Once Again Active Rain "Fixes" Something that Wasn't Broken !

Jon, I have clicked on the Leaderboard link, and as far as I can see at first glance, it works for me.  I understand that you have not included the 200 character blurb, so let me work with it awhile, and if I can make a suggestion to you, I till.

I also like the way you have it set up for the entire Membership, and then state by state, and broken down into counties and cities.  That pretty much takes care of my main concern as far as the tying together of the Community'ness of our Members.

I have some other concerns about a few members I have seen who are listed very high up on some of the rankings, who have not EVER done a post, or have been dormant for over six to twelve months.  Have you ever thought of deleting these memberships ?  It does look pretty silly to have someone ranked Number Two in a county, and check them out and find they have not participated at all.  Just a suggestion.

Back to the Newbie Educator.  Here is an example of one of the Newbie Tutorials I have shared with Newbie members.  Using the Active Rain "Groups" Feature .  They usually go over pretty well.  I will send you some additional links to some of the other Newbie Tutorials I have done.

Jenny:  You have always been a troublemaker... and I didn't want to spoil your perfect record... LOL.  No, not to worry.  This has been going on for two days, and everyone involved is on edge.  But, since it was you, and you are such a special person, I turned the off switch back to on... and shared with you.

I was glad to share... even with such a trouble-maker such as you.  Hope you are doing well.  And, I hope you noticed that I did not ONLY talk about "States" but about "Provinces" as well.  So there !

Jenny in # 196:  It is my pleasure to help.  And no, I have not disappeared.  I think that Corporate, after hearing my pleas, will listen more to all the others who disagree with what they have done, and what they have taken away.  There are perhaps seven blog posts on this subject that are active right now.  Some are critical of the changes, some very critical, and also the typical apple polishers out there, who don't really know what they are missing.  And, I understand that.  These are things they don't care about, so they diss them for everyone else.

You make some excellent points.

I will try and go through them from my point of view.  I would also like Jon to do the same, if he would be so kind, and let HIM answer you, instead of me.  He is the captain, he runs the ship.

1)  You just make a Localism-type post, and the automatic robots are supposed to pick it, when they have been doing a typical robot-crappy job of.

2)  Position One and Two get the full blurb, I guess cuz AR didn't think it was a big deal to take it away from everyone else.  They said it was not "consumer friendly"... or didn't invite consumer clicks on the page.  My answer... baloney.  You are proof, that you got business from it, and now that is gone. 

3)  Photo size... cuz they didn't think it mattered.  It was not important to them, although it was to everyone else.  The blurb was a major advertisement, and was right there next to all the rest, so if your blurb was a good one, you really stood out as someone to follow up with, by clicking on, and going to your page.  Now, just the thumbnail picture... that is IT.

That paragraph you printed in bold... to me, that is baloney.  Jon said that the traffic was very low, and I believe...  but it was not bringing income to him, only to those like you and me.  What they did, was change the Province pages from what we had, to just another one... of the many pages we had... Localism type pages, that were boring as hell.

4)  Crawling... fine.  I don't know WHY the spiders crawling on the former page had to become KING of determining if the page stayed or disappeared.  People saw the page, and WE saw the page.  The spiders won, I guess.

5)  From what I have seen... looking at MANY of these Province, State and City pages... the posts have NOT been refreshed.  In order to have that done... the ROBOTS cannot be in charge of it.  Someone who is familiar with the cities and states involved has to look at it.  The ROBOTS are automatic, and they have been putting up automatic crap... just as one would expect a robot to do... in a people-oriented situation.

I will try and post a comment with as many links to the individual posts both Jonathan Washburn, and others, have made.

Jenny, please make use of this post, and any of the rest of MY posts, as often as you wish.  And, puhleeze, don't be bashful... make your comments as long as you need them to be.  This is a TEAM.  Active Rain is a TEAM.  Together Everyone Achieves More.

It is my pleasure to be able to help, Miz Kotulak... the Queen of Oakville.  Hope you are well.

Now... Jon, I would love to hear your answers as well, to Jenny's questions... one by one.  I know some of her questions are repeats, but I would like to hear sort of a "recap" as to perhaps what the "evolved" positions and answers are.  Thanks a bunch.

From my perspective, it appears that the state and province and city pages are all turning into "Localism" pages... more or less.  And, from what I have seen, they will not be "moderated" as to content, but just be on automatic robot pilot.

Amanda: Yes, you are still number two in both Fort Worth and Tarrant County, even though you have not posted in quite a while.  You have a big lead over number three.

And... the "blog" button.  I don't know what you mean by that ?

BUT... in both Fort Worth and Tarrant... your picture is missing.  It is the standard "blue head" outline.  You need to re-load a digital picture.  The older photos to not make it to the city and county pages now that they have changed them.

And... I have just looked at both the city and county pages, and they both have been "played" or "gamed"... and the top four posts are all "listings" rather than articles of real Local interest.  But... Active Rain seems to think that's what will attract visitors.  I think it's a mistake, but what do I know ?  So, upload a new higher-pixel digital picture, and it will go back up on the city and county pages.  Hope all is well with you and your family.  And... whatever happened with Adam ?

Ally:  Nice to see you again, as well. Unfortunately, I agree with you as far as the new pages looking weird.

Yes, they have made some changes on the State/Province Page, and on the County page as well, but all they have done is destroy them by turning them into just one more Localism page... and we all know how well Localism has been received.  And, one of the major problems with these new versions of Localism/State/Province/County pages... is that the post that go on them are controlled by Robots. 

So, nobody... no human... has a clue as to what appears there... until it gets there.  No human actually "chooses" the posts... which means they can easily be "gamed" by the writers of the posts... which... is already happening.  But, enough of that.

I just went to your profile page.  I looked at your ReMax website, and noticed you do not have a link to it on your AR blog page under links.  I suggest you put one there.  Also, above you mention you have a WordPress... either blog or website.  Could you give me a link to it so I could take a peek.

I have been playing around with two WordPress.com blogs I started... just to try and use them to LEARN WordPress.  For me, it isn't easy, since I am NOT a techie person.  Here is a link to one of them.  MyOlderSister's Blog .  It is nothing monumental, just some personal stories, but I wanted to at least start practicing on WordPress... just in case I needed an alternative to Active Rain.  So please... give me a link you yours. 

And, I don't know about Active Rain "privates, generals and majors" and such, but it appears they have adopted a "Drill Sergeant" mentality recently.  But, obviously, that is their right, since they own the thing... LOL.

Just think... on WordPress... you aren't a private or a sergeant, but a Queen.  Nice promotion, huh ?

Funny thing about the word "sergeant."  It comes from the French and the Latin, and originally meant "one who serves."  How things change.

Fred:  First of all... as far as being a Featured Post... if you will read the comments above, two of Active Rain's all-time Super Stars, Missy Caulk and Margaret Woda, both hit the "suggest" button, recommending that this post be made a "Featured Post."  They must have thought it was a good idea.

As I mentioned above in one of the comments, someone wanted to re-blog it, and could NOT because it was originally a MEMBERS ONLY post.  They asked me to make it a public post so they could re-blog it, which I did.  So, I had already thought of what you said about dirty laundry... but was asked to make it public.

But, then again, all over Washington, DC... one of the current buzz words is "transparency" as well as "full disclosure."  If something is happening, and it is negative, why keep it hidden ?

As far as making positive suggestions... you should read the comments before you make such accusations.  Please.  That is not fair.  I have made many, many positive suggestions, and have made them and made them over and over again, until I am... as they say... Blue in The Face.  So please.  So have many others on this post... made positive suggestions.

Active Rain is a Team Concept vehicle.  If we cannot both offer praise and criticism... where is the "give and take" spirit ?

And Gee Whiz, Fred.  It appears you have written a "negative rant" about what you are calling a "negative rant."   Do you see where I am going with this ?

Also, Fred.  I invited you here to make a comment... either positive or negative.  Full Disclosure.  Transparency.  I am not fearful of being criticized.  I could even learn something.  Having someone possibly open my eyes to something I had not previously considered... is a good thing.  And, I take that... as being a positive approach. 

And, I am glad you made your comment.  Take care... and have a great weekend.

And by the way,  Fred... enough of this "Sold Sign" stuff, ok ?

John:  Yes... in the words of the great Rosanne Rosannadanna... it's always something.  Funny thing... they still haven't learned to just leave it alone if it's working.

And wow, John... you went all the way back two years to find this post to comment on.  What a guy !

                                          July 5, 2012