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Can you feel the tension? 2nd Place Article Contest Winner

For any of you who have previously read this young lady's articles, it will come as no surprise at all to learn the name of the Second Place Winner of the 1st Annual ActiveRain Article Contest. This article is a terrific example of the power of shared knowledge and resources on the network..

Mariana's award winning article is a beautiful example of commentary on an article she read by another author. As bloggers, we constantly look for some new subject to type about. Mariana shows how to illuminate another writer's well-written article without any hint of plagiarism. I personally think Mariana's article is better than the original.

Mariana Wagner

Oh No! Not Another "Customer Service" Post ... Yep! (Thanks to Joel Spolsky) by Mariana Wagner

Congratulations Mariana!

This article is aimed at real estate professionals. But, any potential client who might stumble across it would be impressed not only with the subject, but the style of the post. Mariana's personality shows through. She clearly believes in what she is writing about.

If you have any doubt about Mariana's writing skills, check out her series on the Realtor Code of Ethics. Mariana tackled the incredibly dry subject of the Realtor Code of Ethic. In a series of articles she has explained, in laymans language that even this loan originator can understand, the meaning and potential impact of the Code of Ethics with humor and clarity. It is a monumental task that Mariana has made look easy.

The prizes for 2nd Place are:

750 bonus points for Second Place
The Article will be Feature today on ActiveRain
The article will be published in it's entirety on SoundBiteBlog.com with an author credit at the bottom and a live link to a site of your choice. Please let me know what Anchor Text you wish to use in the link.
The article will be re-published in it's entirety on Amber Riviere's site.

As I stated in the original Let's Have A Contest post, the First Place Winner will be disclosed on Thursday morning. That way, each of the winners gets an entire day in the ActiveRain Spotlight!

Posted by Mark Flanders on 02/28/2007 08:56 PM

Comments (53)

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53 Comments on Can you feel the tension? 2nd Place Article Contest Winner

FEB

2007

Mark - you've stated it very well here. This was a really excellent post. I have followed Mariana since she joined ActiveRain and time and time again, she has contributed significantly to the quality content of our community. Great Job, Mariana!

YAY, MARIANA!!! Another great post! You ARE a star, no wonder you're getting recognized! ;o)

Thanks, Mark. I read Marianna's article when it was first posted and loved it. Now to reread...

Marianna - congratulations on a well deserved win! Keep 'em coming for us! Great job!

Jeff

Mariana - Congratulations!! I very well-deserved win on your part.

Great job, Mariana and Mark! This contest has been great.

This contest did work out better than I hoped. I was crossing my fingers for maybe 50 contestants. We ended up with 75! The only tough part was the quality is so high, we had a heck of a time only picking 3.

Congratulations to Mariana, she is a deserving winner and a great writer. A big thanks goes to Mark and the folks who are organizing this endeavor. It must be a lot of work.

Since I am 8th now, in these comments.... I will ditto Kristal.. Yes, great job and I read the article.

Great Job Mariana. Mark....great job of organizing this and staying with it.

Congrats! I had to go back and read the post as I hadn't already read it. Great job! I learned that I have a little work to do. Even though my head knows not to take angry people personally, my heart doesn't.

Congratulations on a well written blog.

This contest created some really good blogs. Any chance this will become a new event held several times a year?

Congratulations Mariana! Your writings are extremely powerful.

Thanks again to Mark for spending so much time and energy puttin gthis together.

Very good selection. Great stuff to constantly keep in mind.

This has been a great contest to motivate us to pick it up a notch. Great idea Mark.

This is what Active Rain is all about, great articles, great knowledge and the willingness to SHARE! Thanks to all for the time and effort put into AR.

Wow Mark! - Thank you very much for the honor of being 2nd place and all the kind words! (I am beside myself.) Plagiarism is a big deal to me, so I do make quite an effort to go out of my way to not come anywhere near it. This post was a lot of fun for me. But "personality" ?!? I don't have no stinkin' personality! :o)

Thank you also for the mention of my COE posts. It all started a few months ago - attending a COE update course thinking, "For being so important, these sure are boring - and borderline hard to understand." All of a sudden I had a mission...

This is truly an honor. Thank you!

Congratulations Mariana! Good job! How exciting. We write because we love to write and someone noticed! Enjoy shining in the rain. Well done.

Mariana:

There you are! Good morning and surprise :) LOL

You did a great job on this article. I had never heard of Joel Spolsky. I think your writing has alot of style. It reminds me of Broker Bryant in a way. You write naturally. Your (non) personality is very easy to see.

Congratulations and thank you for helping make the contest a success.

Congratulations Mariana! I read your post when you wrote it and made comment the first time so I really can't add any more than congratualtions-awesome job!

I love Mariana and she is an extremely talented writer - very well deserved 2nd place! CONGRATULATIONS MARIANA!!!

Thank you to all of you guys who support me, here in the Rain. This has been very motivational, and all you guys have made my time spent in the Rain fun, worthwhile and extremely educating and entertaining.

You guys all ROCK!

WOO-HOO!!! Way to go Mariana!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

I love Mariana's posts and try to read every one of them. Her COE series has been terrific - for those who have a hard time understanding each Article, Mariana has broken them down in such a way that they're enjoyable to read about.

Her Customer Service post that put her in this 2nd place award was terrific!!!

CONGRATULATIONS MARIANA!!! And NICE JOB MARK!

AnnCummings.com

Congratulations!!!!! Great job!

Thank you Ann and Colleen!! :o)

Congrats to you Mariana! Way to go girl!

Thanks Cynthia! (That is a cute graphic!)

Derek, congratulations on Mariana. :)

Mariana, congratulations on this very prestigious award. It is very well deserved (and i'm not just saying that because you comment on my blog ;). seriously, you bring the word professional to mind everytime. i would buy through youz anyway, with blind confidence. :)) you deserve it. you're hard shows in your posts. originality, presentation, depth of thought.. and all that jazz. You have so many stars i'm gonna start wearing shades to read your posts!! :))

Mark..i guess pineapple's just dont make the cut! hahaha :^D
how about white elephants? ooohh i just got another pineapple!!

Hey Nick, where the heck have you been. I haven't had anybody to play with on the blogs lately! If you have an article on white elephants, I gotta see it. I thought it was creative to relate pienapples and real estate. How can you possible relate white elephants to real estate?

Oh no Mark and Nick- Do we have another contest? How Do White Elephants Relate to Real Estate? Hmmm...

Congrats Mariana!! You totally deserve it :)

Mariana, maybe you should get in on this. You're the creative sort. Can you relate elephants to RE? I'm not sure I could. I wonder if he's serious?

Hmmm... I will contemplate this...

YOuZ callin' me a liAr? hhmm.. when is the deadline.. i may wait til the last second to submit it!!

well.. if youz copy me.. i wrote about it here 1st!! hahaha ;^D

NICK! I would never call you a liar. If a white elephant contest appears - you will definately be the one we will blame. :o)

I know.. :)) i messing with ya! :))

here come the elephant... boom boom..

Congratulations. I loved the post when I first read it and the topic is certainly one we all have to deal with! Great 2d place choice! Bravo!

Congrats to Mariana!!! Excellent post and well deserved acknowledgement of all your hard work. You are a great asset to AR. Still waiting for you to post the bald head with pink bangs though:)

Mark, Great choice. Mariana is one of my favorite writers I am happy to see her post selected.

I love Mariana's articles. They are wonderfully upbeat. Good choice.

Good writing and good advice. I especially like the part about taking personal responsibility.

Bryant and Lenn: thanks, Mariana has become one of my favorites too.

Nick: I see you really did have a white elephant article in mind! That was a setup!

Joan- Thank you!

Bryant- Thank you very much. I really admire you and your posts and how you do business (and your superior taste in women ...) Thank you! Still working on the Pink Bangs picture. You know it WAS the middle of a cold NYC winter when I made the brilliant decision to shave my head... Many pictures w/ hats...

Lenn- I dont try to be upbeat, but I guess when you have ADHD it just happens! I'm glad you like what I write. Thank you.

Mark, Thank you again! I love blogging, but I'm going to start blushing ... and yeah, I noticed the white elephant post too. Clever Nick!

Mariana, you're quite welcome. You earned your time in the spotlight. And, yeah that Nick is a tricky fellow...

The defendant pleads: not guilty. I had it written and was working on the drawing while i was on the phone today, just after these comments.. so i started promoting it before i put it out.. didn't help. :) i guess whomever featured it should be shot & lose their position!! :)

Mariana...

Sorry to be late to your party. I've been playing with fruit :)

Congratulations my dear. You have come a long way over the last 3 months. It can only get better from here. And better you will definitely get. Pretty soon you'll be a super star. I like that idea. I'll be able to say "I knew her when"....

Mark...Good choice. The chic can slam out a post :)

Elderberry? Yup. Ben must be dishing out the fruit salad today. SVW...

TLW...ROAR!

Thanks TLW! - You can say that you knew me when I was all caught up in a GenX post flapping about here and there... whith a cherry on top!

My time on AR really has given me a lot - knowledge about real estate (and everything THAT entails), knowledge about human behavior, and especially learning how to write more effectively. Thank you!

Congrats Mariana!!!!!This contest has push us to tighten up our tools.Its a great motivator.Great job Mark and also Rich who was on the "board".

Congratsulations --on a job well done!

MAR

2007

You are going to keep us on the edge of our seats aren't you. If that was 2nd place I can't wait for first place.

I thought you deserved first place. Good Job.

Hey Chad! Thank you very much! But I must agree with the moderators on this one - Amber Riviere's post definately was top notch and worthy of #1.

Mariana: You are talented and gracious!

Mariana, You should be very proud of yourelf! Congratulations!

-Chris

MAR

2007

I am very late getting here but I was away most of last week, sorry. Anyway, I would not miss congratulating Mariana for anything. You totally deserve it Mariana! I read the post originally and loved it. Well done!

And Mark, thanks again to you for putting it together and doing such a great job. Do you get tired of being thanked profusely? ;-)

Thank you Chris!

Maggie- Glad to see you around! Thanks!

SEP

2007

Mark, Thanks for all your work putting this together and spotlighting information we can benefit from reading.

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