YES!! I think the "ranking" system, "First Answer" mania, TU, TD created a mess. I can't tell you the times a post would ask for "Consumer" feedback only to have the usual voices chiming in either as a First Answer (as if this really matters?) or just to get another "question answered". The "First Answer" mania has many answering a question for an area totally out of their realm of experience and/or expertise.
But the moderation issue is somewhat complex. I get emails from other Trulians complaining and alerting us all of a person (s) posting a question with the intention of the poster answering it first then THAT person answers the question with the result being some totally “off topic” thread which I'm sure perplexes the consumer and shines a not so favorable light on our industry.
However, I've also read posts by consumers which were unintelligible, lacking any sense and verging on illiteracy. You wonder how they ever got on-line!! We also have some "test" questions which seems to freak everyone out as well as some blatantly tasteless rants. So YES!! Moderate. This is NOT a publicly funded web-site. YOU folks can only rely on the participants for so much and restraint is not a virtue here!!

I think maybe there should be seperate sections for consumers and agents to openly discuss things. There seems to be a lot of "salesy" answers by real estate professionals, which can be misleading to consumers. I think there are also a lot more real estate professionals on this site than consumers right now so maybe figuring out who this message board is geared to might be helpful.

I know in my industry, if professionals go try to pitch their products or hype up their services on consumer message boards, they get "flamed". Here it seems to be the opposite. Consumers get "flamed" for sharing their experiences which may be contrary to what real estate professionals want to hear ,making it a more hostile environment .

Some regulation or maybe different sections like trulia "pro" vs trulia "consumer" might be a solution

Yes please just look at the last weeks activity. All the top voices have disappeared, and the bickering is constant.

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.

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.

Realty Exec, "Yes please just look at the last weeks activity. All the top voices have disappeared, and the bickering is constant."

Wow!!! I'm speechless!
Ruth

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."

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!

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!

Trulia Roger,
I am glad you are asking the tough questions. I don't really know what the answer should be. I have been unhappy with the feel of the forum as of late. I hope what ever is going on settles down soon.

I think instead of just a gentle reminder of ‘No spam please! When in doubt, please refer to our Community Guidelines. ‘ Trulia should require participant to read and agree to the community guideline before they are allowed to ask or answer questions. The community guideline can be the ‘user agreement’

In the user agreement, there should be rules of when a user will be prohibited from being part of the community –libel, slander, lies, threats, abusive behavior as well as false representation should be prohibited. As far as if it’s a one or three strikes out; you will have to decide.

A PRO should be required to provide information on their profession and state (realtor, appraisal, architect, mortgage broker). Good for knowing where the answer is based on.

I can’t see a hard and fast rule of prohibiting a Pro or consumer from answering other state’s questions. Whoever ventures to answer specific state law related questions, as pros, should know that they are risking misrepresentation. This can be stated in user agreement. The PRO should, at a minimum, qualify their answers.

Often times by the question wording, the person could be asking opinion from different areas. I have encountered quite a few of those questions just recently

I believe moderation should really happen within. I expect PROs to exhibit professionalism online just as they would like their clients to see them to be. Although this is pro bono, there is a real chance that consumers are checking out pros’ background and perhaps ask one of us to help them. I can not figure out why a Pro would not want to present themselves accordingly.

I agree with Susan that we should allow the consumer to express their opinion on products and services without feeling they are being singled out. Pros can disagree but communication style is the key. The disagreement can be carried out in a way where it is respectful and productive.

There should be a guideline on how to file concerns/complaints. Although we can use the Report Flag, there is no place for the reasons why we think the questions and/or answer are questionable.

Although this is a free forum; always remember that freedom often comes with a price.

Sylvia

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.

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.

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!!

Hi Roger,

I wrote with a poor choice of words. When I answer with a direct response to your question, I will make an effort to articulate better. More appropriately stated, I have been trying to understand (and guess) where Voices fits in the product mix of Trulia and what Trulia is targeting as a goal for Voices.

We all know that increasing the volume of listings on Trulia is an important goal. Developing revenue streams is important. For listings, featured listings, pay per clicks, ad banners, etc., represent a revenue source. Listings are an asset that will provide a revenue stream. I was looking at how Voices fits in that picture. Does Trulia see Voices as a traffic draw to support listing exposure? Or, are listings the most important content and Voices is supplementary?

Please accept my apologies. There was no intended message to you, or any of the Trulia staff, about your commitment to Trulia. I do think that all of you are doing a fabulous job and that your commitment is highly evident.

I have frequently recommended to consumers and agents that they use Trulia, and am anxious for Trulia’s mass to continue to grow.

Best Regards,
Deborah

Thank you Roger and Trulia for asking this question. I would like to throw my 2cents in on this thread. My wallet is empty today so I have no cents (tight on time today.) I have been on a vacation from Trulia, specifically for the purpose of taking a step back and looking at the picture. My concerns have been negativity and also I have questioned what Trulia’s commitment is to Voices. Since I am so passionate on this subject, you might get a nickels worth of comments, instead of 2 cents. I am so very interested in reading others feedback on this also. Be back later or tomorrow.
Deborah

I'm fairly new to Trulia, but am a little disapointed to tell you the truth. I see agents giving incorrect information, I think there are agents who create profiles 'posing as consumers' to get information that they don't want to admit they don't know, but should.

I'm not sure moderation by Trulia is the answer either as I've been on other listserv's where this didn't work either.

The other think that really frustrates me is that we spend our time helping, answering questions and then never hear back what the end result was. I would like to see Trulia make the consumer give an email address (hey they can pick a free yahoo acct just for this purpose if they want) and I'd also like to see what the end result was.

In the long run, all listserv's have people who come and go, those who are good, those who are not, and that is where moderation comes in. If you continually see an agent slamming people, they need to be warned. It makes agents look bad, and it accomplishes nothing.

If Trulia is to continue on with this and make it successful, something has to change. I think it is a great start that you asked our opinion. I'm going to sit back a bit and wait to see if it is worth my while to spend my time on.... so far, the answer is no. Not only that, I've had several direct emails from others saying the same thing.

It would be a shame to lose this great forum, but something has to change.

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...

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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

" 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.

Roger i part of other boards, and there are actual moderators. It is not a Real estate board and doesnt have much room for bias, so it might be a bit different. But The moderators are actual users that are usually the top voices or highest posters so to say. Usually the ones that care the most about the thread.

They are given the ability to erase answers, fix categories if wrong. Delete flagged or spam automatically, close threads if there getting off topic. And also ban members that are abusing the guidelines. There are week bans month bans and eventual full time bans.

The moderators keep those forums clean, and they are not above the law as if there are complaints then they are accountable. But the forums run smooth, the moderators are even contributors. The hardest thing that in Trulia's case is that if you were to use an repro as a moderator alot would complain fo bias. But i think there are truly a couple of proffessionals on this board consumers as well as repros that could handle that burden in my eyes. Without the favoritism.

She double posted it. Here is the link to the TUBA dance -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYWDKnbQJqA Not easy dance.

Although if we do the TUBA dance, it should include weighted Best Answers as well as gentle reminder for posters to select Best Answers (I know, Ruth loves to do traffic control) Here is the original post.

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

Yes, thanks, Pete, for your email. It takes time to do the right thing; we live and learn. As long as Trulia is going the right direction, I am sure Trulia Voices will agree,

Emily and Roger, thank you very much for what you are doing; your job is not an easy one!

I am sure other input will be coming also; knowing this bunch.

Sylvia

Moderating is a good thing as long as it doesn't become policing. It seems that most of the time agents are trying to help consumers and other agents with questions they may have. In response to Susan, the only time agents get a little testie is when the whole industry gets labeled for what one agent may have done wrong.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

About our commitment: we are 120% committed to making Voices a great platform. Our CEO himself is passionate about Voices and we work on Voices constantly , literally 7 days a week and during our vacations :)

Ruth what is the Tuba scores? Also i just got Pete Flints email, and im glad there are listending and making attempts to police the forums.

This is very interesting, thanks for all the feedback.

One important point is that any bad behavior exhibited on Trulia Voices might reflect poorly on Voices, but also reflects pooly on the individual involved in that behavior. It's also evident the pros on Voices also feel it gives the whole profession a bad name--guilt by association, as it were.

We at Trulia will be reading the answers to this question very regularly, so please feel free to expand as much as you'd like!

Well articulated post! I think the community should moderate but it is the role of the platform to allow this to happen in an effective manner. While Digg.com has its flaws and community moderation tools can be abused, methods can be put in place to monitor bad behavior. In sum, I'm in favor of Digg style feedback systems when coupled with monitoring mechanisms to help catch significant or large abuses (you can't catch everything but you can probably catch the most serious cases).

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

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!)

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.

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.