Collegiate Cliques on RE.net

When Teresa Boardman floated an invitation to me to contribute a guest post to the weenie, my thought was, "How could I possibly add to the conversation? I don't have any hot dog pictures". Then I remembered Jabo's Bar Be Que. This is how the weenie rolls in Denver yo. That's a quarter pound hot link covered with half a pound of slow cooked pork and topped with a secret recipe BBQ sauce strait out of Kansas City. Even my man Chris  would be impressed. I'm on a diet, but was compelled to eat the entire thing anyway. I felt I owed it to the loyal weenie readers. The heartburn suffered as a result reminded me of the general tone of RE.net over the last few weeks.

If you read a lot of RE blogs, you may have noticed the alliances, rivalries, and camp mentality that's taking seed. In many humorous ways, these cliques remind me my days in collage. It's still early, and there's plenty of time to take sides, so here's a quick rundown on who to position yourself with in the growing soap opera that is RE.net.

RSS Pieces  and The Real Estate Tomato . If you have a blog built by either of these companies, sorry, you don't get to choose which camp you're in. By birthright, you are sworn enemies. Stop trying to leave friendly comments on each others blogs. It's like Buckeye Fan breaking bread with Wolverine Fan. What are thinking?

Remember the "in" crowd? Cheerleaders, jocks, Gregg, Babs, Neidermeyer, and the rest of the Omegas? If you want to be "in", BloodHound Blog  is the camp to join. Here, one can feel unencumbered by the bonds of social niceties usually present in the business world. Tell it like it is, and don't worry about making friends because everyone already loves you. If you do decide to join this camp, make sure Greg gives you the Super Secret Odysseus Decoder Ring. Otherwise, you are not truly in. Kind of like the nerd who does the quarterback's homework, and gets invited to some parties, but not the really good ones.

What campus would be complete without a socialistic, communal clique where thousands of worker bees all contribute to the greater good ?  Most people are assimilated through indoctrination invitation, but you can join on your own as well.

If you don't have anything good to say, but want to say something anyway, try hangin' with the goth bloggers. This one is easy, Just start pining about fraud, the real estate bubble, or sub prime lenders.  You'll be in the clique before you know it.

Then there's the Corporate Sell-Out camp. To join, just start contributing to GeekEstate, the Zillow Wiki, Trulia Voices , or best yet, get yourself a gig blogging for Redfin! Watch as your efforts lead to actual business and take solace in the notion that the rest of us are secretly jealous behind our mantra of "keeping it real".

Finally, there's the Sellsius camp. I consider myself a proud member. We are the Deltas to Bloodhound's Omegas. Can't we all just get along? Let's sing kum-by-ya, smoke a bowl, and have another Jabo Dog. Togas are optional, but highly encouraged.

So there you have it. The Blog and the Beautiful of RE.net. I've been blogging for two and a half years now, things are finally getting interesting. Make sure to pick sides soon. Maybe we can all square off (West Side Story style) at Inman Connect this winter.

BY: Todd Carpenter - REMBEX Blog Fiesta!

We welcome guest posts from both Deltas and Omegas, don't be shy.  Find my contact information on the St. Paul Real Estate Blog

Comments

[Christine]

Just too funny, you almost could not even make all that up! Its the 21st century soap operas all on the net!

[Joseph Ferrara.sellsius]

Ha Ha. This is too funny and too real. A perfect weenie post, Todd.

[Todd Carpenter]

I hope everyone is able to chuckle a bit. No offense was intended. Thanks Teresa, for the invite. On the day this web page was created, I was skeptical about it's intent. I really like it though, and I'm glad I met the weenie standard.

[Teresa Boardman]

Todd - the weenie started as a joke it had no intent. That is when I learned who in the re bloggoshere has a sense of humor and who takes themselves too darn seriously.

JF _ how are they biting?

[Jonathan Washburn]

ActiveRain got off easy today; "thousands of worker bees all contribute to the greater good"

[Jay Thompson]

Damn that dog looks GREAT! (the one in the post, not Daisy in the right sidebar -- though she's a fine looking dog in her own right).

Funny stuff Todd!

"Let's sing kum-by-ya, smoke a bowl, and have another Jabo Dog."

That just cracked me up....

[Jay Merton & Boomer Jack Boardman]

Nicely done, Todd, nicely done!
Jay

[Todd Carpenter]

Jay - anytime you make it to Denver, a Jabo Dog is on me.

Jonathan - Hopefully everyone feels the got off easy. It's all in fun.

[Maureen Francis]

Long ago Teresa founded a group on ActiveRain for losers, misfits and angry loners. I am not sure if that group is still active, but I am sure that my clique in school was the kids who thought taking AP chemistry at night "just for fun" was a good idea. Like then, I observe the chaos around me and am glad not to be part of it.

Enjoyed your post, Todd!

[Jim Cronin]

Urgent... How does one clean beer from their computer screen. Whaaaaahahaha. That was great.

[Laurie Manny]

Don't Bogart that bowl Todd!

[Kristal Kraft]

Todd, In Denver we eat more Buffalo Dogs...they tend to really fit in with the Buffalo ah em er... chips that seem to be flinging in cyberspace.

Ducking!

kk

[Roberta Murphy]

Todd: What a hoot!

Since there's no choice, I guess I'm an Active Tomato Bowler:-)

[Jason Ganz]

Great post! I am gonna share it with my own blog readers at jason.landbrokr.com ! Thanks.

[Brian Brady]

This is cute and funny, Todd. I think that characterizing people perpetuates this very thing you criticize, though.

In the past 30 days, I've written 6-8 articles on Bloodhound, organized a reception for Sellsius, and written 12-15 articles on Active Rain.

Where's that place me?

[Teresa Boardman]

Brian - I know I am not Todd. I think you are the worlds most opinionated mortgage broker and are putting as much content on the internet as possible through any means possible. Would love to have a guest post form you for the weenie. :)

[Nickie]

Nice!

I love to smile at my desk :)

[Brian Brady]

"Would love to have a guest post form you for the weenie. :) "

Oh dear. Ya see what happens when you open your mouth?

I have a good one for you, Teresa! We'll talk this week.

[Teresa Boardman]

Wow! I would be honored to have a post from you on this weapon of mass destruction cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand. :)

[Todd Carpenter]

>I think that characterizing people perpetuates this very thing you criticize, though.
I think the only thing this post will perpetuate is business at Jabos. Getting everyone involved to chuckle a bit was my only goal.

[Dan Green]

Wait, there's a secret compass decoder ring at Bloodhound...? I'll have to ask Kris about that.

Nice work, Todd. This is a funny one and worthy of the weenie.

[Bonnie Erickson]

Okay, the coffee's mopped up and I've made my trip to the "can" laughing all the way. College days . . . the perfect description. You forgot to classify the wallflowers, though. Maybe that's the losers, misfits, and angry loners crowd?

[Mariana - Tank Girl]

I don't do cliques very well. I am a birthright RSS Pieces child who reads and I STILL "leave friendly comments" on the "vine" ...
I am an outcast, loner, loser and all around dork/geek/nerd. I always HAVE been. And I am completely OK with that.

ALL THAT SAID .. This was one of my most favoritest RE.net funny posts EVER. AH!

[Teresa Boardman]

Mariana This is one of my favorites too.

[@bkmcae aka Ben at Va Assn of Realtors]

Nice, except in Virginia we go by "Twitterazzi"
http://www.varconvention.com/why-var-members-really-come-to-convention-the-twitterazzi/