Thanks, and Well Said!

Paul,

As I walked into the office this morning, Vaden Landers handed me the Oct. 11, 2004 issue of The Green Sheet, encouraging me to read your feature, "I Deserve." I can't say I've ever heard it put better. There are many of us in your camp. Thanks for saying it!

Deborah Finnamore,
Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications ProfitPoint

Is the MLS Forum Monitored?

Do you think this kind of post and thread on GS Online's MLS Forum abide by The Green Sheet's terms (as stated on the Forum)?: www.greensheet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=8966&forum=1&15 .

It's very easy to anonymously post derogatory statements like these without telling the whole story. I can send you other examples of threads that take jabs at Heartland and strongly imply that our reps are misleading merchants.

I don't see how this is helpful or professional. Are you monitoring the Forum for this kind of unprofessional spew? If not, I can let fly with plenty of similar vitriol about my competition. It doesn't seem to be in the spirit The Green Sheet would approve of.

karen.parkkonen@e-hps.com

Karen:

We respect your opinion and appreciate the difficult position you are in. We do monitor the MLS Forum closely, albeit during office hours PST. We walk a fine line between encouraging open discourse among those in our industry, requiring that the dialog be business oriented and constructive, and preventing and removing potentially libelous statements.

In an environment where sales professionals compete for a finite amount of business, there is bound to be disagreement, griping and mud slinging. We do not believe it would be constructive to increase our level of censure to remove all negative posts.

We know that many of the principals in this industry participate in the MLS Forum; they often contact us when language used on it crosses the line and becomes derogatory and potentially libelous. Additionally, we have intervened when the discussion has strayed from a business disagreement to personal attacks.

At this time, The Green Sheet management team does not feel that the "thread" in question warrants removal. However, we are watching the discussion closely. If each participant on the MLS Forum would individually choose to "take the high road" we feel this virtual discussion area would be strengthened.

Editor