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No ‘Rain, No Gain!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with 3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA DRE# 01864774

Many of us use AR as our main tool to keep connected with our clients and to attract new clients. And if AR is down, we can’t connect. And if we can’t connect, we can’t make money...ActiveRain was down yesterday... for much of the day. (Ouch!) 

Many of us use AR as our main tool to keep connected with our clients and to attract new clients. And if AR is down, we can’t connect. And if we can’t connect, we can’t make money...

No ‘Rain, No Gain!

ActiveRain’s new CEO, Niki Parekh, talked about the incident in his post, “Welcome to ActiveRain: My First Week on the Job.”

My sympathies to Niki. Having the entire network crash for a day was a pretty tough way to start your first week at the helm of a company.

In his post, Niki referenced Twitter’s “Fail Whale” image that displays whenever Twitter runs into "overcapacity" issues with too much traffic.

It’s a nice way to let Twitter users to know that they didn’t click the wrong button... that they are in the right place... but that Twitter is currently unavailable.

Niki then posed the question, “Should ActiveRain have a Fail Whale image?  What would it be?”

Well, being in a creative mood this morning, I spent a little time and came up with the following two possibilities:

No ‘Rain, No Gain! No ‘Rain, No Gain!

Of course, ideally ActiveRain should never go down. But if it does, when it does, I think it would be nice to know that I’m in the right place, but that AR is currently unavailable. 

Copyright ©2011 Bill Burchard

Posted by
 

 Serving home buyers and sellers in Murrieta with homes for sale, foreclosures, REO‘s, & short sales.Content provided by Bill Burchard
3B Realty

Serving the real estate needs of Southern California home buyers and home sellers.

Willaim Burchard, Broker, REALTOR®
 DRE# 01864774
Cell: 951-347-3818
Email: 
Bill@my3BRealty.com`

Comments (23)

Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Very creative. I gave up after a few tries yesterday. Since it doesn't happen often it really didn't bother me. I'd like a picture though to tell me it isn't me!

Apr 23, 2011 12:31 PM
Sidney Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula
Realty Works Temecula - Temecula, CA
Realty Works Temecula

Bill:  Thanks for the update....You've filled me in on lots of things with this short post with nice pics! (Glad I didn't miss anything yesterday, while out with clients!!!)

Apr 23, 2011 01:36 PM
Richard Weisser
Richard Weisser Realty - Newnan, GA
Richard Weisser Retired Real Estate Professional

Bill...

"No Rain, No Gain!!!" I like that.

Featured in the Group "Whacked!!!"

Apr 23, 2011 01:42 PM
Judi Boad
ACCURATE REALTY GROUP - Seattle, WA

Hi Bill~

I'm with you. We can't expect anything to be 100% all the time. I checked several times yesterday to make sure Active Rain was indeed down and it wasn't me. Some sort of sign would be great to let us know.

My vote is for the girl with the umbrella! Even a sharp dressed woman with an umbrella would be a nice visual to let us know there are glitches being worked out.

Thanks for the info...

Apr 23, 2011 01:58 PM
Roy Johnson
Resident Realty - Denver, CO
Resident Realty

Hope they credit us paying members.

Apr 23, 2011 02:16 PM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Thanks Stacey!  I was having withdrawals, too, and so were some of my associates. (We were emailing each other just to confirm it wasn’t our own computers or network connections!)

Hey Brian! Thanks for all the compliments!  (The Kokopelli Rain Dancer is my favorite, too.)

Hello, Lyn. I kept trying throughout the day. Even when I was getting my hair cut, I sat in the chair, whipped out my Droid, and tried to open my blog… and got nothin’!

Hey Jane!  Glad you found the info useful. Sounds like you had a productive day, given that you were out with clients. (The weather was very accommodating yesterday… a beautiful day to view homes in Temecula’s Wine Country!)

Hi Richard! Thanks so much featuring me in “Whacked!” I sincerely appreciate the shout-out!

Hi Judi.  I think the girl with the umbrella is very cute. (It was the first image I came up with.) But then I started to think about showing an image of someone doing a rain dance, and that’s how I came up with the second image… which I like a little better than the first. I think  your suggestion of a sharp dressed woman with an umbrella is a good idea, too. But whatever image they choose, I agree that it would be nice to have something that lets us Rainmakers know the site is having problems, and not our computers or internet connections.

Hi Roy. It will be interesting to see if AR comes up with some sort of dispensation.

Apr 23, 2011 03:13 PM
Jennifer Fivelsdal
JFIVE Home Realty LLC | 845-758-6842|162 Deer Run Rd Red Hook NY 12571 - Rhinebeck, NY
Mid Hudson Valley real estate connection

Bill I like both however my favorite is the one with the little girl; much prettier than the whale:)

Apr 23, 2011 04:04 PM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Hi Jennifer! Thanks for the compliment! (The little girl image is cute, isn’t it?)

Apr 23, 2011 10:33 PM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

You’re welcome, Lynda. (And I feel the same way about the two images!)

Apr 24, 2011 06:19 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

The photo of the empty wallet says it all!

Apr 24, 2011 07:02 AM
Pat Haddad, ABR, CRS, ePRO, GRI
Keller Williams Indianapolis Metro NE - Carmel, IN
Carmel, Fishers, Westfield IN Real Estate Expert

Really good post Bill--worthy of a suggest!  You shared lots of info many members may not have been aware of.  I think I am going to have to go with the little girl---that kind of sums up how I felt without the rain.  It is always a good idea to shoot over AR's facebook page to fine out what is happening.

Apr 24, 2011 05:39 PM
Emily Read
Salt Lake City, UT

Very creative, Bill. It was an odd feeling yesterday, wasn't it? I felt bad for Niki too - some of the member's were a little harsh.. Ah well - let's hope they've found a long term solution (fingers crossed)

Apr 24, 2011 05:43 PM
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Bill,

It was weird, plus our Internet was down Saturday, and today AR was down for a long time...hope this is the last of it.  I have to say, the AR crew is great. A

Apr 25, 2011 02:12 PM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Hey Renee!  How ironic that I couldn’t log onto the ‘Rain for most of today because the site was done... again!  (And I fully expected to see your pups adorned in bunny ears!)  ;)

Hi Pat!  Thanks for the “Suggest!”  And when AR went down today, I used AR’s Facebook page to see what was going on. (Thanks for the tip!)

Hello Emily. Yep, being without the ‘Rain for a day was odd... My wife could detect my anxiousness and said I was going through withdrawals!  (lol)

Hi Alexandra!  I agree... the AR crew is great!  In my previous business life, I was in tech support... So I know the stress and frustration that they were experiencing. I’m confident that they were doing everything they could to get AR up and running.

Apr 25, 2011 02:33 PM
Sandy Acevedo
951-290-8588 - Chino Hills, CA
RE/MAX Masters, Inland Empire Homes for Sale

Hi Bill, You are very creative and I think both the pictures are worthy. I really do wish, they had something to let us know. But, today for the first time I found out that they posted on Facebook. So I will have to run that one down.

Apr 25, 2011 04:14 PM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Hi Sandy. The Facebook page was useful to keep up with what was happening… and so was AR’s Twitter feed. (And thanks for the compliment!)

Apr 25, 2011 06:28 PM
Sheila Newton Team Anderson & Greenville SC
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices - C. Dan Joyner - Anderson, SC
Selling the Upstate since 1989

I LOVE the second one!! great idea Bill!! The first one is cute but the second is the bomb

Apr 26, 2011 07:48 AM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Thanks Sheila!

Apr 27, 2011 12:52 AM
Tatyana Makarov
Century 21 All Points Realty - South Windsor, CT
Your Greater Hartford Area Realtor

Very cute, Bill.

And yes, I feel bad when AR has technical problems... I guess I am addicted to it :)

Tatyana.

Apr 27, 2011 01:17 AM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Hi Tatyana. Yep... I went through withdrawals, too, when AR was down. Glad it’s up-and-working again! (And thanks for the compliment!)

Apr 27, 2011 01:40 AM