I can only speak for me. I blogged here daily for over 4 years and still post at least weekly (to help other Rainers) with an occasional real estate article thrown in to generate backlinks.

I do not blog daily on AR anymore because I do not need to. Many of my AR articles, especially those that are subdivision/community centric continue to rank well. Instead, I focus the majority of my time on my own site (long-form articles, new IDX searches, etc.) as well as social media (to drive traffic to my site) and guest blogging on other platforms.

Couple reasons - some folks get fed up with the tech glitches, petty member arguments, or unwelcome changes to AR, and just move on

Others have blogged about just about everything they can think of and are just letting their 'evergreen' work do it's thing.

Others are spreading the love.  Personally, I still enjoy AR and post here, but I also post on my personal site, along with our company site -- so I mix it up.

But I can tell you this --- I have a loan closing this month that came directly from an AR blog (and I referred the buyer to an agent I know from the AR community), and I have a loan in process closing next month from the very same AR blog.  I've had a lot of other transactions that came directly from participation in AR, and know many members who have benefitted from both the blog reach AND referral potential of AR.

Well, I think that once the mass exodus occurred, many just did not have the desire to return. I also took a 2-year sabbatical and came back about a year ago. I didn't think I had the bandwidth to post here and keep up with my own websites while selling real estate in our very hot market. 

I got a coach, got my time management in-check and found the time to focus on writing here. Not only is it great therapy but, I've gotten numerous referrals since I've been back, better quality online leads (by linking from this site back to my own sites) and have really enjoyed 'socializing' with both seasoned and newer members.

Everyone has their reasons.  I blogged here in the early days of AR, took a hiatus for personal reasons then came back.  My purpose here now is more about giving than getting.   I enjoy the networking and relationship development.  

Big Benefit for me:  When I travel, I have friends all over the country to connect with for local advice and camaraderie.

I am still here. I don't blog as much as I used to but I work at answering questions nearly every day. I would love to blog even more. I used to write 10 posts every week. 

A lot of my friends are people I met when I first joined AR back in the day when we only had about 25,000 members. It was a great group. It was a tight knit group and everyone was so helpful. 

As AR grew, things changed. I did not  like some of the changes. But that is part of life. People changed too. When the pioneers started leaving I really didn't want to be around much. Those are the ones who together we made AR dance. 

We also wrote about personal challenges, updates on family, all that was on AR because there was no Facebook and YouTube was just beginning. 

Things change. People move on. AR worked great for them until they learned they need to own their content. So they learned WP. 

AR was one of the very first platforms to allow bloggers to add images to their posts. 

AR was a lot of firsts. 

But then social media came along and that created more vehicles to use and there is this thing called, Time. 

If it were not for my blogging on AR- we would have had to close our brokerage down in the bust like over 12,000 agents did in our local Board or Realtors. Blogging on ActiveRain saved our business and it changed my life. Long story... 

But I won't forget and I won't turn my back on something that was such a huge blessing in my life, must be the Chinese year of the Dog in me. :) 

I go to my website first and then to AR to post.... my website is very seasoned.....I use that and AR and I DO reach my audience....then the agent's sites..... there are 5 or them for the team members.....

Don,

I have not quit.  We do post on our site first, and I enjoy the interraction and the response of the members.  Our work takes us all over the United States, and we make a point of meeting AR members whenever we can.  We have met some 28 members so far and each one has been a delight and we have become close friends with several as we have family in their marketplaces and make a point of getting together.  We have benefited business wise also.  A

I think sometimes it's cyclical.  People come and go.

Don, that is a good question but some people get burn out on it.

They changed their strategy with their WP blogs 1st or they stopped after a tragedy. My other blog is my priority over here because it gets better SEO.

I think, the few reasons people quite AR: focusing on their own blog ( that is a goal for all of us) or leaving business. 

I expect that even more low points members leave ActiveRain.

Maybe they are semi retired, got tired of all the glitches with AR, or are having better results on other blogging platforms.

Lets get some answers Don....

I really don't know.  I have been on Active Rain less than a year, but really enjoy it.

AR Blogging is very much like Old Fashion Geographical Farming . It's a process NOT an Event . I have taught both to thousands of Agents (in several states, since 1980) . Within 15 minutes of a 1.5 hour Farming Module , 90% of the class would lose interest because of the amout of ONGOING HRs needed to be invested to Brand your ID . Blogging is no different. Therefore most agents are either Impatient or Lazy (looking for the MagicPill)  and want to do activities that produce instant results (yet are not prospecting either).  Finally let's not forget that 90%+ of new licensees will last less than 18 months in this business 

I took a break from AR, but recently I been enjoying it.  It still is such a great source of information and networking. I have been re-working some of my old blogs and getting some good Google Juice. Bottom line Ar blogs do come up with good search engine results.

You have received a variety of reasons. I have not been an active member very long. Like everything else, some members come and leave while  others join.  Many are here as another blogging outlet. Either way it's my main blogging platform for now.  

Maybe they developed such a strong following that they no longer have to maintain their seo and just work with referrals from their soi.

Some retire, some get illnesses, and some just quite who were here early on.

I think it becomes a change in business strategies. The posts of the past stay relevant and still rank plus I think the members move on to other venues to expand their reach.

Maybe they are too busy?

I do not blog on any other site. 

Good question but each agent has their reasons.

It is someone's portfolio for trading like commodities.  I am one of those blogger sold by Redfin. On Redfin I get local clients and tried to help them as a realtor. They thanked me for my Northern CA presence before they told me you can continue at AR.  Your site was sold.

I have never used more that AR. If I did it would be as a supplement!

I have been around here since 2008.  I have never been a great blogger and it's never been my passion to write blog posts - in fact I see it as somewhat of a chore.  However, I used to be #1 in my state, county and city and I got a bunch of referrals out of it.  And gave a lot of referrals too.  So, AR to me has always been more about networking with people and other agents across the country than it has been reaching consumers - we have other avenues of doing that, have great web placement for our websites and so I worry a bit less about consumers reading my posts.  I am not on Facebook or any other type of social media network, so to me this is my social media network.  I left for about a year and a half and just recently came back in January.  I'd lost my ranking and had also not given or received referrals in quite some time.  I actually came back to AR to figure out how to cancel my account, as I wasn't grandfathered in and have been a paying member for all of these years.  I decided when I came back that instead of throwing away all the work, posts and networking I had done I should just work toward that free account.  So I am one of those who cared about points.  I finally hit the 500k and free account so I care less about points and more about continuing the relationships I have made, and I am trying to get better at blogging and doing it consistently. To answer your main question, however, I do think that AR is not what it once was and perhaps many of those high ranking folks have found it to be not as advantageous as it once was and they are spending their time and efforts in ways that benefit their business more than what AR can give them nowadays.  -Kasey

Don Davies, GRI "AshevilleRealEstateTrends.com" 

Perhaps burnout, retirement from the business, time constraints. It is ultimately a personal choice

Don Davies, GRI "AshevilleRealEstateTrends.com" When I first started with AR you could write a post and within three minutes or so it would be on page one of Google. Now you're lucky to find it five pages deep. Google constantly changes their algorithms and AR doesn't keep up. It's up to the agent/member to stay ahead of SEO. Members are here for business and if it doesn't come they leave.

 I know several in my imediate area who have died (Karen Anne Stone, William J Archambault, Tom Branch, Russell Lewis) and others who have changes professions, the still have AR profiles.

While we don't blog anywhere else, we do still get transactions from the public by virtue of our AR blog.  Not as many as in the early days - but the most recent was a $500K Short Sale that closed in April of this year.  One a year more than covers the time - and we're grandfathered having joined in October 2006 - so no expense for being here.

For me, I blog every day using a mix of types of blogs and it words well to reach consumers. I am getting listings and buyers from my blogs and although frustrated at times with AR, will keep blogging as long as people are reading my blog and contacting me.

I didn't know this was something that those with high points totals were doing. I do know of one who had a fallout with AR and as a result, they deleted their blog and moved on.  

People do what is worthwhile for a slew of reasons on their ROI in life in anything. Developing your private channels, in your own backyard that you control and adjust the dials. Do that first and amplify that using lots of means, AR just one of them. The group running AR changes, the players come and go. AR is still worthwhile to post on and past posts still working hard, getting results for me.

Don Davies, GRI "AshevilleRealEstateTrends.com" - that's called priorities in life at different times - and yes, choices!

I also think the markets are so busy, some find no time to sell real estate and blog every day.   I know some days it is quite a struggle.    The technical glitches are very annoying.    When you spend an hour putting a great post filled with content, and then it disappears, you get really frustrated.

I'm not sure where to find my "ranking." I write for other professional and literary reasons. I don't blog post here often. My writing work is rewarded financially on other sites. I blog on my own site which brings connections. I enjoy answering questions and sharing peer challenges.  

I find agents, affliates and others here helping each other. Not everywhere on this earth is there kindness, it smiles here.

Like Anita, I can only speak for me.  At first my blogging here was for the backlinks and then the points.  Now that I'm comfortable with my points I'm backing off the blogs here.  AR is not the only place I blog either, I have a couple other sites, in addition to my own.  My blogs do have strong rankings on Google (often #1 for long tail and #2-8 on listing blogs).  AR is just one aspect.  Glitches, get annoying and stopped me from doing some blogs in the past.  Also, time.  Plus, like anything eventually you get tired and burnt... especially if it's done to extremes.

I'm sure many people have found other avenues to use social media to reach the public.

The ones with the correct answer are no longer here to respond.

I guess is 'rude' participants.