The 5 Biggest Mistakes New Investors Are Making Here In The Forums

[Jonathan Greene]

These are here to help you make better connections in the forums. It's ok to be new, but if you consider these five tips, you will get much better responses to your questions.

1. Writing too little or too much in a post looking for answers. There is a happy medium out there. If you write a novel, most of us won't read it because it's just too much. If you write too little, we have nothing to go on. Ask one question and tell everyone what you have done up to this point to get the answers. Also, give relevant information on rates, prices, square footage, etc.

2. Asking for a mentor without having anything to give. This is running rampant. It's great to get in the forums and look to make connections, but when you only put your hand out and ask for help and have nothing to give back, you are only going to get people who are going to pitch you. A few locals may reach out (more likely local agents), but you will never hear back if you hop on that call and only want to take from them.

3. Being fragile when you don't get the responses you want. If someone doesn't give you the answer you want and you clap back, your time in the forums will be short. Not because you will get removed but because you aren't open to advice. Sometimes, you will ask one question, but pros will have other questions to see if you are even asking the right question. Open forums aren't the best option if you are prone to fragility.

4. Asking questions without researching how often the same question has been asked. See "Should I start an LLC?" as an example. If you want to get the best responses, don't ask a question that has been asked a million times. Do your due diligence in the forums, looking for other answers, and use those to frame a better question.

5. Posting the same question in multiple forums. This is a definite no-no. Please stop. Pick one forum where your question makes the most sense. If it's a good question, we will find it. If you post the same question in several forums, we all know it's spam. You know it's spam. Don't spam.

If you are an experienced commenter here, let everyone know what you think of these to help them even more. Add some of your own.

If you are new, please use these to help yourself get better answers here.

[Paul De Luca]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

These are here to help you make better connections in the forums. It's ok to be new, but if you consider these five tips, you will get much better responses to your questions.

1. Writing too little or too much in a post looking for answers. There is a happy medium out there. If you write a novel, most of us won't read it because it's just too much. If you write too little, we have nothing to go on. Ask one question and tell everyone what you have done up to this point to get the answers. Also, give relevant information on rates, prices, square footage, etc.

2. Asking for a mentor without having anything to give. This is running rampant. It's great to get in the forums and look to make connections, but when you only put your hand out and ask for help and have nothing to give back, you are only going to get people who are going to pitch you. A few locals may reach out (more likely local agents), but you will never hear back if you hop on that call and only want to take from them.

3. Being fragile when you don't get the responses you want. If someone doesn't give you the answer you want and you clap back, your time in the forums will be short. Not because you will get removed but because you aren't open to advice. Sometimes, you will ask one question, but pros will have other questions to see if you are even asking the right question. Open forums aren't the best option if you are prone to fragility.

4. Asking questions without researching how often the same question has been asked. See "Should I start an LLC?" as an example. If you want to get the best responses, don't ask a question that has been asked a million times. Do your due diligence in the forums, looking for other answers, and use those to frame a better question.

5. Posting the same question in multiple forums. This is a definite no-no. Please stop. Pick one forum where your question makes the most sense. If it's a good question, we will find it. If you post the same question in several forums, we all know it's spam. You know it's spam. Don't spam.

If you are an experienced commenter here, let everyone know what you think of these to help them even more. Add some of your own.

If you are new, please use these to help yourself get better answers here.

 I agree with each of your points. Not a fan of when people post a wall of text looking for advice. I understand they want to provide as much detail as possible, but if someone writes so much it becomes a major time investment for me to understand the whole picture I'll just go to another post. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the overly short questions of "is this a good deal? or "where is the best place to invest?" with little to no information about their buying criteria or the details of the property are frustrating. Some posts just ramble and then don't even have a specific question.

[Angela M Alvaroe-Ciampo]

Quote from @Diane Chapman:

Quote from @Angela M Alvaroe-Ciampo:

Very nicely said & organized! And I totally agree, I just posted about this, you have to be a Go-Giver, if you have not read this book, get it, I think there are actually 4 of these books now, but the first one (red cover) is the one I am referring to. Give something first - my example is simple - Can I cold call for you, I need to practice in this area anyways? Can I help you in some way? Etc. Then you say/ask what you need. 

I am a Subto student, so if anyone would like to learn about Subject-to or Seller Financing, I will make time for you. More tools in your tool belt = more success. Feel free to message me. I am a great Go-Giver and I can teach you, if you have an open mind. 

Flipping the coin over tho - I do believe that the newbies are lost & overwhelmed and all they can think of is questions!! Do you really blame them?? It's a lot coming into the Real Estate world. Sometimes you get lost & frustrated....

Ciao for now! And again, great post! Thank you!

Great Post Angela!! I will order the red cover book from Amazon. I see that the two Authors are Joe Berg and John David Mann, correct??

 Yes

[Angela M Alvaroe-Ciampo]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

Quote from @Angela M Alvaroe-Ciampo:

Very nicely said & organized! And I totally agree, I just posted about this, you have to be a Go-Giver, if you have not read this book, get it, I think there are actually 4 of these books now, but the first one (red cover) is the one I am referring to. Give something first - my example is simple - Can I cold call for you, I need to practice in this area anyways? Can I help you in some way? Etc. Then you say/ask what you need. 

I am a Subto student, so if anyone would like to learn about Subject-to or Seller Financing, I will make time for you. More tools in your tool belt = more success. Feel free to message me. I am a great Go-Giver and I can teach you, if you have an open mind. 

Flipping the coin over tho - I do believe that the newbies are lost & overwhelmed and all they can think of is questions!! Do you really blame them?? It's a lot coming into the Real Estate world. Sometimes you get lost & frustrated....

Ciao for now! And again, great post! Thank you!

Thanks for the response. For busy and experienced investors who answer many questions here, we often judge the intent of the question because good intentions will get better answers. If this can make people more intentional with their questions, they will get much farther, much quicker.

Correct, in the beginning its hard for some and also they do need to utilize the search button!! Many questions get asked over & over again so there is probably already a similar question with the answer there if you just search for it. In Subto we have a "Zoom vault" and man - its a gold mine - just search for something & its there with tons of videos at your disposal. Same thing with FB - you search for key words & the answers are already at your fingertips! And this can be done here as well.....

Search, search, search people!! 

Ciao for now!

[David Dachtera]

@Jonathan Greene,

Good points, though some deserve a bit more discussion.

#1 and #3 are probably the best, though #1 is often just being new to any forum, REI related or not. Perhaps a forum-specific "First Post" template pinned to the head of the forum topic list could help new folks see how to structure an appropriate first inquiry.

#2 just about defines a "newbie": someone with little or nothing to offer other than futures. I often see this interpreted as being asked to work for nothing. My response to that would be "no one gets a paycheck their first day on a new job, aside from a signing bonus", and those signing bonuses often have tenure requirements for the payout. Just to bolster one's own credibility, offer to accept a portion of the newbie's first deal profits as a show of good faith. While the relationship may ultimately prove untenable, that will be YOUR payment for the education toward becoming an effective mentor.

#4 and #5 really just show up shortfalls in the Bigger Pockets Forums.

#4 shows up the need for a more effective way to search the forums. BP's search function can be likened to Google in it's infancy. Yes, it searches, but there's no way to identify the "head" of thread where a question first appears. It also doesn't seem to recognize a quoted string versus the individual words in a search query. Perhaps an option to only search topic lines versus searching the entire forum database would prove helpful.

#5 is sort of the reverse of #4. There is no option link a question to multiple forums. I had the same issue with AOL decades ago - they called it spam, I called it covering all the bases. A single question could relevant to multiple forums, but attempting to engage the denizens of multiple forums is considered "spam" (it isn't). For example, in the left-hand column on this page, under "Financial, Tax and Legal" are forum topics which often overlap such as "Tax, SDIRAs and & Cost Segregation", "Goals, Business Plans and Entities" and "Personal Finance" could all be relevant to someone's question, but there's (currently) no way to engage the denizens of all those forums without posting in all of them (what you want to call "spamming").

My $0.02 ...

[Dan Thomas]

My day job has software that contains a feature that could help with #4 and #5...To post an item the process is to enter it into the search bar and a list of previous items appears.  If those items don't answer your question there is a button to add an item.  It forces you to look at previous lessons learned before you can enter a new item.  That may be a great feature on BP.

[Kevin S.]

@David Dachtera

A well balanced response.  You took the time to dig deeper and come up with more plausible explanation than just shining 'more' negative light on newbies.  More respect to you.  

Newbies are newbies for a reason.  Yes, some will stay newbies and some will move up.  

[Michael P.]

Quote from @Mike Dymski:

Unfortunately, most of the questions asked illustrate little to no advance work (#1 and #4).  That is not a newbie, it's a neverbie.  I'm not saying this to be condescending.  It's just reality...if we can't read a couple of books, listen to podcasts, or perform basic searches in advance and then ask better questions, there is no way in heck we are going to buy a property.  

Lack of available information is not what prevents us from doing stuff...information is everywhere (school, books, podcasts, webinars, forums).  Lack of persistence/effort/need does.

“If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs.”
― Derek Sivers

 Reminds me of the "grit" factor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

[Tyler Y.]

There is a learning curve not only to real estate, but also to being a forum-user. Some things, like using forum searches, forum etiquette, etc. are common to all forum and thread-based websites, but not everyone knows about them and it takes time to adjust.

I've been on a lot of sites like this and some are really gracious to noobies and others punish them relentlessly. Sometimes you have kids who know nothing about the website's topic (in this case, real estate investment) just spamming the threads, and other times you inadvertently punish seasoned pros who simply aren't good at being online or using the internet. 

Regardless of how real estate -ish we are here, there is a huuuuge technology component here, too. And a big social media aspect. It's inevitable.

[Nicholas L.]

@Tyler Y.

totally agree with you. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1193086-i-don...

i thought that one, for example, was a fairly sincere question.  so i answered it.  sometimes the "i'm overwhelmed" posts can go in different directions.

[Ivorie Walker]

Thanks @Jonathan Greene! As a newbie, I always search the forums for my question before asking one. 99% of the time, the question has already been answered. 

[Kevin S.]

Quote from @Tyler Y.:

There is a learning curve not only to real estate, but also to being a forum-user. Some things, like using forum searches, forum etiquette, etc. are common to all forum and thread-based websites, but not everyone knows about them and it takes time to adjust.

I've been on a lot of sites like this and some are really gracious to noobies and others punish them relentlessly. Sometimes you have kids who know nothing about the website's topic (in this case, real estate investment) just spamming the threads, and other times you inadvertently punish seasoned pros who simply aren't good at being online or using the internet. 

Regardless of how real estate -ish we are here, there is a huuuuge technology component here, too. And a big social media aspect. It's inevitable.

 Totally agree with you.  Not all newbies are created equal.  There are newbies starting late in life and are simply not good at being online or using internet.  1000%.  So let's not punish them relentlessly (there are seasoned BP members that do so repeatedly) and let the seasoned pros be just that, professionals.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Paul De Luca:

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

These are here to help you make better connections in the forums. It's ok to be new, but if you consider these five tips, you will get much better responses to your questions.

1. Writing too little or too much in a post looking for answers. There is a happy medium out there. If you write a novel, most of us won't read it because it's just too much. If you write too little, we have nothing to go on. Ask one question and tell everyone what you have done up to this point to get the answers. Also, give relevant information on rates, prices, square footage, etc.

2. Asking for a mentor without having anything to give. This is running rampant. It's great to get in the forums and look to make connections, but when you only put your hand out and ask for help and have nothing to give back, you are only going to get people who are going to pitch you. A few locals may reach out (more likely local agents), but you will never hear back if you hop on that call and only want to take from them.

3. Being fragile when you don't get the responses you want. If someone doesn't give you the answer you want and you clap back, your time in the forums will be short. Not because you will get removed but because you aren't open to advice. Sometimes, you will ask one question, but pros will have other questions to see if you are even asking the right question. Open forums aren't the best option if you are prone to fragility.

4. Asking questions without researching how often the same question has been asked. See "Should I start an LLC?" as an example. If you want to get the best responses, don't ask a question that has been asked a million times. Do your due diligence in the forums, looking for other answers, and use those to frame a better question.

5. Posting the same question in multiple forums. This is a definite no-no. Please stop. Pick one forum where your question makes the most sense. If it's a good question, we will find it. If you post the same question in several forums, we all know it's spam. You know it's spam. Don't spam.

If you are an experienced commenter here, let everyone know what you think of these to help them even more. Add some of your own.

If you are new, please use these to help yourself get better answers here.

 I agree with each of your points. Not a fan of when people post a wall of text looking for advice. I understand they want to provide as much detail as possible, but if someone writes so much it becomes a major time investment for me to understand the whole picture I'll just go to another post. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the overly short questions of "is this a good deal? or "where is the best place to invest?" with little to no information about their buying criteria or the details of the property are frustrating. Some posts just ramble and then don't even have a specific question.

There is definitely a healthy medium. I prefer longer posts to nothing posts, but also don't have the time to read them.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @David Dachtera:

@Jonathan Greene,

Good points, though some deserve a bit more discussion.

#1 and #3 are probably the best, though #1 is often just being new to any forum, REI related or not. Perhaps a forum-specific "First Post" template pinned to the head of the forum topic list could help new folks see how to structure an appropriate first inquiry.

#2 just about defines a "newbie": someone with little or nothing to offer other than futures. I often see this interpreted as being asked to work for nothing. My response to that would be "no one gets a paycheck their first day on a new job, aside from a signing bonus", and those signing bonuses often have tenure requirements for the payout. Just to bolster one's own credibility, offer to accept a portion of the newbie's first deal profits as a show of good faith. While the relationship may ultimately prove untenable, that will be YOUR payment for the education toward becoming an effective mentor.

#4 and #5 really just show up shortfalls in the Bigger Pockets Forums.

#4 shows up the need for a more effective way to search the forums. BP's search function can be likened to Google in it's infancy. Yes, it searches, but there's no way to identify the "head" of thread where a question first appears. It also doesn't seem to recognize a quoted string versus the individual words in a search query. Perhaps an option to only search topic lines versus searching the entire forum database would prove helpful.

#5 is sort of the reverse of #4. There is no option link a question to multiple forums. I had the same issue with AOL decades ago - they called it spam, I called it covering all the bases. A single question could relevant to multiple forums, but attempting to engage the denizens of multiple forums is considered "spam" (it isn't). For example, in the left-hand column on this page, under "Financial, Tax and Legal" are forum topics which often overlap such as "Tax, SDIRAs and & Cost Segregation", "Goals, Business Plans and Entities" and "Personal Finance" could all be relevant to someone's question, but there's (currently) no way to engage the denizens of all those forums without posting in all of them (what you want to call "spamming").

My $0.02 ...

I agree with everything you said. On the last one, I do think there are technical deficiencies on the forum search overall, but as a poster, you should target the best topical forum for it and leave it at that. Cross-posting is looking for too much and clouding the waters for everyone else. Great responses and thank you for adding to it.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Kevin S.:

@David Dachtera

A well balanced response.  You took the time to dig deeper and come up with more plausible explanation than just shining 'more' negative light on newbies.  More respect to you.  

Newbies are newbies for a reason.  Yes, some will stay newbies and some will move up.  

I don't read anything negative in the original post aginst newbies. It's there to help people. There are good newbies who try and learn and a plethora of bad newbies who are just being time sucks and lazy. It's easy to find good newbies, but if they all can take the tips to help them get better answers, that was the point.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Tyler Y.:

There is a learning curve not only to real estate, but also to being a forum-user. Some things, like using forum searches, forum etiquette, etc. are common to all forum and thread-based websites, but not everyone knows about them and it takes time to adjust.

I've been on a lot of sites like this and some are really gracious to noobies and others punish them relentlessly. Sometimes you have kids who know nothing about the website's topic (in this case, real estate investment) just spamming the threads, and other times you inadvertently punish seasoned pros who simply aren't good at being online or using the internet. 

Regardless of how real estate -ish we are here, there is a huuuuge technology component here, too. And a big social media aspect. It's inevitable.

You are over-compensating for them. When you ask a question and have done no research on your own or thought to search to see if the question is answered, that's basic adulting 101, not a social media or forum error in my opinion.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Kevin S.:

Quote from @Tyler Y.:

There is a learning curve not only to real estate, but also to being a forum-user. Some things, like using forum searches, forum etiquette, etc. are common to all forum and thread-based websites, but not everyone knows about them and it takes time to adjust.

I've been on a lot of sites like this and some are really gracious to noobies and others punish them relentlessly. Sometimes you have kids who know nothing about the website's topic (in this case, real estate investment) just spamming the threads, and other times you inadvertently punish seasoned pros who simply aren't good at being online or using the internet. 

Regardless of how real estate -ish we are here, there is a huuuuge technology component here, too. And a big social media aspect. It's inevitable.

 Totally agree with you.  Not all newbies are created equal.  There are newbies starting late in life and are simply not good at being online or using internet.  1000%.  So let's not punish them relentlessly (there are seasoned BP members that do so repeatedly) and let the seasoned pros be just that, professionals.

Punishing is a fragile word. No one taking the time to answer questions is punishing anyone. Sometimes the delivery is not what someone wants, but punishing is creating an online victimhood that does not exist. Sometimes dumb questions are because of a bit of being novice and sometimes they are actually dumb or unresearched or lazy. To think that seasoned investors get some type of fun "punishing" anonymous people in an online forum is taking it too far.

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Jonathan Greene

totally agree with you.  i always wonder... if you're told either that you haven't done your homework, or that a crazy plan is not viable, or whatever... and you get all defensive and lash out... how are you going to handle an eviction?  or a tough situation with a contractor?  or... any actual conflict with actual stakes?

unfortunately there's all the hype on social media - plus some of the content from 5-10 years ago when the market was a lot more forgiving that is now out of date.  but it's critically important that new investors get un-hyped before they lose their life savings on a bad deal.

YEAH. I always say, why would be answering the question if it weren't to help you? I have other stuff to do and I am not concerned with making sure my online delivery is nice enough.

[FR W.]

Whether asking a question as a new investor or answering as a seasoned investor, ALWAYS lead with kindness.  Being offended or taken aback by someone's rude response, is not a sign of "fragility," it says that you are one who would never respond so rudely to someone's simple question.  Stepping into these waters is already an intimidating process.  Please be mindful of the way you respond to questions from those who are not as seasoned as you might be.  Your response just might be the final straw in someone's attempt to change their life for the better by doing what others have successfully done before.  Lead with kindness.  Don't hide behind a rude response as a way of helping, because you're not.  What you're doing in that moment is ensuring that the person asking the question won't ask another... and that's not what we want.  We're here to help... not hurt or hinder. 

Thanks for the tips :)

[Kevin S.]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

Quote from @Kevin S.:

@David Dachtera

A well balanced response.  You took the time to dig deeper and come up with more plausible explanation than just shining 'more' negative light on newbies.  More respect to you.  

Newbies are newbies for a reason.  Yes, some will stay newbies and some will move up.  

I don't read anything negative in the original post aginst newbies. It's there to help people. There are good newbies who try and learn and a plethora of bad newbies who are just being time sucks and lazy. It's easy to find good newbies, but if they all can take the tips to help them get better answers, that was the point.

 I don't disagree with things you posted but you certainly grouped all newbies together for one.

"Asking for a mentor without having anything to give.  This is running rampant".  On a forum such as this where hundreds (?)of members are joining weekly or monthly, maybe thousands, a few dozens newbies asking for help on weekly basis may seem like it is running "rampant".  Or is it?

True, newbies sometimes don't realize what is expected of them and they have to be nudged or like one post mentioned some truly don't know how to navigate this forum yet.

You don't read anything negative?  Is there anything positive?  

The truly gracious seasoned members just ignore the newbies (uninformed post or whatever adjective you want to attach) giving them space and time to grow.  They don't complain instead choose to answer if and when they feel like they want to help. 

Then the truly, truly, truly gracious members neither complain nor expect anything in return for their help.  

[FR W.]

Quote from @David Dachtera:

@Jonathan Greene,

Good points, though some deserve a bit more discussion.

#1 and #3 are probably the best, though #1 is often just being new to any forum, REI related or not. Perhaps a forum-specific "First Post" template pinned to the head of the forum topic list could help new folks see how to structure an appropriate first inquiry.

#2 just about defines a "newbie": someone with little or nothing to offer other than futures. I often see this interpreted as being asked to work for nothing. My response to that would be "no one gets a paycheck their first day on a new job, aside from a signing bonus", and those signing bonuses often have tenure requirements for the payout. Just to bolster one's own credibility, offer to accept a portion of the newbie's first deal profits as a show of good faith. While the relationship may ultimately prove untenable, that will be YOUR payment for the education toward becoming an effective mentor.

#4 and #5 really just show up shortfalls in the Bigger Pockets Forums.

#4 shows up the need for a more effective way to search the forums. BP's search function can be likened to Google in it's infancy. Yes, it searches, but there's no way to identify the "head" of thread where a question first appears. It also doesn't seem to recognize a quoted string versus the individual words in a search query. Perhaps an option to only search topic lines versus searching the entire forum database would prove helpful.

#5 is sort of the reverse of #4. There is no option link a question to multiple forums. I had the same issue with AOL decades ago - they called it spam, I called it covering all the bases. A single question could relevant to multiple forums, but attempting to engage the denizens of multiple forums is considered "spam" (it isn't). For example, in the left-hand column on this page, under "Financial, Tax and Legal" are forum topics which often overlap such as "Tax, SDIRAs and & Cost Segregation", "Goals, Business Plans and Entities" and "Personal Finance" could all be relevant to someone's question, but there's (currently) no way to engage the denizens of all those forums without posting in all of them (what you want to call "spamming").

My $0.02 ...

I like your two cents! Thanks for sharing :)

[Mike Dymski]

Quote from @Michael P.:

Quote from @Mike Dymski:

Unfortunately, most of the questions asked illustrate little to no advance work (#1 and #4).  That is not a newbie, it's a neverbie.  I'm not saying this to be condescending.  It's just reality...if we can't read a couple of books, listen to podcasts, or perform basic searches in advance and then ask better questions, there is no way in heck we are going to buy a property.  

Lack of available information is not what prevents us from doing stuff...information is everywhere (school, books, podcasts, webinars, forums).  Lack of persistence/effort/need does.

“If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs.”
― Derek Sivers

 Reminds me of the "grit" factor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

Exactly.  Ironic...Grit by Angela Duckworth is one of my top 5 books (and I read a lot) and grit and empathy are my family's highest priorities.

[Tyler Y.]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

Quote from @Tyler Y.:

There is a learning curve not only to real estate, but also to being a forum-user. Some things, like using forum searches, forum etiquette, etc. are common to all forum and thread-based websites, but not everyone knows about them and it takes time to adjust.

I've been on a lot of sites like this and some are really gracious to noobies and others punish them relentlessly. Sometimes you have kids who know nothing about the website's topic (in this case, real estate investment) just spamming the threads, and other times you inadvertently punish seasoned pros who simply aren't good at being online or using the internet. 

Regardless of how real estate -ish we are here, there is a huuuuge technology component here, too. And a big social media aspect. It's inevitable.

You are over-compensating for them. When you ask a question and have done no research on your own or thought to search to see if the question is answered, that's basic adulting 101, not a social media or forum error in my opinion.

I think both sides - the noob who gets offended, and the veteran who is shocked at the noob clogging up the forums - seem extremely “new to the internet.” First time ever going online? It happens! It’s not a real estate problem, it’s a WWW problem. Everyone expects online interaction to be like in person interaction and it’s just not. 

[Carlos Ptriawan]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

These are here to help you make better connections in the forums. It's ok to be new, but if you consider these five tips, you will get much better responses to your questions.

1. Writing too little or too much in a post looking for answers. There is a happy medium out there. If you write a novel, most of us won't read it because it's just too much. If you write too little, we have nothing to go on. Ask one question and tell everyone what you have done up to this point to get the answers. Also, give relevant information on rates, prices, square footage, etc.

2. Asking for a mentor without having anything to give. This is running rampant. It's great to get in the forums and look to make connections, but when you only put your hand out and ask for help and have nothing to give back, you are only going to get people who are going to pitch you. A few locals may reach out (more likely local agents), but you will never hear back if you hop on that call and only want to take from them.

3. Being fragile when you don't get the responses you want. If someone doesn't give you the answer you want and you clap back, your time in the forums will be short. Not because you will get removed but because you aren't open to advice. Sometimes, you will ask one question, but pros will have other questions to see if you are even asking the right question. Open forums aren't the best option if you are prone to fragility.

4. Asking questions without researching how often the same question has been asked. See "Should I start an LLC?" as an example. If you want to get the best responses, don't ask a question that has been asked a million times. Do your due diligence in the forums, looking for other answers, and use those to frame a better question.

5. Posting the same question in multiple forums. This is a definite no-no. Please stop. Pick one forum where your question makes the most sense. If it's a good question, we will find it. If you post the same question in several forums, we all know it's spam. You know it's spam. Don't spam.

If you are an experienced commenter here, let everyone know what you think of these to help them even more. Add some of your own.

If you are new, please use these to help yourself get better answers here.

 maybe people do not know but there's an Ai outthere that can summarize all the BP answer into one page. The prompt question is something like this "according to biggerpocket site, what is the best city for cash-flow in 2017 ?" ; make sure to use the "biggerpocket". So we no longer have to browse all the answers, been using it for a while now for almost everything. This thing already replaced google.

[Ali Radoncic]

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

These are here to help you make better connections in the forums. It's ok to be new, but if you consider these five tips, you will get much better responses to your questions.

1. Writing too little or too much in a post looking for answers. There is a happy medium out there. If you write a novel, most of us won't read it because it's just too much. If you write too little, we have nothing to go on. Ask one question and tell everyone what you have done up to this point to get the answers. Also, give relevant information on rates, prices, square footage, etc.

2. Asking for a mentor without having anything to give. This is running rampant. It's great to get in the forums and look to make connections, but when you only put your hand out and ask for help and have nothing to give back, you are only going to get people who are going to pitch you. A few locals may reach out (more likely local agents), but you will never hear back if you hop on that call and only want to take from them.

3. Being fragile when you don't get the responses you want. If someone doesn't give you the answer you want and you clap back, your time in the forums will be short. Not because you will get removed but because you aren't open to advice. Sometimes, you will ask one question, but pros will have other questions to see if you are even asking the right question. Open forums aren't the best option if you are prone to fragility.

4. Asking questions without researching how often the same question has been asked. See "Should I start an LLC?" as an example. If you want to get the best responses, don't ask a question that has been asked a million times. Do your due diligence in the forums, looking for other answers, and use those to frame a better question.

5. Posting the same question in multiple forums. This is a definite no-no. Please stop. Pick one forum where your question makes the most sense. If it's a good question, we will find it. If you post the same question in several forums, we all know it's spam. You know it's spam. Don't spam.

If you are an experienced commenter here, let everyone know what you think of these to help them even more. Add some of your own.

If you are new, please use these to help yourself get better answers here.

 May I amend this to add a 6th line item please?

6. Replying with A.I doesn't make you slick

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Kevin S.:

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

Quote from @Kevin S.:

@David Dachtera

A well balanced response.  You took the time to dig deeper and come up with more plausible explanation than just shining 'more' negative light on newbies.  More respect to you.  

Newbies are newbies for a reason.  Yes, some will stay newbies and some will move up.  

I don't read anything negative in the original post aginst newbies. It's there to help people. There are good newbies who try and learn and a plethora of bad newbies who are just being time sucks and lazy. It's easy to find good newbies, but if they all can take the tips to help them get better answers, that was the point.

 I don't disagree with things you posted but you certainly grouped all newbies together for one.

"Asking for a mentor without having anything to give.  This is running rampant".  On a forum such as this where hundreds (?)of members are joining weekly or monthly, maybe thousands, a few dozens newbies asking for help on weekly basis may seem like it is running "rampant".  Or is it?

True, newbies sometimes don't realize what is expected of them and they have to be nudged or like one post mentioned some truly don't know how to navigate this forum yet.

You don't read anything negative?  Is there anything positive?  

The truly gracious seasoned members just ignore the newbies (uninformed post or whatever adjective you want to attach) giving them space and time to grow.  They don't complain instead choose to answer if and when they feel like they want to help. 

Then the truly, truly, truly gracious members neither complain nor expect anything in return for their help.  

You are the problem. How long have you been here? Some of us have been here for more than 10 years so we know what is still running rampant and what is not. You are proving the post in spades by your reaction. Is there anything positive? The post is to help newbies not step in the mud, which gets them no responses.

I also find it hilarious that you are intimating that I am not gracious. As if I should thank every newbie for gracing the forums. I don't work for BiggerPockets. I've been investing for more than 30 years and spend time in here to help people. Fragile people, like yourself, can only see the lens through their own self-worth.