Notorious R.O.B.

Conversations about the real estate industry, marketing, technology, and public policy

Mar 19, 2010

I Don’t Pay Cowards and Assassins

I've uncovered a terrible secret... a conspiracy...

So earlier today, I get an interesting email from our form on 7DSAssociates.com:

First Name: NAR
Last Name: Scandal
Email Address:
Company: NARscandal.com
Title:
Phone:
Comments: Breaking News!  New Scandal at the NAR

Exclusive from NARscandal.com

A new scandal is brewing over at the National Association of Realtors and we at (www.NARscandal.com) have the “exclusive story” along with quality in-depth reporting you can find no where else.

This scandal is a true living tale of real estate, the internet, technology, money, power & greed.

A must read for every member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) as well as every citizen and homeowner within the United States and modernized world, as this one actually has the power to affect our future as well as future generations to follow, in so many ways.

Click here to read all of the latest details at ( http://www.NARscandal.com ).

Sincerely,

The Researchers & Writers
www.NARscandal.com

http://twitter.com/narscandal.com

“The Next Generation of Real Estate Media”

Naturally, I am intrigued by the “Next Generation of Real Estate Media” that is talking about scandals and intrigues, power and greed, a shadowy powerful conspiracy with the power to affect future generations for years to come!  I’m sure there’s some sort of a DaVinci Code type of puzzle or three involved.  Tom Hanks and sexy French lady can’t be far behind!

Wait A Second… You Want My Money?

So I go on over and visit the site.  Looks professionally designed, and look at these headlines!

  • Breaking News! RETS Scandal at the NAR
  • Upcoming! Our “NAR Deep Throat” Series

So I click on an article.  What’s this then?  You want my credit card info?  You want me to subscribe?

Hrm… well… now it depends.  Who the hell are you?  I don’t know that I’m all that comfortable giving some company my credit card information when I don’t know much about them.

So Who Is NARScandal.com?

So naturally, I go over to the handy dandy About Us page:

Our writing staff is comprised of a team of highly skilled real estate technologists, researchers and industry analysts who luckily stumbled upon a powerful but little known NAR and MLS technology network more than 3 years ago.

We were tasked to compile background information on the NAR and MLS as it related to several next-generation real estate technology legal cases making their way through the courts.

Huh.  So I go searching for who these real estate technologists, researchers and industry analysts are.  No names.  No identities.  No nothing.

Hrm, well, they were “tasked to compile” information on NAR and MLS.  By whom?  Well, it says that NARScandal.com is a “division of Imagine Publishing, Inc.” based in Wilmington, DE.  But a search of the WhitePages.com for “Imagine Publishing” returns no results.  And a Google Search returns some results that don’t really fit…

There’s an Imagine Publishing in the UK that publishes a bunch of photography magazines.  There’s Imagine Publishing, Inc., which sounds like the right company, but they publish educational books, and is based in New York.  There’s ImaginePublishing.com, which appears to be some sort of a religious ministry website.

None of those guys appear to be the type of company that would have had a three year investigative reporting campaign.

But here’s the thing.  This is an operation that’s claiming to be the “next generation of real estate media“.  MEDIA.  We’re supposed to rely on this for information.  Anonymous sources in news are a common thing, but anonymous reporters and editors?  I don’t think so.  Even the Pravda on the Hudson lists its editors on the masthead; the stories have bylines with names of reporters attached to them so those who have stories written about them know who to contact for corrections.

Researchers & Writers?  More like Cowards and Character Assassins.  Some of the allegations they’re making are baseless, wrong, and expose incredible ignorance.  Put your names up, boys and girls.  You ain’t sources; you’re not the “Deep Throat”.  You’re supposed to be the reporters and the editors.  Step up, or shut up.

Media, my ass.  And then you want me to give you my credit card information, for a “company” that has no mailing address or telephone number?

Riiight.  Sorry; I don’t pay cowards and assassins from mysterious “companies”.

-rsh

No related posts.

Category: Media, Real Estate

Tagged: , , ,

  • http://twitter.com/KristenCarr Kristen Carr

    I'm glad you posted this, Rob. I was writing something similar but stopped when I saw your tweet. I really loved the diagram this guy made! Apparently I'm part of a very elite group who is covertly changing the world – the RE Masons? I love that!! Yes, we are the RE Masons.

    It seems our friend has lots of opinions, very few facts and absolutely no peanuts. Below is a link to the RETS Forums from early January – the same time the new website was registered.

    http://forums.rets.org/showthread.php?t=2852

    Obviously this dude never admitted who he was, the IP traces back to San Francisco as does the NARScandal site. Whoever it is…he's got lots of time on his hands.

    Great post Rob

  • http://www.SanDiegoJeff.com/ jeffreydouglass

    Rob, 2nd That! Interesting choice of video on the right hand sidebar….

  • http://twitter.com/MaureenFrancis Maureen Francis

    From Whois.com:

    Registrant:
    c/o NARSCANDAL.COM
    P.O. Box 821650
    Vancouver, WA 98682
    US

    Registrar: DOTSTER
    Domain Name: NARSCANDAL.COM
    Created on: 01-JAN-10
    Expires on: 01-JAN-11
    Last Updated on: 26-FEB-10

    Administrative Contact:

    c/o NARSCANDAL.COM
    P.O. Box 821650
    Vancouver, WA 98682
    US
    +1.360-449-5933

    Anyone wanna call?

  • http://www.honeybeeconsulting.com startabuzz

    Jeff … I thought precisely the same thing. It was the first thing to which my eyes were drawn.

  • http://twitter.com/KristenCarr Kristen Carr

    Marueen – the phone number is for “privacy post”, the company through which the domain is registered which keeps the true owner confidential. In order to reach the owner one must send an email. It has been suggested to register/pay for the site and the CC statement would show the actual company but I don't want to give a wacko my CC!

  • http://twitter.com/MoInColumbusOH Maureen McCabe

    Who are people guessing?

    What is the San Francisco connection? Is attorney David Barry in San Franciso? Monetizing his hatred for NAR after all of these years? He's been quiet for a couple of years hasn't he? I would not think he'd be anonymous though.

    I went to saw it was anonymous but until I saw a retweet of Kristen saying she was on that diagram, I did not realize it was a $19.99 monthly subscription.

  • http://www.Kens411.com Ken Brand

    I'm with you. I thought, what, no names?

    To me, a blood red flag.

    Step Up or Shut Up.

  • http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com LaurieManny

    I saw this yesterday as well and cracked up laughing when I saw the page with the fees on it! My thought was that they should first produce something WORTH paying for!

  • matthaze

    That's okay. Realtors won't find it because half of them don't use the internet! OH SNAP!

  • http://PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com Jay Thompson

    Who cares who it is?

    Until they man up and put their name on their work, it's not even worth reading.

    Site is down today. I'm sure it'll be blamed on crazy traffic levels or some NAR hitmen coming over and pulling the plug.

    I call bullshit on the whole thing.

    And I can get a copy of the National Enquirer for less than these bozos are charging.

  • http://www.facebook.com/maureenmccabe Maureen McCabe

    “Who cares who it is?”

    I do. I will admit I want to know who it is…. I like a mystery. I like a puzzle.

    I don't want to read it and form opinions about NAR, MLS or the past or future of RE but I want to know who it is. I think it is a nice looking site but it does not look like a site that I would expect unbiased info from so the thing that interests me is “who is it?” I did not initially realize they were charging. On my first visit. I looked for who it was but never was interested enough in any of the content to click for more. I did not realize they were charging.

    I think it is interesting that they are trying to monetize this.

  • http://twitter.com/KristenCarr Kristen Carr

    Thought you kind folks would want to know there are 2 new articles – one explaining they charge a subscription fee because they are “just like Inman News” and the other saying they won't tell who they are as they have had their safety threatened. Hahahahahahaha!

  • http://www.inman.com/ matt carter

    There IS an Imagine Publishing Inc. that incorporated in Delaware on Jan. 19, 2010.

    https://delecorp.delaware.gov/tin/GINameSearch.jsp

    Like the domain name registration, the company was created through a third party, that allows anybody to create a Delaware Corporation for $298.

    http://www.incnow.com/

    Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
    And then is heard no more: it is a tale
    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    Signifying nothing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/zaneburnett Zane Burnett

    Just read their response to you… hilarious. I've gotta admit, their wit is humorous and their craftiness admirable. I'd like to see more, if only to make the days go by faster.

  • http://twitter.com/gregrobertson Greg Robertson

    Looks like we have outed our mystery man. Check out Vendor Alley for details:

    http://www.vendoralley.com/2010/03/25/is-gary-j…

  • Anonymous

    I had to LOL when I saw that NARscandal tweeted the following “Breaking News” two days ago: “NARscandal.com confirms MarketLinx.com, the largest MLS Software Vendor on the planet, is a “First American Corp” subsidiary.” Now that's investigative journalism worth paying for! What gave it away? The First American logo at the bottom of every page on MarketLinx.com? Or maybe it was the press release that came out a few years back?

  • tobyboyce

    Notorious is even more famous. Guess I'm not big enough for a scandal. Site is very weak on content.

  • tobyboyce

    Notorious is even more famous. Guess I'm not big enough for a scandal. Site is very weak on content.