I would not change it because I like the free flow of information between members.

However a separate consumer Q&A would be a possible solution.

It was designed to not allow consumer questions since it just led to a lot of spam in the past.

That is because they purposely made the purpose here "peer to peer."  You need to sign up for acct to ask a question.

The reason they did this was because the old way just had too much spam and meaningless q's.  It was a mess and annoyance.

It's much much much better now.

Good question.  Can Consumers post without first joining AR?

i might think that they dont know they can?? i think if AR promoted that, they would. im not sure we want them to get some of the answers they might get? this is a wide spread opinion forum. they might not appreciate that variety.?? great question thou

While I like helping other agents I agree with Karen in that I would like more contact with consumers and get their questions about real estate answered by our AR community.

If a consumer wants to open a free account, they can ask a question.

Karen Fiddler, Broker/Owner AR didn't want to turn the Q&A Section into a T or Z free for all.

I don't think consumer view AR or a regular basis.

The others have answered the question. I guess it prevents spam. 

Good morning Karen. I wouldn't see consumer questions as important, as a result of my blogging efforts, consumers get to my website and ask lots of questions.

It hasn't really been promoted to the public.

I know WikiRealty is based upon consumers asking realtors questions.  I haven't seen it done though.  Given the questions we get from the students, I'm not sure I'd want consumers asking away.

Maybe they are too busy on the Z and T question page. Or maybe they think they know it all, or don't want to appear dumb by asking a question. I don't know for sure. 

I do not think any consumers have a way to find this Q&A Karen. Great idea though.