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ActiveRain Unveils the New Localism

Today, Active Rain unveils the New and totally revamped Localism, "The World's Most Complete Neighborpedia," with new content, features and design!

The New Localism

ActiveRain, real estate's leading online community, has released a dramatically updated version of its Localism neighborhood portal, where local residents, potential residents, and area merchants connect. Billed as the "World's Most Complete Neighborpedia," Localism already contains over 200,000 articles and photos. The site opened up to contributions from ActiveRain members today and will be accepting contributions from other local merchants and consumers beginning in August.

"No one has captured the essence and flavor of local communities online on a large scale," said Jonathan Washburn, CEO of Active Rain. "All the data points, pie charts, graphs and widgets in the world can't tell the complete story of a place. It takes content from the people who live and work there – which we have in abundance – to bring things to life. There are plenty of local review sites out there, but we're going beyond that to capture the full range of things that make communities unique."

The site, which covers the entire United States, allows users to go well beyond the typical city or ZIP code level to explore specific niche communities. Moreover, Localism manages to the avoid the proverbial "chicken and egg" dilemma that many who have attempted to enter this space have faced, due to its vast store of existing content and already impressive search engine performance, which helped deliver over 280,000 visits in June.

Key Attributes

Some of the key attributes to Localism include:

"Top Neighbors". The top content contributors for each neighborhood are ranked and displayed as the "Top Neighbors" for their community.

Unique photographs. Localism features over 100,000 photos of communities that cannot be found on any other site.

Human editorial involvement. ActiveRain editors will manually review every single article to ensure that they add value to their intended community and audience.

Community sponsorships. Real estate professionals and other business people may purchase sponsorships of one or more communities within Localism for a small monthly fee.

"Our growing Active Rain community of over 95,000 real estate professionals knows America's communities down to the last speed bump and corner store," said ActiveRain community evangelist Bob Stewart. "Their collective knowledge provides us with a tremendous jump start in providing relevant, useful information and will be built upon by the contributions of consumers and merchants nationwide."

"Localism converges art and function, consumer and professional, neighbor and seeker," concludes Washburn. "This space has seen its share of failures and we've taken those to heart in creating a destination that includes all the key elements needed for true online community."

About ActiveRain

Active Rain is a real estate technology company based in the Pacific Northwest founded in 2003. The company launched its online community for real estate professionals in June of 2006 and quickly established it as the leading real estate social network. The community currently has over 95,000 members. The company released Localism in beta in 2007. The company, which has just nine employees, secured $2.75 million in funding in December of 2007.

Posted by ActiveRain Real Estate Network on 07/10/2008 02:53 AM

Comments (302)

new localism, hyperlocal, activerain real estate network, neighborpedia

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302 Comments on ActiveRain Unveils the New Localism

JUL

2008

Very much anticipated and awaited! I am very grateful to AR for the opportunity to utilize Localism, I'm sure I'll happily adjust to the new format at some time in the future.

OK, the 9 employees impresses me more than anything!

Once again, these are very exciting times for not only our staff and team but for all ActiveRain members! :-)

I just commented on Rich's and then went to look again....I zipped right past that big place to enter a community and city search....maybe make the "enter the community you're interested in" in BIG BOLD RED LETTERS :)

Okay....i really am trying to help ... give my two cents :)

Anyway, after I typed in that place I found ME all over the place :) I like the drop down boxes and the way to search for communities...really nice. Thank you all for bringing Localism to life !!!!!

Sally, I think you are right about the search box. We have been having an internal debate about whether or not we should put a "search" button under the box. I think you will probably see it show up tomorrow. It should make it a little more intuitive.

I had the same problem, it just didn't pop. The font looks like a header instead of drawing attention to the search box.

Hey, was anyone going to tell me about this??

So... I would like to know more about this sponsor a community thing. How many people sponsor a community? Is midnight your time? Let's see....It'll be 7pm here...oh, good, I'll still be up :)

Bob...go back to bed. Did you find a way to 'fix' my profile page....I don't want to carry you around forever :)

Congrats on the launch!

I just saw this press release: Localism Launched!

Hi Guys...Or Should I say AR Gods, you are you know! Congratulations on the Press Coverage, how about sending the press release for us all to send to our local News papers...so far i like the look, kinda like a Blog...which of course is what it is Right?...I'm sure the public will love it, especially being able to comment..How many neighborhoods do I need to get Victoria? I'm in, lets talk soon.

Congratulations on the New Localism ...You Gods ROCK!

Thanks for the fabulous job! I love the new Localism look and features!

Can't wait to explore the new site and be part of the impact on the way real estate is viewed on Localism.

Maybe I will like it better when I have gotten a full night's sleep, but I don't like that you have to purchase to be the featured member for your area.

I do like the looks of it though.

Bob: We try to leave you in the dark as much as possible....

Poor Bob! Good grief, do you guys always have to roll out so late - no use going to sleep now!

We have been trying to do any changes late at night to avoid unwanted disruptions to the system. Suffice to say my sleep schedule is now totally shot. Ok, I'm gonna try to go to bed now...

Bob, I'm looking forward to cementing my position on Localism.

Bob, I'm looking forward to cementing my position on Localism. (Sorry, got logged out on previous message...)

Bob: It is pretty obvious that the new Localism is a big winner already. Thanks so much for your leading-edge efforts. Take care...

The site is vastly improved. I'm anxious to see the benefits of the new look. It is much more user-friendly than ever before.

I agree with Adam- As local experts this portal should be a huge benefit to consumers in determining what areas they may be considering moving into.

This looks really nice. I am scheduling an appointment right now for the 31st so I can be here for the neighborhood rush. Thank you.

If we claim locations is it cities or neighborhoods?

Can it be deducted monthly from our CC cards?

If we can start claiming on the 31st is it at 12:01 AM EST or PST?

It would have been very Web 2.0 to make it a "Beta" release. I love the design and layout. Well done! I am looking forward to continuing to be an active contributor.

Another thing for the wish list: I would allow a zip code only search in the "Go Hyper Local" search box. Why? Most people prefer ~less~ typing, and some for areas, community name - comma - city name is gonna be a lot of typing!

Wow - this is just awesome! Great job guys!

Fantastic...I'm excited! Can't wait to experience it in person.

I can't believe I missed this discussion while I was sleeping :)

Thanks, Guys, for working so hard on this! It looks great!

Maybe I 'm too new but I didn't have a problem with the search area. All I can say is thank you AR.

My initial impressions are that this is going to be a great thing. I love the way that the site is set-up. (I really love that I am the top contributor!!) Looks like something that I'll work to maintain. My only disappointment is that the #1 blog that comes up in my area is a direct copy from Wikipedia.

I will definetely be using it!

Jonathan, The new Localism really looks good. Congrats on the launch!!!! Can Matt come and play now?

I need a few days the fully explore the site. That's why this comment is so lame:)

I love it! Hey, it helps that my mug shot is all over it as well...I guess doing posts on neighborhoods previously really paid off! Loving this and I'm looking forward to utilizing this new feature! Congratulations on a successful launch!

This is going to be so much fun. I did notice that the frames messes up logos, photos and charts previously posted. Is there going to be a way to correct this?

I am so excited to see the new Localism. Went over to see and was happy to see myself come up for Broward County right next to Neal Bloom. Will be using Localism much much more!

Just looked in localism....how will this be updated ? The firswt thing I saw was a festival that happened 3 weeks ago....Yicks !

Congrats on getting the new Localism up and running. I am looking forward to utilizing this tool.

I love the new concepts---especially featuring the neighborhood experts. So maybe the word "neigborpedia" will be the newest word in the dictionary next year.

Amazing... Now I have to get photos on for Chestertown, MD. You guys have done a great job. ONLY NINE EMPLOYEES?

WOW!

Looks good now all I have to do is punch out another post for it's launching party

Lots of questions, but I assume there will be FAQ posts?

Hi Guys - Nice presentation. My initial thought was to ask if you could possibly minimize page scroll by using a "Read More" functionality. Plus, it's pretty murky how one adds new photos to a city. Did I overlook that functionality?

Bobby Carroll - Real Estate Marketing

Very interesting, and lot better layout for consumers!

Guys...

She sure is purdy...Can't wait to see how things go from here...And to think 2 years ago AR's Sister (Localism) was just a vision in the works :)

I'm not sure what has gotten in to me lately...I just feel so...Well...Nostalgic I guess. Nope that's not the right word. If my old brain comes up with what the hell I'm trying to say...I'll come back :)

TLW...ROAR!

Looks good. I did notice that I have some older posts with the neighborhood selected in the region area, but it's not showing up at that low a level in Localism

I am definitely excited about this new launch. Thank you Active Rain! It will definitely keep us busy.

Wow, it's fun browsing around through there!

Quick question: How does one go about uploading photos? I've spent quite a bit of time there and cannot for the life of me figure it out. There doesn't seem to be spot to add photos when I'm logged in. (I can see the admin panel though..)

Hi A/R zombies:-)

I really like the bold colors on the new Localism.

Question 1: I typed in my city (which I agree with Sally, there probably should be a search box) and was viewing a link to a newsletter from January of this year. Wondering how this approval of posts to localism works.

Question 2: How do you define communiies which look to be the same as neighborhoods? I ask this because the communities/neighborhoods listed for my town (Lake Geneva WI), has subdivisions listed as well as other towns in my county. I am confused.

Question 3: Any thoughts or plans to separate search functionality into buyer/seller and then even further-vacation buyer, first time home buyer, investement buyer, etc. down the line? Just goes with that rarely one size fits all thing.

QUestion 4 : It's interesting that you have EBay motors on the community page. Why not Google Ads, or Google Ads and a search listings functionality OR a place where you could have local commerce or ancillary service providers advertise?

And here's something odd- I wrote a post that I posted to Localism on Wi-Fi in my town, and it's gone. I can't find it.

That's it for now.

Looks good guys! One quick question -- if we see that some of our older posts on particular neighborhoods -- including some that were Localism featured, are not appearing on the new Localism is there a way to get it back up there?

I like the new format but haven't figured it all out yet. Can we still add pictures and how? I was confused when logged in, under admin, by the "posts, photos, descriptions" what are we supposed to do here? reject?, toggle?, I didn't understand. Are we supposed to go through all these and decide if we like them? I also looked for some posts and pictures in specific communities I had written and they weren't coming up. Maybe everything isn't sorted out in the new localism yet. Thanks for any help with this.

I'll be the contrarian here. I don't mean to be overly critical, but here are just a couple thoughts:

I really liked the old localism logo better ... It was softer, friendlier, more colorful. The new one is sharp-edged (which is probably exactly what you wanted to convey, but it's also more sterile) .....

And from a design standpoint, I'm not crazy about the block of black with the white text ... reminds me too much of early-day desktop publishing on a black-and-white printer. :-)

Congrats on the roll-out.... I know this represents a whole lot of work!!!

Great, I just looked at it. two questions

How do we buy a sponsor ship?

Why do not all of the post that I wrote about a neighorhood show up?

Are there any guideline we need to know about?

Looking forward to the answer

Anne

The new version looks fabulous! I can't wait to have the time to truly play around on the site.

This is impressive, guys WOW, you have worked long and hard on the site...I looked around and this is on the right track.

A few comments...It's not too easy to use right now - and in the admin section, the approve or reject is terrifying and there is no info on how to use it...I wouldn't want to delete someone's post and I doubt you have given us that authority...I'm confused, but happy to see the GROWTH!!!

Wow--awesome. Lots to learn, though, as with anything new and changed. Like...how do you add a photo of your area? I LOVE the idea of sponsoring a neighborhood.

Hey guys love the new look however like Brian I'm confused we had several old featured localism posts and can't seem to find anything out there - any suggestions or was it all deleted? Thanks

I have been exploring the new LOCALISM extensively this more. It looks great for. I can see people moving to the community are going to enjoy reading about the community. I wish I had loaded more pictures as I took a lot last week. I can't wait to see how the site progresses.

Looks great but the blog post column seems a little too narrow for my liking. I don't like to have to scroll down so mauch as I'm reading. Also, the posts are a little outdated. I've added many newer posts to localism in the last two weeks that aren't showing up.

I checked out the new Localism site this morning and it looks great. Thanks.

Great Job Guys, Localism looks great, very user friendly. I keep on seeing the same questions that has come to mind, how do we add more photos?

AR people, this looks gorgeous. Exploring I will go. I know that you all will be considering all the questions and feedback and will be getting back to us as you ALWAYS do.

You know we are all hooked and that we are all addicts -- so get some sleep when you can! We are not going away!

Fabuous, AR. Long awaited and much anticipated. Lookng forward to creating more Localism posts.

Jeff

I cannot post a new post....keeps tossing me out! Says I have to log in--when I already am. Do we have bugs to work out? LOL

(BUG)

Are the photos being edited out, too? There are still some that, um, perhaps shouldn't be there.

Here's a photo of a house. Gee, that's great!

O.K. How are the "Top Neighbors" determined? I've been demoted in Montgomery County, MD.

The integration appears to have been successful unless there are some very bleary eyed Rainers out there.

I would like to see a Fair Housing logo somewhere.

Posted this earlier, but apparently wasn't logged in...

Also, having some troubles with IE. The profile sections of the page is bleeding over on top of the blogs.

Like others, I'm looking forward to an FAQ; speficially dealing with where material will be placed.

Thanks!!

I love the way it looks! I am sure more localism post will be showing up on a regular basis. Great job.

Oops ... just tried to take a look at the new Localism and was greeted with this:

Proxy Error
The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request GET /nv.

Reason: Error reading from remote server
Apache/2.2.3 (Red Hat) mod_ssl/2.2.3 OpenSSL/0.9.8b Server at localism.com Port 80

Great Job Guys and Girls! Only a few tech problems I've noticed from my side.

1. I can't seem to log in.

2. My posts are being cut off on the right hand sides?

Other than that I believe this is going to be a great addition to the already wonderful community established here.

Any help on getting me loggin in would certainly be helpful though.

I'm using my usual name of Hammersteam and password but it wont let me in.

Are there still bugs?

Thanks in advance.

Bob H

I really like the simple layout and navigation. I did see a few hickups (opinion) when typing in the search string and the drop down responses it displayed, but I'm sure those will be worked out over the next few weeks. If you need specifics please feel free to shoot me an email.

As others do, I have sooooo many questions about the community sponsorship but I'm sure those will be answered in the next few days when the dust settles and time allows.

I'm curious why the "top neighbor in NY is in San Diego - are they paid ads? It seems the same photo appears with all my posts. Are the ones uploaded on the old localism still there?

None of my market reports are showing up under specific neighborhoods where they previously were. It appears that who ever entered a photo is the top neighbor but the posts that were written don't appear.

Why are our recent comments on other's posts show in localism?

Thanks AR! I am excited to get into every nook and crany of it!

I like the layout and easy navigation. I too have questions and interest about community sponsorship and look forward to learning more about this.

I have been waiting to see the new one. I have heard a lot about it. I can't wait to get in and see what all it can do.

I have to say I like the color schemes and layout of the new Localism very much but I liked the way the old Localism separated the blogs, ie, community interest vs. market reports and listings into categories. The new Localism runs all the community interest blogs together with listings, market reports etc. For instance, one can read an interesting community blog and right below it is a very lengthy unattractive vflyer or postlect post advertising a listing with the layout unbalanced and taking up a lot of space. If I am a visitor I have to scan through a lot of stuff I am not interested in to read what I am interested in. I just like it if everything is in categories and organized instead of running together with no semblance of order.

In comparison, I could use the old Active Rain Search tool and find useful informatin very fast when the search tool was separated into 3 categories. I could search for Members, Blog titles or blog content. Now the search tool is harder because it just lumps everything together. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I know many Active Rainers that don't use it anymore for that very reason.

Just my humble opinion and thank you for all your efforts.

Logged into Localism - looks great. Exciting to see my posts, for Westport, CT. Great incentive to write more. Only two of us posting for Westport, as of now. Wondering why we don't show up as "neighbors", in the right hand column.

I like the clean look, I like most of the format, I am concerned about paying to be an expert instead of writing to be one. I would rather pay a membership fee than pay to "own a city". As the number one writer in my area if I don't purchase enough neighborhoods to gain the city, someone who doesn't write anything can just open a checkbook and be the local expert. If I am confused on this part I apologize. I know there will be more information to come -

and I had no idea that Gig Harbor was in Kitsap County and I don't think Matt does either - lol!

Okay - 4th time trying to post a comment. So, to make it brief - DITTO WHAT JO SAID ABOVE!!!!

Are we having a few server issues with the new launch? I've been getting error messages all morning while trying to post comments here on AR. I know they'll be worked out but I just wanted to be sure I wasn't the only one.

There are lots of great questions and comments here. One thing I want to address right away is the content that is showing up. We have a couple hundred thousand posts in the system that we have to go back and review. Currently, we have started with the most recent 100,000. Those represent everything from the last 6 months. We are in the process of going back and manually reviewing all of those. After that point, we will go back further and import posts and review those.

It is going to be imperative that posts are tagged correctly when written.

We will also be providing a more concise description of what is being accepted to the community and city pages of Localism. Even if a post is not accepted to the community or city page, it will appear on your personal page on Localism. Over the coming days and weeks there will be a lot of refinement on the content currently in the system. It's a long proccess but we have a team of dedicated people to make it happen.

The admin portion is not something you should be seeing. Please do not attempt to use it. That's a little mistake and will be fixed shortly.

Great to see localism come out of beta, and get a new form, I'm sue it will be getting better.

Congradulations AR

Liking it so far. Did notice that only one agent in my area showed up as Top Neighbor, though there's a ton of us there. Will there only be one showing all the time? When i click the button to see all neighbors, there's only him, none of the rest of us, though there's at least 3 of us with articles on the Wichita, KS page. Hmmm...

Bob, I have a somewhat unique problem in the Lake Norman NC actually covers 4 counties so almost every localism post I write can only be put in the state of NC and will get lost. How can we work with this kind of situation? Also, FYI, I am still not getting email notifications of comments and group emails...help!

looks good but is there going to be a tutorial for all the new changes and getting around localism. i did like how the old localism kind of categorized the blogs a bit. this is a great way to hopefully get more quality content.

The photos upload will be fixed and back up today. There was a bug with it and we had to take it down last night. We'll let you know when it's back up.

I too would like to understand the mystery of the "top neighbor" ... how does one achieve this status. Our area has many posts and few neighbors.

I am just curious about something on the new site....when I type in my area "Coconut Grove" FL, it comes up as both a community and a city. In reality, Coconut Grove is just a community of Miami, it is not its own city. However, all of my posts have gone into the city category and when I click on the Coconut Grove as a community, there are no posts.

Who should I address this problem to?

I'm totally confused about all of this.

Sorry Guys, I have always supported you and generally love the changes you make...but I don't get this one. Maybe there are just bugs in the site..I don't know. But I'm pretty upset with some of it.

I hope it comes around.

I keep getting booted out of the system, but I agree with Stephanie. And sponsorships are opening up a whole can of worms.

Congratulations on the new localism. I'm sure that the bugs will be worked out in time. Mike

I don't see any posts or people in many of the cities and or communities in my Michigan area. There seems to be no ability to add posts - they keep bouncing.

Is this only going to be for people who pay? How is that benifiting the consumer?

Stephanie: What exactly are you confused about? What is it that you don't get? What is upsetting you?

Something tells me you shouldn't have made Localism Opening Day on your birthday...will you ever get home tonight to blow out the candles? I expect Amanda an Kelan will have to come to your office with the cake if they want to see you today :)

You're supposed to take the day off on your birthday! Not open a can of worms!

Great job! Obviously a lot of time and effort went into this.

Thank you! Ann

All I can say is thank you! thank you! I love it.

Congratulations ---- looks great ---- awsome job

What are the chances of seeing the registration format/process now for the sponsorship aspects. I am sure some would like to figure out just what it would take to sponsor for example Uxbridge in Ontario or Durham Municipality in which Uxbridge is located or would that be to large an area

a couple of small issues I noticed

1- email address's show (potential spamming issues) my personl preference for email is the form used on active rain

2 - Picture posted to localism are showing in the community the poster is in rather than the community they were posted in. Just went to get an example and it appers to be fixed now

This is wonderful. I just wish I knew it was forthcoming. It would have explained why I was getting kicked out of AR so much.

Nice, but, some towns are posted in the wrong counties, at least in Ct. Sorry to have to add to your list of oops! Tolland County is not correct. Hebron & Manchester are located in Hartford County.

Can you still upload photos?

Top Neighbors:

We will be writing a more detailed post of how this works very soon. The main part is that top neighbors will be determined by content submitted AND APPROVED to a particular area. We are hammering through a ton of content right now. Not everything you are seeing in there has been approved and a lot of the junk you now see will get filtered out.

Very soon, there will be some sectioning done. For instance, there will be a real estate section off of each community and city page where content specific to real estate (listings and market reports) will show up. This will help to break things up a bit more.

Mitchell, you had a specific question about your area and how someone from San Diego could appear. If he submitted content there (pictures for instance) it will make him a contributor or neighbor. The algorithm is being adjusted to give less weight to pictures. That's why he is showing up. Once we get back through and approve all of your content, you will gravitate toward the top.

Again, we will be going back and trying to drill down on more specific questions as the day unfolds.

I found the issue below but at the durham municipality level there are several pictures of boats that Kathy C submitted that show in Durham that should not be there as they are from Collingwood

from to

and I believe the others are from Fenlon Falls

from to

these are from Gravenhurst

from to

from Toronto

There is also pictures of Niagara falls that do not belong there and I would assume others

From above 2 - Picture posted to localism are showing in the community the poster is in rather than the community they were posted in. Just went to get an example and it appers to be fixed now

WOW! I can't believe I almost forgot about the new launch until just a few minutes ago. Awesome site!

I am interested to hear about buying our areas. Since I am rural, I write about my three primary counties, the ones I service the most. It could become a little pricey to "buy" that service area depending on how the fees are structured. . . I'll be watching for the next post to update.

Rich / Bob- I've always been mostly a localism writer and am not happy that I've been wipe off the system for Clearwater and Clearwater Beach after I think close to 20 features so I can't imagine it's quality of writing - if so I need some pointers! - I see my pictures were ironically kept - however like Lenn - I was not only demoted but obliterated from the system - hope it's only temporary!

Finally had a chance to check it out ! Amazing ! What a terrific tool for local agents to connect with potential buyers/sellers by contributing local content !

Bob,

I'll wait until the 'honeymoon' is over to comment!!! LOL, Thanks, Fran

What am I missing? Right now NO articles and no "neighbors" are showing up for my town. I went from my info showing top to nit showing up and all, just something saying I can PAY AR for a neighborhood. This is supposed to be A GOOD THING?

Sitting on the sidelines next to Fran in the cabana sipping cocktails with paper umbrellas on top.

Hooray!!!!

Tracey

Oops, I'm the comment right above Brian Block, guess I wasn't logged in.

Rich, I wrote a post on it this morning. I'm hoping that the answer is that Localism is just buggy right now.

I'm sure it will be a few days before the whole impact will be felt and the dust settles. Let's be patient and let them improve this tool for us.

I am so excited about all of this, although a lot of my posts have gone away.... I will just sit tight and see what happens.........

what's localism?

Blogging Bertha sneeking in on Broker Bryant's login. Can I have some of Bob's cake?

Question, thought this was not to be about self-promotion or pushing listings, rather info on the community. Also noticing a lot of copy and paste market stats?

Christine: Where specifically are you looking where you're seeing a lot of self-promtional stuff and listings?

Vickie: Your posts haven't 'gone away'....they are still there, on your localism blog profile, and will continue to show up on searches.

I had a chance to take a quick look at this and it looks GREAT. Another change in the right direction.

Looks good so far to me. I still have to play with it a bit but so far so good.

i used Localism alot so I hope it my post have not disappered.

I'm with Fran and Renee, sipping my cocktail and waiting for the dust to settle.

But then again.... here's my whine... some of my post pics are squashed to one side. Same for Hector (Kihei Maui).

Congrats on the big roll out - y'all are doing an awesome job.

I decided to Post a Localism Post today for the launch.....it posted OK, but liked Kat above it kept kicking me out, and tons of formatting errors.....I will say Google found it faster than I would have expected....nice job everyone, now for the bug detail....:)

Between finding activerain and discovering localism today, Iam beyond excited as to the content found so far. I may have missed it, but is there a limited number of people that can sign up for localism and how often can more people become involved?

Stephanie: I saw your post, we are quite excited that the launch has finally come to fruition. As always, with any new change, there are going to be a couple hickups and bumps in the road. I hope you'll give us your continued support in getting through the first 24 hours so that we can address any and all issues. The voice of this community is very important to us, we will are addressing many of the questions and concerns with the utmost importance. :-)

Thanks for the new look. Anything new and improved is great in this market.

I am excited that the day is here......... but have to admit.... generally confused ... and would love some AR help when you gentlemen aren't swamped

thanks... and can you make that sooner than later <grin>

Here's a link for those who had a question about how to Sponsor a Community and may have missed this page. :-)

Lisa - we will be creating an FAQ post, it's being worked on right now. Thanks. :-)

Why are no posts showing up for Payson, AZ (or even for Gila County, AZ)? Nothing is showing up except for some of my photos.

I have to say I think the mechanics of removing the people who are top bloggers as top agents and letting people buy that position negates the months of hard work the bloggers have put in and also lies to the public about who the local experts really are. I am not happy at all with that change. I am the top blogger in my city and county and am not one of the 2 top agents on the new site. The guy who is has about 1/5 my points and hasn't blogged for months.

Please read my post about the bad mechanics of the new localism. I really like the look of the site, but agree that there should be categories and a few more options for the person to find what they are looking for so they don't have to sift through everything. There are less categories than before. You should honor the points system that has made AR successful not sell top spots to the highest bidder, that is garbage.

looks good.

I hope it continues to grow & become a bigger player vs. zillow,trulia,etc.

I absolutely agree with Ross, I know this is the first day, and you have issues, but I am the featured person in Boca Raton, FL yet when I go to Boca Raton, FL I am not even listed. If you allow people to buy positions than you should also have the organic or natural placement of the featured bloggers. If you go to change that than I guess I will have to deal with it, but I may be blogging somewhere else.

OMG! I have been soooo out of it all!

Congratulations to the ActiveRain Team! Whooo Hooo you all rock!

Remember:

"The Internet makes the World my Neighbor, Localism takes my Neigborhood to the World!" - Me

The World!

Just a quick .02 after digesting... looks like I appear again ::happy:: and now I know why (you had loads of content to go through).

I don't mind paying for AR, but this community thing will be tricky for many people/areas. I'd have to buy 100 at least. That won't work.

I am looking forward to checking it out as I get some time.

I'm sad.

I worked so hard.

I need to rethink.

To all of you guys that are "NOT HAPPY"

It is day one, I have no clue where this is going, but I will give AR the benifit of the doubt.

Let's just be patient for a few days.

I am sure these guys are not going to jeopardize all they work it took to create AR and to get it where it is right now.

Anne

Hmmmmmmmm. First I believe in you guys and I trust you will listen to this great feedback and continue to improve Localism in the days,weeks and months ahead. Right now I'm confused. The idea behind Localism, I thought was to be hyper-local...right? If that's the case, why does "top neighbor" disappear at the most local of levels? Wasn't that the point, to be hyper local and have a local expert help and contribute?

I too question the selection of "Top Neighbors" but understand that there is massive content for you to sift through etc, etc, so I'll be looking for posts and more information about how that works. My most pressing concern is about buying a sponsorship to a community. Not saying I do, but if I was to work my butt off to provide content to localism and someone else could surpass me through simply buying a sponsorship, why would I take the time to create that content? (I might misunderstand that process...if I do please correct me as I'm sure I'm not the only one)

I think it's been suggested that sections such as community events, market reports etc will be coming. Without those sections the information is too cluttered to be effectively managed, so I think a consumer would just leave. Please make it easier to search:-)

I know Localism is going to be great and I'm excited to witness the beginning of it's (r)Evolution.

I'm glad I stepped away from the computer and returned to review the comment stream a little later in the day. Like many others have indicated, there seem to be a lot of 'bugs' creating snarls in the launch of the New Localism effort. I guess to err is human...to really mess up, you've got to be a computer.

I'll be watching with interest the developments in the days ahead. I can say that I'm grateful that I took Maureen Francis advice several months ago when she encouraged us to build our own content on our own blogs.. The Active Rain network has thrived because of trust and camaraderie amongst participants and the belief that original content created would be the hallmark which defined success.

I fail to see how simply buying a position with my dollars will honor this tradition. Like I said...I'm waiting with bated breath...

To all of you that do not understand why some of us are not happy. confused.......stick around and write some real posts and put a couple of hours into each one and you'll understand why we are confused.

Jon, Matt, Bob, Rich etc. etc.......can you do a post and address some of the questions?

I for one did not realize this is going to be a pay per neighborhood no matter how good or bad my content was.

I have just checked out the new site.

I don't like it!

I am not longer a featured agent although I am #2 on A/R

It shows my office number as my contact number. My cell number is my primary phone number.

If people can buy their way to featured agent, what is the use of posting to localism.

And what is this whole neighbor thing?

It looks great. Keep up the great work.

I have to say, it's day one....looks good and yet confusing! I like alot of the old Localism and majority of the new Localism! With time it will get better and better.

I agree with Lola Audu "buying" a position through Localism... :(

Hopefully as time goes by using the new Localism will get easier, logging in and figuring out how to upload photos...I don't see anywhere on how to do that. When a new community is developed how do you get that community on Localism. And yet all we do is blog about Chandler, Arizona and we show up in Maricopa or Mesa. As I said, it's day one....it will get better!

Localism is great, that is how we get alot of our client through trust and the content we nave blogged.

Cheron Lange

Bravo --- this is very exciting. I have some great posts coming up, but unfortunately, my computer has crashed and I am awaiting a technician. I have my husband's old lap top running windows 95 -- and it can't do much except keep me alive until my computer is fixed.

Who do I make the check out to?

Congratulations on launching nice useful feature. Keep up the good work..

After all of the time I spent contributing to Localism and the sheer volume of post that I have contributed there it is beyond my comprehension as to why I have absolutely no presence in Long Beach CA and new members are highlighted!

Top Neighbors:

Is based on approved content. We are working through approving content and people like Laurie Manny will rise to the top once we get to the thousands of blog posts remaining to be reviewed. If the communities don't have top neighbors right now, nothing has been approved.

We did a mass import of data. So many communities and cities have content, but it has not been approved. Once that happens the top neighbors will start to move and only the quality posts will remain.

All posts are currently in your profile page on Localism (as long as they are tagged with the correct stuff when they were posted).

Bob: Thanks for listening to me ....and then talking :) I know you folks will try and work all this out.... I will wait and see what happens. All I know is there are quite a few unhappy/confused people and you guys really ought to address all the questions in a post :) Now...back to writing. :)

Love the look and feel. I'll be posting MORE there now. And the page rank is pretty decent. Thanks AR

It is looking really good. I am sure it will be the success you were expecting.

I'm withholding judgement. I like it... and it will take a little time to adjust. I don't know that I am excited about the "Community Sponsorships", but I also know that you NEED to monetize the site.

So, I'm holding back judgement.

we love it!!

a1 realty,com

Ok, but how do I add a neighborhood and how do I get to sponsor. Can't find this.

Bob, I understand that you guys are working hard (and I hear on your bday to boot!) - I appreciate the hard work and think the new site will be great. I also understand the money part, but I think maybe it might have been better to launch *after * gogin through content - I think that may be the source of all of the real confusion.

We have all also worked pretty hard in all the corners of Localism filling it with info (even though Seattle Bubble totally dissed me this AM in true "The Tim" style ). Although this may be temporary and all the chips will fall where they may, it is a little disconcerting to those who have invested a ton of time into Localism posts and making sure that the old Localism had good general coverage overall.

The message conveyed by not seeing our work come through upon the new launch is that our contributions to the site are not valued or appreciated. That is the gut reaction. The reasonable person in me knows that the posts will filter through and EVENTUALLY I might show up in Seattle SOMEWHERE - lol, but I just wish that had been done prior to the launch - It would have made the launch really cool for me personally.

I look forward to seeing the chips fall and wish you all the luck! Localism was a great idea either way and I hope it will be what I envisioned eventually. Thank you:)

I'm gonna give the fella's a chance to work out the bugs.... and just relax.... I tried posting this AM, also....but stuff happened....so I'll kick back and wait it out.

It's very nice. I like it. But no Real Estate Market Reports section any more? great job AR!

Thanks Bob.

I posted a market report to Localism a short while ago. It is not posted to Long Beach or to Belmont Heights. Whats going on with the new posts? How come they aren't showing?

Happy Birthday. What a boob doing this on your birthday - are you insane?

It's ssssssssoooooooooooooooo cool

I'm with Amanda...Do you take checks or should I forward my C.C. to Paypal :)

...And has it ever occured to any of you that most of you have a made ton of money as a result of AR? And have you ever considered the fact that at some point AR would have to monetize something. How are they supposed to keep us rolling along in GoogleVille if they can't pay the staff?

...Mouth off at me if you wish. There's no guarantee I'll be easy to engage on this topic :)

TLW...ROAR!

This certainly is someting to get excited about ! Want to thank Active Rain for all their work - I look foward to becoming very acquainted with the new localism site.

This is a great to for AR and I am glad it is here. I know there is a few kinks in the system, but things will pan out. Thanks for all of your hard work AR!

Glad to see the front page is back. I will be going through more of it over the next feew days - time has been a scarce commoity around here recently.

Still trying to figure out how to be a "top neighbor" (or any kind of "neighbor" for that matter).

Howdy AR folk's

I just went to your the New Localism, as a non member of the community. I ended up geting 95 Runtime Error has occurred come up.

I also used the search on the NH page, asked about Home Inspection and Inspectors.

What I got was No results Found.

The main reason I did this, was because I got 15 phone call's today asking, if I was no longger a part of Localism and the Active Rain community.

God Bless The U.S.A.

Looks promising, but waiting for some info/rules for the new format. Rainers/Non-Rainers, comercial establishments access?

In Chicago, some zip codes are neighborhoods, some suburbs zip codes comprise a neighborhood, and in Chicago a single building may be a neighborhood ( an agent may have exclusivity to 800 units in a single building).

Brad,

I just responded to Rich on my post. I don't want to spread any more negativity...frankly, I'm worn out.

I'll tell you the last thing I mentioned to him. I love you guys, I have all the respect in the world for you guys, but I'm concerned.

My comment was longer than my post though..

I'm not abandoning the community. I understand that you guys have worked hard and are excited.

I love the somewhat Craftsman-like logo with the futuristic space bar!

Ah Ha! Figured the neighbor-thing out ... AND I also read through some of these comments. GEESH! (Again I ROAR with the one and only TLW, here ...)

AR Guys... (and AR Gals ...) I am thankful that you are FINALLY going to monetize part of this venture. Quite frankly, I was worried about how in the heck you guys were surviving all this time! I mean ... how much Top Ramen CAN a whole team of community builders and engineers really eat?

I may not be a part of the great land grab ... at least not now, but I am thankful it will be happening!

I toured the new localism. It is very nice and I usually don't like changes. I guess I have to contribute more to localism now

I like the layout of the posts - but it bothers me a bit. Too much emphasis on being #1 or #2. I find that worrying. Is that tied to LOCAL content or position in AR generally? It could turn the dial UP on point grubbing if not handled correctly. I suppose my primary concerns about layout are those.

Which I guess leads me to be concerned about sponsors....It sounds as if sponsors can leap frog over people who have been working hard to build up the rich content. This has always been a concern of mine as I felt that we should pay to be on active rain in the first place. That could set some of us up for a very big fall.

Another issue (minor for now - but not if it becomes permanent) is that my OFFICE PHONE the only number being used. NO CAN DO! First of all, our office is hardly open on the weekends and secondly, my cell phone IS my phone number. I never use the office phone. You will find that this is the case with a lot of Keller Williams agents who work from home to save on desk fees.

This is a huge amount of work to put together. it has the capacity - if done properly to compete with Zillow and Trulia...the question is how is it paid for.

I can't seem to upload pictures to it? How is this done?

LOVE IT! Thanks for all AR's hard work.

Bob,

Happy birthday!!! Have you heard...it's a buyer's market...if you can find one!!! Thanks, Fran

I really like the outlay of the new localism.... but i've posted new listing and they didn't show up.... I have also pist a few post on it and I can them..... I'll check into it again.... Now I have to post more information on localism......

Congrats...to everyone you did a great job..

anothe note: I have been working on my outside blog.... but I can't get a picture that will fit into my profile or the header.. if possible please tell me the size of the pictures..

the comments on my blogs are showing up on my email so I can't respond right away. what's up....

thanks for all your help in advance.....

Wow very cool! Localism is taking over the world! Guess I need to post there more often!

Tina in Virginia

I don't think i can wait until the end of the month to be a sponsor, I want it now! hah.

Thanks for all the hard work, I look forward to Localism being what we all envision!

Rock on...time to get serious & write some awesome local stuff!

Thanks Bob, I trust you guys and your algorithms. BTW: Happy Birthday!

It looks good! I am looking forward to seeing the sections back. My area has a listing as the first feature, state and county as well, but I have lots after that! Wow!

I am sure it will all be worked out by the hardworking AR geniuses (geniusi ?).

Thanks for all the hard work and for hiring that nice guy to fix spellcheck!

Exciting news!! Active Rain has done it again! Can't wait to wrap my mind around this newest opportunity to open up community information for our readers and visitors....;-)

I'm looking forward to seeing this work. The time has come.

Like others, I appreciate the hard work, but am not crazy about the gray, bland design. To me, it looks like a day-old newspaper or dot matrix or something.

And of course I am bummed that none of my posts show up. Like the other commenter, I wonder why you didn't review and upload and then launch. Why the hurry to launch before you were actually done with the project?

And paying for position stinks, if the capital is blogging. It makes blogging into something else completely - maybe just commercial, cheap content, mass produced drivel.

Other than that have a nice day :)

Guys & Girls,

What happened to our site for Hammersteam? We seem to have disapeared completely and I cannot log in at all. My pictures are all still there but what happened to our account log in? I know it's the first day but not being able to log in is very frustrating. Can you guys let us all know when this is going to get fixed? Please? Thanks Bob H.

My biggest concern is someone will find a eay to own or sponsor several areas and we will contribute to the Localism and they will reap the rewards.

Thanks for the post. I look foward to understanding it all better.

You guys and gals are the BEST here at AR! Thank you for such a valuable resource and a place to share what we know that's heard around the globe!

I don't see any featured listings of homes for sale. Will I be able to feature homes?

Just checked out the new layout and I have a few questions still....

1) How is the "Top Neighbor" figured out again? I post regularly about the area and am not even on this list of other neighbors...

2) How do I upload local photos to the site? I have a bunch but can't seem to locate the upload functionality.

Looks great though and I hope to take advantage of what it has to offer if I can figure out some of this stufff...

I am definitely happy about this. Now I need to start letting Localism work for me like it is working for the other professionals. Great post.

This is totally awesome and I am looking forward to using this effectively. You guys rock.

Seems to me that I can't get to California... I willl kee ptrying!

JUL

2008

Sorry I am so late in getting this in. Today is the day of the "Launch of LOCALISM" and a "Day of Celebration". Everything has been said and then some. At the end of the day and you feel like you could just pull out your hair (Careful ,there isn't much to spare as I recall,lol) remember this " No Good Deed Goes Unpunished". I don't remember who said this but it doesn't matter. Take a break now, all the issues and questions and whatever will eventually get stabilized and when it is all said and done, many will then appreciate what is being done for us.

So thank you for Localism. Sure, I have opinions , questions, concerns etc but so what, lots of others do as well but that is not for today, that is for another day. Be very proud of this effort. I doubt many could have done as well! Congratulations and take a breath and enjoy what you have accomplished !

This is so exciting and such a great improvement. I am sure I am not the only one who appreciates the opportunities you give us.

198 - I'm tired of saying Hi AR guys. Hi Nicole!

Loco-lism will evolve. Like most creatures, it will adapt. Renee has umbrella drinks?

This is exciting! I like the user friendly new look and layout. Thanks for providing this great opportunity for all of us.

I am new to the whole AR thing, and have heard of Localism but wasn't exactly sure what it was. I am going to check it out right now!

Awesome I am pumped and have bbeen posting to Localism. I see it as another great way to market myself and thanks to AR!

Ditto to TLW, enough said.

Thanks, Guys. Awesome job!

Thanks to all for the continuing hard work. Active Rain has help pick up my pace with a new source of clients. My business has increase by 500% since I first started posting. I still am learning the in's and outs of blogging.

This is great, thanks for all of your hard work building the new localism!

I can't wait to see the new content that appears on this new format. I understand photos cannot yet be uploaded, but will come soon. What a great forum to share information with the local areas ... it would be beneficial to all realtors to contribute relevant information!

Thanks for the hard work in putting this together!

I was excited to see Localism bring my blog post to the first page in the search engines HOWEVER!!!!! when I clicked on the link which I had hoped would lead the searcher to my blog, it took me to a generic Localism page where I was asked to type in my neighborhood and state. Below were sponsored links or cities but my first experience with Localism and my business was not good.

I am sure in reading through these comments there is real power in the site.

We have generally done most of our blogs for Localism in the past and will continue to do so now. Thanks for the great site.

PS...when you use spellcheck both words blogs and localism come up as incorrect spelling as they are not in this spellcheck's dictionary.

I would like to add one question that I did not see as I scanned the other remarks. What determines the $7.50 or the $15 monthly rate? Is it size of community, etc.?

One other question: I didn't see a response to the many good questions asked above. Are they going to be forthcoming?

Thanks!

We have posted a Q&A for Localism:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/586195/Localism-Q-A-Official

Hopefully, it will provide the answers to many of your questions. We plan on updating it as we move forward, adding more questions and answers as we go....

Thanks Rich!

Localism appears to be a smash hit. I've never seen this many people here at one time!

8,713 Online Now

I would like more info on sponsorship and planned marketing to get site visits. I need every dollar to be well spent.

I have so much to learn about Localism...getting ready to dig in.THANKS

AWESOME!!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE

Howdy Rich

It would have been nicer if ya had made it a link, we could clicked on to go to the post from this one. For the Q & A.

God Bless The U.S.A.

I love localism, but am a little confused. I posted a Long Grove market report that took a lot of time and that I thought was useful...http://activerain.com/action/blogs_admin/write/578358 but it didn't show up in my Long Grove localism ..... You can email as to what I did wrong.

Is AR claiming ownership of the photos members uploaded previously?

I have a question that is really unrelated. Terms of Service/Use. Are the terms the same for AR and localism? I think they have changed since I joined, unless I just totally missed this one:

Syndicating Submissions Outside the ActiveRain Community

In addition to ActiveRain’s goal to connect real estate professionals with one another, ActiveRain seeks to connect professionals with the general public. In this regard, ActiveRain’s connections to other media, outside the Site, may provide you with opportunities to make yourself, your business and your Content visible to other audiences. If you choose, you may grant ActiveRain an extended license to your Content, which will permit, but not obligate, ActiveRain to syndicate your material to third parties. Any such syndication will be done without compensation to you, but may allow you to tap your Content into third party media outlets in addition to the ActiveRain Community.

Umm..yes. You may. Can I request Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fox News?

JUL

2008

Congrats guys. Kind of weird though to add content so that a paid sponsor can be the Local Expert for a community.

I really like the layout, but I have a few of the same concerns I've seen expressed here. Rather than repeating, I'll just wait to see what y'all do next.

Congrats on the launch! One question - I went to a neighhborhood that I have written plenty of content on/about and nothing was there. The whole section was blank. The images I submited were there, but none of the blog posts describing the neighborhood. Do I need to re-post? Thanks!

Just read the "Localism- The Day After" and my question was answered. Thanks!!

JUL

2008

Well, I've done some reading -- how is a sponsorship purchased?

JUL

2008

It looks good and the concept is great if real community exists within a community. It will be interesting to read about different areas.

The "art of doing real estate" is definitely changing! I would agree that becoming the area expert and providing content rich blogs and websites is the way to succeed in this highly competitive industry. I look forward to learning more!

I still think there needs to be some tweaking. Before there were many market reports and other articles by Realtors for a given area. Now if you look at Tampa, the only Market reports seem to be by one agent and its just repeat blogs of:

1. I listed this many homes this week.

2. This many expired.

3. I sold this many homes.

Etc. etc.

That's not a real market report, posting like this everyday. There needs to be better criteria for what posts on the community's main page and it should be original content...

Liane: Please get it some time. We will be providing criteria for what constitutes 'approved' content on the community pages. Thanks!

JUL

2008

I love the new look of Localism......

JUL

2008

I "currently" love the new localism because I wound up at the Top Neighbor, but I'm also the only one providing the quality blogging. I'll keep blogging until I find out it's not worth the time.

I highly recommend subscribing to the Q&A on localism mentioned above. Answers a lot of excellent questions herein.

I'll wait for all the smoke to clear and see where we land.

JUL

2008

Thanks. I've still yet to figure out Localism!!!! This will help.

P.S. Is that the new logo? I like it much better...

Noticed the Land Rush was for noon PST. Do you mean PDT? I'm in the EDT time zone and want to sych my calnedar.

JUL

2008

I just want to know how to be selected as a top neighbor

JUL

2008

This is some great information with the blog and all the comments. Unfortunately, it's going to take me some time to read through all of it and understand what is going on. Does anyone have the "Summary" version. (Sorry, my business has really picked up this week and I need to hit the road)

JUL

2008

Thank you for defining Localism! This is an invaluable tool for all communities. I will post to Localism at least one time per week to promote my Local Community.

I'm new to Active Rain. I'm not sure I'm doing everything right, but I'll get the hang of it!

JUL

2008

I am not impressed with the "new" localism. I wrote a post that was added and removed from localism. The neighborhood that I am trying to "hyper-localism" is jammed by a AR posting pimp that has taken a general neighborhood description of every neighborhood in two counties and blurbed an advertisement about herself more than any local information of picture content.

I tried to register as an "active neighbor" and I was blocked and encouraged to go on a waiting list.

So much for "new localism," but it was almost a great idea.

Rick: Localism is still in private BETA form, and isn't fully functional yet. Please be patient until everything has been employed and updated. We appreciate your concerns and input!

I just want to know how to get rid of my neighbors. They are loud and they smell. :) LOL!

What's Localism?

Hi Rich ~ I read your profile, your love for family and your passion for Localism. How can I not be patient? I think Localism has great potential and I look forward to participating as a local expert. BTW, I have been in Beta personally all my life and I look forward to when I get myself together as a good version. :-)

JUL

2008

am starting on Rich's recent post w/ a list of all new localism links in it.

hope I get through all of it, and then know how to do this best.

cheers

AUG

2008

My best wishes to you and your staff in your efforts to change the face of real estate...or at least make it better.

AUG

2008

I hope this is bigger than Wikipedia.

AUG

2008

I have submitted a question with no response. My community I pay to host has a link on the community area, but then there is an error message saying the page doesn't exist when you click on the link! How do I go about fixing this?

Amanda: As sponsor for this community, did you input the link? You have the ability to go in an amend this link.

Rich, I also submitted a question last week with no response, but now I have a new question. I accidentally uploaded the wrong picture to my sponsored localism community. It was a re formatted small picture, and is blurry and now it's on my community and I can't find a way to delete it or upload a new one in its place, I can only upload additional photos.

AUG

2008

There are some issues that need to be worked out. We too have submitted a ticket in regards to multiple communities and so forth on localism but i'm sure they're working on it.

AUG

2008

With 250+ comments to this post I am not going to read through them all to see if my question has been addressed (sorry). The question I have is this, What does sponcering a community do for me and how exactly does it work, what does AR do for me if I sponcer a community or two. I have not been able to find any info that explains this.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

AUG

2008

The new Localism really looks very nice, full of useful information.

Jay

SEP

2008

When I try to upload a photo - it says I need to write a description - but it wont allow me to so it wont allow me to post the photos - any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem?

SEP

2008

nice work man. i like it

SEP

2008

Amanda: That is a very original way of giving someone the bird, my dear. Very inventive... but that does not surprise me coming from you. You go, girl.

Very cool. I will jump right in and check this new info out. hope you have a great day.

OCT

2008

Where can I find the general guidelines for Localism? Thanks.

Bruce & Mary: Everything is pretty much HERE!

NOV

2008

As a player on Localism, with one town sponsored, I'm trying to find more info on the benefits of sponsoring a town. Also can't post pics about the town - get "error on page" - and no contact info on that site to alert tech support - a bit frustrated.

NOV

Hello!

First of all thank you guys so much for Localism! It is a great tool!

I just have one question though....we are noticing that the Google map for some of the communities is not coming up. Take a look at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, SC. Can you let me know what the issue is, if it needs to be remapped, or is it just me?

Thank you!
Brie Bender
activerain.com/brieelyse

DEC

Localism certainly does have a compelling new look. I think that the search field for specific towns could be worded somewhat more clearly.

Why aren't my posts to localism showing up on localism.????????????

DEC

Is Localism having trouble?? Not accepting any posts.....

It's been broken since about the 10th.

JAN

Well, Localism isn't new anymore! I love the Localism part of ActiveRain, especially in our area. ;)

Colleen (&Joe!): It's been a very long journey with Localism. Great vision on our part, but unfortunately somewhat poor execution at times. Hopefully, we'll get things finished up here shortly, and the vision will be fully realized!

JAN

Just a fyi: this page won't load in firefox.

Catellum: I'm using FF and it loads just fine....

JAN

Thanks for all the work developing another great portal for us to connect with potential customers and others.

FEB

What is the deal with the cookie cutter content? I've been to several neighborhoods in Denver and see the same articles about "condo conversions", "fix and flip investing", and many other topics over and over again. Is there any way for AR to monitor and prevent that? It doesn't reflect well on the community and I would venture to guess will not be treated very kindly by the search engines.

John,

I just sent you an email regarding this. We can certainly take a look and get it cleaned up.

FEB

Brad,

Can you provide an update on the duplicate postings on the Denver Localism neighborhoods?

Thanks,

John

Brad,

Can you provide an update on the duplicate postings on the Denver Localism neighborhoods?

Thanks,

John

MAR

"No one has captured the essence and flavor of local communities online on a large scale," said Jonathan Washburn, CEO of Active Rain."

Congratulations Mr Washburn, you have managed to set-up one of the most shameless, boring and self-serving sites I have ever seen. How could there be essence and flavor when you have several agents cutting and pasting from other sites to boost up their SEO. Not one original thought, almost no personal assistance is given. This makes the real estate industry look stupid.

I am very embarrassed

Susan

Susan,

Maybe you should take your negative thoughts somewhere else. This is a great forum with lots of creativity. That statement you made shows how ignorant you are, and it makes you look like an idiot. Where are your facts. Do not come to this forum and put up baselss facts with out backing it up with proof. It is obvious from the lack of participation of this community we can not trust who you are. Take your negative energy somewhere else. Good luck!!

Not one original thought? Hogwash! I just read a very original post about movies that feature food.

Susan,

I'm not sure exactly what to make of your comment about Localism. I do know this, you have very little invested in ActiveRain to be making such outlandish statements about our founder or our community. That being said, everyone gets to have a voice here......

However with that voice comes a responsibility. I would liken what you just did to moving into a brand new community (because that is exactly what we are here), a small town even, showing up at town hall for a city council meeting and blasting the mayor when you have been in town all of a few weeks.

Had you lived in the town for any length of time, you would know that the mayor can not be everywhere all at once. So instead, the Mayor and the city council rely on the citizens of the town to come to them when they have issues and together they figure out how to work on those issues so that the citizens don't feel "embarrassed" to live in their town.

So instead of shouting from the mountain tops about how shameless you feel what we have created is, why don't you take some pride in your community and help us clean it up.

All you have to do is send me a link to whatever you are referring to and if it's half as bad as you have made it out to be, we will deal with it based on the guidelines that have served us well for the last 3 years......

Susan: With all due respect, but I really don't think your charge here is extremely fair, especially for someone who has only been involved with this community for such a short time. Localism has been in private BETA form for longer than we'd like to admit, and there are still many issues that need to be worked out before it is officially launched to the general public. There are two things you can do to help correct the issues you complain about - notify ActiveRain staff through the 'Contact ActiveRain' system and let them know about members who are cutting and pasting from other sites. That is a violation of our Community Guidelines and is not tolerated. And, in addition, you can contribute meaningful quality content to Localism yourself so there is something worthwhile for consumers to access. But to simply BLAST Mr. Washburn is not very helpful or constructive.

Victor: Well said. Much more diplomatic and objective than those of us who tend to take such things personally. Thanks!

MAR

Victor,

You need to chill out buddy. Rich was talking about me and him. We take this stuff personally. He wasn't talkinga about you. He was thanking you. So take it for what it was an stop making something out of nothing. And who is John?

I know the WHOLE story Victor. I also personally know Rich and I am telling you that you are making something out of NOTHING.

Read what he wrote in context of what happened:

"Victor: Well said. Much more diplomatic and objective than those of us who tend to take such things personally. Thanks!"

He said 'well said' because he liked what you said. He said you said it 'more diplomatic and objective than those of us that tend to take things personally' because he and I had just come in and left long winded comments where you could obviously see that we take criticism of Localism personally. He said 'thanks' because he was thankful.

If you misinterpreted that statement then you need to CHILL OUT!!!

Do be silly Victor, I'm going to take Rich's side every time. Let it go......

Yes you did misinterpret it if you took it any other way than as a thank you for adding a diplomatic response. That's what he said and that's what he meant.

Victor: Bob's statement is correct. I was, in fact, thanking you for making a more 'objective' statement here. Those of us who are much more intimately involved tend to be highly passionate about such things and take some criticism personally. And if I have ever 'thrown' you under any bus, please accept my most sincere apologies. That would never be my intention.

MAR

I viewed the new localism and I will have to start to get back into posting more on it, it looks great.

I do like localism as well. I am just waiting for the comments section to be implemented.

MAR

What's localism?

Paul: It's an ancient cult that surfaced during the 1st century. A variant form of early gnosticism, only with some very specific traits that were unique to each location. It was a strange admixture of rain worship and oriental mysticism. Early adherents would actually sacrifice their children for page rank.

Cool. I'm in.

groovy

Hi Bob.

Well Hello Ms. Amanda

Too bad it's not Friday. I could use a good hijacking....

APR

Rich,

Since I have sponsored Lewes, Delaware, and not Susan ...

And, I am trying to create more good content for both Lewes and Milton, towns (communities) I have sponsored, I hope that Localism continues to improve and become what you at AR envisioned.

I am having some problems however. This morning I noticed that both Lewes and Milton are gone! The message indicates that they have not yet been created!

I still cannot upload more photos in either Firefox or IE.

Can you point me to an update on the status of Localism and how to report/repair when I encounter challenges beyond my technical abilities? You have been so helpful in the past Rich; I do appreciate it. Before real estate, I spent 30 years in sales/marketing in the tech industry so I realize that there is no such thing as bug free!

APR

Is there a super poke button on this thread?

Amanda, What is a super poke? I have had a response from Tech support that YES, problems continue. Some can upload with IE, some can do so with Firefox. I cannot upload with either still.

Some posts just seem to die a slow death....

JUL

I haven't really checked out Localism, but I think I need to become familiar with it. I just went there and noticed that Austin is one of the most active cities.

AUG

I question the above comment # 316. I think it may be SPAM, and have reported it. I suggest that when this comes to you in an email... do NOT click on any of the links. I also suggest you DELETE the above comment as soon as you see it.

SEP

whatever happened to Localism?....are we simply hoping that people will eventually forget about it?

I agree Rich. I am extremely disappointed and it has affected how I use Active Rain - much less than planned. I had just started uploading photos to my towns and sponsored two of them - Lewes and Milton, Delaware. Ever since - photo upload and no good reason, just lots of excuses. I guess all good things eventually come to an end.

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