Sigh. More Games with NAR Blog Posts.
Author: Jay T. - The EditorPosted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under NAR - General
I don’t get it.
This morning I questioned some “date manipulation” happening on some posts on the NAR’s “Voices of Real Estate Blog“.
One of the posts in question (the lessor of the two evils IMHO) was re-dated multiple times in order (I assume) to keep it at the top of the page.
Tonight, the post is gone, fini, out of there.
Or so it appears at first glance….
I thought maybe the keeper of the NAR blog had reverted it to its original date.
Nope.
Then I assumed it had been deleted. It was simply nowhere to be found. Why would they delete a post? Because in it they committed to posting on a schedule — a schedule that hasn’t been maintained?
So what. Bloggers everywhere say they are going to post some series, or post on some sort of regular schedule — and many times those things fall apart for various and sundry reasons. Been there, done that myself.
But I suspect you’d have to look long and hard to find a blogger that just deletes an entire post, particularly after getting a little criticism. Just fix it for Pete’s sake. There’s no need to delete it and hope it never happened. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big a deal.
As it turns out the post wasn’t deleted. But it isn’t easy to find.
This URL leads to the Jan 31 date version of the post.
This URL leads to the Feb 6 date version of the post.
(Note to the NAR blog master — when you chose to use year and month in your post URL structure, multiple copies are made when you change dates across months.)
Here are screen snips:
This isn’t so much about changing dates on posts. Or “deleting” posts. (though I don’t understand either practice, at all).
There are after all, no rules in blogging. It is the NARs blog, and if they want to delete posts, it’s their privilege. If they want to back date a post from the President of the organization, who am I to stop them?
I just hope they understand what it makes them look like in the eyes of some of their members. Seems to me that an organization that prides itself on a Code of Ethics would stop for a second and say, “Hmmm. How does changing dates on posts come across? How does it look when one morning a post is there, and that afternoon it is for all practical purposes gone?”
Looks snarky to me. But I tend to go a little over the top about these things. I can say though that based on some of the comments here and numerous emails I got today that I’m not alone. Taking actions that bring integrity into question probably isn’t the best plan for the NAR.
Just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
.
Comments
14 Responses to “Sigh. More Games with NAR Blog Posts.”
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[…] Sigh. More Games with NAR Blog Posts., by Jay Thompson. […]
Your opinion is spot on. Kudos to NAR for recognizing the value of blogging, but they really need to have somebody who understands blogging to advise them.
It takes a long time to build credibility, and they’re already starting at or near the bottom - with their own members and the general public.
Does manipulating dates on a blog post fall under this Standard of Practice 12-8 of the Realtor Code of Ethics?
Source.
“…but they really need to have somebody who understands blogging to advise them.”
Agreed! And there are plenty of very experienced real estate bloggers out there. I’m sure some would be happy to advise. I know I would (not that they’d have me
)
They could even have an “advisory panel” of sorts. Perhaps just a dedicated email address given to select folks so they would have a direct “conduit” for input.
Lot’s of options. They don’t need to go it alone and start from scratch. Why not capitalize on the wealth of experience that is out there? I bet if they put out a “call for advisors” they’d be flooded with people willing to help.
I want them to succeed!
12-8 is tricky for blogs though. Once you’ve blogged for ages and have 1000+ posts, there is no possible way you can keep them all “updated” like a static website is possible to be updated.
The date stamp is our only defense to the out of date information presented on our April 2006 market report for example.
So NAR jerking the date stamps around is basically playing fast and loose with their legal defense. Seriously dumb on their part.
I have no illusions that Dick Gaylord is actually writing his posts either. It’s pretty much a ghostblog.
I’ll throw my name in the hat for NAR blogging advisory panel. They have a real opportunity here to be the leaders that they purportedly want to be.
@Athol - agreed. Messing with dates sets a dangerous precedent, IMHO.
Maybe NAR is taking lessons from the NYT? http://snipurl.com/nromediablog-7729
The other thing that drives me nuts about the NAR is that they have never made an effort to become a part of the real estate blogging community. It’s very “Come read my blog and hear the truth my little children.”
People like Drew and David at Zillow, folks from Trulia, and Glenn (Redfin) have done a great job of blogging, commenting, and generally being a part of the community. The NAR has failed to do this.
[…] would be too easy to pile on the NAR, what with their recent tempests in respective teapots. But here is a hypothetical […]
I think thats a good point Trevor.
Unfortunately there is not even a single person at NAR acting as any kind of social media guru. We can’t even say “NAR sucks, but person XYZ at NAR at least seems to be equipped with a brain and operates with a personality”.
They just seem to have a legal department and bipolar “release the hounds” / “we are oblivious” attitude to us blogging.
I mean imagine if Jay Thompson was the NAR social media guy… how different is the NAR online presence.
“if he could be turned” said Vader to the Emperor
[…] Wisdom has yet more What The Huh??? blogging games with the official National Association of Realtors blog. This may seem petty and […]
“I mean imagine if Jay Thompson was the NAR social media guy… how different is the NAR online presence.”
Ya know, believe it or not, I would jump all over something like that. A “social media director” could go a long way toward helping move the NAR into the 21st century.
I feel a blog post coming on…
Oh Jay!
You doooooooooooo care about NAR!
Let me throw my hat in the ring for the panel or for the high-paying guru job.
[…] Trevor Smith said in a comment here: […]