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Recent ActiveRain Features and an Apology From Our Team

By Bob Stewart

Services for Real Estate Pros with ActiveRain

June 02, 2010 08:01 PM

We recently made a mistake by featuring a few posts that we believe violated our community guidelines, and by doing so we believe we harmed the reputation of this network of professionals. Our entire team apologizes for this and I take full responsibility as one of the posts was something I featured.

As a result of this snafu we revamped our methodology for featuring posts and even added the 'suggest' button. In the future, we will make every effort to only feature posts that reflect our quest to "represent our industry in as true and professional of a light as possible".

This doesn't mean we will shy away from controversial posts or that we will stop defending our member's rights to express unpopular points of view. We don't always agree on things amongst our team, just like our members don't always agree on everything. Among our team we always strive to treat each other with respect and we expect our members to do the same. Varying opinions is part of what makes our community great. Respecting each other is what will allow us to continue to challenge the status quo and continue to refine our industry.

All that being said, our community guidelines have served us well to this point and a renewed focus on the tenets of our community are important as we choose which posts to feature. We know this, and we take it very seriously.

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Bob Stewart

ActiveRain - Seattle, WA

ActiveRain Ambassador

Bill,

Please stop. You are making a few assumptions that are incorrect. Ambassadors are not paid. I would be curious to learn where you 'read' that information. It's not correct. Ambassadors are there to assist people that ask for help. You weren't contacted in your two years......did you reach out for any help? If you did, and you were ignored, then I apologize. Knowing the people we have as Ambassadors, I would find that hard to believe. That however, is not the point of this post. For some reason, you have chosen to jump on Maureen and start a conversation about Ambassadors (because you perceive that she 'belittled' you)

No one is trying to belitte you. You need to relax. I'll let you deal with the next five disputes that arise here in the Rain and you will QUICKLY realize that not everything is black and white as you would like to suggest. In the forum you are speaking about as this perfect union of moderation and participation, people don't know each other. There is nowhere near the level of personal interaction as there is here on ActiveRain. It's different. You might not agree with that, but it is.

If you would like to continue this conversation offline, over the phone, I would be happy to do that.

This is my post, and I will be taking the last word. If you have additional comments, please send them to me via email or call me to discuss them, do not leave them here.

Jun 05, 2010 06:16 AM

John Cannata

214-728-0449 http://TexasLoanGuy.com - Frisco, TX

Texas Home Mortgage - Purchase or Refinance

Looks like I missed some of the excitement and I am glad I did. Sometimes people will post things in a certain manner and they are not always perceived that way. Instead, the reader could be offended. I've seen the AR peeps clean it up and even remove people from the AR community because of their posts. It doesnt happen often. I think you guys do the best you can and continue to keep us in line. This is a very active site, so it could have easily gotten out of control years ago if you were not as involved as you are.

Thanks for keeping things somewhat neutral.

Jun 05, 2010 08:03 AM

Maria Morton

Platinum Realty - Kansas City, MO

Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

Guess I missed something but it's good to know that it's been taken care of in the efficient style of AR.

Jun 05, 2010 09:52 AM

Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Retired Home Stager/Redesign

Bob-I missed the offending post(s) so have no idea about the controversy and will not comment on that.

I will say "Thank You" for demonstrating what an adult, mature professional does when he/she makes a mistake. Now, go out and show some of our Mega-corporate heads (and political leaders) how to admit a mistake or wrong-doing and apologize.

Jun 05, 2010 02:09 PM

Gail Gladstone

Gladstone Group & Long Island Business Brokerage - Huntington, NY

Brokering Success

We are in very good hands.

Jun 06, 2010 04:58 AM

Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman

Liberty Homes - Mililani, HI

(RA) AHWD CRS ePRO OAHU HAWAII REAL ESTATE

As always Bob..you are ever so diplomatic and always willing to step up to the plate...a lot more than most folks :)

If I whine can I get a feature? lol

Jun 06, 2010 10:24 AM

William James Walton Sr.

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Briotti Group - Waterbury, CT

Greater Waterbury Real Estate

Jeff, you said "like some people defend their so called intellectual property." Now that's what you call a good back-handed smack.

Sally - I dunno. Maybe you should wager that a post won't get featured.

TLW - we need the RainJacked Gang up in here. I'm too wet behind the ears to fully participate yet, but I'm learning ;-)

Bob, you really do know how to take charge when you need to, eh? Wow, wow, wow...

Jun 06, 2010 11:46 AM

William James Walton Sr.

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Briotti Group - Waterbury, CT

Greater Waterbury Real Estate

Jeff, you said "like some people defend their so called intellectual property." Now that's what you call a good back-handed smack.

Sally - I dunno. Maybe you should wager that a post won't get featured.

TLW - we need the RainJacked Gang up in here. I'm too wet behind the ears to fully participate yet, but I'm learning ;-)

Bob, you really do know how to take charge when you need to, eh? Wow, wow, wow...

Jun 06, 2010 11:46 AM

"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.

President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

William...

I tried to get them over here. I think they're either busy or X (Jeff) scares the living crap outta of 'em. He does that to some people :)

And you know...

WidowMaker (Bob) normally has a high tolerance for the crap. As you can see he met his crap quota for the week :)

WidowMaker...

Looks like we've got a rumor problem again. If it's not a rumor, then you owe me money. Lots of it :)

Okay...

Who needs a binky? I have a couple extra. I can let you borrow one, but my younger grand children will want them back :)

TLW...ROAR!

Jun 06, 2010 12:01 PM

"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.

President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

Member Spotlight

Jeff Corbett (7DS Associates)

Why? Because we love bald men, that's why!

Now that cracked me up. I almost want to send you the bill for the damage to my monitor WidowMaker :)

Jun 07, 2010 04:51 AM

Pat & Steve Pribisko

Keller Williams Greater Cleveland West - Westlake, OH

I'm glad to hear you are monitoring posts. And, the apology for a mistake is great.

Jun 07, 2010 06:11 AM

Rich Jacobson

Fathom Realty West Sound - Poulsbo, WA

Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Broker

Go Celtics!!!

Jun 07, 2010 08:58 PM

Jason Sardi

Auto & Home & Life Insurance throughout North Carolina - Charlotte, NC

Your Agent for Life

Beat LA, beat LA, beat LA!!!

Jun 08, 2010 12:49 AM

Todd Clark - Retired

eXp Realty LLC - Tigard, OR

Principle Broker Oregon

Bob, it sounds like this has gone way off the original subject. So, since that being the case, I'm going to go back to the hate speech now. I want everyone to know "I HATE TOMATOES" If you don't like my opinion, too bad! Get over it, heck since I'm in such a hating mood, I hate fresh Strawberries also! Remember hate speech can only do one thing for you! Eliminate people that will hire you! If a client reads something from you that is hateful, they will not hire you!

Jun 08, 2010 06:05 AM

Sharon Parisi

United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX

Dallas Homes

Bob, Your apology is well written. Many of us obviously missed the posts you are referring to on this page.

Jun 08, 2010 01:33 PM

"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.

President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

Y'all...

Just gotta pay attention on Friday and Saturday nights. That's when the Big Dogs and Cats come out to play in the Rain :)

TLW...ROAR!

Jun 09, 2010 12:50 AM

Aaron Silverman

SuccessfulRental.com, Bluewater Property Management, LLC and Lowcountry Turnkey Properties, LLC - Charleston, SC

Improving Real Estate Experience through Education

Impressive that ya'll publicly addressed the a concern such as this. Although I am not sure which feature blogs you are referring to, you earned my respect. I do not read the feature posts very often. Aaron

Jun 10, 2010 09:55 PM

Christine Donovan

Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA

Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Bob - Your willingness to admit a perceived error simply adds to the respect I have for all of you and what you have created here.

Jun 12, 2010 06:06 PM

Amanda Evans

DFW Living - Fort Worth, TX

Real Estate Broker - Fort Worth Texas

One of those posts has been changed so many times now that I think all of the question marks have been replaced with periods.

Jun 15, 2010 03:45 PM

Melanie Hedrick

Elite Texas Properties, the best homes from McKinney to Dallas! - McKinney, TX

972-816-7205

Good job, Bob, and good luck with keeping 180,000+ people perfectly happy! AR is responsible for what they approve to be featured. However, we're all responsible for the way we choose to react individually. I've seen some posts that I didn't care for but they weren't nearly as memorable as some of the disappointing comments that followed.

Jun 19, 2010 11:36 AM