I think that you should submit photos that you've pesonally taken.  I've started taking pictures every where I go.  There's many ways to get points around here. You might as well take advantage of as many as possible.

Check out the instructions here: 

The pictures are supposed to be original pictures.  If they're someone else's pictures, remember, you have to click a disclosure that says you have permission to post this picture on Localism.  There was a post by the AR guys a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month, about how they were cleaning up the Localism pictures and deleting the ones that we're original and we're about the meaning of localism.  If you report this person, I'm sure all their points will disappear as I've seen it with several people.

NEWS FLASH.  You can also LOSE thousands of points overnight when your photos are dumped.

I lost over 2000 points last evening for photos dumped that were put up months ago. 

I posted photos of homes that I wrote Localisms about.  Dumped.

I posted photos of homes with unique architectural features.  Dumped.

This isn't the first time.  This is the third time.  I lost 5720 points about a month ago when a bunch of photos were dumped. 

I originally posted photos to Localism to seed my market areas with local photos.

I no longer post photos to Localism.

But, I believe that there is more to this photo dumping matter than just dumping my photos of homes.  If that were all that mattered, there would be no photos of homes showing anywhere. 

There is some agenda here. 

Am I paranoid.  Yes.

Tim: I agree-and I also take my camera everywhere....many times, my clients want extra photos taken of a listing I am showing them.

Colleen: I did read this post and still didn't find what I was looking for.  Maybe I missed something.

Donna: Report to whom?

THANKS to you all for commenting!

I don't do many photos because I don't need the points AND I suck at photography. 

I try not to worry about what others are submitting in my market. If they are posting photos that they don't own maybe they'll get a cease and desist order or a demand for damages from the rightful owners of the photographs. Worth the points?

ActiveRain constantly features entries with photos or images that are obviously copywritten (ie. high profile cartoons) so ActiveRain sends mixed messages to people re: the use of images here.   They create a lot more work for themselves in the long run.   

Lenn: How did you get the thousands of points in the first place? If, when you submit anything, it needs to have 50 words to get points at all, right????  AND why did they DUMP your stuff? Did you not take the pic's?

Maureen: Interesting take in this topic. I don't submit many photos either--and never even thought about the point content until recently. I honestly was doing it to share---duh...I guess it is done for points.

Kathy, Have you submitted a photo yet?  When you do, you'll see the point chart at the right.  The first one you submit is worth 100 points.  After 10 photos, each one is worth 25 points.

After you do this, go to your profile page and check you points summary page.  You'll see the points come up there immediately.  The people at ActiveRain then might actually once in a while go through all of the submitted photos and begin to delete the ones that don't fit the guildelines or ones that they don't think are worthy in some fashion.

Tim:  NOPE--I actually don't see any points by my photos--must have submitted them in the WRONG spot.   Okay--gotta go over every photo article and tip in AR--my lesson for  the day.

I also think they delete photos if you and another person put up the same photo from a different perspective.  I hope they take the photo that was put up first.  But I'm not sure.  Sherry

Hmmm, I've had photos on my posts about day trips that I take around St. Louis, but never thought of posting them separately.  I'll have to check into that!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, inc. 

INTERESTING.

Kathy - You have to go to localism to post the pictures for points.

Lenn: How did you get the thousands of points in the first place? If, when you submit anything, it needs to have 50 words to get points at all, right????  AND why did they DUMP your stuff? Did you not take the pic's?

I got the points by carrying my camera everywhere I go, shooting for my web sites, my buyers, my blogs, and, until recently, Active Rain. 

They told me that they dumped my photos because they don't want photos of homes.  They didn't say WHY my photos were dumped, only that a lot of photos of a lot of people were dumped because of the new review process.  It is apparently a process that doesn't want photos of homes. 

I TAKE ALL OF MY OWN PHOTOS.  I WRITE EVERY WORD I PUBLISH AND that can't be said of all photos and articles on Active Rain.

Back to the first question.  I got the thousands of points because I work hard. 

Lenn: thanks for explaining this to us. VERY helpful to know. I guess there are still many unanswered questions about photos on AR.

The person I saw with all these photos as of late--has MANY on the list that were taken from the AIR somewhere.... of course, maybe he had someone flying him around. But I really think they belong to someone else...another topic I guess

AR is cheapened when people spicture (my term for "spam picturing"). This gentleman who is the subject of Kathy's post has put upwords of 90 pictures on Tuolumne County Localism in the past day and a half (most are not his). Do you really think any potential clent is going to look at all those? Are you kidding me? And what if all agents acted like this guy? You talk about server overload! Mike C

Why all the focus on points in the first place? I guess I just don't get it.

Christine: It isn't all about POINTS--it is about, as Emmett said, Cheapening AR. WHY would anyone posts so many photos that look alike and that aren't your own? 

It is hard to be objective about your own market, I believe or even your own state.  Central Ohio is no where near as photogenic as CA but after looking at the Tuolumne County photos in their entirety I looked at the two counties I primarily work in.  Lots more pictures of houses, stores in strip malls,  a gas station...lots of neighborhood signs. 

In my area there's lots of photos  which would be great in an entry if you were going to write about a neighborhood, a strip mall, a new store, but not really the kind of thing that people are going to feel defines the area IMHO.

It was hard to know what to post when Localism was new.  They did not give a lot of guidance, just post photos. Also there was no way to identify the photos, I posted historic homes, historic commercial areas.  Others posted new homes, new shopping areas, to me if you've seen one strip mall you've seen them all. It is what people are going to see when they come here though.  

Looking at this area  I feel like some of what is posted to Ohio is pictures that were posted just for points but Elaine Reese, Toby Boyce, Karen Gorski and some other local Rainers have posted some great photos of our area.  We aren't all Teresa Boardman or Kristal Kraft with a kamera but we can all try harder. 

Marueen: Thank you so much for commenting. I just bet Ohio is/has as many beautiful areas as CA. I think every state is unique.  And it is hard to be objective about one's own area. We are a biased bunch, huh? 

We just need to look through the camera lens as if it is our first time and help the consumer feel that. BUT not BORE them with repeats... It's like when our babies are little, we take snapshot after snapshot and want to share everyone with friends and family because we're so proud. Remember the I LOVE LUCY episode when Ricky and Lucky did that, competing with their friends who had just had a baby?  LOL

Maybe I'm missing something here as well, but I thought the point of putting photos on Localism was to tell the story of the subdivision you were also posting.  That was my opinion until I posted some 247 subdivisions to help grow localism and about 70 photos pertaining to each subdivision.  I did alot of work, spent hours getting photos and defining the subdivision, all to have my 70 photos deleted because a moderator decided they weren't appropriate.  These photos had been up there for two months, then without any notice or email, boom they were gone.  I tried to get the moderator to understand what I was doing, but it was no use. 

I thought localism was about drilling down to the subdivision level to talk and show off each neighborhood so people wanting to move to the area would know what they were moving to, could get an idea of the areas, etc...  I think there needs to be a bit more clarity defined at the top of localism and filtered down to moderators on this topic.  Maybe this is already done, if so, could someone paste the link for it?  My two cents!

David: I AGREE with your statement about there needing to be "clarity" in submissions. I "thought" photos were to also help consumers get the feel of the area--not just subdivisions, etc., but places they'd enjoy visiting.   CLARITY is  in order.  Who is the BOSS of this group?

Well I Certainly am glad that I read this post today.  I'm brand new, I just set up my profile last night.  I wasn't aware that you could receive points for adding pictures.  I really enjoy taking pictures when I go out sight seeing, but this will make me more cautious of what I submitt. 

A number of the entries about Localism

http://activerain.com/blogsview/27790/What-is-Localism

http://activerain.com/blogsview/28847/Some-Localism-com-updates

http://activerain.com/blogsview/30232/Upload-regional-photos-to  <--- photos added 12/29/2006

"We want to compile a list of photos and images that represent the various States/Counties/Cities (and soon neighborhoods).  We're specifically looking for images that might give the consumer a feel for the community."

http://activerain.com/blogsview/35035/Lots-of-site-updates  <--- Neighborhoods added to localism

http://activerain.com/blogsview/73276/Localism-Photos-Reposted-May <--- first posted in April  the way I read this and remember it this is when they started removing photos because of the way some areas looked in Localism.

Thanks, Maureen: I've gone through most of these but will re-visit.  Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Kathy, I think you're understanding wrong how you get points by posting a picture to Localism.  You don't get the points through a blog you're posting onto localism.  You need to actually log into the localism site with your AR username and password, go to your state, go to your county and city, and then click the link on the left about photos. When the photos come up, there will be a link at the top that says something about uploading a new photo.  That's how you get points for posting pictures, not from posting pictures within your actual blogs...

You asked who you report things to, you report anything to Matt or Caleb and they usually respond VERY quickly.

Donna: thanks for this.  I have actually put my photos on the spot you're talking about also...besides my regular blog. I want consumers to see the area, not be inundated with repeats.  I think my biggest problem with this entire topic is that I don't  think photos should just be thrown on localism for the sake of points. We really do need more clarity as David (above) mentioned. 

I didnt know you got points for adding pictures to Localism. That should be great for consumers that are viewing local information.  It is nice to see photos of local sites of the areas.  I admit I have not really spent a lot of time in Localism but maybe I will take a look at it more in depth.

Kimberly: Me either---I spend most of my time in the other groups, learning new ideas, etc. I have submitted to localism a few times, but will more often now.

Just want to thank everyone, again, for commenting today. I LEARNED so much. One thing is HOW to post to LOCALISM, which I had done before but didn't recall how, why, what, where and when... NOW I KNOW for sure. I still don't like seeing people tossing photo after photo on LOCALISM just for POINTS.  And especially when they have not taken the photo.

Kathy, I can imagine how frustrating it is to see photos on localism that weren't taken by the submitter. All you can do is report it and hope it's discovered.

"I no longer post photos to Localism. ... Am I paranoid.  Yes."

Lenn, I have almost reached that point myself. But I'm going to keep at it because I think the photos add a lot of value to localism, especially if there is a good description added to them.

Leon: Thanks for commenting.    Let's keep "trying" is all I can say.