Why Forums??

Helps facilitate networking for people who are inherently shy.

It has led to me meeting some great people in person and making new friends. I have learnt plenty from Somersoft over the years and more recently here at Property Chat and hopefully contributed some insights as well.

This is as social as online gets for me. I don't have Facebook or twitter or Instagram etc.

There is a saying that people don't realise what they had until it's gone, well I also reckon sometimes we don't realise what we've missing until it arrives.

So thanks to the Somers for their hosting over the years and to Sim and paying members who allow this site to exist.

 

Er... Except when you do.

There's actually only one breath between you promoting your business and then saying you don't do that.

That's breath taking.

 

I came for the property advice but often find the rest of it more interesting.

I have benefited from great advice from people here and I can't think of anyone I know in real life who would be able to offer the same quality of insights.

 

This particular forum is a much nicer place to be than any other forum I have seen in the industry.
People can get awfully nasty in certain environments online. This forum has enough long standing members who are respectful and know how to share their experience and answer questions without being condescending and rude in most cases which sets a good foundation of behavior which is then modeled in most cases, by new comers.

I have seen many good opportunities on forums go to waste because moderators tolerated poor behaviour by its members and sometimes even joined in. Things go downhill fast and it becomes a place to for certain types of people to feel good about themselves by putting others down, creating and adding to negative conversations and in the end no-one gains anything of real value from that type of environment.

I have noticed here that when a person displays rude and disrespectful behaviour towards another poster someone always let's the person know its just not how we roll here and the person usually stops and sometimes even apologies which is a wonderful thing to see that sort of respect on line.

Basically, people here behave like good human beings. It's refreshing in the on-line world and makes is a great environment to learn, share and respectfully debate topics and see other ways of viewing topics.It is a comprehensive place to learn, help others out and feel supported by people who get what you are trying to achieve.

It is also a very fast way to get multiple answers quickly, rather than spending weeks scratching ones head wondering how to find a solution or where to go to get the answer.

 

As what others have already said above, but I'll add that I have found a community of people with similar interests and values. I don't find this in real life, not where I hang out, anyway.