Great thread here!! Less moderation is BETTER!

I came on board a couple of months ago and weighed in with some thoughts to add perspective on matters of Netiquette. The Community Guidelines are a great place to start and a simple conmon sense approach will make things easier on everyone in the Trulia Community.

Frances Flynn Thorsen
Community Manager
Trulia.com

15 Tips About How To Behave In Online Community

And just to add to the tread Flag those spammers Peter Wiliams, Moore, Evelyn, Golden, Voices member. They are just posting the same answer everywhere, sometimes multiple times for one ansver.
It sounds like a scam for me. Plenty of good people have fallen for "lender-crooks" and now are loosing their homes. Can someone verify their identities and if they are legit???

MORE. I just flagged a gy from UK soliciting for business and offering construction morgages:( come on.
also it would be good if some of the older blogs get archived and closed for posting.
Since most of the suggestions have been made, just listen to them.
thanks for caring

To first qualify myself, I'm relatively new to Trulia and love the concept. But....
I think my biggest pet peeve are agents answering geographically specific questions from another part of the country. Answers to generic questions I think are fair game from where ever you are if you have something constructive to add.

My only guess is that they are doing it to bolster their ratings as their answers make no sense or are obviously written by someone who hasn't a clue. Case in point was a response to someone asking about a Vancouver, WA neighborhood and was answered by someone in Louisianna who also gave an update on the Canadian dollar. The answer was very generic but was prefaced by the words 'In Vancouver...'

It would be great to have some way to regulate this as it does nothing for our credibility.

Just my $.02...

Happy Holidays & a Merry Christmas to all ....

Duke

I totally agree with Jennifer. I think I understand the realtors' frustration with feeling like they're answering the same question over and over, but remember: the redundant questions are coming from new people. I got an answer once that started with, "I'm going to be consistant here. Do you have a realtor?" I looked and looked at the previous answers to my question, and couldn't find any other postings by that realtor with which he was "being consistant."

I hope that, instead of getting frustrated with those of us asking the questions, the realtors will please give us the benefit of the doubt that we're not asking to annoy you - we're asking the questions we are wondering about. We don't know that you've answered before. We're not trying to be lazy - to us, the question is brilliant, and the answers will provide insight and guidance to all who read it! (cue the choir)

Maybe if a realtor finds himself or herself responding with frustration because he/she has answered something before, he or she should just step back and not answer again at that moment. Someone else will, and that way a buyer or seller won't feel scolded for doing what we thought the site was for: asking questions to the experts! And every once in a while, I hope your time and energy is rewarded with a new client who happens to be looking for a realtor in your area...

I posted this on another forum and it might be useful here:
As a buyer and learning a lot about real estate because I'm about to make a very large financial decision, I would prefer that even the professional questions asked by agents would remain available for all people to read.
However, I do see a lot of redundancy and I think that the problem is the way the forum is arranged. If there was some way for Trulia to take certain keywords from someone's question and add a post-question page that says something like "Thank you for your question. A similar question was asked...(List all of those questions and give links to them)...Would you like to see it (them)?"
It's too hard to search for keywords in questions if you are new to this forum and are not experienced in navigating it.

Hi Nadia:

I agree with you. You can definitely do that with Realtors, If you click on the the PRO's link , underneath the picture, there is a contact button, you can give them feedback that way for comments you don't wish public to see.

However, my problem is that the consumer does not usually provide that, which is understandable. In that case, it would be nice to have a place to leave a comment which can not be seen by others.

If it's just a difference in opinion, people should be able to provide a TD if they like (fine with me), and state their disagreement by giving an answer to that question.

I received to TD on the brochure box question, I think just because people disagree with my answer. They might or might not have made a comment about that, but the public can see that two people disagree with using the brochure box. It did not bother me at all. A simple way to show your opinion. If a TD totally does not make sense to you, then it would not make sense to others anyway.

Kind of interesting, as I see some people will leave comments on which they expect to be different from others, so they will say 'thumbs away', I always chuckle, because often times I agree with those.

Sylvia

Nadia,
Good Points! Most RE Pros provide contact info on their profile. But, your point is well taken! Thanks for the addiional info.
Deborah

Deborah - I guess I was thinking it would be easier (for me, at least) to just give private feedback. For instance, one of my questions was recently answered with some form of (and I'm paraphrasing): "Do you have a realtor? If so, have him call me for some pointers." I wouldn't respond in public saying, "Wow, that comes off as pretty arrogant, to assume my realtor would need pointers from you..." but I might in private. So it was just a thumbs-down (with other thumbs-downs added by others later). I think if it were private, also, people might take it more as it was intended and not get wrapped up in defending themselves to the forum at large.

Just an idea... :-)

Nadia,
Feel free to add a comment at any time, by simply posting a new answer on the thread.

General Comment and Observation:
There appear to many new posters, and that is good. Many of the regulars have withdrawn or cut back substantially, and it would be wise for Trulia to evaluate why. I don't have a problem w/ the format, layout, or chronological order, but I would like to see better search capabilities to locate topics and area of interest.

Deborah

I wish we could give more specific feedback than thumbs up or thumbs down. I wish a little window opened, so instead of just giving "thumbs down," I could elaborate, "I thought it was inappropriate to... bla bla bla.) That would help us all self-moderate, in that we'd be getting specific messages about what people are bristling at, rather than just "I don't like what you're saying."

Well i have been off Trulia for a while Lurking but not being engaged as i once was when first coming to Trulia. The redundant questions the meaningless same answers and the overall layout are really starting to show there true form. Meaning, that when i would first respond and answer questions i thought it would make some small difference give some consumers some insight. Im sure it did at one time or another and maybe i helped. But what i thought and in reality is a good community now has become a home of a few and getting smaller few core members. Which i think have good ideas to help, but im not sure trulia is moving fast enough to keep up with the Jones as to say.

Then you have the locals that jump in providing 5 minutes worth of insight cause someone told them go on trulia and get some leads. They drag up useless local answers, and blog down recent questions. Then there is the Layout. Every time i come on here more and more it is showing its inadequacies. I have to admit that i jumped into Zillow and within a couple of minutes liked the functions and the overall uses. There was a disclaimer about spam first post that didnt seem to move. The questions didnt take up half my screen i could easily maneuver my way threw topics without having to actually see all this useless information. Having to jump through pages to get questions.

This post might seem a bit harsh and i apologize but, with honesty comes truths. And Truths hurt sometimes, i dont think Trulia will get upset, but i do think they should take notice. There is bickering there as in every other site, but whichever site takes initiatives to clean up spam, useless questions and punish repeat offenders will prosper in this web 2.0 battle. Zillow has taken a great step and i commend them, and i know Trulia is working on one as well so i wait in hope it will motivate me to contribute a bit more. Not that my voice is worth much, but there are alot of voices disappearing. I think the more people we are able to reach we can actually make a difference, but i cant stand sorting through trulia's interface to get to the meaningful ones.

Trulia please take a good look at your front page. The navigation is like a page that gets old fast. It is probably the main reason i dont contribute. WIth minimal time on my hands and wanting to utilize 5 minutes, i like to come in navigate see what i need in 3 minutes post an answer and go about my business. This is the fast food era, and having your questions so big and bulky without much management it just makes me look for a thumbs up answer i dont see one so i leave. I dont have time to click on every question to read. The ability to scroll as many headlines topics recent and most viewed questions within a minimal time is paramount to keeping attention span on us working individuals.

I have asked many questions that i think are worthy of responses, and i want to know what people like me are thinking. But they get dropped to the back pages. I personally never go past page 2. On one visit. Everyone has there own habits. Mine is 2 pages no content im on to the next site i need to check.

I feel guilty for even going into Zillow.com or yahoo, but eventually if i keep seeing the same thing i cannot continue to hope you guys are listening. They also have agent designations which i liked, cause you would spot them from other posters, without having to read there profile. I know we got REPRO but sometimes my eyes dont like to read all that info an icon is a better memorization tool when speed surfing.

See you guys soon, And REPROS that know me give me some feedback on some of my questions i asked them for a reason, not to be lost in page 35.

Just some advice i hope it comes upon open ears.

I like the Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down. It's a way that people can quietly show support for an answer without the need to post. If everyone started using the feature, the value of the result would be more effective - so why not start using it more and making it work right! Don't complain that Dubya's in office if you didn't vote in the election :) Just my opinion, I like 'em.

As far as moderation - Among other things, I'd like to see moderators discourage some of the "spammy" realtor marketing that I feel happens too much in these threads. Cut-and-pasting 5 paragraphs about your qualifications and why you should use a REALTOR (tm) and the standard REALTOR (tm) marketing verbiage is probably not a good answer unless the question is "Why should I use a REALTOR(tm) and what are your qualifications?" In most other forums this type of post would be strongly frown upon.

I guess I feel that I've seen too many questions "hijacked" and re-routed to "realtor rhetoric" and the question suffers. Don't get me wrong - there are many great and helpful realtor posters on Voices. But with such a high ratio of realtors posting, I think that some form of moderation is necessary to maintain value and balance for the other parties who post here. Tricky!

Don't limit the number of posts. Don't delete threads. Don't supress thoughts and ideas. Don't discourage healthy arguments. But DO set some protocols and start educating your community about what is appropriate, what's not, and why. Maybe Voices needs a "Sticky" with posting guidelines?

Gonna be interesting to see where this ends up!

Michael,

Multiple posts on the same thread do not increas a count. Just an FYI.

Deborah

Perhaps we could limit the RE Pros to "ONE" comment on a particular posting question. This way we would not get the constant bickering or "inside" jokes between participants. It would "clean" up the content (no offense!) and force the RE Pro to give it their best shot. Now I know different threads come about from a vey "hot" question but perhaps that can be split into a separate question from a RE Pro. Just some thoughts.
But I believe Trulia Voices is becoming an addiction. Both Deborah and Paula, stating they needed to "get a life" are now back into the fray!! Maybe instead of moderation we should start a 12 step program for weaning ourselves from Trulia Voices. Heck, tis the season! We have the 12 days of Xmas (can I say that anymore!!??).
1. We admitted we were powerless of Trulia Voices--that we just didn't have a life!
2. Came to belive that a Power grater than ourselves (lead generation?) could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our keypads and opinions over to the care of Trulia Voices as we understand them.
4. Made a searching and fearless business inventory of how we should effectively spend our time!
5. Admitted to our manager and to ourselves and to our spoues the exact nature of our addiction to Trulia Voices and why we do this!
6. Were entirely read to have Trulia moderate as needed to remove all the defects of the system and within our selves.
7. Humbly asked Trulia Voices to remove the shortcomings of this system.
8. Made a list of all Trulia Voices members we had maligned, slandered, gossipped about and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to all Trulia Voices members wherever possible, except when to do so would overtly embarrass them or show them to be the true jerks they really are.
10. Continued to take personal business inventory and when we came back to Trulia Vocies to promptly admit we should really be lead generating!
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our answers to Trulia Voices questions, praying only for knowledge to answer correctly, stay on subject and not take personal shots at a really dumb question!
12. Having had a spirtitual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to set an example of civility, accuracy in answering questions, and to practice these principles in all of our Trulia Voices affairs!
(with apologies to Bill W. and Dr. Bob!)

I am late to the party and still want to play and dance. So, here’s my nickels worth of nothin’!

What subjects on Voices prompt requests for moderation? Are there underlying issues to these subjects? Is moderation the best answer? Are there other steps that can be taken which might provide solutions?

There has been a revolving door of RE Pros who have come and gone. A divided camp exists on the interpretation of some of the Community Guidelines (CG) and Best Practices (BP). Repetitive requests for Trulia moderation could be minimized by Trulia more clearly establishing Trulia’s CG and BP. Redundant bickering would be deterred and contributors could decide to simply comply or leave. The remaining foundation would represent a stronger platform and build a more positive Voices.

Yes, moderation is necessary. Real estate is a serious matter, often representing the single largest financial transaction that many ever engage in their lives. There is a myriad of laws from various state, local and federal levels because of the complexity and liabilities involved in real estate. The subject of home ownership is simply too serious to go w/o moderation. Trulia has a responsibility to property owners and the RE Pros who so freely give of themselves to build Voices. This is not a debate about who has the best recipe for pumpkin pie. Trulia is holding Voices out as a place for advice and should exercise reasonable caution to ensure integrity.

Ruth asked me to check in on this. Trulia is doing a great job with the changes they have implemented since it's inception and are on the right track. I believe we should just let it unfold as we go. We do get quite a few TD's at times and there are some pro's who like to answer their own question and repeatedly respond the same thread rather than do a direct contact.

Man i am getting really agitated lately with certain individuals, and i might not be benefiting the agents in general. I will try my hardest to restrain from bickering.

PLEASE MODERATE
PLEASE MODERATE
PLEASE MODERATE

I wish someone could come in and close a thread that is starting to spin in the wrong direction or just has already played its role. There should not be consumer questions with 20-30 answers. It should and im sure it was answered within the first five.

Maybe since that answer became a hot topic let make a side place that we can discuss it without the consumer getting a tulia update every time we want to yell at each other in a nice lower cap manner.

Moderate please delete useless answers starting now. How hard could that be for you guys. Or is Trulia worried about its stats as well you want to beat Yahoo in the questions category. Guess what your better. So please erase so we can start to help actual questions.

Mansur:
When you click on the flag, a list of choices come down and you can choose spam, inappropriate and a few others. If you don't get that, you might have "pop-ups" blocked on your computer. Just go to preferences and say "allow pop-ups for this site".
Ruth

Thanks for the valuable perspective Ginger. I totally agree that the intellectual exchanges do benefit all. A single board is good also. You captured my main concern -- which is liability for answers and the legality of answering consumer questions in a state other than where an agent is licensed. I am also seeing too many responses from agents who are trying to be helpful but are unknowingly breaking Fair Housing and Anti-Trust laws. I was told the Flag button can be used to flag these but when I press this button it does not do anything -- maybe it is not active for all people.

The muffin man better look out. The Gingerbread cookie is HOT!

I am answering because Ruth asked me to do so.

Mansur has raised the legal risks. My idea would be to come up with a (brief) standard disclaimer that appears automatically at the end of RE pro’s post. However, there must be other forums facing this issue so we shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I have read some medical forums, and there are also legal forums. How do they handle this issue?

I don’t happen to agree with Susan’s suggestion of separate boards for consumers and RE Pros. This mix is what makes this forum better than others.

Sylvia raises a good point about the report flags. There is no way to even know if a report was taken. At least do a pop up flag so that we know it was sent.

As far as offenses, I would divide them into minor and major. The minor offenses, “yellow light”, well, I don’t really care if you moderate this or not. Most forums are kinda self moderated on this. Ie If you are inappropriate, you are flamed. Inappropriate might be rude comments or self promotion. What would be major, “red light’ offenses for me are: ethnic slurs, obscene language, the “For a good time call Trixie” posts, and posting a scam. Not spam, but scam. It think for red light offenses, it should be one strike you’re out. Those kind of posters will keep posting until you stop them, so one strike you’re out will stop them quicker.

That being said, I like what Realestatemarketing (RE Pro in LA) had to say. I believe in a free market forum!!!

Paula would like to require consumers to follow up on their questions to give closure. The day that you require consumers to do “homework”, is the day that 99% of the consumers, including me, cease to participate in the forum. That is not how forums work. By their very nature, forums are open, participation is a volunteer thing, and there is no guarantee of closure. If you want to require closure, it is no longer a forum.

The other forums (non RE) in which I participate work as Realtyexec described, with moderators. They work well.

I addressed the issue of rankings and TU/TD in Ruth’s thread on this issue. Here’s the link: http://www.trulia.com/voices/Using_Trulia/PLEASE_VOTE_Should…

I like the chronological order of questions and answers. I find in forums that post these into sections that I have to hunt thru the sections and it takes more time. With the chronological order, I can quickly scan all new posts to see which ones interest me.

Ok, some consumers post unintelligible questions and a few realtors post less than useful answers. Tit for tat, it all works out in the wash. No one says that every post has to be great.

I don’t mind bickering. I find it entertaining. It is the whining that is killing me. “I’m not making any money for this, I do this out of the goodness of my heart…my only quibble is to make it worth my time.” Puh-leeeeeeze. First, I have been here one month and already participated in two threads on this idea that the realtors are under appreciated and not getting anything back. Second, I am not buying the idea that all the giving is from the realtors and that it is a one way street. I have a Master’s in Finance, with real estate investment and construction experience. But, hey, I don’t have that NAR after my name so I can’t really be contributing like a realtor. I expect to be flamed for this comment. I will take the flaming without whining about it.

I'm new to this site, so I don't think I've had enough time to see some of the problems that occur without moderating. However, every site that I've posted on, regardless of the content has always had some type of moderator. Even though guidelines have been set there are still those who choose not to adhere to them. I think leaving the Voices section to members would eventually turn this section into marketing tool, instead of an education one. There are some great Real Estate pros who are posting on a daily basis and that should help.

As a first time home buyer I think that sites like Trulia is very important. I'm so grateful to all professionals who volunteered answer our questions simple, tricky or fooolish and share their vant knowlege with us. I'm also grateful for all customers who volunteered to share with us the knowlege in any possible field. I do not think that somebody should remove questions or answers if they are comply with the guidelines and not abusuve. What we need is more sophisticated tool for search to find the questions and answers in special field sooner. Thanks a lot for everybody!

The TDs don't affect any stats. Sometimes they are for disagreement, sometimes because what was said was wrong, and other times out of malice.

I can guess the reason you got a TD was because they just read the headline and not the detail. They assumed that the question was selfish and that you wanted to know if you would make money by posting here.

Ruth

I am still thinking through my owner answer on this, so I will reply to this later.

The TU, TD, BA, Rankings have been debated many, many times; along with other changes which have been proposed since I started on this forum.

I think it will be beneficial for all to see Pete Flint's recent reply to a question -

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Using_Trulia/Pete_Flint_and_Tru…

One thing you all need to keep in mind is that changing something like this is probably not just a one page display change. There are a lot of underlying modifications that need to be made - all depends on how the system is designed.

I think we all want to have a long term solution (kind of like buying houses, you don't want to have to buy one every two months because you decided you have not spent enough time researching it), so my suggestion is to get more input and let Trulia design the best formula before implementing it.

We also need Trulia as a company to decide where they want to take to forum for their long term goals. We are the contributors and we feel an ownership, but we also need to allow them to discuss among themselves what's their vision and the best way to accomplish that with our input. That's the only way we can all benefit from this forum for years to come.

O.K. that's the speech of the day. but I do have an IT background and I did lots of development and implementation

Again, I will be back with my voice on this.

Sylvia

Perfect example of the TU TD issue - look at my post below. Why is it that I got the TD?? Not that I care but if it's being used in stats it is misleading to the consumer.

And Ruth, we may never hear from Deborah again (( sigh )) or many others of us who may have others unfortunately enough, if something isn't done soon. That was the intent of my post and for that two people decided to do a TD?

Think I'll join Deborah and go MIA too.

We at http://www.realestatemarketingblog.org believe absolutely love Trulia Voices. One of the main reasons we do is because of their open forum structure and the ability is gives its users to speak freely and openly about every topic about Real Estate.

More moderation will only mean less information. Sometimes the information that people don't like to hear or see is the best because it is reality. This is one of the main reasons why blogs work so well and have become so popular. People are truly able to speak their minds in a medium when all who want to see and hear can.

Let's not let a few bad seeds ruin it for everyone else. In reality, that is what they want anyways.

Keep up the great job Trulia!!

But if the rankings are intended for agents to get business, when a consumer see someone who answers questions that they are impressed by, they would search W for Jim Walker. I just don't understand any purpose for ranking.

It was a great idea in the beginning because pride. Just as first answers and total numbers were a great idea in the beginning. It got agents online answering questions and quick enough not to loose the consumers attention. It worked and you don't need it now. By keeping those now, you are encouraging quantity and speed over quality. Just look at the Q&A's from the original "seed" questions. Look at how manipulated the Best Answer statistics are for Laurie Manny. If you put all 43 Best Answers of Laurie's up against even the lamest 43 of 77 Best Answers awarded to Deborah Madey, you will see incredible care, thought and insight in Deborah's responses as opposed to any "gaming".

If we could FIND a person's best answer, I'd go through and read each and every one of Deborah's responses. I bet you if there were any "lame" awards given to her, she would be happy to lower her score in favor of quality. I hope we can hear from Deborah soon.

Sincerely,
Ruth

Ruthless: ordering by name is not as natural as chronological order, because then Jim's answers would show up near the bottom almost all the time, even though he's one of the great posters, for example, just because of the accidental fact his name starts with a W.

It's also very easy to game: just pick a name that starts with has a lot of As (or an underscore)--the old naming your business AAA Real Estate to rank high in the yellow pages game. It's harder to game time, because there's always someone posting after you :)

Roger, since you just posted moments ago, andd seem to be moderating, could you look into NewportFiji and compare her IP address with Susan Home Buyer in San Francisco. I (along with several other posse members) strongly suspect it is the same person posting under two identities..


If so that is against community guidelines.

All: we'll be keeping you apprised of our timeline. I'm actually on vacation (hah) but we have folks working on changes round the clock.
About locking pros or consumers out of a question: it's not really possible, because you could always go to your profile, change your status to consumer, answer the question, and then change your status back. I'm not giving you tips on how to cheat, just pointing out that the most locked-down system can still be abused by folks who don't play nice with others.

Hi Michael:

I do want to beg differ on this.

I did answer a question about for Consumers specific and asked if they would refer their Realtors. I was the first one to answer and got 3 TD for that (maybe 4 by now) . .

I actually did want to answer that question because I was a consumer way before I am a Realtor. My Realtor in Texas helped me so much, he is the one who took Realtor out of the used salesman's category for me after two lousy Realtors before (some of you heard the story, one was kicked out by her company after we filed a complaint) .

I always take the chance to talk about this Realtor, he is ethical, hardworking, honest; just everything you would hope a Realtor to be

And, no, I did not do that to get First Answer. I might be on Trulia much more than you do but I never do anything to get First Answer. So, I would appreciate that if you did not make that generalized assumption like others would. .

You can't erase the fact that I was a consumer before.

Thanks,
Sylvia

I just saw a question stating it was for Consumers and NOT Realtors. I opened the question and 5 out of the 6 answers where Realtors!! Maybe Trulia can provide a "lock-out" when a question like this is asked. Maybe have a "ask the consumer a question only" section. Then if any REpro tries to respond they get blocked out!! I would love to go in and read these answers as I wish to learn from the consumer. But really! 5 out of the 6 answers where licensees!! Restraint! Got to get that inferno "First Answer" under my belt!!

Patti is right. My pet peeve (ha-ha-ha pun to follow) is that I am no longer allowed to walk with my PET in the park because some inconsiderate people didn't pick up after their dogs. Now they enforce "no dogs allowed" when they could have just enforced picking up after your dog.

Roger: Please make people responsible for their own poop and not make us clean up after them.
Ruth

I agree with Ruth. If someone give a TU or TD, we should know who that person was. Consumer? Agent? Then it gives us a chance to clarify any misunderstandings. It would also prevent the bickering between agents who gives everyone a TD just because they want to show up in the stats as having been given the 'most useful answers'. I still think the 'first answser' should be done away with as it has no useful merit.

Having said that, and with all the opinions you've been given - when can we expect a change? What is on the table for the Truial powers that be to discuss all of the opinions given here and make those changes?
We have all given you our .02 - I'd like to know what Trulia's 02 is with what you've been given so far and what your time frame is for making any changes.

Agree with you Roger on needing a better ranking system. However until a decent ranking or rating system is developed, the current system creates an unnecessary incentive for people to just post something in order to get their numbers higher - hence get rid of the current system. A score or index attached to a poster's profile will be helpful but it really needs to take into account the following:
1) relevance (answer must closely address the question) 2) originality (simply rewording someone else's answer in the same thread or a different thread should never be rewarded) 3) brevity (posts should be limited to fewer words -- 5000 words is way too long an answer ) 4) usefulness (likelihood that the answer contributed to help the person asking the question or to increase community knowledge -- this could be by community voting via Thumbs Up) and 5) accuracy or legality (inaccurate information and illegal posts are extremely dangerous -- these posts should be removed immediately and the person should be assigned a penalty card - which should negatively affect the index). Ruth's idea of a ranking by State has merit -- perhaps would remove the current dangerous practice of people in one State answering questions for consumers in another State -- real estate laws vary widely by State.

I just checked out the Yahoo answers forum. It is actually pretty close to Trulias. They have same TU and TD. And i have no idea how it works, but i did see some features that i liked. like the ability to vote on as a community whether an answer has been answered or resolved. I think that was what it was for, and that there is a resolved answer section.

I truly think that there is many options that need to be utilized im so tired of sifting through so many junk questions. That a new member to a certain area, brings back alive when the question answer is gone and great answers are already there.

The junk of content is what annoys me more than anything, so much randomness and chaos on the start page. Yahoo had the same problem, i have yet to see a organized board that we can navigate through and filter through useless junk. I think this is why more than bad answers bad questions all the other stuff we need fixed. Moderators would greatly help clean up the chaos, till Trulia organizes there dirty house.

I really still hate the spam also and useless answers of some agents in out of area questions.

Please Moderate or i myself might be migrating to yahoo, or some other board.

Roger:
You said, "If there's no ranking, the only natural ordering is chronological." How about by state of name? Why do you have to have an agent from CA compete with one from NJ? I don't think there is any purpose in the Top Voice. You could have people go to someone's profile and they can "write a review" and give them one to five stars or something.

I have also thought that being able to know whether a thumb was given by a consumer or a Pro would be a good idea. But it would be too complicated and take up too much room. I do think it is important to be able to have the Pros give thumbs as well as the consumer because if a agent is giving really bad advice that sounds good, is the consumer going to know that?

I stated my other views on the Vote question about removing the rankings.
Thanks,
Ruth

oh, I forgot to add one more aggravation:
WHY IS IT that the first answer is so great? That should be eliminated as well. Maybe Deborah is writing a contract, or sylvia is showing property, and they are the 4th or 5th answer......doesn't mean they don't give great advice. When a consumer looks up the stats though, what they see that Trulia places importance on is "you were first" or "you had the best answer" (who determines that? the poster?) or that you gave more or less usefull answers (read prior post about thumbs up/down stuff).

Ok, now, I'm off my rant, but Roger, if you and all the Trulia Gods want this to work, you need to listen.... because right now, it is NOT working. Not to say that it can't, because there are minor changes that will make you the top of the Curve.

Check out what YaHoo does with their Q&A and 'best answers"...........
You need to focus on what is best for the agent who spends their time (what do we get out of this? Knowledge, yes......comaraderie, networking, yes) What does the consumer get out of it? Sometimes good info, sometimes not - THAT is where the moderation comes in and you should make sure you have your info covered as well. I'd hate to see the day that one of us gets sued for giving bad info because we chose to answer someone in a state with laws that were different. I'd also think that consumers would come here for GOOD advice, and Trulia has to make the changes that can assure everyone that this is where they can come for that info.

ok, now I'm really done ;-) If you'd like to chat about this directly,, you have my information. I can help you with this, and I'd love to, but as I said, there is that timing issue ;-) I'm not making any money for this, I do it out of the goodness of my heart. Trulia, although it's a great idea, has other issues That isn't a bad thing, everyone has to make money to continue to do this . . . my only quibble is make it worth my time, and make the answers correct for the consumers so they aren't given erroneous info.

Hi Roger:

Thank you for asking this question.

I don't think it's a matter of moderating more or less, I think it's a matter of setting the right guidelines and actually FOLLOWING them. That means that the moderators must moderate based on those guidelines --nothing more, nothing less.

I have seen cases these past couple of weeks where, although certain guidelines are set and clearly stated, they were not followed and, in fact, clearly violated, and no action was taken. That is not a case of moderating more or less, that is a case of not being consistent.

So, as the parent of a 6-year old who needs lots of guidance and consistent discipline or otherwise gets confused, I can say that I've found consistency to be the key. In my opinion, that is what is needed here.

That may, of course, mean careful review of the guidelines to evaluate whether or not they are the most effective and beneficial for the growth of the community.

Roger and all Trulians:

I appreciate the fact that everyone is committed to making this a great resource, however, in the short period of time I've spent here, I am not seeing a benefit to me to spend my time helping answer questions. I belong to many forums so am going to have to choose to spend my time wisely.

Here are a few of the issues I have:
TU/TD: this should be eliminated as some will always give TU or TD depending on if they are your friend or enemy. I think the only ones that should be able to do this is the consumer.

The consumer should - prior to being able to ask a question, fill out a profile that is complete with an email address. Many times I've looked at the profile and found that the consumer has no way to get in touch with them. Not a big problem until you want to send them a direct email on a sensitive subject and not post it on Trulia for all the world to see.

As far as moderation, I think if agents are going to spend our time and expertise answering these questions, I'd like to see what eventually transpired. That is where moderation comes in......if the consumer asks a question, gets 30 answers and has had help in their real estate need, then I'd like to see that we helped, or maybe not, but I want closure.

Yahoo Answers has a great forum for this, maybe you should check them out.

In the meantime, I sell real estate, I train agents in my office and all over the U.S, Austrailia and Canada.... I belong to many listservs that I get great information from, but have to choose where to spend my time wisely and unless something changes here on Trulia, I'm unfortunately not going to continue on.

I've had many direct emails from agents AND consumers who say the same thing, so I'd sugges that you get the powers that be in a huddle and resolve this asap if you want this to be a viable forum.

The concept is wonderful, but there are serious problems that need to be resolved. I can give you several links to other listservs and their moderators/owners that I belong to if you'd like to email or call them to see how they have resolved these same issues.

For now, I have to sell real estate, train agents, run an internet company that teaches agents how to sell real estate via the consultant model, I moderate my own fsbo listserv, I'm an e-PRO, so I go on e-PROTalk.com, then there is REALTOWN, who's been around forever, so unfortunately I have to spend my time where it is most valueable, and until something changes at Trulia, unfortunately , this isn't it for me.

Thanks Roger - I wish you well, and appreciate what you are trying to accomplish. . . and to you Trulians, and Ruth, I hope to see you around the internet somewhere in the near future!! It was a great ride while it lasted! If anyone wants to email me off list for other very informative groups to check out, please feel free to do so at PaulaBean@HomeOrlando.com - and Roger, I'd highly recommend you get in touch with me so I can put you in touch with some who can help you with this issue... Trulia will be GREAT, one day, but you have to see where others have gone before you and make it great NOW, or lose the momentum.

I think if you take away the Repro's ability to vote on other Repros and vice versa or Only count actual consumer TU or TD, then we can get a better understanding of how much we are actually contributing. I would like to know how many of my useful answers are from a consumer vs a Repro. This would be the same for best answers. I think the consumer is the most important part of the equation, and there voice in the rankings should matter most.

" how do consumers get a sense of and/or find quality contributors? "
They ask Questions.
They get Answers
They make an educated decision
I have never had a client ask me what my rankings are. They usually ask....
Have you bought or sold a home here or there? Lately the big question is How much should I offer?

I did not think people came to voices looking for a realtor, They come to ask a question and get an answer.
If they happen to find a Realtor great, but they only find them through the Realtors great answer.

When you get to the technical search engine ranking? I have no answer.

All,
As many of you know, we are working on revamping some functionality on Voices having to do with ranking. Some have asked us to do away with the ranking, TUBA, etc. Here's a question: absent any ranking or stats, how do consumers get a sense of and/or find quality contributors? Google and other search engines have shown that rankings matter and do help users get at the good stuff more easily.If there's no ranking, the only natural ordering is chronological, which means a severe skew in favor of new contributors (or old contributors, in the reverse order). I think we all agree being new or old doesn't speak to quality per se; So I feel some kind of composite ranking (or "score", or "index" if ranking sounds too competitive) is necessary.

Please excuse my recent post on many questions that I then deleted. I did that to eliminate David from the UK's posts listed in recent responses. He was pulling up old questions and spamming. Those question were not necessary to be revived.

Sorry,
self appointed temporary monitor,
Ruth

I removed my posting with the latest TUBA scores (thank you for the 4 TUs and no TDs) as well as my postings on the TUBA thread. I agree with Patrick about removing the rankings. I have posted that as another question so people can vote and give their opinions.

Thank you Patrick for moving this PAST the recent disturbance. Answers do speak for themselves and it doesn't take that long to figure out who the best is and who to trust with their quality (or "out of the box") responses.

Ruth

OOOHHHHHH!!! I love presents!!!! Presents, presents, presents! Thanks Trulia Roger.

I agree totally with Patrick. But no more ghost stories please!! I'm still waiting for this little creepy guy to come into one of my open houses!!

Eliminate the ranking system.....Quality answers will speak for themselves.

No ranking system.......No Gaming.....No reason for trulia to play big sister.

Trulia has plenty of participant's.

Just do it....It can`t get any worse.