Like most mornings, I was reading my morning reading (and removing) here on ActiveRain and I came across the post by Jeff Belonger - I can't do it anymore...... I am LOSING it.... HELP!!! In it, he is talking about how hard it is keep up with all the posts here at ActiveRain. 
In it, fellow moderator Laurie Manny commented:
"Hmmmmmmm, where do I start here? When we first started moderating it was a stretch but still possible to go through most of the professional posts to feature for AR and to skim most of the consumer posts to feature for Localism. That is no longer possible. We have broken the day up into shifts and have been short handed since Mark has taken ill. Even with the shifts it has become difficult to get through several hours of posts. Add finding the time to write our own posts to AR and to our personal blogs....
By the way, the flagging system does not work. It has been down for months. Email Caleb if you have a major issue, deal with the small ones on your own if you can, he is swamped too. We are all VERY busy and just trying to keep up with it all.
Oh and by the way, the moderators remove ads, listings and market reports from professional. If you are seeing 100 a day, imagine what we are removing. We ask politely over and over again for everybody to not post there because it doubles our job, but members still post there"
I chuckled when she said she fell asleep at her desk yesterday. Last night I feel asleep with my laptop in my lap on my couch trying to do what she mentioned we do a lot of -- removing ads listings and market reports from the Professional Category.
I know that Laurie went through last night before she went to bed and removed such posts, I just went through and removed a bunch more -- I know exactly where she left off. Like she probably saw where I left off.
I talk with a lot of members and the feedback I am getting is that the members don't want to see these things, that if they want to they can use the pull down menus to review these types of posts. So let's review what belongs in each category:
F
or real estate professionals
- ActiveRain Community - things that talk about Active Rain, testimonials, I love AR, Localism things like Week In Review, Flat Stanley Project and this post
- Industry News - NAR, State Association and Local Association news, Mortgage, tax etc.
- Tips and Advice - This type of post should be information that will help your fellow Real Estate Professional
- Real State Opinions - These should be about what is going on in the industry and is truly your opinion
- Off Topic, humor, etc -- jokes, fun posts and posts regarding things that are not Real Estate related.
- Advertising - You have a service that you want to advertise to a Real Estate professional
For Consumers (Posted to Localism.com)
- General Information - General Information about an area, if you are writing about a community in a city, it should be posted in the community not at the state level. Posts should include community related links and the such.
- About A region - Overview of the area, about schools, parks, social groups, tourist attractions, etc. This is not where Market Reports or listings should be posted.
- Regional News and Events -- Posts about local specific events, news that someone moving or living in that community would find useful
- Market Reports - Anything to do with what is happening in the area, Mortgage rates etc. How many homes listed/sold/pending, etc.
- Advertise a Listing - Here is where you should place your listings. Now this is important: If you click here -- DON'T click For real estate professionals too!
Now that I have your attention, let's also talk about Visibility of your posts.
- Public - Everyone can see your post
- Associates Only - Only those that you have associated with will be able to see it
- Draft - you can save a draft before publishing. Giving you the ability to stop mid stream to writing a post.
- Members Only - This is important one -- if you don't want the general public to see then this should be checked. It also is not sent to the search engines.
Yes there are times that is is appropriate to post both to Professional and Consumer side. But for the most part, posts should be one or the other.
Ok, I hope this helps explain things a little better.
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