Colleagues- OK forum??

[Rich Weese]

I'm not sure if this is correct forum. Questions.
1. What do we do with Colleagues? I've had requests and always accept them. Now What?
2. Is there some way to send a PM or message just to colleagues?
3. How about a chat room for colleagues?
I just don't understand what we do with these other than just gather a lot of them. Thanks. Rich.

[Timothy W.]

I think you can invite multiple colleagues at one time into a group you create.

Also, on the main page you get an update of what your colleagues were up to.

[Joshua Dorkin]

Tim is right.

In addition:
1- You can only send PMs to colleagues (this has ALWAYS been the rule, but only recently enforced)
2 - You can request a colleague write you a professional reference
3 - You can select that only your colleagues see your profile contact information.

Colleagues are essentially your connections on the site.

Does that help?

[Rich Weese]

Josh,
So if I recently sent a PM to someone, and that person wasn't a colleague, the PM never arrived?
Also, what is meant by "colleagues are your connections ON the site"? Thanks.

[Joshua Dorkin]

Rich -
Had you sent it prior to Saturday, you'd have been able to send it, even though it has been something that is frowned upon. If you tried to do it since then, you'd have noted that it wouldn't allow you to send it.

I meant:
"colleagues are your connections on the site" not to the site.

[Will Barnard]

Just my opinion Josh, but I and many others found it advantageous for all parties to be able to send a PM to someone from a forum thread, who was not currently a collegue. In many cases, someone had a specific personal question or wanted to trade emails, but not publically or requested a file to be sent to them and now we have to request to become collegues, wait for the acceptance and then PM.

I understand your intention is to protect BP members from receiving unwanted PM messages and or spam via PM, but in my humble opinion, if that was happening (not sure it was), having the ability to "warn" the unsolicited PM'er or send a complaint to a moderator should suffice and prevent spamming, etc.

Hope you go back to the prior as it was a great resource to many of us.
I'm sure if a poll was taken, the vast majority would want the ability to send a PM to another from the threads only, not necessarily from a profile page.

[Rich Weese]

I'm confused about the PM rules also. I think I have to stay confused and agree with Nation. I don't think I ever misused the right but maybe I did by accident.

[James Hiddle]

I also agree with Will.

[Jim Doine]

I also agree with Will. Jim

[Will Barnard]

Well, thats 4 and I am sure there are hundreds more.

[Rich Weese]

Will, Have you ever received 4 votes for anything before?tic. Hope all is well in CA.

[Will Barnard]

Only once before Rich, it was for my government bailout request of only 4 billion! I got 4 votes total. At least I tried.

All is well and kicking in CA.
Market to flip is finally here and doing well. Lots of $ to be made. Good luck on your Go Zone Project!

[Rich Weese]

Thank you Will. The financing is a REAL hurdle!!

[Will Barnard]

I hear ya. It really shouldn't be, but then again, we shouldn't have trillions in national debt either.

With your own cash amount and the very low LTV, it should be a no-brainer. If I had the 3 million, I would come in with you. Perhaps I should fire up the printing press.

[Babs Wagner]

Is there a way to view all the members on this site?

[Mark Yuschak]

I'm 100% with Rich and Will.

Just yesterday I tried to send a PM to someone and it failed. I got frustrated and never bothered even sending him a collegue request... It's too many hurdles to jump.

Are there a lot of other people getting spam from PMs? I'm yet to get any.

[Rich Weese]

I haven't received a single PM spam. I'm pretty visible and I would think I'd be getting some if it is a real problem.

[Will Barnard]

I have yet to receive spam or unwanted messages through the PM system either and I am in the top 5 of most "visible" on this site!

I hope Josh reconsiders, but he has been absent from this thread for several days now with no comments.

[James Hiddle]

I too never got PM spammed.

[Will Barnard]

Josh are you out there?
The membership has spoken. :lol:

[Joshua Dorkin]

Until the change, we dealt with SPAM reports in the PM system on a daily basis. This is no longer the case.

Guys -
BiggerPockets is a Professional Networking Website. Other similar Professional sites (LinkedIn, for example), don't allow you to PM someone who you're not connected with either.

This has always been a rule here on the site, though many of you have just sent PMs to anyone.

That said, we're not taking away your ability to PM other members, we've just made it so you must be a colleague with those people first. It only takes a few seconds to send a Colleague Request.

We realize that this was one convenience that we did not enforce, but as we upgrade the network and build in new features, this rule has finally been locked in. I understand that some of you who are used to the convenience will be upset.

As a result of this discussion, however, we've added the ability to post a reason for your colleague request. While not a full PM, the 150 characters limited in this message will give those of you contacting people who you are not yet colleagues with, the ability to let them know in brief, what you're hoping to connect with them about.

Thanks,
Josh

[Jim Doine]

Joshua, since the rule change, I have not had a single colleague request accepted. I don't know if they simply don't want to accept PM's or if they don't know how to use the colleague request function. Can we at least be notified that the colleague request was read? Jim

[Joshua Dorkin]

Jim - I'll see what we can do about that. It seems like a reasonable request, and I think it'll make a great addition to the site, regardless.

Give me a little bit of time to make it happen (should be this weekend).

[Harrison Painter]

I think that is great Josh. Other than BP, Linkedin is the only social site I really like because I am not bombarded with foolishness. It can be difficult to connect quickly with people, but when you do, it tends to be a more solid relationship.

Even if spam has not been a problem for some of the folks here on BP, as your website grows, it could get out of control fast if this is not enforced.

The 150 character message is great....straight and to the point! It should get the job done for what everyone is asking for. I have already seen it in action, and it has worked out very well!

Thanks!

[Joshua Dorkin]

UPDATE: I just conferred with my developers and was told that this change (the one suggested in my post above) is a pretty large development, and unfortunately, we won't be able to do it right away.

Sorry Jim.

We will, however, get to it when we complete a few other projects.

Thanks for the patience, and sorry for promising something I can't deliver. Don't worry, I'm not going to do that again.

[Timothy W.]

You know Josh,

I'm pretty sure I know what everyone's thinking with sending a PM without being a person's colleague. We see a person posting a need or a desire to buy something in a forum and we think we have a hot lead or good info or something and want to prospect that person. After all, every network we go to involves prospecting of some sort.

Would it be easier to program an alternate PM specifically entitled "prospect" or "sales pitch" or something like that? To be a real estate investor you have to be involved in the sale of property on one side or the other. It could be a way to be real about it when we're prospecting - and that way we don't have to hide what we're up to and it can stay out of a person's PM box.

If you were to go full bore capitalist on this, you'd give people a set amount of free "prospects" and give them the option to purchase more. ;-) Some here would see the value to prospecting online and would pay for it and the recipients of the prospects would not have their inbox interfered with.

Tim