Home : Blogs : Bob Stewart - ActiveRain : It's always Raining.........'ActiveRain'

ActiveRain hiring an Editor

We decided to take the plunge and hire an employee to act as our in-house editor. This new employee's primary responsibility will be around editorial functions for the soon to be relaunced Localism site. They will also be selecting featured posts for ActiveRain until we are able to develop and test our community moderating platform.

Yes you heard right on both accounts!

We are working on a Localism redesign, and we are going to be developing a process where our members will play a greater role in selecting featured posts.

What this means, is that effective today, we will no longer be using the services of our team of volunteer moderators.

For almost a year now, the featuring of posts has been handled by a team of moderators. This team is made up of a diverse array of members from the network. The job they have done in keeping the network vibrant has been nothing short of amazing in my opinion.

There have been three moderators in particular who have been the face of the moderators. Colleen Kulikowski, Laurie Manny, Rich Jacobson, and Mark Flanders have been instrumental in the vitality we have experienced in the past year. Their efforts have often times been thankless, questioned, and misunderstood. Even so, they have been unbelievably generous with their time, their input, and their willingness to help.

I want to personally thank Colleen, Laurie, Rich, and Mark. Thank you!!!!

There are also a group of "hidden moderators". While we strive at ActiveRain to be transparent, it was decided a while ago that in order to get anyone else to volunteer to help moderate we would have to protect their identities. I will leave it up to them to decide if they want to reveal themselves at this point.

As always, your comments, questions and concerns are welcome and appreciated.

Do you care what I'm doing and thinking? (I can not for the life of me imagine why) If you do, you can find me on some of these places........but remember, if you are offended by anything you see or hear, I didn't force you to follow me!!:

Posted by Bob Stewart - ActiveRain on 10/10/2007 03:40 PM

Comments (124)

moderators, featured posts, localism, editor

Originally posted at: ActiveBob.....It's always Raining!: ActiveRain hiring an Editor

124 Comments on ActiveRain hiring an Editor

OCT

2007

I am an agent here in Lake & sumter County, Florida. I do hope that the site stays fluid and interactive. Nice pic of you and you baby. Best of luck on OUR FUTURE Mike Norvell Sr

As long as good content is getting featured, I am all for it.

And a big thumbs up to the volunteer mods.

ditto "the lovely wife" : )

A big thank you to ALL the moderators, hidden or not, and to you and the rest of the AR guys, Bob! GREAT stuff going on!

I guess this is a good thing...glad you posted something...I was beginning to think some of our AR guys and their writing went away. Hope all works out for the best and thanks to the moderators who take the time to read through....our writing. Transparent or not...thank you!

Bob, I'm excited to hear about the new developments and I'm sure that these will be positive steps forward for the community. Will one in-house editor be able to handle all of the content with the ever increasing volume of posts?

Brian,

It will be one to start, we may need to bring on an additional, certainly. The end goal is to have a community moderated platform.

Bob: I am looking forward to a postive atmosphere. Thank you for posting.

I don't know that we can ever express our gratitude to the previous editors.

THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE !!!

Great news for the ActiveRain community. Looking forward to seeing what the new Localism will be like!

This is good news I think! And thanks for all the work done by the moderators. This I am sure is a thankless task and it has clearly been carried out with dedication.

I think the moderators as well as everyone with AR has done an outstanding job. I can't even begin to image how difficult not to mention time consuming it has been. Can't wait to see where this next stage takes all of us.

"We'll take this leap, and we'll see. We'll jump, and we'll see. That's life, right?" Patricia Graynamore

Bob, you look GREAT in pink!! :o)

I can barely read all that I want to here on ActiveRain... I can't imagine the moderators - whether there is just one or 20 - it's a lot of reading. And so much good material to choose from. I'm sure it seems like an impossible and thankless task at times. Please know that most of us are extremely appreciative, and I thank you, whether you are paid or volunteers.

Wow, this is huge news. I anxiously await the new splashes at Active Rain. Welcome to your new editor!

And a great big thank you to all the moderators, those mentioned and those not, whoever you are. I know most of the time it must have seemed as if no one appreciated what you were all doing but I, for one, did and do appreciate it. Thank you!

Hi Bob,

You've gone pink, too? You must read Sarah Cooper's posts eh? It was nice talking with you today about the changes that will be made. I/We, the Activerain community, think that you are definitely headed in the right direction. Keep up the good work.

I sure hope the new moderator system maintains the delicious flavor of this place!!

Tracy,

Sarah contacted me and asked that I support the cause. It seemed like the very least I could do. Look for something similar from AR in the next few days.

I know who some of the hidden moderators are...na na na na na! Thanks to you too.

Thanks to the three who were willing and had courage to let the members know who they are!

You do look good in pink Bob! I'm excited to see how all this plays out.

Bob, This sounds like a step in the right direction. I too would like ti thank ALL the moderators for doing such an excellent though thankless job over the last year.

Now please send me a private email to let me know whom to make my weekly "feature me" check to. :)

It's truly been an honor to serve our beloved community as a Moderator. I am looking forward to getting back to focusing on posting to my blog here on AR, as well as my 'other' blog SOUNDBITEBLOG.

To Matt, Jonathan, Caleb, and Bob: I want to publically thank you guys for extending to me the opportunity of moderating on this platform. Thank you for the trust you placed in me, and the generous freedom you extended to me in helping make this a great place!

Bryant,

You can keep making it out to ActiveRain........like you have been doing for the last year.........haha (Disclaimer for anyone that is sarcasm challenged............that was a joke)

Many, many, many thanks to all the moderators both visible and hidden...what a tremendous job you all have done!

I am glad to read that AR is adding another level of success with hiring an editor...a good indicator of AR's growth. Congratulations to everyone on the AR team, and all members who are adding to the success!

Bryant - No worries - Carnac will be selling Editor Suck up Kits in the next edition. And a free set of Ginzu knives will be included for the first 30 buyers.

Serious thanks to those who volunteered and put up with a whole bunch of crap!!!

Is the new editor anonymous? LOL Just curious, would be cool to know if this person is a tekkie, an industry professional, etc. And a name! Very hard to welcome a nameless person! Thanks

As a person who is unaware of anything internal, how do you REPLACE moderators that essentially made this forum into what it is? They created the flavor, whether they liked US or not- and made it continually interesting. While I'm guessing that one editor can do the "job", offering the time up for free (THANK YOU, RICH, FOR SUGGESTING PICS IN POSTS) adds value that will be tough to match. Oh, this is supposed to be positive...OK, I WILL POSITIVELY MISS THE CONTRIBUTORS/moderators that gave so much of themselves. THANK YOU.

Bob - This is interesting and exciting news, and I look forward to seeing how things develop. Thanks for the update!

So now does this mean we can suck up to the new editor and also send all the complaints over there too:)

I have some candy...I know the editor will love some candy:)

There was a place to send complaints? I NEVER KNEW THAT. What's the new address? And, there's someone to suck up to? I didn't know that, either. I want equal opportunity here. Spill, please.

Laurie - just because we won't be moderating anymore, doesn't mean that we won't continue to contribute to the network as we have in the past. We just won't be as visible, which will probably be a good thing!

(Linda, put me down for one of those Editor Suck Up Kits, please.)

Even though I am no longer a Moderator, please feel free to continue sucking up!

Rich, I'll be sure that I have avaliable a few Rich Jacobson Suck Up Kits. Looks like I might need to increase my inventory.

Linda - you might want to coordinate with Broker Bryant. He's currently overstocked on Rich Jacobson VooDoo Pin Cushion Dolls. Demand has dropped significantly since the annoucement was made.

Rich...HARDLY.

Yup, a big thank you to all the moderators from me too, they made our life a whole lot easier over the last year and contributed a lot to the community. Look for localism updates over the next month...

You guys did a great job.

Sounds good and I look forward to seeing the redesign of localism

Thanks to Rich and the other invisible ones - and to the volunteer moderators of the individual groups - for keeping the playground cleaned up.

The new editor (when he is named to his adoring public) will have BIG shoes to fill. I wish him (or her) well.

And thanks Bob and other management for many decisions that have helped the AR community for all of us - and, I hope, when the dust settles - for your own benefits as well.

Rich, I'll bring the sushi if you wear the ...

... can I say that here??

(Got moosewood, no lie.)

Laurie,

As far as the "flavor" of the network. I agree, the moderators did a stellar job of mixing things up just right. Of course, we will strive for something just as "tasty" (I don't know.......I was stretching for something to go with flavor). Again, our goal is to have the community moderate itself. We feel like the members, as a whole, should be the ones that ultimately decide what the flavor of the network is.

Bob, thanks for keeping us posted on the latest changes. I'll look forward to the localism launch...

Geesh...

I mailed Laurie a new suede coat today.

I wonder if there's anyway I could get the Post Office in California to C.O.D. it for me? :)

And what am I supposed to do with what's left of these???

Property Of TLW. Get off it :)

TLW...ROAR!

Bob...

Blogging Bertha wants to know if the flavor can be a white russian? :)

Like I said,

The community will decide the flavor...............if they pick white russian, then so be it. Bertha probably has enough fans to start some kind of a white russian campaign :)

Thank you to all of the moderators. I don't know where you find the time!!! I am looking forward to seeing the new localism.

That's what I meant to say... "I sure hope the new moderator system maintains the delicious white russian flavor of this place!!

I love this site, recommend it to every agent I run into and hope it stays forever!!!!!

Our moderators have done an awesome job!! They are much appreciated.

Thanks for the update, and I'm looking forward to what's in store.

What a thankless job these moderators had - all I read was complaints and the amount of time - GEESH!! I remember doing the week in review once....it felt like I was glued to my monitor the whole week.

Don't you guys feel relieved??!!! I thank each and everyone of you......tough job and now let's see what's next?

You mean to tell me we don't have to keep sucking up?

My thanks to all the moderaters, both the seen and unseen. Are you saying Bob that just one person is taking the job of quite a few? TTheir eyes are going to fall out of their head with all the posts they need to go through!

Lisa,

The rest of the crew here at AR will be helping the editor until the community moderation process is built and tested.

But yes, the editor will come with built in straps for their eyeballs. :)

Ines,

Sucking up is still encouraged. It should now be directed at him

LOL...

I didn't even have to check to know that was going right over to Kelan :)

TLW - no wonder I've been having those nagging stabs of pain!

Sarah - YOU are the one who has to serve the sushi, so I think it only fair that you should model the..uh...well....you know

(wonderberry - I didn't know fruit had superheroes?)

I wanted to thank all the moderators for making am inpossible task POSSIBLE. I think they did a fabulous job (and got an awful lot of heat for it at times). I, too, am looking forward to the new Localism.

Damn, I haven't finished Featuring my own posts yet! LOL

Bob, like Rich said, Thanks for the opportunity to play in the 'Rain. It was a helluva ride at times. For a while i think I talked to Laurie more than I talked to my wife.

Some of it was hard, some of it was fun and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

And, to the many, many ActiveRainers who offered support, constructive criticism and sometimes defense of the Moderators, thank you! There were times your kind words and care were the ONLY thing that made it worth it.

Do we get to be partof the 'gang' again?

Bryant, I'm gonna miss that monthly retainer...

How appropriate that last weeks Week in Review was dedicated to all the moderators, past, present, hidden, and visible :) I really don't know how one editor will do everything, even with a little help from their friends....but it will be done. Once again I say Thank You for everything......

Linda......looks like I need to cancel my "Moderator suck-up kit" :) :)

I thought the moderators did a wonderful job. I am fairly new here, but I would like to say "thank you" to all the volunteers who took the time to do what was probably a rather thankless but necessary task! THANK YOU!!!

Hi Bob,
Thank you for letting us know about the changes. I really appreciate all the time and effort the moderators have devoted to AR, a BIG THANK YOU. I look forward to great things here.

So now all the volunteer moderators can back to their own business. A great big thank you for all your hard work, dedication and most of all, your time.

You guys never cease to amaze me and all the work that is put into keeping this an awesome working site. Thank you to everyone.

Hi Bob - lots of changes going on! The re-launch of Localism will be interesting, especially to those of us who write mostly localism pieces. The community moderating platform will be interesting to see that come about. I wonder if that will eliminate the whining and complaining that has gone on, or if it will increase it? I hope it eliminates it altogether, for everyone's sake. I can only imagine the grief you guys in AR land all take........yuk!

Many MANY thanks to all of the Moderators - Laurie, Colleen, Rich, and Mark and all the "hidden" Moderators - what great teachers and inspiration you've been to many of us learning about blogging. It's been real and fun ----> really fun!!

Ann

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***IMPORTANT NOTICE***IMPORTANT NOTICE

CLOSE OUT SPECIAL: Moderator Dartboards, Moderator Voodoo Dolls, and Moderator Punching Bags will now be available for $3.95. Gift wrapping available upon request.

All customers who have ordered the "Moderator Suck Up Kits" within the last 7 days, will instead receive the "In-house Editor Suck up Kit". Because of any inconvience this may have caused, you will also receive absolutely free an "automatic comment generator" and one blinking "Subscribe to Me Button". Thank you for your understanding.

In-House Editor products will be available in November.

Carnac

Carnac of CT

Bob,

As always thanks for keeping the community updated on changes and improvements, it's much appreciated, as are you.

I'm with Ines-I'd be grateful to have a moderator job ended! Thank you to all who have worked so hard and put in so much time for so little praise. Does this mean that Localism will finallly not be beta? =)

Carnac ~ Are you planning to have on order the new Editor Suckup Kits? I certainly want to be the first in line to get mine.

To the moderators (except Rich) Thanks for doing a wonderful job. You certainly put your time in and deserve to go to Heaven, do not pass go. And to Rich, well you can go fishing for crabs. :)

Thanks to all of the volunteer moderators for your diligent and often thankless support of AR and good blogging.

Carnac- thank you for clearing that up....I certainly won't be needing my "Moderator Suck Up Kit" and I see that Kristal has also ordered the new version :) :) Hope your vendor is good with change :)

I think the moderators have done a great job. Now that the membership is so big, I am sure that they will be relieved. Thank you moderators for all that you have done.

Thank you to all the moderators. That is one big job to read so many posts and thank you for all of my featured posts that have really helped others to improve their businesses.

I have 2 questions:
Is one employee going to be able to handle all these posts? I mean it is like 24/7 posting!

And for Localism: are you going to keep all the same articles or are they all getting erased and we are starting over again with a new Localism? It would be nice to know so we can copy all the posts we have in Localism.

Thanks for every thing that you guys do for us here on Active Rain and thanks for such a great community! Katerina

Thank you moderators for all your time and effort to cultivate and highlight meaningful content for us all. It sounds like this will be a positive step for ActiveRain.

Nester and Katerina, We will be keeping all of the Localism articles on Localism.

OCT

2007

I am sure that changes are ahead for AR. Growth causes changes to happen. Good Luck.

Moderating was a helluva interesting experience. Did you know that I was inside of many of your heads? Ask Jason Sardi, he knows what I'm talking about. Having read so much of what so many of you wrote, I feel like I know many of you intimately.

Mark and I were the first moderators, for about a week I ran the system solo, it was a blast and none of you knew we were there yet. Stealth mode, it was really cool. The boys forgot to tell Matt we were a secret and he blew it exposing Mark, Rich, Colleen and myself. (Remember Colleen? Nobody here has thanked her, shame on all of you!) After that the only way we could get anybody to moderate was to draw blood and pinky swear that we would not expose them (somebody did anyway-shame on you-I know who you are and that was despicable!)

Was the job thankless? Sometimes, but each time it was, somebody exposed themselves and their shortcomings. The one thing I can say across the board about ALL of the moderators is that every one of them has proven to be impartial and constantly featured posts based on the merit of the post itself.

Earlier this year when we first began moderating I noticed 2 members whose writing was so beautiful, yet they were so ignored. They received few comments and few hits and I just could not understand why, they were terrific. I began to give them featured posts often, still few comments, I began to wonder if the collective intelligence of AR was off or if it were me. Slowly the members began to read them and their comments grew. I continued featuring them and their work just kept getting better and better, the members were really starting to get it. They have both amassed a large readership now.

One day one of my girls exposed herself and came out of hiding from behind the flower that she used as her picture and the beaming, beautiful face of Lola Audu appeared, I was tickled pink. Lola bloomed that day and has since become one of the very best and most respected writers in the Rain. Good Lord, I felt like I gave birth. (One of the rewards of the job.) The other writer was Roberta Murphy. When I started featuring Roberta I had no idea that she had a professional writing background, when I later discovered that it made sense, she writes beautifully.

Bringing these 2 writers up, from behind the scenes was a distinct pleasure and one of the biggest rewards of my time moderating.

Along the way I made many new friends, you are all valued and treasured. It is my sincere hope that these friendships last a lifetime.

It has been quite an experience.

Thank you all,

Warmest Regards,

KK - nothing but love, my dear!

Andy yes, a HUGE thank you for Colleen. She put in endless hours and contributed so much of her heart and passion to this network.

I do know, I do know...

Love the Manny!

I will continue sucking up on a (moderate) level.

And to you Bob Stewart....please email me the name, cell phone number, address, & blood type of the new editor:-)

As far as Colleen goes, she's a HUGE part of why Active-Rain has become so successful!

On another note, should I make the check payable to Matt or Jonathan?

Laurie - what a beautifully written comment about your experience as a Moderator. I can totally relate to what you wrote!

I, too, noticed that Colleen's name wasn't mentioned, and yet we all know how she has helped and mentored so many here on AR. I know she certainly helped me in many ways, just as she did many other members, which is why I included her in my comment above.

How sad that someone who'd been entrusted with the names of the hidden moderators chose to break that trust.......

Ann

Well then I guess I will have to do the individual thing now...Thank you to Rich Jacobson,Laurie Manny,Colleen Kulikowski,Mark Flanders,Bob Stewart, Caleb Mardini,Brian Brady,Lydia Heaton and the rest of those hidden mods for all the help and support you gave me this past year...now what..no one to talk to!

Since I have been handling the Week in Review I think the message is now understood what it is like to be one for each week. Because they realize they only have to pick a handful of posts and the mods were going through hundreds.

Laurie -- Thank you so much for acknowledging me. It was my pleasure in helping move the system forward. I too got to help a few people get their first Gold Stars.

Brad Andersohn, Midori Miller, who we regularly see on the featured board now were two of my favorites. Both of them wrote something that I so desperately wanted to feature but knew that the readers would not receive well. They spent countless hours over the phone modifying their first featured posts with me. Both of them took my Pay it Forward price and have helped others here at ActiveRain blossom! Every once in awhile I see someone make a comment about the fact that they are paying for forward because of Brad or Midori and I swell with pride.

I was guilty of all the hearts and flowers posts getting attention and new members that got a spotlight thrown on them with their very first post. I started the concept of the Welcome Wagon and then several other members carried it on. I had fun by creating the ActiveRain Flats in an effort to have people connect with Localism. Hey anyone ever find out what happened to all of them? And I have enjoyed creating contests to get the membership involved. Personally the best was the Laurie Manny Challenge. That challenge I saw the quality of the writing go up in so many members, members that watched but did not take up the challenge.

With my new position earlier I resigned as a Moderator to focus on bringing up a new set of writers on their outside BLOGs. I knew I could not put the time I had into AR. It was time.

To Laurie, Rich and Mark -- those early days of Moderating were fun! Rich and I started the same day, we were sworn to screrecy and then the next day Matt sent out a post!

To Matt & Jonathan -- thanks so much for entrusting me with the power to choose.

To Caleb -- Thanks for being there to support the Moderators when needed.

To the Hidden Moderators -- Thanks for joining the fun! For the features and for the new found friendship that developed as a result of you volunteering!

Bob, Thank you for writing this and keeping us in the loop of what changes are coming.
The mods all did an excellent job as did all of the guys/girls working behind the scenes and I'm glad they will all now be 'set free' to work more on their own blogs, personal and business lives.

I look forward to the new localism and the new community based moderating system....these sound like very positive changes as AR continues to grow and change for the better....

(((-:

Don't know how one person will be able to do the job that our AR conscience committee of moderators did. I found those known and hidden to be fair, with integrity, and focused on what makes AR special.

Hope whatever changes are made are consistent with the same spirit.

Colleen, Laurie, Mark & Rich-

Thanks for all of the work you've done to try and make AR a better platform.

I've been a Group Moderator for a long time and that is time-consuming enough! I can't imagine how hard it is to keep up with ALL of the posts from 50k+ Members.

All of you take a well deserved rest.

**** It would really be nice to see the original post edited so that Colleen's name was included. ****

I came to Active Rain early this morning to check real estate news, and discovered big internal changes at Active Rain instead.

We all owe a big thanks to Laurie, Colleen, Mark, Rich, Brian and the other quiet moderators for all their work. Theirs was a tough and time-consuming job that surely ate into other areas of productivity and life. They also introduced us to some wonderful real estate professionals and bundles of new ideas.

Thank you, Laurie. You're a great teacher with a rocking sense of humor:-)

And thank you, Bob, for sharing the news --and the intent to redesign Localism. Don't let the other drill-down sites get ahead of you!

I love the jumping pic! Great job and good luck with the search!

I actually find it tacky that Colleen's name was left off this list

She did a lot and gave a lot of her time to ActiveRain despite what was going on in her outside life

Kudos to her decision to take a new job where she will get mentioned

I am please that you have plans to work on Localism redesign. Thanks

Laurie, Mark, Rich and all hidden moderators--What an awesome job you have done!!

Bob, Looks like Active Rain just continues to change and get better all the time. Thank you to all of the moderators for your time, energy and effort during this past year...now it's vacation time! Bet you're glad. Can't wait to see the new Localism and the changes that will be made.

By the Carnac...need my knives! Also,I put my check in the mail for the new suck-up kit. What a job is in store for the new person. I wish them the BEST!

To Bob, Jonathan, Matt, Caleb, Ben, the Moderators, and the Hidden ones as well -

Active rain has been such a pleasure to be a member and part of! It's not just about posts and features, upgrades and changes, it's all about the wonderful relationships that are created here. You guys have ALL done a stellar job with this network. So many of us have benefited in so many ways. I want to personally thank each of you for volunteering your time and for giving back priceless amounts of value to us members. I'm looking forward to the future growth and success of this network! You are raising the bar, and creating new and higher expectations for us all! Thanks you sincerely for all you have done, and for all you're going to do!

The Entire AR TEAM and it's members ROCK!!!! :-)

Everyone,

I am ASHAMED of myself!!!!!

Colleen Kulikowski has been one of the most influential persona's on ActiveRain period. Her moderating efforts were just as monumental as Rich, Mark, and Laurie. I also know that she, like the others has personally taken it upon herself to reach out and be a mentor to many of the members as they got comfortable with blogging.

When I read Laurie's comments this morning I got a HUGE pit in my stomach. My oversight of not mentioning her in the original post is borderline unforgivable. I hope that she will find it in her heart to forgive me? I am SOOO Sorry.

Her blog is a great read for anyone old or new to the rain.

Sitting here this morning I'm rehashing how I went about writing the post. All I can say is it was a huge mistake on my part not to initially bring her name up as well. The fact that she resigned her moderating duties a couple weeks ago has ZERO bearing on the outstanding job she did for us! I will be editing the post. Again, I am terribly sorry Collen and quite humbled by my mistake. It just goes to show myself that I have a long ways to go in getting the exact pulse of this place.

I've always thought that it should be more like a Digg style ranking of featuring the posts. The cream will rise to top more often than not when the Mob has the power. I limited group with the power to feature, or not feature, can never make everyone happy... and there is too much room for specific bias.

By setting up a 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' ranking of the members on articles, it will drive the best to the top and bury the less than interesting.

Of course there will be some gaming that happens, but this can be curbed as the issues arise. Severe penalties such as 'loss of privilege' or 'loss of membership' should act as quite a deterrent.

A true social network should trust the wisdom of the mob as opposed to the power of the few.

Kudos Active Rain. A step in the direction of progress.

ActiveRain Gods

Bob -- Thanks! All is forgiven...

Everyone -- it is a pleasure to share with everyone!

Anyone know what happened to the Flat Boys?

Bob,

I hate following your "Mea culpa," but it is just the luck of the draw.

I'm very glad that AR is becoming more pro-active about getting the "news" out. But this news is received with mixed emotions. How can AR afford to hire enough good editors to fully do the job that was handled by 10 or so moderators? I hope you are up to it. I would hate to see the quality slip because you couldn't read all the material first. Good luck.

I haven't fully taken advantage of Localism. I don't know how. I think a tutorial would be useful. Especially since you are going to revamp it.

I too want to thank all the moderators for doing a heroic and thankless job.

Bill Roberts

Another thing... what we liked about the moderators is that they are fellow agents too... and as such know from first hand experience what we are all dealing with in the field these days. That leads to more relevant information to be featured.

Whoever the new editor is has to be an agent too... otherwise real insight will be lost. One can not get what's it's really like, the great pluses and disappointing opposites, to deal with clients these days without actually doing so.

thanks

First off let me Thank ALL the Moderators for all their hard work!!!

Second let me say.. I'm So Confused!

That's ok tho! I pretty much stay that way!

Bob, Thanks for all of the hardwork and I look forward to the changes.

Jim, I think that viable arguements can be made for both methods of 'featuring.' The key to having a select group of members successfully determine who and what to feature hinges, to a great degree, on their personal integrity, and the emphasis that they place on growing the network. I think we had a really excellent variety of Moderators who represented a wide cross-section of our rank & file. We're we perfect. Absolutely not. But I think all of us had a genuine interest and desire to see the positive growth of this platform continue.

While the concept of allowing the network as a whole to make those determinations on 'featuring' certainly has merit, there are numerous problems there as well. It will be interesting to see how the new model takes shape and is implemented.

Thank you Laurie, Colleen, Rich and Marc and other moderators for a job well done and truly appreciated!

Localism is already powerful and will be moreso - can't wait to see how it develops.

And - welcome to Active Rain, Bob!

Looking forward to bigger and better things for Localism.

Change is good. We'll remember to be patient during the growing pains.

Laurie, Colleen, Rich and Marc .. You are awesome...

Given the past and recent behavior of certain 'gangs in the rain' a digg system will never work here in the rain. The dishonest up and down ranking of certain groups has run rampant. Nothing has deterred them, they must think that the rest of us do not know who they are, but we do. A digg system will fare no better.

What a digg system will do is to drive more members out of the rain. This will continue to happen until all you have left are the gangs raging in the slums of the rain.

You dig?

OCT

2007

Tread carefully, Jim. I have facts on my side. Facts trump conjecture all of the time. Your claims of "specific bias" did a great disservice to one of your clients last night.

Are you claiming that the moderators exhibited specific bias? Against whom?

Here's your big opportunity to stand up for your clients

Yes, I would be most interested to read the response to that query myself. It would be nice to get things out in the open. I've heard some pretty disturbing allegations that have been made, and if true, bring serious discredit to those I have held in extremely high regard.

if true, bring serious discredit to those I have held in extremely high regard.

They are not true. Conjecture is the glue that holds the mob together when truth is absent

Isn't a system like digg the reason we switched to moderators in the first place? We had the old thumbs up and thumbs down option. That system allowed for gaming of AR in epic proportions including fake profiles. It was very obvious if you were paying attention what was happening and who the culprits were. Sadly, they are still around and drove out some good contributers. The digg idea would be a huge step backwards.

I too recall the mockery that was made of the early dashboard by a "team" of agents all "voting" for each other through a pyramid of fake profiles and comments.

AR has tried 'digg' style featuring and it failed here. Hopefully lessons were learned. Before that system is implemented again you need to deal with those who mastered gaming it.

I've been out of town a few days, but couldn't let this post slip by without saying thank you to all of you for your time and committment to this great community.

Ummmm this is getting interesting. Now that the Moderators are out I see some of what I saw is in fact real....and glad to know that they know who was/is doing it. And I still say one profile for person .....:) Get rid of the fake ones, and the people that left a long time ago....if they want to contribute, re-join.

thank you Mods for standing up, and continuing to make this a good place for all of us, not just a select few .....

OK Boys and Girls, I have been hearing the word TRANSPARENCY thrown around a lot lately. How about a little of it?

Thank you to all the moderators for doing a great job. I'm new here and don't know all that has happened in the past but this is such a great site and it looks like it's getting even better!

No need to cull my words.

Referring to any bias is a mere generality that will happen in any limited judgment. Bias towards items of interest, or away from items of particular disinterest - be it person, place or thing - is virtually impossible to avoid. Arguably, it's human nature.

RE: (Here's your big opportunity to stand up for your clients)

I'm not exactly sure what you are insinuating... is there something I need to be brought up to speed on?
I have made no claim, nor participated in any finger-pointing, regarding moderation...nor do I really care.

RE: Digg style. Just because the AR original model was compromised doesn't mean you need to throw the idea of it away. This is a social network... is it not? Digg continues to improve their algorithms to curb gaming, as does Google. I'm just saying that I revere the wisdom of the mob to a panel when making decisions on behalf of a social atmosphere.

Gaming will always exist. No doubt. On a level of 2 to 2 billion, it's going to be there. If the system is aware that gamers are there, then they can work to curb and punish - And if you look at the results of Digg and others, you will see that the most interesting news items of the day still continue to rise to the top - game or no game.

No, Jim. You referred to specific bias, that is not a generality. Specific bias implies that the moderators singled out a group.

I have made no claim, nor participated in any finger-pointing, regarding moderation...nor do I really care

Well, you care or you wouldn't have taken the time to weigh in with an opinion. Your insinuation of "specific bias" is both a claim and a pointed finger.

Jim, you're busted. Stop using your clients ( and our friends) to promote your company by tearing apart this network; you're embarassing them.

Brian, this is way out of hand. Jim has not nor has he ever embarrassed me and as far as I know he has not embarrassed any of his clients. He is a man of integrity. I'm not sure why you feel the need to constantly bash Jim but it really needs to stop.

"too much room for specific bias" is what I said. And the point is, that if someone has a specific bias toward something/someone/someplace then there is a challenge with the method. I made no effort to point out any issue, just the fact that there can be challenges.

You're bullying attempt at putting words in my mouth is not only way off-base, but uncalled for.

How you make the leap to me using anyone for any agenda, especially an agenda I have had absolutely no involvement with is beyond me. I'm flattered that you think I somehow have a power to tear apart this network (something I would never do, if you knew how much I support it), but that statement is the most ridiculous thing I have read all day.

Brian, I have no idea what you are getting at, or what light you are trying to pin on me... but you can speak with the Rain Gods and any (and every) client of mine, and you will find that I have had no interest, no involvement and no influence with this whole topic. Any insinuation to the contrary is worse than conjecture, it is bordering defamation.

I will no longer entertain your responses.

Yes the old Digg system (nicely coined new phrase btw) is why we went to moderators in the first place and I agree with the MF and Linda comments about the gaming that was occuring.

Now all I have to say is this, and I said it at the time. If we just write and post for the reasons we signed up and forget the darn points and features we can all get back to normal?

I thank all the moderators for their hard work. It's like herding cats in here.

OCT

2007

I'll be transparent:

If I were a moderator, I would make every attempt to uncover hidden talent and powerful voices. I would try to weed out the imposters, the plagiarizers, the point hogs.

I am sure this is what the late moderators tried to do.

Perhaps unlike the recent moderators, I would tend to gravitate to my own subscribed list. Those are the people I read first upon rising--and the last I read before going to bed after a day of working.

I worry about Karen George. I revere Lenn Harley. Gena Riede is an absolute hoot. Laurie Mannie doesn't write nearly often enough--and neither does Kristal Kraft. Brian Brady mesmerizes and I never want to miss a post from the AR Gods.

I have a long list of bloggers to whom I subscribe.

And if I were to seek featured writers after a day of resolving real estate issues, I would probably first seek out the writers to whom I subscribe. I mean, when Lenn Harley bothers to stray from localism posts, she shakes the industry. Brian Brady stirs it up. So does Gena.

Then there's the wisdom of Lola and the Jeffs and other many other authors I love to read.

Believe me, I love the talent on this forum but still have some specific biases....

I will no longer entertain your responses.

Then anything I offer, fact or conjecture, would be pointless. I believe that you believe you are correct.

OCT

2007

Ditto to Carole about the points. Any hints about the Localism redesign?

DEC

2007

Bob,

Still haven't heard anything about the relaunch at Localism. I tried to look at it today from the consumers point of view and didn't quite understand how articles were posted to the main categories and why those categories were chosen. My two cents.

SEP

2008

Well this post explains a lot about what i've been thinking. I think the moderator choices were quite evident and great picks. Perhaps with localism priorities falling behind, we could begin a new round of volunteer moderation? Btw: Downtown Long beach condos are where it's at. props to laurie, rich, bryant, etc (sorry don't know all of you yet by heart), for all the hard work you put into this. This really deserves a reblog but ya that's not available.

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