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Rainmaker
3,416,038
Scott Godzyk
Godzyk Real Estate Services - Manchester, NH
One of the Manchester NH's area Leading Agents

I dont think it has to be real estate all the time, but we could do without questions like "do like chips?"

Oct 13, 2015 10:28 PM
Ambassador
1,452,569
Susan Emo
Sotheby's International Realty Canada - Brokerage - Kingston, ON
Kingston and the 1000 Islands Area

If I don't like a question, I don't respond.  Head down, eyes on own paper.

Oct 14, 2015 01:20 AM
Ambassador
3,164,119
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

I tend to stick to semi related issues. Questions that really have no tie in I just usually read and don't respond to. There are always exceptions though.

Oct 13, 2015 10:09 PM
Rainmaker
921,504
Annette Lawrence , Palm Harbor, FL 727-420-4041
ReMax Realtec Group - Palm Harbor, FL
Making FLORIDA Real Estate EZ

It appears to be a very liberal use of 'fun' resources.

After all, it is the most convenient place I know to go to find all of season four of FRIENDS offered by our non-real estate friends in the community.

Need more international soccer promotions.

Oct 13, 2015 09:38 PM
Rainmaker
846,475
Marco Giancola
Beachfront Realty - Miami Beach, FL
Realtor (305)608-1922, Miami Beach Florida

When I first stumbbled upon the Q&A section I was a bit surprized and curious by all the un-real estate questions. Then I realized its just for fun/community/easy points.

Oct 13, 2015 07:55 PM
Rainmaker
4,319,419
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

Michael Thornton if it was only real estate related, we might not get much participation, I think.

Though as much as I try to ask real estate related question, I do ask questions related to the life of AR members and sometimes just for fun.

All work and no play makes.....(we all know that......)

Oct 14, 2015 12:59 AM
Rainmaker
2,781,013
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

How can we live by REAL ESTATE alone? Life is made up of many things all good.

Oct 13, 2015 11:46 PM
Rainmaker
4,571,456
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

As long as the SPAM stays in the pantry and not on these pages -- life is good.  

Oct 13, 2015 11:45 PM
Rainmaker
1,466,207
Michael Setunsky
Woodbridge, VA
Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

Michael Thornton I agree!

Oct 13, 2015 11:29 PM
Rainmaker
1,157,785
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Good morning Michael Thornton -

You state "I presume that the Q&A section of AR was intended to promote community by asking RE questions."

When I read the introductory paragraphs on the Q&A home page (replicated further below), it does not state that the Q&A section can only contain RE questions.  Therefore, it appears to be allowable to allow non-RE questions. 

I think the Q&A section promotes the social media concept, user interaction and more and is generally a friendly area.  Many of the non-RE questions get as much attention, if not more, as the RE questions.

 

 

The intro to the Q&A section states:

"Our real estate Q&A site is a place where real estate professionals can ask their peers questions so we can all learn and grow as a community. "

[section paragraph not replicated here]


"ActiveRain is a community of real estate agents, brokers, lenders, home stagers, home inspectors, contractors and other real estate professionals who are committed to learning one from one another to improve their business, their lives, and the industry."

 

Oct 13, 2015 08:33 PM
Ambassador
6,392,879
Bob Crane
Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI
Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

Some seek community building Q's, others are purists and would prefer RE, I prefer the first.

Nov 04, 2018 08:54 PM
Rainmaker
1,280,748
Donna Foerster
HomeSmart Realty Group - Parker, CO
Metro Denver Real Estate Assistant

TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc. 

I like both types of questions.

Aug 25, 2016 01:44 PM
Rainmaker
1,502,848
Ryan Huggins - Thousand Oaks, CA
https://HugginsHomes.com - Thousand Oaks, CA
Residential Real Estate and Investment Properties

I love this section, even more than blogs sometimes!  I post real estate related questions, but I love answering all the question types.

Oct 14, 2015 07:07 AM
Rainmaker
699,277
Chris and Dick Dovorany
Homes for Sale in Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero, Florida - Naples, FL
Broker/Associate at Premiere Plus Realty

I do not believe there is any real serious knowledge in either questions or answers here.  If you don't know something, please ask your own broker.  People come here for points.

Oct 14, 2015 05:21 AM
Staff
1,685,353
Bob Stewart
ActiveRain - Mesa, AZ
ActiveRain

I recently created a new account on ActiveRain. As part of that process, someone is taken through a series of steps, one of which is that they are presented with a screen that shows one recent question that's been asked, and then gives the new person a chance to answer that question. Then, on the left hand side of the screen, there are four other questions that a person can choose to answer. The idea is 'let's get someone engaged in the community and try to get them to give their opinion'. 

When I created my account, of the 5 questions I was presented, only one was specific to real estate. That concerned me. (And granted, it probably isn't always like this, I may have just timed it poorly)

If I was someone expecting to join a real estate community, and then I was presented a page that had some random non-real estate related questions, I would be pretty confused. 

Maybe we just need to do a better job of filtering out what questions show to those new people. But it was the first time I ever had this concern that felt like it had foundation. Before that, the non-real estate questions just didn't feel right, but I couldn't really articulate why.

Aren't the off topic blog posts enough of a space to build community? 

I seriously wonder how many of the non-real estate questions would disappear if we didn't offer points to people asking the questions. I've never understood this. To me, this encourages the asking of totally random questions with little redeeming value. 

If I knew that the number of real estate questions would stay the same, and the number of non-real estate questions would diminish if we were to eliminate points for asking questions, would anyone object to getting rid of points for asking questions?

Oct 14, 2015 01:49 AM
Rainmaker
7,834,939
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

It appears that we have on open season for any kind of questions.

We have the same with blog topics. You can write about anything.

Some members probably avoid this section because of too much fluff. 

Oct 14, 2015 01:38 AM