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Also, I'm sending a quick email to Trulia's PR department to let them know that there are at least a few like minded agents that want to see change now, and are speaking through a silent voice until it happens.
I *really* like Trulia. Said so many times right here. But Voices has a problem that needs to be fixed. And soon or it's going to just fade away into oblivion. Or at least the usefulness will fade away...
That is why I'm starting to get a feeling that these type of sites are not interested in quality. They want to ride the social networking wave and cash in by selling to a big shot. Think AR-Move.Com or Microsoft-Facebook.
That said, I think you'll see Trulia do something to improve the process. Pete Flint is a smart guy and I'm sure he recognizes that the effort is only as good as those that participate in the process.
The real estate "specialists" are all going for the gold star... pathetic. I've been on the picket line since launch and won't advise any in our firm to participate until the point system is eliminated. You're right- this potentially great tool is tainted by retards trying to get points. Sad. Pete seems to listen well, so hopefully if you yell loudly enough, they'll hear....
If you want to see dreck created by a point reward system, you need look no further than ActiveRain (and now Voices).
Don't get me wrong. There is brilliance in both AR and Voices. But it is overwhelmed by the crap that's posted in the name of points.
Shailesh, I *think* the questioner can already rank a "best answer" on Trulia. But *anyone* is allowed to give an answer a "thumbs up/down". And these rankings seem to have no impact on placement in the grand list.
Another issue that Steve and Jonathan have both pointed out is that it appears you also get credit for the volume of not just answers, but questions as well. So you get stoopid questions posed by agents that obviously serve no other purpose than inflating their standings.
Perhaps this point system was necessary in the beginning just to get people involved. I don't know. It's funny (or pathetic, I'm not sure which) that people will flock to something they can "win" -- or at least get tangible feedback that they are winning. Seems to me that the opportunity to display your expertise, and to help people, and to increase your "web presence" would be enough reward. But apparently not.
I still think that if the rating system were simply eliminated that the more tech aware agents would still post answers, and ask reasonable questions. Yes, the volume would be reduced, significantly. And maybe Shailesh is right on that aspect -- maybe Trulia just wants to flaunt numbers like "x number of participants", and "an average of y answers per question".
Damn shame that its evolved to that. I still prefer quality over quantity in almost every aspect of life. I think a lot (most?) people do.
Thanks for the comments. We hear you.
I'm stuck in some meetings/travel right now, but I wanted to respond to say we're listening and I value all your thoughts. We REALLY want to and care about getting this right for the agents and are working on improving the product. Will be back with a longer comment when I get a moment free.
Thanks for your patience.
Back soon...
Pete
I have been there and the questions are very vague and hard to actually give in depth answers to.
Although many of Real-A-Tor has given lengthy responses on things they cannot possibly know.
I would try to stick to things that weren't as market sensitive and jump in those, but your right it is a call me thing. Oh well, count me on the picket line.
I just posted this on Steve's blog - pasting below for you all:
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for the great comments and thoughts.
We hear you. I agree that things are not perfect today.
To give you some background. When we launched Trulia Voices in May this year we didn't want to build in many "rules" around what the moderation tools (thumbs up etc) did at the very beginning, only that they track your participation. As the user contributions have grown that has to change.
Our engineers are working on a system that has the following components:
- enables open participation (which is a very important part of Trulia Voices).
- encourages positive and valuable contributions (not spam) by clever interpretation of user flags and other factors
- scales with large volumes of participation
- considers the natural incentives of the different participants in the community
As you can imagine this is not easy to do and requires some pretty advanced algorithms to get it right. The good thing is now we have lots and lots of data and users to help us build the system that can do this.
I can't give a date, as we are working on many things right now and it is pretty complex, but we're on it.
What we're building is pretty clever (we hope) and it will take into account the thumbs ups and downs, those "out of state" answers, poor answers and a number of other factors. Our goal is to eliminate all gaming using advanced algorithms and encourage the best Voices to heard loud and clear.
We believe there is a strong consumer need in helping people understand the complex issues around real estate and helping them connect with the RIGHT agent for them.
To that end, anyone answering lots questions poorly today will be adversely affected and those that answer questions excellently will be rewarded. Retroactively.
Hence, I ask you to stick with us. It is clearly in Trulia's interest to let the cream rise to the top and that is the principle by which we are building the system.
I hope that helps.
More soon
Pete
How about some basic things like location mandatory when asking questions.
There are many examples of very successful Internet forums where people come to ask questions and experts answer them. And there are no ranking and rating systems in place.
Does Trulia feel that unless they rank and rate no one will participate?
PS- Did you get many trick or treaters at your house? We've never had any, so we always go to a different neighborhood.
I think there should have been a vote, before a strike was called.
Growing up in a union family I am not accustom to crossing picket lines. You have made this a very difficult decission.
To top it off it is Nov 1st, do you know how many expired listings I should be waking up right now.
I made this Video Oct 28th, regarding Trulia`s ranking system.
http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=2978&...
I do totally agree that there are several agents that just answer questions to improve their ranking. I have asked questions myself, and wondered if the agents responding ever read the question.
I myself have answered many questions outside of Arizona, because I felt that I was being helpful, or these people just needed to hear my opinion. Lately, some people just need a good slap.
One thing is true about Trulia. When answering a question about Arizona. I better be right, because I am competing with the likes of Dalton, Belt, and Thompson.
It is my Opinion that your protest would be better waged on the pages of Trulia, calling out every B.S. answer for what it is in Arizona, in the only unique way the three of you can.
If trulia does this I would gladly use them. If zillow steps up I'll stay. But that's what I want, otherwise I won't use either. Just b/c I have more important things to do.
I only say this in a constructive way, and if the desire is there to make it something people will use, you have my two cents.
I wholeheartedly agree. Some people give totally inappropriate ( and sometimes scary ) answers to questions.
I like the Nacho Blogger