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ActiveRain Updates - 9.27.13

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with ActiveRain Corp.

 

Updated on Monday, September 30th

(Please forgive my spelling....you may have noticed the spell check is gone!)

The updates below caused quite the stir as there were a few bugs in the update that made your experience posting blogs a little challenging. Here is the latest update:

Spell Check: Currently, there is no spell check. This will be restored tonight, Monday September 30th

Login Points: Currently, when you log in you are not receiving the 100 points you would normally earn. This is being fixed tonight. We will retroactively award those points for people that logged in since Friday

Adding Images to Your Posts: Currently you are not able to wrap text around an image from the image editor. This will be fixed tonight

Copy and Paste: Currently, the only way to paste content into your blog is to use (control + V). This will be fixed tonight and you will be able to once again use right click to paste content or the file option at the top of the blog editor

Blog Timestamps: Currently, when you post a blog that was previously saved as a draft, your post will show the correct date on the post itself, however it's not showing the correct date for the blog when you view it in your main blog roll, or on the overall blog roll and subscriber lists. This one will not be fixed tomorrow. And that kind of stinks. So if you have a post in draft, and you post it today, it's not going to float to the top of your blog. This means you will need to copy and paste it to a new blog post from the old draft post until this is resolved. 

Outside Blogs: There are a few members that are having issues with outside blogs. It appears that this is isolated to people that had one of the original outside blogs which used a subdomain of activerain, where the subdomain was based on your ActiveRain user name. If you set your outside blog up with it's own domain, it should be working properly. This is currently being investigated and I don't have a timeline on a fix.

 

More exciting updates are here, a few changes and better SEO.  Let's go over a few of the many updates.

Topics
ActiveRain Channels and Categories have been rolled into one and now are called Topics.  13 Topics are available to choose from and each blog post written must have a topic selected.  You'll see this change when you're in the "Write a Blog Post" spot under the "Post To" section.  

Blogs (from the Nav bar)
Here's where you'll see the 13 Topics displayed via Consumer and Professional.  Easily find posts on the topic at hand or click the orange "Search Blogs" to be taken to the blog roll.  Click on a topic and you'll see the new blog snippet view.  The number of comments are now easily seen along with the author's photo, name, title and snippet of post.  The trending topics algorithm we've created to display posts on each of these 13 pages will be updated every 5 minutes to ensure we're displaying the best posts we can.  The algorithm isn't something we're disclosing but takes a number of factors into play.

Blog Post Dates
Blog posts will now have 2 dates: created on and updated on.

Q&A
Users will be required to select a location and topic when asking a question.  This will help users search for similar content relevant to that location and/or topic.  Again, we're working on a better search function across ActiveRain.

Blog Editor
You'll notice a new blog editor when writing a blog post.  We've massively updated the tool bar and options to make your blogs easier to create.  Currently the spell check is not compatible with TinyMCE (the tool bar) and the issue is beyond our control.  For those using Chrome and Firefox you should be able to right-click while in your post to use spell check.  For everyone else, please be patient until the next release or so when we can get it in there.  I suggest copying your work to a word document and spell checking there.

Update: In order to paste content into your blog (from another source like Word) you will need to use the (control + v) command. Or if you are using a Mac, you would do (command + v). This will allow you to paste. You currently can not paste using the 'file' dropdown option. 

Associates
We asked and with an overwhelming "get rid of it" response, we have removed all associate pages.  If you had any Associates Only posts, they are now in Draft form and will need to be edited to either Members Only or Public in order to be live.  Check your "View Drafts" link to check.

Groups
Any group that hasn't had activity within the last 6 months has been deleted.  Group moderators were notified of this weeks ago and had a chance to save their group if so inclined.  We need to clean up Groups and this is the first step in that move.

SEO
Last but definitely not least, SEO updates.  Removal of extra links, bad HTML, better redirects and tons more technical updates have been made. Google continues to update their algorithm and we have a whole team working on getting ahead of those changes as best as possible.

  

Thank you AR Community for being amazing and as always contact us at 888.643.3837 or support@activerain.com with any questions.

 

 

 

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Comments (122)

Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

 A thought ... how about if anyone spells wrong in their blogs or comments from now on points are taken away .... that sounds like a great idea!! 

Sep 29, 2013 01:05 AM
Sue Ellett
Synergy Property Group | Spyglass Realty - Austin, TX
Austin, TX, Lake Travis, Dripping Springs

Lots of great stuff coming our way.   It took me a while to figure out how to post a photo, but I finally figured it out!! 

Sep 29, 2013 02:43 AM
Toni Weidman
Sailwinds Realty - Trinity, FL
20+ Years Selling Homes in New Port Richey, FL

Things are bad today. Every comment I make I have to login. Every time I go back to my home page, I have to login in. Is anyone having issues today? (besides the changeover one).

Sep 29, 2013 05:07 AM
Holly Weatherwax
Associate Broker, Momentum Realty - Reston, VA
A Great Real Estate Experience

Thanks for this...and for updating it.

I just used the new editor for the first time. The lack of Spell Check and  image formatting are causing me the most heartburn, but I know you will fix it when you can .

 

 

Sep 29, 2013 07:11 AM
Donna Foerster
HomeSmart Realty Group - Parker, CO
Metro Denver Real Estate Assistant

Seems we can't use any color in our posts like we were able to do before. Just RED.

Also, what's up with DRAFTS? If I wrote a draft posts a few days ago and then I actually submit it, it shows up like I posted it on the day of the draft. The problem is that it doesn't show up in the blog roll!

Sep 29, 2013 09:41 AM
Bill Roberts
Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA
"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

OK you guys, everybody else has echoed my complaints and frustrations. I hope YOU learn something from all the comments.

Bill Roberts

BTW I know how to spell, but I don't know how to type (and I have fat fingers). Please fix the spell check SOON. I'd rather have it than smiley faces.

Sep 29, 2013 11:33 AM
Diana Zaccaro Broker Associate
ZOOM Realty Group - Cocoa Beach, FL
"The Accidental Blogger" Cocoa Beach, Florida

Links are not working for me...tried to read the posts in Pat Kennedy's favorites and every link I clicked gave the "this page cannot be displayed" message.

And last night when I was commenting, suddenly got the "this page cannot be displayed message". Don't know what that was all about...

Could we please have a larger size default font for comments? Some of us "visually challenged" folks have trouble reading the comments in this little type size...

 

Sep 29, 2013 11:58 AM
MichelleCherie Carr Crowe .Just Call. 408-252-8900
Get Results Team...Just Call (408) 252-8900! . DRE #00901962 . Licensed to Sell since 1985 . Altas Realty - San Jose, CA
Family Helping Families Buy & Sell Homes 40+ Years

Everyone having issues should write a brief email and send it to the tech team at support@activerain.com. 

Lots of people are telling me they've received no daily login points since Friday (I'm having the same trouble). 

Write your post first in Word, do the spell-check, then copy (control-C) and paste (control-V) it into the text box.

Some members have shared great work-arounds for the photo editor, I've included them here at http://activerain.com/blogsview/4205375/the-road-to-success-is-always-under-construction-help-here-on-the-way.

Hope this helps.

Sep 29, 2013 12:32 PM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

I also notice certain of my followed blogs are not being counted in the comments points. Is that me... or a glitch?

Sep 29, 2013 01:35 PM
Andrew Payne Realtor® Richmond VA Homes For Sale~804-938-5257~
Piedmont Real Estate - Richmond, VA
Richmond, VA, Real Estate, SRES®, NAR Green

The updates look good so far.  I noticed that the uploading process for photos has changed.  It would be good to have those 100 daily points restored for logging in each day.

Sep 29, 2013 01:50 PM
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

Got it. There are so many changes!

Finally I got the answer.

No spell check is a really missed tool.

 

Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM
Hella Mitschke Rothwell
(831) 626-4000 - Honolulu, HI
Hawaii & California Real Estate Broker

I haven't even had the time to figure out what to do, so right now I am just writing text, not spellchecking (sp?) or putting in photos. Hope everything gets ironed out re not getting points for logging in. 

Sep 29, 2013 04:55 PM
Anna Hatridge
R Gilliam Real Estate LLC - Farmington, MO
Missouri Realtor with R Gilliam Real Estate LLC

Yes, I notice the new editor bar and for the most part it is great. However, where did the spell check tab go to?  Regarding points not being awarded, well I have noticed my login points are being posted and therefore I really don't know what the value of the points are going to be in the future.

Hopefully it will all be upgrade and updated soon. Until then I will simply enjoy all the wisdom and humor shared by our members.

Sep 30, 2013 12:20 AM
Kerrie La Guardia
ActiveRain, Community Manager - Kirkland, WA
Let it Rain!

I am so very sorry for the glitches and issues due to this release. 

We hear your concerns and I know the team is working on fixing them, I believe many will be fixed today.  We've had many rollouts that were seamless and this just wasn't one of them.

Please be patient with us as we try our best to fix the issues. 

Sep 30, 2013 12:23 AM
Dale Baker
Baker Energy Audits and Commercial Properties Inspections - Claremont, NH
New Hampshire Relocation Real Estate Information

Why is it that my blog posts do not show up on the Topic page?


Seeing that we can not even post a blog post with out picking an AR Topic page for our posts to be on, then the blog post I‘m posting sure should show up on the page.



It does not matter which Topic page I pick to have my blog posts on, after I post my blog post does not show up on any of them. I have gone in and even changed which page for a blog post to be on.



I have even waited a 1/2 hour up to 2 hours to check back and even in that same timeframe to change the Topic page for a post to be on. My blog post is not on the Topic page.



I sure would like to be given an answer!



Let me say. I'm sure not having a good one!
Dale

Sep 30, 2013 02:01 AM
Bill Roberts
Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA
"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

OK Kerrie, we are patient. What else can we be?

Is it my imagination or what? Now it seems that logging in once again yields points, but I don't think I "actually" got any points. They are listed, but my total didn't go up.

Bill Roberts

P.S. It is nice to have spell check back.

P.P.S. Oops, from when I wrote this 'til now, the points magically appeared. All is well. Thank you.

Sep 30, 2013 08:55 AM
CA COASTAL ESTATES Lauren Selinsky Perez CRS
California Coastal Estates - Aliso Viejo, CA
"Your Real Estate Broker" #oclauren
Updates are fantastic! Can we get the photo working on iPads and iPhones? Plzzzzzzzzzzzz I don't like lugging my laptop on vaca.
Sep 30, 2013 03:30 PM
Peggy James
SAMSON PROPERTIES - Woodbridge, VA
Woodbridge Virginia Area Real Estate Specialist

Ok, this is enough to make me jump ship.  The outside blogs are still not working. I checked mine http://lakeridgevarealestatenews.com. So much of my content is driven to local searches and the now people just get blank pages. PLEASE. What's the fix?

I set my outside blog up in 2008. I haven't said anything when old standby blogs went missing. I just updated and recreated them. But this....well this really screws up my webpages, social media everything. Not happy.

Sep 30, 2013 08:59 PM
Maria Morton
Platinum Realty - Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

OMG, what have you done to the photo insert? This is terrible! The original way was the best. The last way was at least workable. This way is the worst ever!

1. The photo won't stay on the blog; it disappears the minute I start typing again.

2. I have to first upload it to some special place?

3. No way to tell it to stay on the right side of the page. 

(Aside: We don't need emoticons. We need the superior blogging platform we've enjoyed for so many years. I don't mind that the new owners feel a need to change things and have tolerated being unable to post blog posts for hours/days on end while changes are made. I'm glad that you feel more organized about the way things look. Now you're messing with my style. I'm not sure that I can live with that. )

Oct 01, 2013 10:32 AM
Maria Morton
Platinum Realty - Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

Okay, I figured out how to keep a photo on the right side. Crisis averted. 

Oct 01, 2013 10:35 AM