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Localism Photos - Reposted May 1, 2007

I've really seen some amazing photos on Localism. I was seriously impressed by the photos many of you submitted when was visiting family in Idaho, and I decided to show them what I was up to. They were impressed too. I really got a feel for some amazing areas, I'd like to visit. That's the intent of Localism photos and many of you went above and beyond.

Since that time I have continued to see some great photos on Localism. A number of members have contacted me regarding images that do not fit with the stated vision for Localism. I've made efforts to contact some who posted incorrectly, but for the most part I've had to just go in and delete stuff when I had a minute. I'm sorry I wasn't able to devote more time to immediately correcting things.

Now we'll have someone aboard who can review photo submissions to Localism. I will have someone reviewing all the currently submitted photos for the following criteria.

Location, location location, the intent of Localism photos.

Localism is about local. These images should give you a sense of place. The should be geographic in nature.

Photos in Localism should give a person a feel for local flavor. They should highlight the overall character of the town and give a person a feel for what it would be like to live or visit.

Limited examples of homes will be accepted, but Localism photos are not about homes. We have listings to convey typical homes, not Localism Photos.

Photos that display the community, sell your community, make someone want to move there

Localism photos must be original images, nothing commercial, borrowed, or stolen

Photos matching the following criteria and no redeeming value from the above will be deleted.

Your website, phone number, email address or name in the description - we provide a link to your profile
Photos of you or your company or car -- that would be for Real Estate Professionals Advertising
Company logos, Real Estate office shots, the professional designation logos
Photos of your family on vacation - the shot of the Grand Canyon yes, the shot with your family and the Grand Canyon barely in the background, no, you can do that in your blog
Listings - post a listing instead
Market and Shopping Center Signs - instead make a post about the Shopping center and put it in About a Region or General Information
Individual businesses without description - again better to post about the business than just placing a photo of the business, of course landmarks are acceptable in this category
Photos of poor quality (not straight, blurry or just look bad)
Interior shots of a home, floor plans, drawings - again these are for listings
Multiple photos of the same thing, or almost the same thing -- for instance if you have 4 different shots of the front of a building, we will be eliminating three of them, this also includes most photos of homes

Please go back and double check your photos to make sure they fit. Ben just installed an update that allows you to update photo descriptions. This should help those of you that have been looking to revise your captions for some time.

Thank you,

Caleb

And in case you didn't see it:***You can Now edit your Localism Photo Captions, Descriptions.***

Update:

Photos location placement must be accurate. Misplaced photos will be removed.
Photos must be your own, not from another source.

Links on Uploading photos:

Loading Photos to Localism
Photo Loading Update

Posted by ActiveRain Real Estate Network on 05/09/2007 07:46 AM

Comments (146)

localism, guideline

146 Comments on Localism Photos - Reposted May 1, 2007

APR

2007

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO Caleb! I'm running to tell Chris!!

What's your position on photos from out-of-state agents? There's been some discussion on that as well.

Looking forward to the "clean-up".

Elaine,

Regardless of where your from you can post a photo for an area. Please be sure you are familiar enough with the content that you are aware that you will be posting something relevant to the location of the community for which the photo is describing.

Maggie, Thanks I was just about to let the both of you know. But I'll allow you!

How do the photos actually get on Localism? Verses a regular post on AR?

Thanks Kat. I just added two links regarding Localism photo uploads.

Loading Photos to Localism

Photo Loading Update

Way to go Caleb! You guys are doing a wonderful job!

I really like that we can edit the description, I forgot to put a couple in and that's super handy!

Caleb: I am brand new to AR and to Localism so I just want to double check. If you are not a good photgrapher and you have a local photographer who will let you us his/her photos are you allowed to do that if you give credit in the post? Thank you.

Caleb - I don't plan to post out-of-state photos but was wondering about those that had done so in my area. I know some Rainers are against it (and I agree) for a variety of reasons. Localism allows us to set ourselves up as the "expert" in a given area. How do vacation photos contribute to that plan or objective? Just a question.

If I could make one other suggestion - in Oregon the cities listed are very limited - several are not on the list for Deschutes County anyway - Some of the photos I have added to Localism I have had to choose a city close to the attraction rather than where it actually is. If we are going to promote an area - it would be nice to actually have the cities represented - I would be more than willing to help with the cities in my area, feel free to call or email me if you need my assistance. I like the change and will check my photos later today.

We still have floor plans, stairwells and mattresses in Lee County, Maggie.

Elaine,I do see your point. However I do think there is a value to having the perspective of an outsider when looking at photos. I am making a mental note of what you are saying however as if this is something that becomes abused the policy might have to change.

Thesa, if you are logged in and browse to a city via its county link then you should be able to update photos for cities that aren't otherwise listed.

Diana, thanks for that. First this isn't about posts, but it is about photo uploads on Localism, not photos uploaded int a post. Second perhaps I should amend my statement. Your situation makes sense as in this case the photos would be unique, however the idea is that commercialized, purchased, images shouldn't be displayed. If the images are unique then perhaps they should be included. I will look for more feedback from other members on this.

Chris, I'm implementing this slowly so that members can have a chance to correct their current inventory of photos.

Thank you.

My position on outta towners uploading photos is similar to Ralphs. If there is system abuse the policy should be changed. I uploaded photos to Ohio: Huron County: Wakeman a while back. It was on the heals of returning from spending the summer taking care of my mother who had cancer.

I grew up in this one stop light town and happen to think the photos I uploaded are about the only positive reprentation this cow poke town may have ever gotten. It had been a 15+ years since I'd been back there and I think I found a fresh perspective that anyone that lives there may have lost.

Nobody else has bothered to upload pictures for Wakeman Ohio or a few other one pony towns in that area. I wasn't gaming the system but adding content that I thought was useful.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/73276/Localism-Photos

I've even bothered Darlene Witter into registering, now if I can just get her to upload a photo...

Me again. I was just editing some of my descriptors on my photos and when I would submit 'ok', I often received an "unable to connect with server" error message. Is there a problem or are just too many of us overloading the system as a result of your post?

BTW, Chris, I think the out-of-state objections began when someone saw a photo of the WTC towers being submitted by an out-of-stater.

Elaine, I recall the controversy.

Hi Caleb - You said "Localism photos must be original images, nothing commercial, borrowed, or stolen." Many high-rise developers make renderings available to licensed real estate agents to use for our own marketing. Often this requires registering with the builder, completing a license agreement, and/or attending a sales seminar. Where an agent has permission to use those images they should be allowed. It's definitely better than a dirt lot with the caption 'Future site of ...', right?

Photos of model homes (including interior shots) can have a tremendous value to consumers. They show different construction styles, elevations and methods and can highlight new features or spacial layouts that are not available in older homes.

Determining content value is highly subjective. To me, "geographic in nature" and "character of the town" speaks more to public areas than private residences. Is that more in line with your vision?

Perfect ,in your previous posts comment I learned how and in this post I learn of what.

Thanks Caleb,

Can't wait to try out these new features. Should be very helpful to have that edit option.

Excellent way to make this more interesting! I myself am guilty of posting homes...guess I'll straighten my act up. It is OK to have multiple pictures of an attraction isn't it? Would it be better just to blog that and add one photo that (hopefully) sums it all up???

Chris T, You can have multiple pictures of something of course, it's just that they've got to be interestingly (can i use this word this way?) different.

In other words, I've got to be able to look at it and say "yeah that picture adds something to what's already posted here." And Image of The Space Needle shining brightly at night vs standing tall during the day are two very different images.

I am thrilled with the edit feature. I posted several photos with no description, now I can go add them.

Caleb, I have to agree with John Novak, sometimes sketches,floor-plans, model home drawings etc can really give a consumer a feel for an area. When we moved to Columbus, I spent hours on-line looking at builder's websites, models etc, then trying to match those up with areas. I think that having that info, especially in new build neighborhoods can really help give a consumer a feel for what is happening in an area. We ended up in a subdivision with 4 different builders and approximately 8 builders in the neighborhood.

Photos in Localism should give a person a feel for local flavor. They should highlight the overall character of the town and give a person a feel for what it would be like to live or visit.

I'm not so sure about that - here in the Phoenix area there are many different Master Planned Communities, with very different style of homes and neighborhoods. Photos conveying the look of a street that includes homes, sidewalks, park(s), etc. are essential to "give a person a feel for what it would be like to live" in that MPC.

That said - Suzanne and I have no objections to an objective editor selectively deleting photos that don't fit - we just don't have the time available to do the re-work ourselves. All photos submitted matched the guidelines (such as they were) at the time, and future submissions will match the guidelines in place at the time the photos are posted.

I know Jay and I have out of town photos uploaded on Localism. Things like Bar Harbor and Boothbay Harbor..places we spend a lot of time in but clearly we don't live there. I think they add to the area and give value. I never thought that potentially someone might not like them or be upset that we've posted them. Caleb please let me know if they are in anyway inappropriate.

Thanks for the update! I need to remember to keep my camera in the car at all times. I'm seeing some amazing photos each day and miss the opportunities.

Thanks for the update Caleb! The editor is super easy!

It sounds like you want pretty looking chamber of commerce pictures of an area. I think that one can get those anywhere. What I'd like to see is the real deal. If there are ugly shopping centers, I'd like to see pictures of ugly shopping centers. I'd like to see the area as it really is and not some slick marketing piece. That's just me with my consumer hat on. I want to see the good, the bad and the ugly.

Hi Caleb,

Thanks for the heads up on this. I too have posted (although on a very few) photos of others areas. Something I've loved while on a trip. Looking forward to trying the editor at this point,

I am so pleased to see we are making headway with how envision Localism. I am with the thought we are spotlighting the "local" personality . We want to capture the lifestyle and the beauty, or like Caleb said the "flavor'.

I have seen some really disturbing pictures, I call them litter. If we want to litter the Localism site it will just become a collection of irrelevant photos that will not entertain the audience we are trying to keep.

I appreciate the tightening of the reigns and realize that it added extra help to do so. Thanks AR guys for maintaining the professionalism in Localism.

I just started posting photos to Localism so this was very timely. I saw listing photos posted last night when I was entering my photos and I was thinking maybe I didn't understand what the photos were for; but you have clarified that for me this evening. It was what I thought.

This is a GREAT STEP!! THANK you for the guide lines.

Hey Caleb, I'm glad to see some defined guidelines as to photos on Localism. On the Oklahoma City side of Localism, we have an out-of-stater that has been uploading junk (literally, junk) to our site and I've contacted and flagged several times asking that something be done about it. These "junk" photos are straight-up stolen photos that were found on google, shrunk down, so as to hide the fact that they're stolen, and then uploaded to Localism. They add NOTHING. They're so small you can't even tell what they are if you don't already know what you're looking at and they're STOLEN. This girl was obviously just looking to rack up points and it's cluttering up what we're trying to do on Localism. Did I mention the photos are stolen, trademarked, whatever? Anything you can do to help get it cleaned up? Thanks!

APR

2007

Interesting. I'm delighted with the editing feature.

However, if Localism is looking for photos of towns and features about a town, that's easy. However, folks don't buy towns and really go on the Internet to see photos of homes. So, I've concentrated on showing the home styles present in particular geographical areas of my market area, related to Localism articles about those locations. If we eliminated the photos of homes showing local real estate, I believe that the site will shortly resemble a Tourism web site. OTOH, I've found the uploaded photos of homes in a given area a valuable resource. Am I missing something??

When I plan an article for Localism, I tour that particular subdivision/town/city/hamlet or area, I shoot a few photos of homes in the area. Since we have been encouraged to post "Local" articles, it would seem to follow that posting photos of homes in that particular community or town or hamlet or subdivision would be acceptable. But, from what I'm reading, the intent of the photos is the town and not the communities where folks live. I have probably 30-40 communities just in Lovettsville. But, there is only one Town of Lovettsville. It would get rather boring if the only photos RAINERS posted were of the Town of Lovettsville and not the homes in specific communities. I believe that viewers, consumers, dare I say home buyers are more interested in seeing local home styles and types than photos of businesses in a particular town. Over the past 12 years, I've had hundreds and hundreds of consumers ask me for photos of homes. I've never had anyone ask for a photos of a business, shop, town.

Lastly, I started adding my "Copyright 200_ Lenn Harley" when I uploaded some of my maps and continued with the photos, simply to advise viewers that these photos of homes ARE copyrighted images and shouldn't be a temptation to the "right click" syndrome. I've see a LOT of photos on Localism that I know are images simply copied from the Internet. This was approved by Active Rain.

Should I go back and remove all of my "Copyright 200_ Lenn Harley" on my photos on Localism.

So many questions. Overall, this is a move in the right direction.

Caleb,

Thank you for the diligence and care you are showing in maintaining a quality site. It seems that most favor the changes, athough some would continue to prefer uploading home photos. I wonder if everyone gets that the home photos are OK in the blog, but not the uploads?

If allowed to continue with the proliferation of uploaded home photos, interior shots and floor plans, we would turn Localism into Realtor.com with blogs. I am glad to know that Localism will not be heading in that direction!

These changes and guidelines are right on! Thanks again for your work in preserving the integrity and uniqueness of the true Vision of Localism!

Ginger

Sounds fine with me. I agree with your vision Caleb. I think some on here just miss the point of Localism.

Elaine-Thanks for the update on the error, I would appreciate further updates if anyone sees things like this.

John and Melissa- I appreciate your point and you are right. Sketches, models, and floor plans are very helpful to a consumer.

This is not the purpose of Localism photos. High-Rise concepts can be covered in other ways. Of course I stated listings but there are also posts, groups, and tagging. If there is a need for something of that sort on The Network then we should address it. Perhaps we are not sufficient in the display and the layout of how we've defined posts for Localism. Of course signature buildings, those that really come to represent a part of the town, and architecture in general are appreciated. However if it could have been covered better as a listing it should. Listings are a great resource for these sorts of items. Localism photos are there to give you what an individual listing cannot. Sell your town, or neighborhood, not a home.

Again, photos of model homes, sketches, and the like can be of tremendous value. But we can create other ways of meeting these needs.

Tony, we will have someone actually reviewing the photos. I do see your point about master planned communities. I again hope we can find another way to address this.

Monika- Posting out of town photos is acceptable.

Tim, you have a valid point, that I can't really argue against. However this is somewhat of a presentation so some variety in what we show can't hurt. Yes if an ugly shopping center is what your town is about then by all means go ahead, but if you don't work the area, then don't try to defame it by showing it's ugliest parts. Elaine...in these cases perhaps out of towners shouldn't be able to post.

Michele, Thank you! Michele's comment explains a lot!
"I am so pleased to see we are making headway with how envision Localism. I am with the thought we are spotlighting the "local" personality . We want to capture the lifestyle and the beauty,  or like Caleb said the "flavor'.
I have seen some really disturbing pictures, I call them litter. If we want to litter the Localism site it will just become a collection of irrelevant photos that will not entertain the audience we are trying to keep.”

Ryan- Thank you for pointing this out This points to what Elaine, and Tim have been talking about as well. Those types of things shouldn't be occurring I'll take a look at it. Notifying me about this is helpful thank you.

Lenn, (and to recap)
      Showing of homes on Localism photo uploads does not fit with the intent of the platform. There are thousands of places to post listings that consumers will spend much of their time sifting through. But there are not a lot of places that can give you a real feel for the community. Where a home might be a zoomed in view, Localism photos are to be set back and give a slightly broader picture zoomed out a bit.

From what you all are saying it appears that we might want to create a link on each “photos” page that takes you to the Localism listings for that region.

There was something I wanted to add here but I wasn't sure how. I think I've got it now.

While Localism photos are supposed to be set-back, and showing an over-all photos say a 5,000 foot view of a neighborhood, a home is more like a 100 foot view.

A row of Brooklyn brownstones might make sense to give a neighborhood feel, similarly an interesting suburban residential street image, while it might consist of homes, still gives a pretty good view of a neighborhood, that isn't likely to be found in a listing.

Oh and Tim, I did have another thought on what you said. While some areas may be harder to show-off, there is beauty in everything, so I'm sure we an make the images we post on Localism interesting. I think the beauty is in how you look at things sometimes.

By George, I think I've got it.

Not a problem, I can get photos of towns, town squares, town shopping centers, town centers, town business districts, town street, just not town houses.

Does that mean that all of those great house photos that I spend countless hours shooting are going to be dumped???

WAIT A MINUTE! ! ! ! I just realized that the post above states:

"While Localism photos are supposed to be set-back, and showing an over-all photos say a 5,000 foot view of a neighborhood, a home is more like a 100 foot view."

Crimony. A 5,000 foot view is almost a mile (5,280). What kind of vision can we get from a mile away??
Now, I'm more confused than ever.

I'll work on it.

Hi Caleb - I know I've read from others that there are some who are abusing what the photos are to be in Localism, and I'm glad for them that this post addresses that. Like Lenn, I've put some pictures up of some of the beautiful antique homes in this area that we are known for, and that grace some of the town commons. To me, and to others, those do show the character and charm of some of the areas here that I service. Are those the kind of pictures you'd like taken down? If so, let me know, and I will sadly take them down.

Thanks,
Ann

Caleb, you've done a great job, thanks for all your work on localism.

What about tourist attractions? They are certainly the feel of the area. Do we limit it to one of the main attraction or shots of each interesting point of the attraction?

What about sites that are not within a "city", but rural enough it is unincorporated and just in a county? Do we just add it to the closest city listed?

Thanks again.

Thank you so much for this......

=-)

This is true. When i get some free time i sometimes surf out of state local-ism posts and pictures. Its gives a personal touch to a geographical region.

Eddy

Caleb,

Are you now deducting points on Localism?Doesn`t this defeat the purpose of Localism?

New guidelines seem too extreme.

I always feel guilty even if I am not. I am and always will be an original. Some of my photos look duplicated, or like a postcard but they are from me, on location, in the moment... same for blogs. I love localism and appreciate the attempts to keep it pure. Thinking like a person in transition from one location to another, I agree that listings are so different from the yearning to have a "feel" for what life is really like. This is my endeavor for all posts to localism. Our area of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has made awesome strides in the past year. To give a feel of what life is "really" like, I am tempted on occasion to shoot the broken and destroyed that remains. But, I don't want to scare people because there is so much good, positive and beautiful. I think my question here is--How much and what depth of real should we post?

Caleb, makes sense, and it makes it easier. I've posted multiple pictures of the same location because they add something to the viewer, and I figured this was the objective. Do we have a lack of space to deal with? Are we ever going to be limited on photos?

I have put in pictures of homes for neighborhoods to give a "feel" of how the neighborhoods around town are different. Many of the neighborhoods around here have narrow streets that would prevent taking multiple homes in one picture. If I can't post photos of the homes I guess I can post amenities of the neighborhoods but some neighborhoods don't have lakes, ponds, pools, play areas, etc.

Should we only post home photos for listings we have in listing blogs? It seems like that will give a decidedly narrow view of what any given neighborhood.

A solution could be to not show photos posted to individual neighborhoods in the pages of photos for a state. I think a few photos of homes for each neighborhood helps describe individual neighborhoods. When consumers drill down to look at individual neighborhoods I think this helps them on their search. It can help people locating from a long distance "preview" what individual neighborhoods are like and help narrow down where they want to look when they get in town.

I agree I see quite a few pointless photos of chain restaurants, floorplans, etc. posted and I appreciate the attempt to clean that up but I wouldn't lump in homes posted to help characterize a neighborhood with the spam pictures you are trying to avoid. I can post a pictureless blog on a neighborhood in a few minutes but the neighborhood blogs I have been writing with pictures can take several hours to complete when I count in taking and formatting the pictures. If I was just trying to spam for points I wouldn't be doing them this way. I guess I agree with Lenn Harley on this particular topic.

Rita

I agree. There are some awesome photos there. I wish I was a better photographer.

"Limited examples of homes will be accepted, but Localism photos are not about homes. We have listings to convey typical homes, not Localism Photos."

That disturbs me a little bit Caleb. I post almost nothing but homes because, to me, that is the essence of our region especially how it relates to the ActiveRain network...it looks to me that I am huge violator of this post.

I am somewhat confused, should I not post picture of old homes? Take uptown Kingston for example, most of the office are in these old building, the architectural styles are so different so by showing several different houses it give a feel for the neighborhood. I have only one of my listing posted to localism because of the history as well as the fact it was from 1706 that I considered unique. What I am saying is I need further clarification as to what you would like on Localism.

Thanks for the edit feature sure beats deleting and re-entering.

Caleb: I posted some photos to Localism for Pasadena, CA, but didn't get any points. Did I do something wrong?

Wonderful, I'm glad to see the imaging requirements for Localism being defined more. I hope the next step is to tighten up and remove the thinly veiled (or not veiled at all) advertising that comes up in the market news & events areas, etc on the front pages for the individual states. It saddens me everytime I veiw the front page of Georgia, so I'm bookmarked to go straight to Athens, GA instead for now, but hate the thought that many potential clients may leave before they every get to the city/region area because there is so much trash on the main state page. It is a shame that some people abuse the awesome opportunity Active Rain has given us, and it's a shame that the Rain Gods have to moderate us!

Not wanting to fight here, and, I do not think I am guilty--can you please define "trash"?

I agree 100% Michelle. It drives me nuts that some people in Oklahoma are posting listings in the general section instead of the actual "Oklahoma Listings" section. Why not advertise in the appropriate area that IS provided for that reason, rather than cluttering up the other areas that are not?

Lynn, I think is not to have a bunch of lisiting showing up here. I take a lot of photos of historic homes but I am in an historic area which is the essense of the area. It may feature a porch, shutters, slate roofs, gardens, locals. Close ups of things can portray the characteristics of an area much more than than of a landscape form a distance. If it tells a story of your area and gives people a snapshot of your area.

APR

2007

For the record. I do not post a bunch of listings. I have no listings. I do not list. I do, however, tour a large number of communities and collect photos of many, many homes in those communities, towns and, in our area they are called subdivisions.

In fact, I put up a web site with nothing but local photos of homes, my maps. I can refer folks to this page for examples of homes or areas and I can use the resource for articles, e-mail, or in web pages. I've been collecting photos of homes in my vast market area since 1995.

Wow, I must have been in a timewarp on this whole Localism photo posting thing. I have just now discovered this feature, and will start uploading pictures of local sites. This is something I have been meaning to do on my website for some time now. Thanks for making it easy for me!

What do I do when a community is not listed? I was trying to put in photos last weekend for the Columbus Township (City of Columbus) in MN but it is not there. It has a Forest Lake MN zip code, but Forest Lake is Washington County and Columbus is in Anoka County. It has a separate city council and charter but does not exist on AR. I had several photos and ended up making a "community" in Linwood which is very close to Columbus but they are two separate towns. This is a growing community with many upcoming localism articles--new horse racing track and other commercial development.

I couldn't find anywhere to communicate the problem.

Help!

If you create a City of Columbus link, I can delete the community and upload the pictures correctly.

Thank you!!

We have a similiar, yet different issue, we have the cities of Bonita Springs and Bonita Beach that fall in two counties. They are listed in Lee County but not in Collier County. Is there a way to get them added?

Ouch, I lost a bunch of photos, but now that I see the community since being cleaned up, the lost points well they are just points... Although some may be upset about the points, they lose sight of the purpose of being here -- providing an excellent resource for the consumer! Going forward we will all benefit from these guidelines. Thank you for improving Localism!

Caleb~

Those of us who get to live in gorgeous places (almost anywhere around the Carolinas) have a great advantage. It is easy for us to show the "attractors" to our areas, towns, neighborhoods...sunrises, sunsets..mountains, seas. We are working to honor the intent of Localism.com by keeping focused on those "attractors"...

And we have a place to put our listings and show our homes via Active Rain..even a special group at Active rain to do that.

So the RainMakers have provided with Localism.com, a valuable chance to show REALTORS and real estate-related professionals from a human perspective. ..an opportunity from which we can all benefit ...especially when a public image could use that.

Thank you SO MUCH for providing and overseeing a format in which we can introduce our communities(and ourselves) in a favorable way.

Caleb and other RainGods - thanks for the guidelines and the tightening. It would be nice if we lived in a perfect world and could just have one guideline - use common sense! Convey the place, but don't advertise. Oh, well, you've made a great step in the right direction and like anything, will need tweaking over time. I like Eric Bouler's point - you can show distinctive features of a local housing style without being just a photo of a house.

Yes, I love having photos of neighborhoods, and the typical homes, as some ActiveRainers have done so well - but agree those should be in a separate place. Perhaps you could put a notice boldly on Localism where the public first enters - For more information on local neighborhoods, go to ------------ and in the search box enter the city, neighborhood or style you're looking for. Then link them to the appropriate place on Active Rain.

And remember, ActiveRainers - the Buildings and Architecture Group is a great place to post unique or characteristic home styles as well as local buildings.

We've had some fabulous posts on ActiveRain with descriptions and photos of areas and housing within the area - it would be nice to have an easy way of finding them.

Colleen wrote: "Ouch, I lost a bunch of photos, but now that I see the community since being cleaned up, the lost points well they are just points... Although some may be upset about the points, they lose sight of the purpose of being here -- providing an excellent resource for the consumer!"

How do you know pictures have been removed? Just from points going down? Or does it show on your points page or somewhere else on Active Rain? I posted photos of historic homes in Worthington Ohio but none of houses that I have listed or representing neighborhoods, I will have to go look to see if any of mine were cut.

I have not posted many photos to Localism or even looked at Localism for a long time.

Thanks for the advice.

I am still wrestling with the idea of how does a neighborhood get shared if only limited homes of an area can be posted. If a posting is done about a neighborhood wouldn't photos accompany that? I'm not talkin about listing but images of homes that make up a neighborhood. How can a resident get a feel for a neighborhood if there are no images showing the different types of homes, streets and views?

APR

2007

I plan to add photos to localism. It's good to have some guidelines to follow. Thanks.

APR

2007

Just to be clear....once again...we are talking about "localism photos." NOT Localism posts here. A post and the photos in it are a totally different story!

Thank you.

APR

2007

Caleb....great stuff!!!

All the best,

BethP

APR

2007

I would agree, I have seen some really cool Pictures on localism, keep them coming.

MAY

2007

Great info....I love the photos too. It draws you in seeing something visual instead of just text.

I'm looking forward to a Localism posting spree with all my pictures during my visit to Louisville, KY for the Kentucky derby!

I see your point, gotta say, some of these examples are hilarious! Great post!

Great thanks for the update and guidance....just need to move Localism up on my priority list.

Thank you for policing this. I take pride in my photos and get discourage to see that someone from WAY out of state just "googled" the town for images and then posted the Thumbnail to up their points. That's ridiculous. I wouldn't mind seeing someone's trip to the area and some of the interesting items they found. Even locals forget about the beauty of their town.

I try to post only relevant photos. I need to get more photos around here and in outer suburbs.

Caleb,

Glad to read that some rules are going to be enforced. You see a lot material that simply doesn't belong there. Just destroys the purpose of that great feature.

Caleb,

Thanks for clarifying the out of state photo issue. I wasn't sure if this was okay.

On the reference to posting photos from out of town.... I do this a lot... as I travel a lot and I love photography so I take TONS of photos EVERYWHERE I go, when I see something interesting I photograph it. I am not trying to "rack up points" or anything by posting them to Localism, I just want to share what I thought was interesting.

For example, I just took a trip 2 weeks ago to Beaufort, SC to visit my brother who is stationed there. I noticed there were no photos for Beaufort posted on Localism, so I uploaded the ones that I had from my trip. I put the best description I could on the photo so that everyone would know what it was of... I don't believe there is anything wrong with this idea...???

PS- What happened to the Feature Photo bit? I think it stopped at #3... and then there were no more featured photos? I loved seeing the talent we have here!

Shannon, this is a terrific way to use Localism Photos. Thank you.

Bob, if you could forward any of the stuff you're talking about on I'd appreciate it.

Finally. Does this mean all of the building renders, etc will be removed? Also you stated about quality, that blurry pics will be removed, etc Same for really crooked pics? -Charles

Caleb, no offense but I've forwarded on the same kind of thing that's Bob's talking about several times and nothing's being done about it. I hate that it's cluttering up Localism because the end result will be the loss of interest for the consumer.

Not offended Ryan, your very request is on a list, and has been. Sorry we haven't gotten to it yet but it's there.

I think there have been some awesome pics posted on Localism.com and I enjoy looking through the areas to see where I would have an interest in visiting :)

Scott

Now if only there were a way for us to provide quality control on the posts themselves. I don't want to be associated with some of my associates posts!

Thanks very much for the update Caleb. That's been the frustrating part... not getting any response, thus feeling like it's just no big deal and won't be dealt with. I hope that it does get dealt with because, like I said, I don't want to see the integrity and effectiveness of Localism compromised by cluttered pages and miscategorized posts & pictures. Thanks again for the info!

I would much rather see a rendering of a high-rise project instead of the sales office, a sign about the project, or a pile of dirt with the caption "future site of ...". Where agents have permission to use the rendering, it's the best representation of the project and what the area will look like in 1-2 years. I also like to see photos of construction to see the progress that is being made.

Thank you for the clarifications and criteria...

Cheers,

Thank you for the clarification. Many of us were confused.

MAY

2007

Oops! I placed a photo of my office. I will go and delete that. I didn't realize that I had goofed. Just thought everyone else was lazy?! ;-) I appreciate the clarification.

My office is handles foreclosures in missouri and kansas. We have lots of diffrent homes and to pick one is difficult. I am a newbie and would like to know-how you want it a picture or is it just a link? Thank you for your patience with a new member.

Caleb, you have pointed out great ideas. I will follow some of your ideas on localism

MAY

2007

Marcy,

The properties you are talking about can be listing posts. You can have all the photos you want, on a post. But the photos being referred to here are meant to describe the local geography.

Way to go!!! Now we'll have the site that was the real vision form the beginning. Great job!

MAY

2007

Caleb - Good stuff - I see the photo cleaners are still at work - and doing a great job! Thanks for the update.

MAY

2007

Well I thought I followed all of the rules.

Until today, I started posting the front entrance of subdivisions spending a ton of time on this and they were all deleted...

I went back and looked at the pictures that are now on the web and it makes sense. The quality of the pictures that are on the web is fantastic and represents the area well.

After losing several thousand points today..I get it...!!

Wow Tracy, that is an amazing response to this. Thank you.

Sounds great keep up the good work guys!

Caleb,

Good post. Gave lots of information by the comments coming out of the post. Bob has been guiding me thru my blogging infancy and I think I am doing the right thing. This post has been great for my learning curve.

MAY

2007

Caleb - I'm learning a lot here. I have yet to add localism photos but you can bet I will soon. Thanks!!

MAY

2007

Over 100 comments, so no time to actually read all of them, though I skimmed thru most... I'm so glad you're not allowing so many pictures of houses anymore. Many people took advantage of that and I never understood why showing a picture of a house or several houses within a subdivision was supposed to get the person familiar with an area.

Thanks for the changes.

Nice posting a reminder.

It is really important to stress how to use it and not abuse it.

I just posted to Localism for the first time yesterday and just loved it!!

Is there a "My Photos" link that allows us to view all the photos we have posted to make it easy to review, edit and or remove as appropriate?

Our whole localism photo pages are just pages upon pages upon pages. Maybe they can put a bunch on one page instead of a line of them so we gotta keep scrolling and going to the next page?

Sally I had to go look. We have 3x the members in our state but less than 1/2 the Localism photos. We're just not as photogenic as Hawaii

I think that Localism is a great way to promote an area and to refer visitor on my site who wants to know what the area looks like. Plus I get to contribute and influence how the area looks like. Keep it up guys, great work.

Mario

I don't understand why its so hard to understand that photos posted to localism must be your own. Originality of the images on the site will benefit everyone in the long run. -Charles

I do not understand what Localism is doing. I submitted several pictures that met the stated criteria and now someone is removing them.

Thanks Mike I can look into them if you let me know some of the photos that have been deleted. You can email me.

Speaking of, I need to get out and take more pictures. I need to get more of the Pooler area and parks. I am going to take some on the 19th for the Pooler Centennial.

Caleb,

I deleted all the home photos I had left. Some more were deleted and I am guessing it was because they were similar to other ones. Can you give some examples of photos you are looking for?

For example, which of the following do you WANT to see?

churches (any particular focus here, show different denominations, etc?)

city hall

county court house

post office

local parks

historical buildings

local theaters

local restaurants (I would assume local non-chain restaurants in particular)

golf courses

ball fields

fair grounds (best if done while the fair is there?)

landmarks (we have an old grist mill in town)

schools (public, private, community colleges,4 year colleges, etc.)

Are these the kinds of pictures you want? I am trying to get the right idea so I don't spend time posting them only to cause you to spend time deleting them.

Are blogs about these okay if pictures are not?

Rita

Great comments!

MAY

2007

Thanks Caleb,

I sent you two personal emails about this incident.

MAY

2007

Thank you for keeping Localism and ActiveRAin Clean

MAY

2007

I am a Realtor with a photography background. I will post some great photos of Marina Del Rey and Venice Beach real soon for all those who might be interested.

Been very busy lately, so I will get to it sometime in the next week or so.

MAY

2007

Caleb,

Thanks for the info. I have to say though that I'm a bit frustrated with the fact that I have seen photos uploaded for certain areas that are not really of that area. I get the sense that some Realtors are uploading shots to get the points but, are not really thinking about how the consumer is getting the short end of the stick here. Localism should be about the consumer not just about us jockeying for position and points. In my neck of the woods, (the Charleston, SC tri-county area) I've seen quite a few photos that really belong on different pages of Localism. I can see how this would be very difficult for you to police, and you are probably relying on us to "do the right thing." Any suggestions?

Diane

MAY

2007

Diane,

You are right we are very much depending upon members to help us with this. Not only to do the right thing. But we hope that members will also work to show us where things need to change, when someone is taking advantage of the system, and when things just aren't quite right.

The suggestion is to contact us and let us know. We are slowly working on cleaning things up.

Thank you.

MAY

2007

Thanks for the clarification Caleb.

Kind of not fair that the time and energy exerted with taking pictures and uploading them is deleted and not credited for your efforts and takes away from those that didn't have a set criteria prior to the project though...

Scott

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I honestly didn't know about some of these guidelines.

Scott, thanks and I appreciate that opinion, however there were guidelines initially established and there were obvious violations that got many photos removed. For example the same photo posted 4 times or a very similar photo from a different angle, but the same submitter.

JUN

2007

I noticed the past 2 days that one Realtor has added about 100 photos in my local area--and scored (literally) thousands of points. How is that possible? I'm confused. When you post a photo, unless you have a 50 word story with it, you get no points---you're just posting it for others to enjoy, right??? I post photos for consumers.

JUN

2007

Thanks Kat, we'll look into it.

THANKS MUCH! I better understand the photo thing now--after an all day back and forth commenting session with many helpful ARers. BUT I still think this guy is way out of line and NOT playing by the book--whatever book there is on localism rules--of sorts.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Caleb: You may need to look at Stanislaus County as well as the Tuolumne County for those zillions of possible FAKE photos. Thanks, so far, you've done a GREAT job!

JUN

2007

OK so we took care of the last one, on these two counties you'll have to email me specifics. Thank you.

Good job, Caleb! Thanks

JUN

2007

Nicole has been diligent in her work - I thank her for her efforts in keeping localism well-groomed.

JUN

2007

Thank you for taking the time to let us know of the pictures that are acceptable.

JUN

2007

Typo: "The should be geographic" should be "they"

JUN

2007

Thank you for laying out the guidelines and criteria for Localism photos - this is very helpful to an AR Newbie!

JUL

2007

Has there been any discussion as to write protecting the photos on localism so that others won't steal them?

OCT

2007

I read through all the comments and now know that you get points for posting photos with a description of atleast 50 words ( Not to be confused with posting listings). I have not posted any pictures and would like to try as there is a post on how to post pictures on localism.

How many points do you get for submitting photos to localism?

Gita I believe you are confused. Or maybe I am.

50 words is the minimum for an ActiveRain post to get points. You can post an entry with or without photos.

You don't need 50 words to go with a Localism photo. In fact I don't know that you can post a photo with that many words. I have no idea how many points you get for posting photos. In fact I believe when I posted some there was a sliding scale. First X amount of photos were ____ points and subsequent photos were worth less, or maybe it was more.

Post a photo to Localism to see what points you get.

Thank you for the information. I was just curious because I read all the comments above and how the points jumped etc. with photos. I will try to post photos one of these days. i think someone mentioned about 50 words in one of the comments above. Maybe I misunderstood.

I just put two photos on to see how many words it would take. More than I thought but it certainly not as many words as you wiould use in an entry....

The points NOW (today October 4, 2007... they could change... ) according to Localism are first photo 100 pts. photos 2-10 50 pts. 10+ 25 points.

OCT

2007

It is appalling and demonsterable that ActiveRain would take the position that we are not permitted nor, that it is "acceptable" to post photographs that we have taken of homes in our local communities. The whole idea is absolutely ridiculous! That is exactly the type of information Consumers want to see!

What has happened to you guys? Are you purposely trying to undermine and erode the very community oriented real estate network that you originally created??? Localism.com was supposed to be about community and informing the public, helping the public, providing insight into geographical locations, and more importantly about REAL ESTATE.

I would think you (collectively) would want to focus more of your time on efforts that EXPAND opportunities rather than IMPOSING ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS AND LIMITATIONS.

-Keith

NOV

2007

That's hilarious that you had to spell it out...but welcome to our business! Thanks for defining!

JAN

2008

A take on compliance by Colleen K., dateline 1/4/2008:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/327194/Hello-Washington-Have-You

JAN

2008

I would be okay with removing anything that doesn't fit the standards of Localism. I think I may color outside the lines occasionally in my exhilaration about the rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I for one, do not take much for granted.

There have been snide comments about "tree" photos. Well, let me tell you--if you ever experience an abundance of live oak trees one day and the next day they are uprooted and laying on top of your homes, you may truly appreciate a tree that is standing in magnificent defiance. Tell me you wouldn't stop to gaze at an ancient Live Oak Tree. Many of the ones left standing here are absolutely magnificent.

I remember right after Katrina--noticing it was "QUIET", other than the sounds of tools and hammering. Why did it seem so quiet? Well, of course the trains weren't running. Something else was missing--The Birds. They were gone.

Well, obviously by my photos--They are back. Its awesome and wonderful. If bird photos are too simple and ordinary for localism--, I'll post somewhere else. But the bird population here is part of the Glory of living on the Coast. Leave out the birds, the people, the piers--what do we have?

Ya know what? I think Burger King and Waffle House opening on HWY 90 is nothing short of a miracle. Convenience stores? Hey, in my opinion it is newsworthy that restaurants and gas/convenience stores are opening on HWY 90--NO guts, no Glory. I recently submitted a photo of Shaggy's, a wonderful restaurant that opened in Pass Christian, on the Harbor. This guy is self insured other than the roof. That also means he put his own money into rebuilding the restaurant.

AND-photos taken of locals or visitors enjoying the beach, harbor, or piers "hanging out"--that is the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The way I see it--you can have my photo points and I'll take the photos to a different location. Conveying REAL life is what's important to me. Every person photographed, a bond was created--who knows why? Maybe they felt pumped up that someone thought it important to take their photo and post it; maybe they feel that a photo conveying lifestyle on the Gulf Coast is important.

I admit, I have used Localism and the concept of community to convey some extremely important messages: 1-Local citizens are important and can influence the perception of the Gulf Coast, 2--In spite of the hit we took in 2005 and the painfully slow rebuilding process "Life is Good. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is worth considering for yoru new home. Don't be afraid of joining us!"

Recently I discovered that Localism provided a link to agent photos. I pointed and masked one of my urls to it-- http://mgcrealty.info just so it would be easier for locals to see the work I am doing and understand why I do what I do.

What's the point? I would have contributed the hours of work to localism if the work was pointless.

I humbly thank all of you at Active Rain for creating and monitoring Localism.com . If I have misunderstood the mission, or if I abuse it--tell me, there might be a more appropriate place to submit my photos. It is impossible to convey life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast without including some of the simple things.

The businesses on HWY 90 will always carry the Tagline: "No guts, No Glory" .

gee makes me want to go visit Mississippi on Localism Suzi... I think it is hard to judge outside of a market what are good Localism photos and what are NOT good Localism photos. I know just looking at Localism for my market I noticed a photo or two of trees or a tree and thought AH HA! Yet when I click on the photo and see it bigger there's a rainbow... neat photo. Not sure if it tells someone looking at the area about Central Ohio... but who am I to judge? I think location pictures that show local landmarks are what I thought ActiveRain was asking us to post to Localism way back when. I think in some ways it is also hard to look at photos on Localism in your own market and be objective... because of some of the behavior of members.

I am not much of a photographer but I had taken pictures of a couple of Central Ohio suburbs and posted them to Localism (but took my photos down this morning.) I don't need the points... no one is going to miss MY photos. Newer members had in some cases posted additional photos of the exact same thing... which is OK... their photos were probably better than mine.

I think some of the photos that Colleen posted are OK, lots of them are from MOMA, statues.., some look like they are from parades and local events. I think it is so hard to judge what is acceptable and what is not and new people obviously get confused by what they see... from other members. and a small minority have abused it for points.

So, what makes a neighborhood and a community? People, people in action, events--I would be agreeable to take my points but don't censure my definition of the essence of our community. It is fishing, trains, rebuilding, sometimes is photographing what's left after disaster.

I am taking some down now. I have included many photos in a photo/blog anyway. I can see where the purpose of a crooked Long Beach sign no longer has meaning, where as one time it meant -we stand, maybe precariously, but we are here.

Speaking of signs, you don't tend to miss those until they're gone either. Maybe I have used Localism in a way I shouldn't have. I will improve and edit the past. That's a cool thought, huh? Edit the past. I'm on it:-)

Wow, we've got blog posts inside of blog posts! I'm glad to see so many passionately defending what they believe Localism should be about. Isn't that really what it's all about? Who determines what does and doesn't belong? We all have our own views and opinions of what our communities stand for and what makes them unique from others.

Sorry, guys--I got off on a tangent. My son thinks I went off the deep end over the MGC Live Oak Trees. I named the ones in my back yard (darn, I wish I had pictures cuz they're gone now).

Are you telling Maureen and I we could have received blog points? I can cut and paste:--).

One other pointless point--then I'm out of here, "Let's not take the simple things for granted."

PS: I am exercizing the delete key at localim. It is painless.

JAN

2008

Colleen's post is gone? Or I am blocked? I saw a comment from someone whose pictures were included in the collage, angry or hurt that her photos were being challenged.

FEB

2008

Not to dredge this up again but in looking at the pics for both DE CT I see some pics that definitely dont fall under these guidelines. I had seen a post from 2007 that you could flag them for review but I guess it was either never done or pulled.

I also had heard a reviewer was hired but I'm sure they are swamped with stuff to do.

And on a same note the map feature for Delaware shows up as Germany, who by chance, the intials for are DE. Any chance that can be fixed?

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