This post is the latest in a series of articles aimed at re-hashing the ActiveRain Community Guidelines. With so many new real estate professionals joining the fold, it's a good idea to review these guidelines regularly, and to ensure that there is a clear understanding on what the expectations are for members who participate in this great network.
The next guideline is pretty straight forward, and reads as follows:
"There is zero tolerance for predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, invading privacy, or the revealing of other members' personal information. Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from ActiveRain."
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we're blessed with an abundance of all things green - varieties of pines, cedars, and native ferns. Washington is known as the 'Evergreen' State. Our climate and physical geography provide an environment that is conducive to and promotes such rich growth.
One of the keys to the successful growth of ActiveRain has been providing a safe and encouraging environment for our members. Many of the people who join ActiveRain have never had a blog or written a post. Jumping in and getting your blogging feet wet can be a fairly daunting endeavor for most. Fortunately, we have a very substantial core of veteran members who consistently make a point of providing helpful advice and encouragement to newer members. It's this constant cycle of 'Paying it Forward' that makes ActiveRain such an enjoyable and valued experience for its members.
Every once in a great while though, a bad apple comes along who attempts to threaten or diminish that experience. Our members need to know that ActiveRain Management takes such matters very seriously, and will act swiftly/decisively towards anyone who would jeopardize/violate the safety or privacy of one of our members.
If any of our members ever feels threatened or victimized, contact any of the ActiveRain Staff immediately. Bob Stewart, Brad Andersohn, and myself all have our cell phone numbers published on our profile pages. You can also contact us through the ActiveRain E-mail System, or by submitting a 'Contact ActiveRain' form, located at the bottom right of your screen.
We want to thank all of you who make it a point to reach out and help our newer members find their way around in the Rain. You are the ones who prove daily that "the true value of our network community rests within its members!"
"Pay it forward" is a great concept in this fantastic community. It sucks that we need "AR Cops", but if thats what it takes "to Preserve and Protect" this great community then so be it.
Here is something that may seem a bit dumb but here goes. Can you define what that statement means a bit more because it is not entirely clear. Maureen McCabe explained to me that emailing an AR'er directly about a blog and requesting a comment might be considered stalking or unsolicited contact. I am noy sure I fully understood so I am concered that your definition of "stalking, or harassment" may not be as clear to all as it might be. Over 100,000 people?
Thanks for all the hard work you do. I know its a tremensous effort on all of AR part. I have never felt safer!
I like the way AR operates and the standards that you live by -- Applauding Loudly ! ~ Evelyn
Rich, many thanks AGAIN to you, Brad, and Bob - You're the most responsive Customer Service Team I've ever experienced, and I have no doubt you're on the case when it comes to this. I just hope your blog wasn't motivated by an incident.
Thanks much
Thanks for continuing to support our community and making it a positive experience. There seem to be a few members of AR who will continue to push the limits no matter how many times you remind them to behave.
I am glad this policy is present because some of these issues do happen on this site. It just happened to me a couple of weeks ago, in regards to discriminatory comments (racial) because of my blogs were written about minority issues and speaking foregin languages. I was fed up with this person making comments that I reported it and now it under investigation. We should be able to blog about everyone niche no matter if someone does not like it or not.
Rich...
As a now "established" member of AR. I always have concerns about how a post or comment MIGHT be interpreted. It's sometime very difficult to walk the tightrope between cutting edge thought and political correctness, but some behavior is so conspicuously abhorrent that it is obvious the member doesn't have a clue.
The good news is that these incidents are so rare that they stand out when they occur. That's a tribute to YOU and the AR team for maintaining a high standard of decency and propriety. Hats off to you.
You wouldn't want me to contact you because I'll just chew your ear off:)
You would think that as a public forum, we would watch our "P's and Q's". The majority of us are here to grow our business, network and keep up to date on trends in real estate. We expect that potential business partners or clients would read our comments and posts in order to make good decisions as to who they do business with. Based on that theory, we should be "policing" ourselves. Apparently, that is not the case.
Rich,
In order to make sure I do not offend others I think I always play the safe route by sticking to the things I know best, the economy of my area, the localisms and the positives. I do have a few questions and issues I would like to have opinions of others on, yet I have concerns as to how they will be accepted. I guess the answer is to diplomatically pose the question and see what answers you hear.
Rich- I must say that you guys really are on top of things. After our buddy "cranky pants" left his comment, it was less than 30 minutes till you took action. I appreciate the quick & in my opinion correct action that was taken. I couldn't believe the stuff he said to me. Luckily there is a wonderful staff here that took immediate action and I thank you once again.
I enjoy my experience here on AR. Like you said there are sometimes a bad apple...But just ignore them, let the AR staff handle it, and keep pressing forward!
Cheer Rich...Who better to police all the villains than you. Good luck taming all the Real Estate crazies:)
Rich - thanks again for all you do here.
Everyone - if you do have someone 'stalking' you rest assured that Rich is the man that can make it stop :)
Hi Rich, I am certain that you and the team at AR have and will handle anything like this quickly and efficiently. It is a pleasure to belong to such an awesome group of people.
Thank you for writing about this. I am new and slowly learning more. I just read a blog about being blacklisted. One of my associates, Russell Lewis, encouraged me to join and is very enthusiastic but I see that there are also pitfalls and I appreciate you explaining the rules!
Rich - It's a shame this has to even be said, but it is the reality, and there have been issues in the past, as you know. Thanks for all that you guys do and for being so resposive. It is not an easy task wtih the number of writers here. No one should have to feel threatened or harassed here.
Jeff
Bob kicked my stalker off here so fast that I bet his head is still spinning. And that is AR policing that I can appreciate. I'm not one to go around living in fear but having a stalker is scary. For the longest time I didn't even want to post any more because of him showing back up. A person should never have to feel that way on here or any other place.
I appreciate this one A LOT Rich! Good job.
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Great Idea. Great story on predator. this will keep active Rain from spamers..
<!--EndFragment-->Rich, these things do exist I guess. How sad. Jessica, I hate hearing that you had a bad experience. This is a big place to watch over that's for sure. Thank you Rich and Bob for all that you do. Jessica, it would be a huge loss to lose you over some bored whacko.
Thanks again Rich,
It makes us all feel safer. Later in the rain~Deb
Ditto Jeff Dowler's comment.
You guy's do a fantastic job here. Keep up the good work!
There is zero tolerance for predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, invading privacy, or the revealing of other members' personal information. Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from ActiveRain.
Hi Rich,
Give predators the boot, quickly! I recently read a post by a moderator who was being harassed by email and even some phone calls, if I recall the thread correctly. Zero tolerance is exactly what you need for cases like that.
Sincerely,
Bruce
P.S. This should be a reminder to all Active Rainers that everything posted here, expect for private threads, can be read by the entire world. It's good to think twice and post once. There are some bad people on the internet. Be careful.
Thanks for the great post. It is a special place here on "The Rain". Paying it forward is always cool.
All the best!
Hi Rich,
As always. Thank you for posting this. I have really taken to Active Rain and though the learning curve has been steep (I still spend most of my time selling real estate) I have managed to learn a lot with the help of others in the AR community and also ffolks like you and Brad. I find it mind boggling that anyone would abuse such a great resource but as in the real world of real estate. Actions speak louder than words and the same types of people who are unscrupulous or shady n the real world are bound to show up here at time with the same inappropriate and often dishonest behavior. I am glad that the community will remove people who abuse the system or others here!
Rich- Like Jessica, I appreciate yours, Brad's and Bob's genuine concern and quick responses. After just one "uncomfortable" e-mail, I also felt reticent about blogging. I was assured that the AR team was aware of the individual's inappropriate e-mails, that he was a new member and he had been spoken to about unacceptable Active Rain behavior. I'm not sure if he was taken down, but, thankfully, there was no further contact.
By the time I read Jeremy's original post, "cranky pants's" comment had been deleted. Jeremy subsequently posted the "bleeped" version. I was amazed at how rude, crude and totally unprofessional it was. Certainly not the way to "win friends and influence people."
It always amazes me that people resort to this type of behavior. Good to keep an eye on them, for sure. We don't need Predators here.
Rich, you guys truly do such a great job of support us members. I know it isn't easy considering our size but I always know you are there to step in if needed. Thanks for all that you do!
I think you folks have done a terrific job of keeping the standards of conduct to a nice level.
Rich (even though we don't know each other) Bob, and ActiveBrad ~ It is nice to know you ALL watch out for us, I mean afterall, we are like one big family.... right? Thanks for all you do!
Rich, it's nice when the vision comes to fruition and you attract more of those that match your vision than not. Sometimes we have to deal with the others but just realizing there are 100,000 others that are in tune with you must be pretty nice. Congrats on this success. You are someone to emulate.
One of the best things about AR is the safety I feel in the environment provided - I would hope others too feel as confident and that when the bad apples start to fall, just like in nature the decomposers come in quickly and finish them off quickly.
You're a good composter Rich '-) , environmental and friendly
You guys work hard to make this a happy place.... I appreciate you all.
Thanks to all that you and the AR founders do to keep this community of over 100K member on track (for their own good)! It is important to be vigilent so that we all can enjoy the best this community has to offer.
Geez Rich, I think it's really too bad your latest guideline reminder has to be about this topic. Wow! I do appreciate all you and the group does to respond to these things so quickly.
Geeeee Rich, your no fun. Do you mean that I can't tell other members on here all the private stuff that I have found out by spying on you ......... LOL
Thank you Rich! AR is how I got my blogging feet wet and I'm thankful for these guidelines.
Interesting Post, I didn't realize that things were that bad!
Robert: As I stated, 'every once in a great while'....things are actually very good. We're fortunate to have some truly amazing members with very few instances of this nature.
Brother George! You're sworn to secrecy, buddy!
Seems pretty basic - too bad it has to be a post. Thanks for taking care of us:)
Colleen: It just happened to be the next one in order....
Rich - I agree with you on this post 100% and think it is very important for safety within the AR community. There are so many predators within the Internet, etc. It would be almost impossible for someone to get through my wall barriers protecting my assets, etc. But the word (almost) is in that sentence. There are other members that may not be so lucky in protecting there assets and personal information. I really would like to thank you for posting the concerns that the AR network has. If anyone of these predators would like to pay me a visit in Las Vegas, I have a permit to carry and I never leave home without it.
Thanks Rich. I have never felt harassed here, but have heard weird stories along those lines from time to time with others. Thanks for the community reminder!
Good information, too bad you have to wear a police hat also.
I really appreciate the general attitude of generosity and positive feelings on Active Rain.
I have said it before and I will say it again, NO-ONE cares about it's members more than Active Rain ! Other websites with this many members considers us just another "number", Active Rain, considers us part of it's family ! That in itself is priceless !
One of the greatest things about his place is the willingness of the founders to take decisive action. Political correctness need not apply.!! I love it!!!
Stay in the trenches! I find it amazing how just a handful of you keep this wild thing under control. Thanks and Good Job!
Rich
How true. One bad apple can spoil it for many.
Sincerely
Tom Braatz
Rich,
AR is a highly professional network and enforcing rules like this will keep it so. We shouldn't allow a few who stray from the straight to ruin the great experience for the rest of us. Enforcement is the key.
like this stuff. and do like it when antagonists get tossed. almost want things like that to be made public, not to embarass, but to assure the fold that it does happen.
got a fun little ditty for you tomorrow. staring the other manager, that like you, used to be one of us too.
you should'a been there...
Wow Rich,
I had no clue that anything like that ever happens here. Wow.
Rich,
I had no clue on earth that this kind of thing happens here. Wow.
Rich,
Thanks for the post. Not a very pleasant subject for the Rain, but very essential as there will always be those who test the limits.
Rich, I really like that photo of the "bad apple". Did you take it. Can I steal it? JK
Thanks for pointing out that this is what we are about:
"We want to thank all of you who make it a point to reach out and help our newer members find their way around in the Rain. You are the ones who prove daily that "the true value of our network community rests within its members!"
This is a good update.... I've been very fortunate that I haven't had the experience of someone being less than cordial with me. I have, however, seen the rare case in which someone flies off the handle for little reason. I'm glad to see that there is a way to address this.
I have just started blogging and found your guidelines informative.
Hmmm I missed this post - and to think it was written on the 30th.....wow - life sure is strange - with its twists and turns......timing........etc. It was good to read the guidelines........thank you ...:-)