Wasaga.com

Here's a link to an events calendar that I keep updated. Hope it's ok t post it:

http://wasagabeachtalking.com/2009/07/2 ... -calendar/

Andrew

Nope, posting your events page is fine.
We have one as well that we try to keep up.

It would be better if the organizers of events in town would keep us posted but we do our best to figure it all out.
http://www.wasaga.com/index.php?Itemid=65&option=com_eventlist&view=categoryevents&id=1

It's unbelievable that you are offering free advertising for events but business's don't make the effort to keep you informed.

I got in a bit of trouble with the "real estate police" as on my blog I had information about the homes on the Wasaga Beach MLS Tour; just address, 4 photos, MLS number and price. Some realtors complained and according to the letter of the law i should get permission etc. Personally I would think the seller would be happy to have as much exposure as possible.

Andrw

Andrew, you think too much like me.
I know a lot of people in your business and I'm well aware of the realtor police. That is one tough business. I can only compare it to my days as a waitress in an open-floor bar. You are literally knocking each other over to get to that good tipping client. It's a rat race.

I do understand the need of some organizations to control their flow of information. When I did the Town's website it was difficult to keep people from re-printing things on other sites. Often they wouldn't bother to remove it when it became out of date which would result in problems like residents with a new telephone # getting phone calls for a business which ceased to exist. But, if the site is well-meaning and keeps the info current, I don't see what the problem could be. Just credit the author and remove the info when it is expired.

I find it interesting that many of the same people who would go after you for having that info on your site don't mind visiting mine to borrow photos. There is one image in particular that I keep seeing on other area sites (even from "professional" web designers) and I even saw it in a magazine last week. No credit at all to me, or my site. You've probably seen it. It's an image of a guy on a bike with his children on bikes behind him. I have another one of a boat on the river that also seems to be popular. Don't get me wrong. I like that people enjoy my images enough to use them. But I would appreciate if they would provide me the credit for the shots.

I keep up wasaga.com as a labour of love, but I am also aware that my efforts help my clients. Now and then I wonder why I do it but occasionally I feel rewarded for doing all this unpaid work. I get a lot of calls from people who are looking for things in the area and they can't find it anywhere else. I treat it like a hobby now and try not to get too upset if people won't participate - even when it benefits them.

I visited your site and had a good chuckle a the mls photos. The one of the wall really made me smile because it reminded me of how my Grandmother would take photos. She always managed to get the top of people's heads. Hilarious!

I've gt in trouble for that as well. "Bad mouthing"/discrediting other realtors with my comments. I have kept the photos on though as they speak for themselves

Keep up the good work with the web site. I really believe Wasaga Beach is a fantastic place to live and visit and the more we all spread the word the better. I moved here from just outside London, England and just love it as the McDonald's adverts say.

Maybe you can do the same thing with photos that are not from this area. Perhaps the fact that they were local photos gave the impression that you were picking on people. They probably would have laughed it the photos were anonymous.

There's a site called webpagesthatsuck.com which does a similar type of thing. It's meant to show people how to do better designs by looking at bad ones. Very effective!

Only one was local ( I won't say which one ) the rest were from the US. Part of my aim was to help show what not to do or accept.

Must have a look at webpagesthatsuck.com

Andrew