Comments on: NAR Communications Committee Finds Realtor.org Difficult to Use

By: Matt Stigliano

Matt Stigliano — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:01:08 +0000

Todd – I find that happy hour can be the best place to talk – you’ll get honesty with a beer in hand. Just don’t take the meeting too far into happy hour. Then it gets ugly. I’d hate to see the new site after it was redesigned by a bunch of Realtors® at happy hour. Haha.

I think your idea of reserving something sort of outside the REBarCamp experience might work best. I just think it’s good to allow for input, but not take away from what people spent money to come do – learn. I do applaud the efforts to get the “public” involved. Now I really wish I would be there.

By: Todd Carpenter

Todd Carpenter — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:50:36 +0000

Matt, once RE BarCamp is over, we all head to happy hour. So I’m thinking that would be the worst time possible. :p

I think we are going to reserve an auxiliary conference room in the building as to not take space away from the RE BarCamp event.

By: Missy Caulk

Missy Caulk — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:49:24 +0000

Todd, I am coming and I would be interested in a session like this.

By: Matt Stigliano

Matt Stigliano — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:48:45 +0000

Todd – I’ve never been to a REBarCamp, so I can’t comment on the functionality of one, but perhaps through the day you could invite members who you see as being “involved” to a special meetup at a given time, then collect them and do your thing. Perhaps this would avoid the feeling that it was an RENARCamp. I know you said “breakout session” but I was thinking more of after the REBarCamp was over, that way you’re not taking them away from what they came for, but also giving them the opportunity to participate in this sort of focus group.

By: Todd Carpenter

Todd Carpenter — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:47:08 +0000

Steve, it looks like you are coming to RE BarCamp Chicago. The realtor.org team is interested in meeting with some of the attendees to get feedback on the work they are doing for the redesign of realtor.org.

Would this be a topic of interest for you at RE BarCamp?

We are trying to decide if a breakout session like this is something RE BarCamp attendees might be interested in, or if it will make them feel like RE BarCamp is turning into RE NarCamp. That’s the last thing we want to do.

By: Lani Rosales

Lani Rosales — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:55:28 +0000

Realtor.org, I think you see some great feedback here.

Benn, Matt, Steve- there are some great ways you’ve noted here as to how the data can flow better, it will be interesting to see how NAR proceeds. They’ve talked about changing the site, this conversation isn’t new because they’re already on it but it IS worth encouraging strategic changes they might not have considered.

Joe, I don’t think a Wall of Shame would be appropriate but scam indictment alerts could be helpful. Do you think that having a humorous section to Realtor.org makes it a better functioning site? I don’t, I think it’s better served as an informative tool than a watercooler. I like that you’re thinking of the site holistically though, it’s an interesting perspective.

By: Joe Loomer

Joe Loomer — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:11:37 +0000

I would create a “Wall of Shame” or whatever you want to call it. Cite cases of agents losing their license (or worse) – state-by-state or however someone smarter than me wants to do it. You could probably make it very funny. Include names of known scammers and predatory lenders under indictment in each state. The Craiglist rental scam being one recent example.

Also – we used to get “Mishap Reports” in the Navy – the dude that used to write them was absolutely hilarious when speaking about how some poor shipwreck tried to open a painted-shut window in a locker room wearing only a towel – you can take it from there. We could have a humorous “Realtors in Real Life” section – I suggest hiring Gwen Banta.

Oh, and add a button on the home page that says “To hear a duck quack, click here” Make AFLAC pay for it….