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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