I was told about it by a keynote speaker at our Realtors convention in 2009, and went out and signed up for it along with several other social media sites.  Then I ignored it until 2012 when gaining some seo became a priority.

I thought it was another "come-on" to sell agents more stuff, quite frankly.

Pat Kennedy suggested I should join - talk about being invited by the Master! I had no idea how great it would be. Thanks Patricia Kennedy 

Larry, in 2008 and 2009 I joined several online real estate communities, some disappeared, I quit some others, but I liked ActiveRain and stayed on.

I was told it was a blogging site and real estate based so a good place to start blogging. I had no other opinion about it.

I was very active on Trulia when their site was actually a force in Real Estate. When it started going down hill there was a mass Exodus and Active Rain was referred to those of us looking for a place to be active where they site actually cared about the agents using it. 

Good morning Larry. I was told, you have to sign up, I'm not really sure how long he was on my case. That was in June of 2011, I have never forgiven Eric Boucher, only kidding.

Make it a great weekend!

Larry Johnston I do not recollect any such things - I just created my account in 2007 and never used it for years, I'd say.

Then I wanted to 'teach' about blogging some agents (without blogging myself!) and there was no better place than ActiveRain! I never felt there is a competition and always liked what I learned here.

I found it on my own as a way to post blogs pretty much in the beginning of AR then Barbara Jo from Clearwater asked me why I wasn't more involved.

I found it from a member back in 2008 including a link to her profile on an email.  That email was spam and I deleted it. (she's no longer here), but I consider it fate.

Good question Larry.  I thought it was just someone looking to up their status/points by getting me to join yet another RE money sucker.  As one would hear in Get Smart .  "Missed it by that much Chief..."

i stumbled onto it as well, i dont know what i first thought i would get, but i remember being welcomed in nicely . i dont think there are 350k. i think more like 400. :) but i am grateful for those (mostly) lol

I wasn't told about AR. I stumbled upon it and joined and didn't do anything with my membership for quite a while after that. 

Bob bugged me into doing this.

I do not even recall how I learned about ActiveRain when I joined in 2007.

They called us a couple times.  After thinking about it we joined and the rest is history.

Larry Johnston I came across ActiveRain when surfing for some real estate information. There were less than 100,000 members then - February 2007.

First thought? Why spend time here?

First action - wait until 'Old gaurd' left allowing better exchange of ideas.

Finally - posted a blog.

Would I tell anyone about AR? Only if I felt they were capable of following meaningful instruction.

I joined in 2007.  A friend at the office introduced me to AR.  

I was very intimidated about posting my first blog post....6 years ago.... Lenn Harley gave me great advice.... she said write what you know....and I haven't stopped writing since that first day on September 30 2009.... and everyone should take advantage of this platform.... 

 Good Saturday morning Larry. At first I was reluctant to join. Now I am glad I did.

I jumped at the opportunity.  I had been writing political blogs on a few sites and my Realtor-friend Brian said "if you like to write, you should join ActiveRain."  He went on to describe the SEO potential and it worked.  Many of my early articles placed on page one of Google and brought in business as a direct result.

Trulia blogger site was shut down in 2014 Xmas. It was free and I get leads directly.    Now I am starting from scratch. 

Yea yea yea..its a cult following were my first thoughts. I mean you dont join a club when you Real Estate. Now, you do

I think I found AR on my own actually just searching around the web in 2009 I believe, did not become really active until this year though.

I first started finding posts and wondered what those "rainmakers" were...

My first memory of seeing anything about AR was in an internet article or search. I wondered why a real estate forum chose that name. 

My second thought was it might be a good resource for information.

I was worried it would be a distraction rather than actual work.

I was not told a lot....I had to find out for myself

My first thought --  what is blogging?   I had no clue.   

I think I was taking an e-Pro class, but was so long ago, have no idea what I was thinking.