Re: MLS Committe moves to ban "MLS" from realtor sites
This is just another example of how individuals with positions of so-called authority and very little practical experience or common sense wreak havoc on people they are supposed to represent for the better.
It just amazes me how participating brokers let NAR and their MLS boards and employees run rough shod over them. While the members hold elected positions in these organizations, they for the most part, just listen to and follow everything the (non-working for a living in real estate) MLS employees have to say. In addition, most of the members who hold these elected positions, at least here in my area, are still living in the stone age. Many think it should be like the good old days when we had to have MLS listing books.
Until members themselves stand up and say enough is enough from these people, it is never going to change. They are supposed to be working for us and should only be there to facilitate all our abilities to work more effectively and serve the public. Not nickel and dime us to death for every new useless notion they come up with or enact stupid rules that tie our hands behind our backs. They have buffaloed us into thinking we can't live without them, when in truth it should be the other way around. They would cease to exist without our participation.
And don't think because MLS can't be patented or copywrited, it means the genie is out of the bottle. All they have to do is adopt the new mls rule and you will have to follow it or be removed from participating. It's just that simple. They can make up any rules they want as long as they can continue to get the members to agree to enact them.
FYI - I can't tell for sure from Friday's NAR Board of Directors meeting notes if this passed or not but my guess is it did. Here is what the meeting notes said about MLS changes passed on Friday:
*Amended the NAR Code of Ethics to ensure the “true picture” test in Article 12 applies to electronic communications such as e-mail and text messages, and added a Standard of Practice to ensure that REALTORSŪ present a true picture in their URLs and domain names. The Code of Ethics' changes required passage by the Delegate Body, which approved the measure at its meeting Friday following the Board of Directors vote. Related changes to model MLS rules were also adopted.
* In MLS policy changes aimed at upping enforcement, the board authorized REALTORŪ MLSs to impose financial penalties of up to $15,000—an increase from $5,000—for violations of MLS rules; authorized REALTORŪ MLSs to remove any or all of a participant's listings in cases where the participant fails to report status changes on a timely basis; and adopted measures on the procedures for imposing discipline.
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