Good thinking and great follow up to yesterdays blog. Sometimes I am unsure where to post a particular blog myself and would like to see a few more categories and some organization to the large amount of blogs posted.

One more thing ... There is already a specific category for advertising a listing. I like to post listings that are available because they post to localism and then when a search is done on a specific area they come up giving me more exposure. The more exposure per listing the better. Not everyone posts their listings for points.

David.....interesting post.  I wonder how many comments you will get on this one.

Patrick - I think I'm missing something though.  I think that it's great, really great, that we can post to localsm.  But, that should scroll down a separate column, or something like that.  I know it's not for points in a lot of cases, though it is in some.  Furthermore, I'm beginning to understand that everyone really likes AR for different aspects.  Everyone should be able to post to AR, but maybe they just need to have it categorized (more/better - I don't know) so that it is easier to navigate.

It's so easy for me to criticize.  I'm glad I don't have to be the one at AR to make these decisions!  Right now, I guarantee the've got 84,000 different opinions on the issues to deal with.  Let's hope in a year, with some good membership growth, they've got 1,000,000 different opinions!

You bring up a lot of interesting questions, maybe the powers that be should research this--bart

David - I think you're overthinking all this.  : )

If it was only real estate blogs here, it would be too boring to imagine.  I want to see someone's personality in their blog.  I've learned whose personalities or opinions I HATE and I don't read their blogs at all... sometimes run into them in other places during comments, but that's it.  I've chosen people on AR to work with because I like who they seem to be from their (almost always off-topic) blogs.  The category for off-topic, goofing off, etc., seems enough for that.

Just my two cents.

I've learned there are three things that don't mix with business: Politics, Religion, and Sports.  We just don't discuss these things with customers/clients and keep our opinions to ourselves.  Not sure how many people would post to the religion and politics groups...

I'm learning a lot here.  I think I'll enjoy the good stuff and stop letting the others continue to bother me.  I guess, I'll just be happy I don't have to be them.  [And they can be happy not being me.]  Thanks for the feedback everyone.

David - While the core of what this network is about is Real Estate related, I have to disagree with the premise and concepts above.  Don't get me wrong, I get peeved at one-sided spin auctions that harvest enough brain cells only to substantiate their own existence, yet I like the discourse & debate involved.  I have to disagree with Jennifer Esposito above, who says, "I've learned there are three things that don't mix with business: Politics, Religion, and Sports."   Lo Siento amiga, all those ARE business.  I'll never understand why we turn a blind eye to any of it.  It is worthy of discussion, it is worthy of debate, it's a microcosm of what we are.

As far as being on Active-Rain, there's more good than bad David.  AR is like life, you take the good...take the bad...take them both and then you have.....CLICK HERE:-)

Now you are asking for active rain to heat things up even more huh? Religion and politics.....the 2 topics that passion starts to fly around. :)  Im sure they would get a lot of clicks.

Well really it already is separated by where you chose to post the blog.  I can choose which group it posts in and I for one actually only posts blogs to the appropriate groups.  You will not find me blogging about my non real estate related day and posting it on the real estate group, but you may see it in "The Lounge" or "This Does Not Belong On Active Rain" groups.

...unless you actually search blogs, not groups. 

Thanks Diane - that makes sense.  Maybe we should all be required to post directly to where our posts belong.  That's a simple answer and a good one.  However, I think these categories should also be spelled out a little better for us.

Your blog is a window into who you are. I want my clients to know that and so I post about politics; I post about sports; I post about my family; I post about songs that inspire me; I post about the things I do outside of real estate (specifically my radio career and my high school tennis team) and people get to know me. THAT is the point. I actually had someone contact me BECAUSE of what I posted about illegal immigration to this country. He felt the connection and thought I was the one who should represent him.

If you look through the list of groups on AR, you will see that the VAST majority have nothing to do with real estate. And that's OK because AR is a social network of people who happen to work in the real estate and finance fields. They all have a lot more to their lives however, than their work.

If you start down this road David (and I know you already started a group), then censorship is the only outcome. Been there; done that on another forum. One of the moderators actually deleted the First Amendment and couldn't see the irony!