Sounds fair enough, I still can't believe people are working so hard to manipulate the points system and the dashboard system.  That must take quite a bit of time, and it sure doesn't pay well.

Makes perfect sense to me!

Good job Ben, I think once is enough.

Sounds good Ben, I use the draft mode all the time.

Thank you!  Makes sense... good improvement.

Ok, I can live with that and it makes sense to me too!  I appreciate the improvement!

Ben,

Thanks.  I am surprised that people were even asking for this feature.  I know that if I need to finish a post, I just save it in Word to edit, add, etc later.  And then post it when I am done.

Ben....good job on allowing the system to change the draft date. That was the main reason why I stopped using the draft feature, because my post would get lost in the shuffle once I released it, if it was 2 days later.

But you lost me on the first part, about changing te blog entry date. I am not sure why someone would want to do that and how it would manipulate the system.

I did mentioned this to Matt & Caleb once and maybe you have a suggestion.  In regards to the featured posts. There are times when Matt & or Caleb will feature a post about a day later, after it's already been created and released on Active Rain.  What happens here is that the system will go off of the date that it was originally created. This sometimes puts that feature in the middle to the end of the featured page. And I have heard briefly, that a post has been featured, but never showed up on the first page because it was done a few days later.

My question to you Ben, is there a way for you or Active Rain to allow for the date and time to change right when it gets featured, to avoid this and allow a post to get its due time?  Not allowing the members to change the date and time, but allowing AR so this can happen.

Thanks

Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to provide some insights on the changes to the "draft mode". Great job!

Good idea, but it is beyond me why anyone would use it when you can compose in word, edit and then cut and paste over to the blog... but I guess some folks don't think like that... regardless... I appreciate the effort

Thanks Ben,  I noticed that about draft mode.  I'd take a long time to put together a post and then it would be dated 3 days ago.  Good job in this one.

Thanks Ben

I think the draft mode is a GREAT idea-it allow a little more time for research. Thank you for working so hard to perfect the system. There is a lot of content out there nad a lot of great contributors...

Although I have not yet used the draft feature - it seems like this is an improvement for those that do.  I will check it out!

Thanks Ben,

That make sense to me. I haven't used draft yet but can see that it would be helpful and how the date  issue might have effected the posting.

Thanks 

Not sure how the draft feature works will have to check this out, will no doubt be another great feature.

Ben,

Question for you...Will there soon be a way to combine profiles? Example is I am real estate agent and select that profile type for my blog but I am also a real estate trainer and had to start a separate blog for that profile type. So I currently have 2 separate blogs here on AR and would love just have one.  But want to be listed as both an agent and as a trainer.  

Monika 

Very reasonable. It's dated when you post it, and that's it. I have used draft a few times - great feature.

Jeff

PS Give Monika her 1 blog instead of two - opens up another slot for some one else!  LOL

Thanks for the update!

I think it sounds like a good plan :)

Scott

Hi Ben,

I use the draft feature all the time as sometimes I need more time for updating my research but want to start developing the idea.  I don't make it public until I'm ready with the balance of the details.

Lisa

Why use the draft mode anyway. Just write your blog in word and post it later. Why would someone need to change the date on an old blog? If they did they shouldn't get points for the repost.

Ben,

The change makes perfect sense and seems to provide a positive impact on everyone!

Joanne.... thanks for clarifying.  Sometimes in the morning, I have a tough time getting from point A to point B....when it comes to explaining something in writing..  at least this stuff and not mortgages...  ;o)   thanks

I didn't even know there was a 'draft mode'.....guess I'll go check that out.

Thanks for mentioning this, and I'm sure for those who already use draft mode, this is a welcome change.

Thanks,
Ann

This is very fair.  I hope that the points are not the real issue with people.  I do like this change. Thanks

Jeff B:  Makes sense (changing time stamp when marked featured) - talkd to Caleb about it... it'll be in tomorrows build 

Monika:  Combing profiles or having multiple profile types.  I haven't heard anything about this from Matt.  We're working on allowing people to be listed in multiple locations - maybe we'll implement this for profile types as well.  I'll bring it up.

Well, it just goes to show you, you learn something everyday. I didn't even know we had a draft mode!!

Thanks, Wilson!

I didn't know there was a draft mode. It would have made my first blog a lot easier. I didn't think to write in word or anything like that either. Sometimes the brain doesn't work. I'm gonna go check the draft mode out now.

Ben.... thanks... looking forward to that. And again, even though some of us complain at times, you all have done an awesome job....   so much to keep up with, it can't be easy.

This is all well thought out Ben.I never used the draft options but now I will.I gives you the time to update and revise. It makes sense.

Christy: a good habit to get into is using notepad.  The AR guys have made it so this strips out stuff like fancy fonts but on most blogging platforms you want something with no formatting.  I have used draft her extensively a bad habit from my first blog where I have a bunch of blog entries started... but not finished.  I use notepad to write it and gather my links. quotes, image etc. but I put it on as a draft and save it.  It probably says I have 150 Active Rain Blogs but I probably have 4 or 5 unpublished... not quite ready.    

You don't want to do what I am doing on Active Rain though if the dashboard is important to you.. or even any of the state lists etc. because your stats reflect the entries on drafts. 

Ben will that still be true... drafts still counted in entries?

Ben, thank you. I was one of the ones who asked for this and this is a perfect solution!!

Maureen... I am almost positive that they changed that about 2 to 3 weeks ago, to where as your draft doesn't count against you now. ANd I think I even tested that a few weeks ago.

So, to answer your question, I think it doesn't affect your avg. comments and points as of now.

Thanks Ben.

I agree with comments that it is a well reasoned and fair solution. It now makes it much more convenient for when we start blogs and then get interrupted, we can save as draft and then pick up later. 

I also agree with the suggestion by Jeff Belonger about adjusting the date stamp (or some other independent sequencing) for featured posts (that way it won't matter date or time-of-day when post originally submitted and when reviewed).

Maureen... now you confused me......   your comments went down.... so did your average score.... but look at the number of posts, they didn't change. Both state 157 posts.  One thing I could offer is that you average score can change once a day while not doing anything. Keep in mind, the computer ...well, their alogrithm changes the scores....  in regards to the comments dropping?  Not sure..maybe there is a bug in it and the post does affect that.

Ben, thanks for the update.  But now I'm also confused by Maureen's post.

Sorry Jim and / or Maria... it is confusing.  Pay no attention.  Ben's announcement is a positive for those who use drafts.  Hording 5 blogs as a draft is not a good idea.. don't do it, they show up in your total. 

Ben -

Thanks for all your effort and the constant improvements.

I do think people are going completely overboard with this though!

I just put things together in Word and copy & paste them over.

Oh well, to each his own....

I'll try to look into this confusion today... 

Some ideas off the top of my head:

1) I haven't looked a the scoring algo - that's Matt land.  But I don't think it should be changing comment and/or blog_entry counts.

2) We do roll ups (instead of live queries) on things like comment counts (might be a bug somewhere)

3) The content on the dashboard isn't live - it's cached - I think it refreshes every 5-10 minutes.  We can't run the dashboard live because the queries are pretty brutal on our database. 

Thanks, Ben.  I have been frustrated to see my posts buried because I used the draft feature.

That's a great change time stamping posts when they're published live. Now I can keep all of my ideas in Draft mode instead of scattered on notepads or whatever was nearby when inspiration struck. The time change on Feature Posts is a good one as well. Now the AR Team won't feel pressured to get them up in real time, and bloggers will get some well deserved time on the front page.

Ben,

Thank you for the update. :)

Now, for your next trick - could you add the "time" element to the response entries?

We have the date and the name but is it possible to add the time?

Regardless, excellent job!

Ooh, Passion - wasn't that a Rod Stewart song?  Wait, am I that old? :)

Christopher..... don't forget about the seconds, if adding the time.  lol    And then....  jumping off the Empire State Building with no chute....  which I am sure that it feels that way when trying to answer some of these questions here on Active Rain.

Jeff,

I prefer the phrase "it's like rearraging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

And that smirk that appears on everyone's face when they read my less that relevant comments (if they do at all) - well the pleasure is all mine.  I didn't spend all this time working to not work for nothin'. :)

But what would be really cool is if AR could add an icon of our 'fruit' to our responses.  That way we can see which entry is sweet, sour, bitter or bland. :)

Ow, wow - I've never had Orange - and we won the BCS, how fitting. :)

Ben-  Thank you for the post !!

I agree that the change makes sense.  I was curious about the draft mode and the dates, but never asked...  I know I know, there's no such thing as a stupid question (as long as you're willing to hear a stupid answer!!)!!

Nice. TLW...ROAR!

Exactly what I was hoping for... some blog posts need to start and then mature on the vine a while before they're ready for public consumption!  Thanks....

I can live with this Ben.  Just can't quite grasp why people just can't put all their energy into creating a new blog rather than trying to beat the system  Makes no sense whatsoever.

Ken

Sounds fair to me, thank you for continuing to make active rain a great site

Thanks Ben

Now not only can I save a draft, but now I found out that I can save a draft.  OK, I'll figure it out, unless someone wants to drop me a line and let me know the process for saving a draft - sure will make my life easier.

John Occhi, Hemet REALTOR
www.JohnOcchi.Com

TheHouseSeller@GMail.Com

Ben,

One more comment about how the date/time settings work.  I am in the Pacific Time zone and unfortunately my posting time ends at 10 pm

can we change this?

John Occhi, Hemet Realtor
www.johnOcchi.Com

Graet change. I stopped using draft mode and started my drafts in word because I didn't want everyone to know I was up at 2:30 AM. :)

Mitchell....it's only 1:30 am right now.... scurry to bed now....   ;o)  But don't stay up on my account.  lol

lol Jeff, I would finish at 2:30 go to bed post at 9AM and it would still say 2:30

I just noticed it doesn't say how many hits or clicks anymore. I liked that information.

Well, at least now I know I'm not alone in the Rain.

Cool, Apple - that's new to me! :) 

This is Jeff's computer assistant. I am a Robot that works from 1 am until 8 am, so Mr. Jeff can get some sleep....but look active on the rain.

 Gee, wouldn't that be nice.....  lol   Micthell....yea, I liked that info on each blog. But you can view your own blogs. Go to Statistics on your profile.....  you will see each of your blogs and the number of hits and comments..

Mitchell wrote: I just noticed it doesn't say how many hits or clicks anymore. I liked that information.

It's on your statistics page. Left side at the bottom on your profile...

Thanks for that!  I learned the hard way that posting a 'draft' blog would already be 3 days old.

I had a buch of 1/2 drafts that I deleted for that reason.  This will make it easier to brainstorm..

Thanks Jeff and Maureen, Ok  I better go to bed. lol I have a busy day and tomorrow night is my company Christmas party. I know it's January but we're in NY.

That's a great update. I've started using draft mode a lot because I'm constantly being interrupted. Its nice will update the post date to when it goes public. -Charles

I actually like it the way it worked before.  i could put in a draft save it and then two posts later fill it in.  I used the method to post localism posts that people on active rain don't read anyway that way when they come to my blog the first thing they see is the members only post instead of some boring charts and graphs or information about St. paul.  Would it be possible to be abel to set the date backwards? - you must love the way people manipulate this all to get the most out of it. 

- I second Teresa's request to be able to set the date backwards.

- I really, really, REALLY do NOT like the fact that now all our comments are not only dated but are also now time-stamped.

Why does it bother you that I know that you left above 13 miutes ago at 7:57 Central time Leanne?  I am not so sure I like it either.

There are a few reasons, but one of the "biggies" is I don't want a comment I leave to let readers know I left it at 3:00 AM.  Just as we're allowed to individually decide whether we want our photo to show up on the "who's online" feature, we should be allowed to individually decide whether we want our comments time stamped - otherwise known as the "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..." syndrome.  I can tell you that if this time-stamp feature stays I will not be commenting as much because I do sometimes comment in the middle of the night when I'm wide awake and can't fall back asleep.  I know for a fact there are others here that comment in the middle of the night, too.

I agree Leanne.  I think it is an invasion of privacy..

Leanne,

I agree. As you will notice my last comment 6 hours ago( last night) Now it's 9:39 AM. I guess the whole word knows I had six hours sleep and I wake up and go back online.

Mitchell.....but I knew also...  ;o)   We spoke on here.......   but yes, I agree. Why add this feature, what does it accomplish?

Jeff, I guess successful people like us don't need sleep lol. But knobody else needs tro know.

Someone "about 18 hours ago" left a comment on this post asking Ben:

<<Now, for your next trick - could you add the "time" element to the response entries?

We have the date and the name but is it possible to add the time?>>

... I think that's why.

I'll just say that (as far as I know) every blog system online posts time stamps for blog entries and comments.  Billions of comments are left every day by all types of people all over the world.  

If we make this optional (which I think is a bad idea) you're going to be able to figure out when the comment was left without having to go Sherlock Holmes school.  The comment above and below yours will make it obvious when you left yours.

That leaves us with removing date/time altogether. 

If date/time is relevant for blog posts it's more relevant for comments.  Responding to a comment left last year means you're in a dead conversation. 

Date/time is the way RSS aggregators  (and almost everything is in RSS on AR) sort and group things.  Should we randomize all these dates?

I'm guessing most people get email alerts when comments are left - should we randomize when we send these? 

It's a public system designed for public discussion.  If you're hiding from someone - public places aren't the best place to do that.

Personally I don't care.  I'm always for open information and keeping things as simple as possible (I obviously loose a lot of arguments around here).  But, really, comment dates, pretty low on my "passionate" list.  :)

It's not my call either way. 

Ben, part of that does make sense.....

I think the difference Ben is that we chat here, most real estate blogs don't get this many comments.  Some of us have chat issues... and you may find some of us slow down if there is an online record of our use of time.

I love comment dates.  I am not a fan of comment time.. but maybe that is just because that is brand new and different and a change... if I was a newbie I probably would not notice it.

Comments have always been DATED here on AR, but this is the first time I've seen them TIME-STAMPED so the question of "responding to a comment left last year" is a non-issue.

Yes, the e-mail alerts show the date & time, but new people reading the post & comments don't know the times they were left AND neither do consumers/non-members, just the dates... that should be enough.  This may be a social network but it is also a network of professionals who don't necessarily want consumers to know they're up at 3 AM leaving comments!

Fine - they'll be gone in tomorrows build and someone else (Matt) can put them back in if he wants to pursue this argument.   Now go get some sleep!   :)

Meant, obviously, to be a joke...

Home Buyer: "Honey, you know, about that realtor, I mean, she's getting showings for our house, she seems really nice, but I spent 15 hours google'ing her last night, and, well, she's commenting at 3am.  I don't know.  That doesn't seem like something a realtor should be doing."

Honey: "Geeze - your right!  That's outrageous.  Did you take out the trash yet?"

Home Buyer: "No.  I was up til 3am google'ing our realtor.  You know - something else, she's a member of this crazy social network - and their main page says that, even at 3 am, there are usualy 40 people online.  You think it's some kind of cult?"

Honey: "Take out the godam trash!" 

LOL, Ben... don't worry - I did take it as a joke.  I liked your little "story" - that was funny, except -- actually, I was thinking it would go more like this:

6:25 AM Sunday

HomeSeller:  "Honey, I'm so happy with our Realtor, the one we found on ActiveRain.  You know, she left a voicemail message for us yesterday afternoon asking if it would be OK to show the house today at noon.  Our Realtor seems to be online early in the morning quite a bit... oh, look... she left her last comment just 5 minutes ago... I think I'll call her back now!"

Phone rings, waking up my hubby who's still asleep and I'm not prepared to speak with the sellers... who know I'm awake and CAN pick up the phone.

My point: there is no need for anyone to know what time we leave comments on ActiveRain.

Leanne.... what's your point?    ;o)     What were you doing at 10 pm last night?

Jeff... I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.  ;-)

cool.....bring it on Mrs Bond...