My thoughts are that it's an open community and that anyone can post their thoughts!  Trying to control the direction of a "think tank" would just not be a good idea!  

I'll say that with this caveat:  If posts are TITLED well, people can decide what to read and what not to and ultimately, if someone ONLY wants to do promotion and etc, they may not get read as much or when they actually DO post something noteworthy, it won't get any action.  

Howard...here's my 2 cents.

I agree with you. Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of RE+Liberation but I thought that this was to be a place for Point 2 Agents to share ideas and comment on the real estate community in general and NOT as a place for placing ads or self promotion.  If it goes down that slippery slope, with over !05,000 members and probably 1 million listings between us all, if we all start to do self promotion here or advertise our listings then it will become so bogged down with advertising that we've lost what should have been a good place for us share ideas about the current conditions.

Howard, not you per se trying to control the direction, but in general someone deciding what's ok or not to post (within reason).

But I do see your point that it COULD get overwhelming if EVERYONE decided to "advertise" here.  

No offense to anyone, but perhaps there could be a Self Promotion Blog so named and identified upfront. Then all bloggers with something to promote, sell or (even give away), as well as those who would like to engage in a little braggadocio could do so within a like-minded group, and without disturbing others not so inclinded.

Did I ever tell you about the time that I won $10,000 in the Secret Sound Radio Contest, and turned that into a real estate career that..........(perhaps to be continued)

Jay

I'm with you, Howard.  I was very active in ActiveRain early on and was  up there as one of the top 2-3 for awhile but it seemed to morph into a self-promotion blog and I lost interest.

There are so many other avenues offered by P2 for promoting one's self, listings, location, etc that it seems redundant to do the same here.

With my 2 cents and Margot's 2 cents we're up to a nickel now with your penny.

So who should be the one to swing the judges gavel if we start to limit topics?

The forum is here to put our thoughts into. If the thought of one agent is to self promote to other agents. Then maybe they should. It is just a sounding board. If as a community, we start to not look at the self promoting forums, they will go away.

Let us let the community decide, not a board. Remember the forum is here for everyone.

You know, what one realtor posts about how he or she works his or her area, could be helpful to another.  You could benefit from the post, if you were looking for some language in that department.  No ?

Also, what one realtor says about how they work or what they can teach others, just might lead to a fair trade type adventure where each ends up helping the other.

Finally, I guess there could be an offers tag or a promotion tag...  Shameless Self Promotion is in fact here to stay in the online world....

Unless you want to play at being a censor.  

BTW:  Every truly censored online community has failed to accomplish large scale usership.

And you know.... One more thought...

If a blog is a marketing tool, and if REALTORS are encouraged to post on THEIR OWN P2 Blog about the services THEY offer local buyers and sellers, then why can't somebody post here about the services they offer to REALTORS?

If a blog upsets you, because it offers tips or promotes things that are for sale, you don't have to read it.  You can learn which authors have something useful to contribute, and which ones to ignore...

BTW:  I am a legitimate member of this community as a REALTOR and as a COACH.  I sold 30 homes last year.  I once listed 50 homes in a single year.  Other Agents have listed homes after reading my FSBO listing tips at my FREE RESOURCE sites for listing FSBO's.  I have been named as a Preferred Vendor at Point2Agent - or at least I have been told I was accepted into the program.  My main real estate web site is a P2 Site, My coaching site is also a P2 Site.  

I do contribute free help and tips, and will from time to time engage in shameless self promotion.  Is that specifically against the rules here at reliberation? If so, somebody should tell me or post a link to a set of guidelines.

Short of that, I think I have something useful to contribute.  If you don't then don't read my stuff - that means you control you and I control me... and that's the way life works :)  

I agree with Lonn..if you don't like it, just don't read it.  

Even if it is an open house blog, it may have some creative sales lingo that we as realtors may like and then use ourselves.

There is something to learn from everything.

Cheers,

Carol

Gee, I'm proud of the democracy here at P2...it's refreshing! Mature, intelligent Realtors stating their opinion without ridicule or outlash. Sure makes it a nice place to spend a few minutes out of the day!

Like my kids primary teacher use to always say....Good Work!

How would anyone feel if HouseValues or Homegain had reps posting on a regular basis pushing their services? Would being rude to them be a form of censorship?