allowed for non-rainmakers, so I just don't see the problem with them giving up their free rainmaker status. :)

Leilani

P.S. AR makes the rules...no matter what they are or how they change, we do need to follow them as long as we still want to be a part of their site. It's that simple.

Sep 05, 2010 02:12 PM
Dianne Bartlett
Brightside Realty, LLC - Austin, TX

Wow!  I didn't know about this policy.  I think it's a great idea.  I know of "grandfathered" rainers who aren't even in the real estate business anymore.  Great way to weed them out of the system.

Sep 06, 2010 02:58 AM
Linda S. Cefalu, Broker Assoc.
Coldwell Banker Homesale Realty - Hales Corners, WI
I'll Take You Home

I didn't know about this policy either.  I guess I better get busy.  It makes perfect sense and your answer was very nicely put. 

 

I am still trying to figure out why my picture isn't appearing on my posts.  I'm waiting for a call back from the people in the know. 

 

Be back soon.

 

Linda

Sep 06, 2010 05:23 AM
Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate

Linda in # 33:  I am almost positive that your picture will automatically start appearing when you make comments... after you hit 10,000 points.  Right now you are almost at 7,000... so it won't be very long until your pretty face is right there with the rest of us.  I am not quite sure, but I think that is the case.

Sep 06, 2010 06:06 AM
Jenny Kotulak
RE/MAX Real Estate Centre Inc., Brokerage - Oakville, ON
Broker - Oakville Ontario Real Estate

I don't quite get why someone would join a blogging platform only to make comments.  I guess maybe to get a great education from other's posts?

Still this is a "blogging" platform isn't it?  This writer commenter is not going to get any SEO or google juice nor will he make any friends or potential refferals.  All the other great stuff AR can provide.

If you just wanted to be a commenter why wouldn't you just comment on newspaper editorials or other media releases?

JMHO

Sep 08, 2010 05:51 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

@ Jenny,

Why is that the commenter will not make reationships? I had several occasions when people were leaving excellent comments and engaging in the conversation, but  were not posting annything but listings themselves, so I could not reciprocate, even when I wanted to.

I do not quite agree with the notion that everyone has to write, period. We will them simply turn into a group where everyone is writing and few are reading.

The way life is, everybody do not do everyting. Some people can write and like writing, some hate. You can be successful in Real Estate, and writing blogs is not a mandatory skill and requirement. We simply targeted people that took a 4 month sabbatical.

Sep 08, 2010 02:39 PM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Ms Karen- I love your ending line about one-way streets that go nowhere.  It's like any relationship that we've all experienced with friend, partner, business partner or whomever... if one in the relationship is doing all of the giving the majority of the time while the other partner sits back and just makes a comment or shakes their head yes or no, then it can become a very stale relationship. 

Contributing (and that is the key to me-- contributing) a post every 3 months is not asking much.  They do have a choice, though, they can opt to sit back and cough up the $39/month.

Sep 10, 2010 03:54 AM
Linda S. Cefalu, Broker Assoc.
Coldwell Banker Homesale Realty - Hales Corners, WI
I'll Take You Home

Karen Anne,

Thank you for responding to my question.  Not so sure about the pretty face, but I felt like a "dork".  I thought I was doing something wrong or not doing something right. 

 

Thanks again.

Sep 11, 2010 03:22 AM