my 101st post and my intro post, + a little rant, from S.E. PA (near Phila)

[Steve Babiak]

OK, when I came to the site and started posting, I set my limit at 100 forum posts, at which point I would post no more until I made an intro. Been about 6 weeks between forum posts for me, and in that time I still managed to increase my influence score by over 1000.

My profile is complete and has the usual stuff that people are suggested to include in the intro, so no point repeating what you can see elsewhere.

There are numerous benefits to this site that I've discovered, some of which I'll point out here. Start with the broad variety and the knowledge and experience of the members and contributors. Soak up the great information like a sponge. And you will frequently come across real estate related debates raging between these knowledgeable folks; I encourage you all to pay extra close attention to both sides of those discussions, because you'll learn both sides of the issue.

Users will challenge posts that seem questionable, and try to extract some better evidence to support these suspect posts.

The site is moderated, and there is a management commitment to prevent / eliminate 'spam" posts, and to properly deal with those who choose to not pay attention to the rules. junk and fluff still show up, but at least the users can point it out.

And we even get some entertainment with some humorous posts and activities. Some silly stuff, like in these next two links:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/29904-my-tenant-is-a-call-girl
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/84/topics/35154-suggestions-for-dealing-with-aspen-tree-shooters-
And we get sarcasm galore (read just about any post from MikeOH). And we even have the stupid here (like the guru whose name is misspelled in the profile, probably by a virtual assistant trying to build internet presence for the upcoming "launch" - PM me to learn more on this, because I'd hate to see this get corrected).

Most of that should be considered as a credit to the site management and the commitment made to have a quality site.

Now for the RANT part. Two things here.

First, I'm still baffled by the number of users who will write in the forums that they agree with a post, and yet when you see the vote count for the post in question, it is zero. Give votes to the good posts. It makes a post stand out upon first glance to have some votes. After posts receive a certain number of votes, the color of the votes area changes to make things stand out even more. Vote and give your fellow members credit for their contributions.

The other thing that I have a bit of annoyance with is the users who notice garbage in a post and fail to notify the management with the "report abuse" function. Don't let the site get contaminated with this crap - use the "report abuse" button to let the management know something needs attention. OK, the "report abuse" function failed to work properly with Internet Explorer browsers, but that has been corrected according to Josh Dorkin; so now, there are no more excuses for allowing crap onto any forum you are reading.

End of the rant.

My next post is going onto Josh's post where he announced the fix for the "report abuse" function, since this was an issue I did report to him, and he deserves thanks for being kind enough to fix it.

Thanks for letting me share.