Caution: This entire diatribe is a paradox, in and of itself.
At one time I thought I was the king of hyperbole and cynicism. Then…I began reading real estate blogs. When I first started reading, I thought ‘WOW, look at all this great information.’ At some point I feel that what I’ve been reading has crossed from being informative to pushing the limit of “freedom of expression.” It’s like some folks are just on search and destroy missions.
Sometimes it’s like I am watching the evening news out of Washington D.C. when I open my blog reader anymore. All the cheating, the politics and the scandals that are laid out in the posts are very gloom and doom to the point of depressing.
It seems every time I open certain blogs, it’s just one blogger attacking another, for attacking another and so on… Yes, I know writing a negative post about negative posts is almost as redundant and hypocritical as one blogger attacking another for their opinion or to be attacked by another for attacking someone else… (see where I’m going with this? ….it’s cyclical….)
The funny thing is that I’ve added a lot of these blogs because they are exceptional writers and have incredible talent. I want to see more of that and less of the ‘shock jock’ mentality that a lot of us (including myself) have attempted. Yes, I know all too well that only negative rhetoric tends to get folks to come back and comment. Yes, it builds Google juice when you really stir the pot and get your “enemies” (as if to say someone you disagree with must be your sworn enemy) to come back to your blog and argue with you.
I’ve found some great friends through the social media venues and find most of them very friendly. Once in awhile, I’ll hear them chatting on Twitter or other apps and say “hey, that’s a really nice guy/gal”; then only to go read their blog and it’s full of venom. That’s ok, it’s their release and their ability to express themselves, but sometimes, I don’t want to be depressed after reading a post. I don’t want to be angry at NAR or whoever the rant is against that week.
So finding bloggers who are writing posts of value and substance is sometime hard.
Here are a list of my favorite writers (I have others I like, but these are my favorites) and I go out of my way to read whatever I can find from them…
If you read these folks, you know that they can be very creative and challenging, without necessarily attacking another person. I respect these folks, because I feel that I could disagree and could still be respected as a person.
Professionalism and respect are critical elements to being credible. I’ve seen some very good writers get dropped from readers quickly, because of their “mean” streak. I am not necessarily making a plea to be Mary Poppins, but if you’re going to disagree be respectful, if you’re going to rant about an issue, try to give a possible resolution.
I think it’s a reasonable request. I know I don’t get it right all the time, but I am thankful to those who have grace with me while I work it all out!
In the interim I am hoping that we can all do a little bit better about writing meaningful and informative posts, and spend a little less time dwelling on all the negative. Almost anyone can complain, only a few can educate and inform others well.
If you want to meet a great group of bloggers and real estate professionals, follow my friends on Twitter. You can find my profile HERE.
