I am dismayed at how things have gone with AR, and not optimistic about the new ownership.

That being said, I really appreciate the expertise other RE pros contribute – if they’re there, I’m there and when they’re gone, I’m gone, even if it means losing google juice.

Makes me want to launch a next-gen service that actually plans for the size and scale that AR didn’t anticipate.

Jay’s note: I’ve got no problem with you including a link that’s pertinent to the discussion Brad! Click here for Brad’s instructions backing up ActiveRain blog posts.

I’m currently in a debate with myself regarding activerain. I just recently entered the blogsphere and have doubts if I will continue forward with activerain. My major concern is two-fold. First is control of my content versus being at the mercy of some organization’s terms of use that can be changed at any given moment. A free site can go to a pay site and just as easily say all content submitted become their property. The second concern I have is time. I started my own blog with a wordpress install and I don’t know if I really want to take the time to write two blogs. What I mean by that is I really don’t want to cut-n-paste my wordpress blog articles over to activerain. Effectively I’d be writing unique content for two separate blogs; not necessarily an easy task. I have until the end of May to make my decision on activerain, then they will start charging me $59.00 a month ($708.00 annually). At that rate I could pay for some minor adverting of my website or go old school and do a mail campaign. Now this doesn’t mean I’m against activerain as it’s an awesome source of information for agents and consumers, but I’m leaning more towards committing my time, money, and energy towards a product I have total control over. Just my two cents as someone who has just seriously stepped into the blogsphere.

Keep up the good work.

I also know Brad (he’s no longer at AR), Bob and his wife Christa, and Jon (who also left AR as of a day or two ago). We’ve all meet in person, and I consider them all friends. I think they consider me a friend as well.

And you’re right, they are top-notch people. We’ve all had long discussions about this (note that it happened in July 2010) via email and in person.

The did re-instate my account after it was removed. Only to remove it again. And reinstate it again, and remove it again. I suspect it was a glitch, and last I looked it was re-re-re-instated.

But if it’s not, it’s simply not worth having to keep on asking. I don’t post on AR any more, and hadn’t for a couple of years when this first started.

I do strongly feel that I continue to support AR via reading, commenting, and evangelizing for AR. But it was apparently decided that for the purpose of keeping people grandfathered, the only thing that counted was posting.

And that’s fine. It’s their network, they are free to change the rules. Just as I am free to remove my content.

I’ve got no hard feelings toward AR. They made a business decision. I thought it was a bad decision and very poorly executed. I know for a fact some of the AR principals agree with me on that. Some may not. That’s cool too.