In Jon’s post welcoming Rich to the fold, he mentioned that we are hoping to attend more functions across the country in the coming year. After sitting next to Matt while flying across the country for the Real Estate Connect conference, I have to say, I could not agree more. Here’s why........
On the airplane, we had no access to the internet. So I basically had Matt next to me captive, with his computer, but no internet access. Guess what programming guys keep on their computers that doesn’t require the internet...............yep, you guessed it......their programming environment!!!
Why is this significant? Because I got to sit there and bend his ear until he fixed a few things in the code that cause headaches for me (and maybe for you)..........
The first one is eliminating people’s ability to post listings in the ‘for professionals’ area of ActiveRain. This has been our policy for a long time, but in the next few days, you will no longer be able to check both ‘for real estate professionals’ and ‘for consumers - advertising a listing’ at the same time when you are posting blogs. I probably remove about 50 listings a day from the professional category............repeat offenders get a little note asking that they review the posting guidelines for the ‘for real estate professionals’ category. Many do not, as there just isn’t time.
He also put some tracking in place on a tricky bug we have been experiencing. Many of you may have had this hit you and not even realize it. For some reason, points are randomly being stripped away from posts. We don’t know why. It gives your post the dreaded kersplat........even though you did nothing wrong. We haven’t been able to reproduce the exact steps that are causing it in order to put a fix in place.
I encourage you to go back and browse through your old posts..........if they have had points taken away and you feel they shouldn’t have, contact me and let me know, I will make sure everything is straightened out.
I had him started on putting some sorting mechanisms on the stats page, but after playing with the code for a while, he realized that it was about a five hour project...........I’m sure glad we still have the flight home :)
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man.. I knew the system was taking my points away.. I should be well over 100k by now. :-) (jk)
You
geeksguys do an awesome job..Bob -I never knew or remembered what points I had on the posts, so you wouldn't get any help from me on this one. Are there people that really keep track of them?:)
Thanks for the good party, my voice is still hoarse from trying to talk over the music:) Try to get out -there is no other city like NY -I promise.
As long as you are nudging Matt along in the right direction :-) ... here's what is on my wish list:
I'd like to see an even clearer separation of Localism and Active Rain. Example: A post could go into either Localism or Active Rain ... but it couldn't appear in both.... Member would still get the same points either way.
Localism would contain all the stuff written for consumers. Active Rain would contain all the stuff written to be shared with other professionals.
I like a guy that makes good use of his time. From what I've read on some attendees posts, you guys are having a great time. Enjoy.
Bob- I agree with Maggie! I am going to be really happy with these changes, thanks!
Bob, funny post in that I too have wondered what the heck people on planes are doing on their laptops when there is no internet. I mean, why bother? LOL I'm grateful people like Matt exist though, thanks for the updates and have a great time.
-Colleen
Bob - Are you guys going to be stopping in Green Bay this Saturday on the way back?
GO HAWKS!!!!
Bob, keep up the great job. I wish that I knew half the stuff you guys do.
BTW, did you ever figure out how to code the email I sent to you?
Bob.... blogging at 3 am? lol I think I was 3 sheets to the wind by that time. I agree, you guys are awesome and it was great meeting you all. Thanks for the party..... I think... lol
If I had to make a request it would be to clean up the referral area. It is just loaded with ads for listings. Not even close to a referral.
But seriously, you guys are doing a GREAT job.
No more "Advertising a Listing" in the "Professional" category?
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
I think that is a great idea with the listings and not have them put in the professional section. I haven't noticed points disappearing, but I will go back and check! By the way the outside blog is really starting to look good!
Hey guys, I'm really sorry I can't answer each one individually, Thanks for stopping by though :)
NY is really fun. I would really challenge you right now to start to consider coming to Inman in July in San Francisco. The level of networking opportunities for someone smart and talented are beyond conception. I truly believe that some of you reading this comment are of that ilk. Make it a point to get Inman 2008 San Fran a priority.
I hope you stop by my next post, I'll try to give you my take on what a conference like this means.
Is the trip back 5 hours.......hehehehehe.......
I am sure when I get to the point I WANT to
spend the money to fly to NYC or San Fransisco
to join a bloggers conference I will more than likely
be helping build a church building somewhere in
Central America, India.... or some other third
world country......
Mostly because they will have no A/C in the building...
Hehehehe.......
=-)
The places that being an ActiveRain member (and hanging out with the right people) that you get into ALL have A/C...........
That seems like noble causes Alex.........I'll bet there are people here who have the ability to solve major issues in those countries..........and at Inman, YOU can talk to them........AND THEY LISTEN!!
Great question......haha.
The ride home never has drinks involved...........the number of drinks prior to that time however can not be disclosed :)
Great response........ I thank you for that, sir......
I am so glad that a post about the direction AR appears to be going has been featured....
I hoped you would respond to my voicemail about the top active posts for all time....
If you forgot, I understand.....
You can find my post on my blog... "Top Posts of the Month for December 2007 and for all time (so far)"
I am looking forward to a response.... and I am curious as to what that response might be....
;-)
Nick,
That ActiveRain© Page is exactly what my post was on...the most active posts for all time...take a look at the top 3 posts..two of them are the posts I mentioned in my comment here.... one of them has over 1050 comments, mostly about nonsense and how they want to see if ActiveRain© will shut down the post if the number of comments gets to over 1000.
Just the kind of thing consumers really want to see, I guess, hmm?
Maybe ......... unless you want to buy a home?
Having fun is great, BUT does this go overboard
and veer away from the mission statement of ActiveRain©?
"We are a free online community for real estate professionals designed to help them promote and grow their business."
I am dubious about that post "promoting
and growing a real estate business."
I am sure the commenter's on that post will tell you that it
cemented referral relationships or something like that.....
but I don't buy it.....
Even in the comments some of the
people said that it was more like a chatroom..... I am sure
they said that tounge in cheek too....
Well, enogh of commenting on this... my fingers hurt ;-)
and this is not even a post.
See ya!! =-)
Bugs On a Plane - lol
Does anyone from the AR Pantheon want to come to Maui and do a free talk about blogging for Maui Realtors? I'm not joking this time. That's about a 5 and half hour plane ride, if you fly direct.
In May?
Bob - It was a true pleasure meeting and spending time with you, Matt, Jon,Sara and Jerry. I'm already signed up for SF. Keep up the great work!
P.S. Another bug for you... I run Vista and Firefox. When I use spellcheck in AR it crashes Firefox... every single time.
I got a question...is there anyway you can prevent the
html side of the blog editor from stripping some of the
html we put in our posts when we go from WYSIWYG and
back again...like
<...center...>
<....h2-6....>
or is it just a bug in the system we have to live with?
I have been dealing with this for almost a year now......
I am sure LOTS of others deal with it also.....
(I put in the periods so the comment would show up,
just in case the commands dissapeared when i submitted it.)
Alex,
I'm sorry I haven't answered a couple of the questions you have thrown out here. I think there may have been another one on a separate entry. Do me a favor and compile them all and shoot me an email..........my email is bob at the name of this site :)
Bob,
Sorry to have been so up front and asking questions I SHOULD have out in e-mails....
I will copy the ones I have and send them to you, my freind....
Thanks..