I agree that it's a bad thing to copy/paste content from another website or blog into the Active Rain system. Not only for the integrity of AR, but it also jeopardizes the SEO of the site of the original post.

Limiting posts by timeframes is a good idea, although I think 2 is too few. Often there are multiple valid issues going on in a region, and people should be allowed to post those.

I totally DISAGREE with the concept of a ranking system for blog posts, as that would just encourage more spam as groups of members will just go in and cheer for their associates' posts. That would essentially magnify the current problem rather than repairing it. This type of "voting" system would derail the camaraderie that is inherent in this type of "social" networking system.

An alternative would be to initiate a penalty system, where people who post blog items that are clearly cut/paste from other sites or spammy content meant just to gain points (and therefore cannot stand on its own as valid content) would receive a warning to correct or delete the post, and then a penalty if they fail to make the correction (i.e. a reduction or removal of the points they received for the post in the first place).

I've noticed that some of my associates blogs have been doing some of these items you mention, and they already have been contacted off-list that they are not helping themselves in the long run by doing this.

I think it's premature to be measuring productivity of the AR blogs, since the system is too new. However, since they are all subdomains, I would venture to guess that in the long run they won't do as well as other blog platforms that don't require the subdomain.

Still, since the blog is one of the primary ways to gain points within the AR system, there should be some limitations as to what constitutes "content" and what is clearly just garbage posts meant to fill in the points gap. If someone wants to post a series of valid posts and get full points for them, I really have no challenge with that.

I don't think that having blog posts rated, whether by a voting system or by a panel, is a good idea at all. Blogs are meant to be somewhat freeform, so you'll have some who post better written articles than others.

All we're really looking for here is a solution to the cut/paste and the nonsense posts that are just put on the system for the points value.

I agree with another comment that some of the cut/paste really is valuable content with informative articles that are very well written. The poster is really only hurting themselves by adding this to the AR system, since the redundancy on AR may hurt thir main site. Perhaps a little more education is warranted in a more visible location on the AR system for those who are just starting to blog? I don't think you can institute any penalty system without first educating as to what it is you're trying to prevent.

You could institute something like they have on Craig's List, where there's a way to submit a "check mark" of sorts if you think a post is spammy or not appropriate. A certain number of submitted check marks on that system are required before automatic removal of the post. You could choose to have it scheduled for review instead of automatic deletion, but at least this would make tha AR system somewhat self-monitored by the users. What I don't like about the Craig's list system is that there's not an "are you sure?" popup to prevent accidental reporting - sometimes it's easy to click on the wrong icon and then somebody gets dinked when they shouldn't have.

I think a potential client is going to be most interested in information about their area. Is it possible to add a feature to sort/filter the blog posts by area? This could be done by using the members city/state or by having a drop-down for the blog poster to select from. If we're looking to increase usability in a catch-all blog, it's going to be very difficult otherwise.

I think that most people would be more inclined to look at the individual agent posts for their area than the general who-knows-where posts in the general blog.

The blog dumping issue is really more of a points issue, as well as an education issue. Many people posting on these blogs have either never had a blog before, or they have had an assistant or VA doing it, so they don't have a clue of what's appropriate and what's not.

First step it seems is to educate educate educate... penalties and point reductions can come later. Inform the authors of the "offending posts" that they are inappropriate via private email and provide a resource where they can see how to correct it. If they refuse to correct the offending posts, then management should have the ability to block the post from the AR general blog, although they should still be visible on the members private blog. And once made private, I would think that a point reduction may be warranted depending on the situation.

Punishing the whole community for the few who lack education isn't appropriate either!