Apparently I have been voted onto the Inman “News” list of Real Estate’s 50 Most Inconsequential Online. I have no direct evidence of this, just a bunch of tweeted twaddle that Tom Johnson turned me onto last night. Needless to say, I don’t plan to spend $80 to feed my already quite corpulent vanity.
This is my third or fourth year on the receiving end of this evolving “honor,” and, with some exceptions, Inman’s list is comprised of a company I am less and less comfortable keeping. BloodhoundBlog has always been about the consumer for me, and about practitioners who know how to put the consumer first. Alas, the RE.net by now just looks like more of the same — more sleazoids looking for ways to sucker broke-ass agents into paying three bucks a pop for rotten eggs. Deadwood was a fun TV show, but I don’t want my name soiled by the real estate equivalents of Al Swearengen.
I do want to take a moment to apologize to Brad Inman, though. I have offered up what I thought was sound business advice to the man — coated, to be sure, in what might seem to be a bitter pill. But I had assumed that Inman was a grown-up, and, as a demi-billionaire, presumably capable of dealing with a certain amount of acerbic wit. It turns out though — as certain lyrical twitterbirds have pointed out to me — that Brad Inman is in fact an infantile encephalic retarded paraplegic with a harelip — and thus my jibes aimed at him were not sporting. This, at least, is the only conclusion one can draw from the plaintive tweeted bleatings about my criticisms of Big Bad Brad that have emerged from other names on Inman’s list of Real Estate’s 50 Most Inconsequential Online.
Which is, just by itself, a good reason to say to hell with the whole magilla.
Meanwhile I can think of only one tune so perfectly suited to the occasion, Big in Japan by Tom Waits:
If you want to do right by your clients, you have no need to lean on me as an “influence.” If you want to screw consumers or other real estate professionals by hustling them with useless crap, I’ll thank you to leave my name out of it.
Jerry Van Blaricom says:
Congrats! 🙂 Why would anyone spend $80 on this??
December 18, 2009 — 6:48 pm
Ashlee says:
Everybody has their opinion and online it always seems to get taken the wrong way!
December 18, 2009 — 8:34 pm
Robert Worthington says:
Greg, I did find myself going to Websters Dictionary on a few of your well written words! I appreciate your humble honesty; as I’m sure Brad Inman does as well 🙂
December 19, 2009 — 7:41 am
Greg Swann says:
> I appreciate your humble honesty; as I’m sure Brad Inman does as well
Thanks, but it’s really all just a subversive ploy to get Teri Lussier to listen to Tom Waits.
December 19, 2009 — 9:39 am
teri lussier says:
Whether or not I agree with every sentiment expressed here, this was brilliantly written start to finish! Bravo.
December 19, 2009 — 8:37 am
Beth Incorvati says:
You’re a rock star – bravo! If being innovative, high minded, and committed to higher standards makes you inconsequential, then I’m right there with you. Carry on!
December 19, 2009 — 9:39 am
Joe Spake says:
Greg, I appreciate your post. Am I getting this right? $80 just to see the list? These influence lists have been a hot topic for a while, and I am sure that most who made this latest biggie are busy giving each other electronic pats on the back. Who is all this influence worked upon? Is it real estate consumers, or is it other real estate people? I think the answer is obvious.
If you are a certified, listed, influencer, your products sell like hot cakes.
I am glad you made the list. And those of us who didn’t, well we are left here with (in the words of one of the list making real estate gurus)”bruised feelings”.
December 19, 2009 — 9:45 am
Greg Swann says:
> And those of us who didn’t, well we are left here with (in the words of one of the list making real estate gurus)”bruised feelings”.
Way too many people on that list are there because they already reside in the duodenal-view condos in Brad Inman’s ass. Too easy to draw the inference that all 50 are Inmaniacal butt-boys — yet another reason to abhor the “honor.” Stooges like me and the token bubbleheads are their to camouflage the true nature of the list — the vendorslut mafia celebrating itself.
December 19, 2009 — 10:22 am
Brian Brady says:
His list is quite brilliant if you think about it. A few dozen folks tweet congratulations, with links to the download, and hundreds pay 80 bucks to see if they made the cut.
Of course, if you or I conducted our business that way we’d be (rightfully) thrown in jail.
December 19, 2009 — 12:34 pm
Jay Thompson says:
“A few dozen folks tweet congratulations, with links to the download, and hundreds pay 80 bucks to see if they made the cut.”
I don’t know Brian. You really think hundreds plunk down $79 for something like that? Since Inman “premium members” get the list for free, I think what happens most often is more along the lines of, “Hey, you’re a premium member. Can you email me the list?”
Just speculation on my part, I don’t have access to the actual sales numbers, nor do I care. It’s a silly thing to sell.
December 19, 2009 — 3:51 pm
Brian Brady says:
“It’s a silly thing to sell.”
It’s a silly thing, altogether.
December 19, 2009 — 6:57 pm
louis cammarosano says:
@Jay wrote:”Since Inman “premium members” get the list for free, I think what happens most often is more along the lines of, “Hey, you’re a premium member. Can you email me the list?”
Jay, Emailing the list would fly in the face of the legal warning plastered on the front page of the report regarding reproduction or redistribution of the report (which I don’t want to recite, as doing so may itself be a violation of the prohibition!)
December 20, 2009 — 4:33 am
Joe Spake says:
Inman’s copyrighting and selling the list just makes it cooler and makes us “bruised feelings folks” want to access it and want to be on it that much more. Maybe the cool kids could build a fortified silo in some cool place, and charge us wannabes for a tour.
December 20, 2009 — 10:20 am