Hi Gary,

I totally agree with you.  Even though I have been drawn in as well and am as guilty as the next guy or gal.  

I liked your flush blog.  I must have been one of your 3 comments.  

I think some of these blogs have been similar to the playground when someone yelled out fight and the whole school runs over.  I am not running anymore, I have missed other good stuff and don't need to have my feathers ruffled before I head off to work.  

Thank you for your post!

Jana

Gary, first off you have a great name. Second I think that some of the post do go astray and do not represent us. There seems to be some that have an agenda and others that may start with the right intent but can be swayed but the rhetoric. Other say things that make no sense and you try to put your thoughts in and the next thing you have a debate. I am not that concerned about how we are perceived because I think our answers or post speak volumes of us. Although all is not the picture I would like to paint it is real and do you want a true picture or one that should be in an ad. You or any one else can post the guidelines but to be honest, they are just that guideline. You try to follow them but when it gets to you at a core value you don't consider anything other than your message.

So, I agree but I must say that it is sometimes more difficult to state the principal guidelines than put them into practice.

My purpose here has little to do with the guidelines. I am more of a free spirited individual who doesn't do well with an organized group. That's why I keep my business small and nimble and keep my business options open. Hell, I may quit selling homes next week and change my business to a hotdog stand on the beach. But that's just me.

I am going to leave this place to the serious relibbers and concentrate on my personal, business blog. I have a lot of ideas for blog series and it will take a lot of energy and effort. I've enjoyed it though.

Relib is a good place for agents to learn from one another.

later,

Mike from Savannah

Uh, Welcome to America Gary! :)

Gary I don't think a lot of people here realize that this blog is viewed by the public. If they do I don't understand some of the comments that are used here. I think, maybe if we realize that our comments should be viewed as talking face to face with buyers and sellers...what we say?

Thanks for reminding us.

With all due respect, real estate agents are no different than any other group of people representing any other profession.  We come in all shapes, sizes, political and religious viewpoints and personalities.  We agree on some things and disagree on others.

And we become annoyed and irritated at others and/or situations from time to time.  

Some among us avoid conflict at any cost.  Others thrive on conflict.  And perhaps 'most' are somewhere in between.

One thing that I feel very sure of, however, is that nobody can control us as a group.  We tend to be very independent thinking people and 'survivors' -- we have to be in order to be successful in a commission based business.

This is merely a microcosm of society in general.

When 'opinions' are expressed, counter opinions are sure to come in response.  For instance there was a recent blog that espoused a particular political viewpoint that was supported by information from sources that shared that particular political bias.  That's fair and that's 'life'... it is equally fair, in my opinion, for those with opposing political biased viewpoints to counter the opinions expressed in the original post.  Sometimes in the process individuals will feel slighted... we may take things that are written more personally than they were intended.  Again, that is just 'life'.

There have been charges of 'personal attacks' made.  The examples cited, however, did not seem like personal attacks to me at all.  In fact, I think that the accusation of 'personal attacks' is an attempt to control the conversation because it was uncomfortable for the person making the charges.  This group does not strike me as one that is going to be easily controlled.  When we step out into the public arena and espouse opinions and viewpoints in a dogmatic manner, there is sure to be rebuttal opinions expressed.

Oh well... that too is 'life'.  We have little other choice than to 'deal with it'.

Gary, we are all just a bunch of friends trying to "get along" with each other. Every once in a while, one of us goes a little over board. All perfectly human stuff. As for the general public seeing the blog; they would need to either google the exact thread title or the agents name to find it. And, once they found it - well, we are human.

I like this blog. I get a lot of useful information here for free. Almost everyone helps one another. Some want to get paid, but most is just free information about real estate.

Gary, we are pretty much suppose to monitor ourselves here. We are adults. The best way to control the arguments is in the hands of the person who posted the blog. If the thread gets nasty, the author can easily delete the response any time they wish.

Staff had to do such a thing yesterday on one of my posts, I would have if I had been here to catch it, but alas, I have to also do real estate and not just talk about it.

Yes, Gary, we should do better to confine ourselves to discussions we would be glad to have emailed to us by our clients....

However, Censorship is like death to web communities.  So that delete button needs to be used with great caution.  

To my knowledge, there is not a single web community that thrives as a service to it's entire audience or industry, once censored.  

Thank-you Gary!

I agree with you 100%! This is suppose to be an uplifting learning expierience where we help each other succeed.

There has been many times I thought it was getting to be a waste of time because there is so much fiddle faddle on it.

I keep trying to change that by adding articles about real estate only to find more blogs that really have nothing to do with our industry and sometimes I see a lot of people getting their feelings hurt or taking things wrong....including me.

I forgot the public sees this blog ....that is another reason agents should be respectable. If I was a home buyer or seller and was reading these blogs I know exactly the agents that I would choose to work with.

I only hope that all the agents read your blog and get the idea...thanks again for pointing it out!

The mind continues to wobble. :)

I think it ain't broke and doesn't need to be fixed.

This is what it is, people can take what they want from it and we may all be surprised at what individuals find valuable.

If your intent is to add value, someone will get it.

Gary,

I think that to many people are enjoying happy hour as they blog.  :)  

Sometimes this place reminds me of a bar at 2:30am when everyone has had to much to drink and it is time to go home.  Someone says something that meant nothing but someone takes it wrong and the whole thing escalates.

I am glad to see that someone has taken the time to set the stage again for what these posts are supposed to be about.  When I first started looking at them I was stunned by the behavior and topics being discussed and then decided to not even come here at all since I wasn't finding value for my time (and we all know how valuable time is).  I truthfully decided to come here again bacause I was thinking it may help my index score in the community department and to my amazement someone was thinking like me! Thanks for taking your time to shout it out and remind me that I am not alone when it comes to being a Realtor and being in this business! Maybe some will step up and take notice to your post and change how and what they talk about here. I will be back now that I know that someone is here that cares like me.  Thanks!

I am preparing to head to the office to do a very boring but necessary activity. So I am dragging my feet again and decided to pop in here first.  I know I answered Gary late last night but had another thought.  I am a "the glass is half full" person.  And even though some people have felt uncomfortable about the blogs that turned into debates.  Let me ask you this question.  From reading over these blogs have you decided who your would send a referral to and to whom you wouldn't?  I have.  So perhaps seeing the inner core of an individual has done some good too.

Have a great selling day everyone!  

Jana

Referrals have been both sent and received over here as a direct result of participation on this forum. So thank you and you're welcome.   :)

I want to deal with people I know have personality and a progressive mindset. That is the beauty of all of this . . . good bad and ugly, we are ALL both hopelessly human and EXCEPTIONAL brokers/agents!

I just referred Mike Farmer to another agent in my office who was looking for a quality real estate agent in the Savannah GA area. That is a direct result of meeting and getting to know Mike through this forum.

For those of you who think that all the time spent any business environment is only about business, that all conversation in a real estate office is only about real estate, I suggest you get a life.

Certainly it has gotten rough and tumble around here from time to time but this is a forum of ideas and viewpoints. Sometimes it gets heated. That doesn't make this any less valuable and in fact, you generally will learn more from differing opinions than from agreement.

Although many of us do agree about one thing :)

[Howard sez:Although many of us do agree about one thing :)]

I concur wholeheartedly with that statement, Howard. LOL

Gary,

Many share your concerns about keeping the bar high and not having "gutter talk" or personal attacks. I voiced similar concerns on my comment a while back called "Reliberation must stay professional to succeed" check it out. Many do not know that all posts are in cyberspace and may come back to haunt you someday.

Mike from Savannah,

I always wanted to sell suntan lotion and rent jet skis on the beach!