ActiveBob.....It's always Raining!

Our network is being plagued by cut and paste content! So today we hired a new team member. Let me introduce you to Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'.

We are a community of PROFESSIONALS! 99% of you understand that. Harlen has been brought on to ensure that  the 1% who are bringing the rest of us down are dealt with. He has assured us that his relentless pursuit of justice for the holders of copyright protection will be unmatched. He has guaranteed to crush copyright infringement in 30 days or we don't have to pay him (can't beat that). How you might ask? well............

Every time you submit a post on Activerain you see this:

Some of you choose to ignore it. Some of you think that since you have gotten away with it before, you will continue to get away with it. You will not. Today, on his first day on the job, Harlen suspended the accounts of four members who had previously been warned about this type of behavior. One member had over 150,000 points. That's a lot of time wasted copying content and trying to pass it off as your own. Please, Harlen implores you, do not be the next person this happens to. He will be hunting content to the far and wide reaches of the network and running that content in Google to find the original author.

If you see someone copying content, leave a link to this post in their comment section. Warn them about Harlen and his 'Copyright Crusade'. Because if Harlen sees it before it's pulled down, the first offense will be a two week suspension. No questions asked. (Harlen thinks this is really lenient. Read that image above again.......it says "Posting copyrighted material without permission WILL result in being removed from ActiveRain")

The second time will be a ban from the network. Harlen has guaranteed this garbage will STOP!!! Plagiarism is polluting a network that thousands of people have poured their heart and soul in to making stellar. Harlen promises you that plagiarizers will no longer leave their mark on ActiveRain.

We have something very special here at ActiveRain. Your participation here is not a right, it is a privilege. By abusing that priviledge you are making yourself, and more importantly, the rest of ActiveRain look very unprofessional. Our community guidelines say: ActiveRain is a place where real estate professionals can network with their peers and discuss industry insider topics. It is also a public forum where consumers can pull back the curtain and see what the real estate industry is really about.

Do we really want consumers pulling back that curtain and seeing plagiarism, stealing and dishonest gaming? Harlen does not!!! Harlen believes that we all learned about plagiarism in elementary school. He remembers his fifth grade teacher Mrs. Robinson sending him to the principals office when he copied a passage from Marcus Valerius Martial without citing it:

"Why, simpleton, do you mix your verses with mine? What have you to do, foolish man, with writings that convict you of theft? Why do you attempt to associate foxes with lions, and make owls pass for eagles? Though you had one of Ladas's legs, you would not be able, blockhead, to run with the other leg of wood." - Marcus Valerius Martial

Here is a great resource for what you can and can't do: The wise advice of Lenn Harley

(This is not a joke, even though it is kind of funny)

My wife and I took a drive today on our way to watch our son run his cross country match today.....more on this in my next post.

What we did discover is the wonderful change of the season, and we surly have missed taking a lazy Saturday ride to enjoy it.

This adventure was to Lancaster County portion of Pennsylvania, and it brought back many memories of the days we spent there with the kids when they were small.

The season's change and we all need to take the time to enjoy the beauty of them.

The Dan Brudnok - John McGovern Team
We appreciate your referrals!!!!!!!

Keller Williams Real Estate
Dan - direct @ 610-256-7258
John - direct @ 610-331-9964
Office - main @ 610-363-4300

Click here for the most up to date Real Estate market conditions where you live......

Search the 7 County Philadelphia market for homes for sale at:www.DanBrudnok.com

400 Village Walk , Exton
http://danieljbrudnok.point2agent.com/Listing/VirtualTour.ashx?listingid=1840565

We have some talented writers here on the staff of ActiveRain (present company excluded). Between the staff, you'd think we would be able to come up with a succinct 'About us' description; something that really nails the essence of the community. Alas, after hundreds of drafts, thousands of red pen marks and way too many hours spent trying to nail the perfect 'About us', we have decided to solicit your help.

At the bottom of every page on ActiveRain is the 'about' link. The introduction on that page gives everyone who ever wanted to learn about our community their first introduction to who we are. You can imagine why it's so hard to nail it. What ActiveRain is about to you may not be the same as the person with whom you are battling for first in your city. In fact, ask twenty different people and you are likely to get 20 different answers.

We need you to help us write the 'about us' language for ActiveRain.

You can find the current 'about us' piece here at the top of that page.

The winning selection will agree to let ActiveRain have the rights to the submission and we will use it not only on the about page, but in lots of stuff we do in the future.

The winning selection also gets:

1. 5000 ActiveRain points
2. Two ActiveRain T-shirts
3. A Localism Jacket
4. Our love and adoration
5. A free yearlong sponsorship of a community on Localism
6. A free pass to kick off anyone else on ActiveRain that you choose (OK, this one is a joke.......but too good to resist)

A few things to consider:

• All entries must be submitted by Wednesday October 8th at 11:59pm Pacific Time.
• We are looking for something between 150-200 words (2 paragraphs). The more succinct the better.
• All entries become the property of ActiveRain (I'm not a lawyer, but the idea is we want the right to use the stuff you write)
• Entries should be sent to bob at the name of this website or through the contact link on my ActiveRain profile page

Last week we added Jeff Corbett, known to many of you as 'The X Broker', to the team here at ActiveRain. We are very excited that Jeff accepted our offer to come on board and take over the the Business Development and Operations duties here at ActiveRain.

For those of you not familiar with Jeff, you can read about him and some of his thought provoking opinions on his personal blog, thexbroker.com. Jeff has years of industry knowledge under his belt having previously run his own home building company, mortgage brokerage and real estate brokerage. Most recently Jeff developed a transparent wholesale mortgage rate and pricing engine (there's no short and quick way to explain something that brings this much transparency to an industry that needs it). The most recent project brought him face to face with most of the real estate technology leaders that are shaping the future of technology in this space.

Those of us here at ActiveRain have had the pleasure of getting to know Jeff over the last few years and Jon felt like he was a great fit for our team. In addition to liking Jeff personally, he brings a diverse skill set that compliments our current team as well as fills in some gaps.

On a personal level, all the guys (and Claire) here at ActiveRain get along really well. We hang out together outside of work and we genuinely like each other. Keeping that continuity in tact was important...........the fact him and Jon sport similar hairdos didn't hurt either.

(........I have choosen to forgive Jeff for being a Buffalo Bills fan only because he grew up in Buffalo. We have agreed that he will not mention the shellacking his Bills gave my Seahawks as everyone knows our top four receivers were out and if we got them at full strength we would destroy them)

So stop by Jeff's post and welcome him officially to the ActiveRain staff.

As Bob Stewart announced, I formally joined the team at ActiveRain last week.  To say I'm stoked would be an understatement.  The culture is great, working with a core team of talented people in this space has been an aspiration of mine for quite some time. 

I was reflecting on this personal desire when Jon Washburn serendipitously called me (very) recently, broached the subject and took my temperature regarding coming to Seattle to work with the AR crew. It didn't take long (3 days actually) to decide that this would be a great fit for me and hopefully the community as a whole. 

As i typically do when making a decision that carries any consequence, I weighed out the pros and cons of coming to work at AR...I'd like to share my top 5 pro's (Bob and his love for the Seahawks was really the only 'con' but I was able to look past that since my Buffalo Bills stomped all over his beloved football team).

5)  I've always been interested in Seattle as a city to live in, home to many companies in the 'Web 2.0' space.  Living in New York, North Carolina, Texas, and California, Seattle was the logical next stop on my horseshoe tour of thecountry.

4)  Being called a (AR) God has been a secret desire of mine for quite some time ;)  Seriously though, having the ability to make a positive impact on an industry I love via such a diverse and respected community like ActiveRain has me floating around like an elevated spirit :)

3)  The Opportunity.  While I can't discuss whats 'coming down the pipe' at AR, Localism etc (Jon has a gag order on me) to say that the collective vision of where this company is going is 'exciting', doesn't do it justice.

2)  The Community.  I joined AR as a member over two years ago and the community really taught me how to blog, find my voice and otherwise advance the relative skills to do well in this space.  I indirectly (and now directly) attribute much of the success I've had to the great people I've met via AR.  To now be part of this community, internally as well as a member, is pretty surreal.  'Pay it forward' is the appropriate colloquialism here...

1)  The Team.  From the top down, Jon the CEO to Bob the Janitor (j/k, Bob knows this), the individuals who are part of this company are brilliant, progressive thought leaders and genuinely good people.  Being part of a greater team rather than a lone wolf is the number one reason I took this wonderful opportunity. 

Anywhoo...I look forward to fostering and furthering the evolution of this company in my roles of business development and operations.  The sky really isn't the limit here, its just thebeginning.

P.S. Hopefully the mortgage contingency here on AR doesn't revolt, rebel, torch the palce and leave...I'm a pretty reasonable guy who just happens to be passionate about what he's involved with, that now continues withActiveRain ;)