Road Repairs

One of the really popular pastimes on the Avenue is complaining.  Is Empire Avenue going to survive or are they just going slowly down the drink?  Are they spending too much time with GamrRank? Why don’t they ever reply to support tickets? Why is this or that feature broken?  Why didn’t they implement that great idea that I gave to Dups? I am sure you can come up with even more, but really that is not my point today.  I think that sometimes we focus on our frustration because we are passionate about this platform.

Passion is great, but there is a danger that passion blinds.  I am not going to talk about my love life; even though that could provide numerous amusing examples.  I am entering my tenth month; so I am neither old nor new.  I am past the beginning honeymoon excitement, but I have not lost hope like some of the folks who started with the intriguing site beta.  I am a bit jaded by promises not kept, but I see signs of progress on Empire Avenue.  I think the road is getting smoother.  I thought that perhaps recounting a few of those might provide some eye opening perspective.

1. Mission Throttling/Captcha When I started on the Avenue, I was poor!  I know just like everyone else,  but the only realistic way to make eaves was to do missions.  I did a ton.  I dreaded that random, discouraging, horrible message…”We have noticed…” I am pretty sure that what Dups meant was that he hated me and wanted me to be poor forever!  Every time I was in mission time out or my own personal EA hell, there would be a fistful of really big missions that were super easy to do!  I waited and stewed.  I heard that it was to eliminate the scripts that harvested eaves, but I was convinced it was an evil plot to make me quit.  Moving to a Captcha solution is much better and more fair.  Cheers for Dups promising and delivering on this one!

2. Mission Warning to Thieves Posting a warning on the mission screen to discourage theft   I am still concerned about thieving…wait…just positive stuff today…The warning seemed to have a really positive impact at first.  Although it may have diminished a bit, still a step in the right direction.  Cheers for the EA team.  At least they understand there is a problem and seem to be looking for the right answer.

3. Dups Engagement  These days we often see Dups engaging the community in FB as well as EA forums.  He usually is taking a beating…why don’t folks tag him with a compliment occasionally?  He keeps coming back, listening, and explaining.  He even replied to a suggestion by saying thanks, but I need to see how this fits with our overall strategy, a wise answer instead of the easy one.  Give Dups credit here.  He takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

4. Community Redux  I am a bit unclear about the big plan for communities, but I do see some differences.  If nothing else, give EA credit for identifying they had a problem.  They seem to be trying to clean things up a bit and getting ready for something of a relaunch.  The credit here is being smart enough to realize that the real engagement was happening off site and trying to figure a way to bring it back.

5. Buy Screen Update  I see some cosmetic changes in the buy screen, but the huge thing I appreciate is that it does not hang endlessly like was typical before.  I am unclear if the screen or the underlying code for buying or user close or what.  I really don’t care what or how they fixed it.  I am smiling because I can buy stocks in the morning without waiting forever.  I bet this was a big one that most folks don’t even think about now that it works.  Good job EA team.

6. Leader Board Improvements  I noticed some cosmetic changes to the leader boards.  The indexes getting dropped saddened a few folks, but here is hoping that more meaningful boards are on the way.  I am personally looking for a Share Price, Net Wealth, & Portfolio Wealth for players before their first anniversary!

7. New Awards  As things have grown along the Avenue, the initial awards were left behind by the leaders.  EA has done a bit of adapting…things like an award for 500,000,000 (e) in Net Wealth that I noticed on a profile I watch carefully.  Let’s mark this one a hopeful work in progress.

8. New Pie  This seems to be easy and required to continue to grow the game for the top of the leaderboard.  Now that I have caught up a bit, I can say it is a great thing.  I was worried about catching diabetes with so much pie flying around there for a few weeks.  I did think it was extremely awesome that EA provided a pie upgrade to go along with the last [X]Pendapalooza event.

9. Mission Dashboard Creating a dashboard where you can see and manage all your missions is a great improvement.  Fewer wasted clicks and errors in creating missions are a welcome result of this innovation.  This is a great start to making missions easier to create and manage.

10. Owning the Problems  In the few months that I have been around, there has been a sea change in the attitude from the EA staff.  I used to see ignoring, defending, explaining, and denying as the primary communication from EA.  Dups gave back eaves when he saw missions that did not act as promised.  Dups owns they stink at replying to tickets. Dups restrains promises.  Dups has lead this effort.  It feels like a real commitment to me.  I believe EA wants growth and improvement.

a. New User Onboarding  I have not set up a new account; so I only have rumors on this one.  I hear there are significant improvements.  I notice fewer accounts without avatars; so something is better there.  If that process is smoother, more folks will survive the chaos of initiation.

The Empire Avenue team is small.  They seem to be listening and trying diligently.  I know that everyone has a list of suggestions and concerns.   I am glad to listen, but what I am really interested in today…What have you noticed in the past month or few by way of  repaired bumps on Empire Avenue?

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Agriculture Secy on gun control: This could be a unifying conversation and Lord knows we need to be unified.

Reblogged from CNN Press Room:

CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley  featured an interview with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Crowley spoke with Secretary Vilsack about guns in rural America, the potential for price increases on dairy products and more. A highlight from the interview is below and the full transcript will be posted on http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/sotu.html.

MANDATORY CREDIT: CNN's State of the Union”

Read more… 233 more words

II think the Secretary hit on an important point that seems to be missed by most of the media. Because controversy sells media ads, too often there is a silent complicity between the media and those practicing the politics of division. I believe that most citizens are tired of the polemics and would welcome all parties coming together to solve the pressing issued that confront our nation.

Empire Avenue Strategies & Thoughts

I am a bit over 6 months into Empire Avenue(EAv); so I guess it is time to help folks understand what I am doing.  I was very fortunate to have excellent guidance that helped me focus on being successful with EAv.  The advice was simply to concentrate on building wealth.  Everything else will follow.  I have found that continues to be true.

I am not a Social Media or any other kind of rock star.  I joined Empire Avenue because I didn’t really know much about Social Media.  I started with dormant LinkedIn account and a few hundred friends on Facebook.  I really wanted to us EAv as a sandbox for learning and experimenting.  It has gone reasonably well.  My Klout score is 77.  My Kred is 762/8.  My PeerIndex is 66.  I have thousands of FB, G+, Twitter, LI, other connections.  I have an active blog presence on WordPress, Blogger, & Tumbler.  I am a TrustAnchor in TrustCloud and have a presence on a ton of Social Media platforms.

My Share Price exceeded 300 at about 6 months,  my Net Wealth is over 250M, and I receive over 1M  in Dividend Income each day.  My next goal is to produce Dividends over 2.00(e) per share. I am around 1.75(e) now.  I am invested in about 2,500 profiles and have about 2,000 shareholders.  My 5 scoring networks in EA are FB(84), EA(64), Tw(54), G+(53), WP(43).  That puts me in the top 100 EA players in all but Twitter.

I have not spent any cash to play EAv for anything.

A few folks have asked how did I get to this so quickly.  From my side, it felt like it took forever, but I can offer a few suggestions.  I completed a ton of missions.  That was my primary source of income for most of my time on EAv.  I also learned a lot and met a ton of great folks.  I did not create missions until a few months into EAv.  My first missions were occasional buy missions on days that I had trouble with being red.  I only did few buy me missions; because if you do them all the time; then folks wait to purchase your stock until your next mission.  I bought a ton of stock.  I divided my purchases in thirds.  I started with purchasing stocks that looked like me.  About the same share price, activity level, and preferably stock with a substantial Portfolio to Shareholder ratio.  That meant they were actively investing.  This often produced buy backs to support my share price.  Next I purchased Fresh Face stocks.  I selected attractive new stocks; then sold as they lost interest building capital rapidly. Buying & selling Newbies was my second largest source of wealth growth.  Finally I bought the “name brand” stocks.  The leader board folks with the insane dividends.  I invested slowly in these stocks.  I did not want to tie up too much of my capital until I could really afford it.

My summary for growing wealth is:

• Invest aggressively for growth in the beginning.
• Complete tons of missions.  Do them well and build a good reputation.
• Shout always, often, and everywhere.  Thumbs up are good also.
• Avoid creating missions unless you have a serious need.  Do them infrequently and not as a crutch.
• Avoid buying the really expensive stocks.  Purchase enough for a reasonable buy back; since they will frequently max in you, but do not try to match.  The big players understand.  They know if you try to match with them, it will hurt your ability to play EAv.
• As your income increases, focus on high dividend stocks to grow & stabilize your income.
• Do your Pie upgrades early.  They hurt, but they are necessary for your growth.  Dessert is OK, but not a great value early in the game.
• Do your Portfolio upgrades as necessary.  Be sure to clear your Portfolio of slider stocks  first to clear space. This is the one place where I think that spending cash might have been smarter.  Seems like a Portfolio upgrade costs one to two days of income to buy with eaves.

Each day I try to run 3 to 5 missions designed primarily to improve my EA activity scores. I budget about 200K for that.  I complete a fair number of missions from other folks.  That is becoming a less important source of income.

Each day I use Dr. Dittrich’s Inside EAv tool to buy 3 to 10 shares of my top 300 to 750 stocks spending 300K to 1M depending on eaves available.  This is helpful for my EAv activity and reminds folks about my investment in them.  I own more shares of all these stocks than they own of me.  I realize that my share price is higher (much higher in many cases) than most of my portfolio.  I understand that many will have difficulty matching my investment immediately.  I also know that I could be bought for 10.00(e) a few months ago.   I do want some sense of mutual effort toward investing back.

I also try to go through the list of folks who bought my shares each day.  I want to acknowledge the investment and to be sure that I appropriately reward that investment with a buy back.  If your price trends and dividends are attractive, you will find yourself nicely rewarded.  If you are struggling, I am likely to simply match.  There is no magic formula here.  My level of buy back is partly dependent on how many eaves I have and partly on my attitude toward life at that moment.

If you want to be bought; invest in me, shout at me, be active on the Avenue, have great dividends, and have positive share price graph.  If you have questions, ask.  If I somehow missed a buy back, let me know.  It was an oversight, and I am sorry.  I will fix it within a day if I know.

A couple of dark side items:

• I usually don’t check for mission thieves, but when I do…I report you, I block you, and I ask my friends to do the same.  Typically that will turn you red.  It is a bad value; so just don’t do it.
• If you sell me, you are stupid.  I guess that is arrogant, but I have never had a red day and my dividends are rising; so why sell?  I usually don’t check or worry much about that either, but if I happen to catch such silly behavior, I use the same strategy as I do for the mission thieves…sell, block, & ask my friends to do the same.
• If you don’t invest back in me, I consider you my savings account.  If you turn red, your dividends drop, you quit playing, or I am broke; you are at risk to be sold.

Let’s just be friends, treat each other with kindness, and have some fun on Empire Avenue!

Portfolio upgrades, Pie purchases, and life sometimes will override my strategy.  I view this as a statement of intent not a promise.

Best wishes and good luck on your quest down Empire Avenue.  Again if there is any way that I can help, please just ask.

The Blame Game

Since the horrific events of December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, I have tried to figure out how to respond.  I spend last week answering the unanswerable questions in the Sunday School class that I teach.  I can’t imagine how empty the Christmas season must be for families  that have presents that will never be opened.

I want some sort of soothing salve that I can pour over the situation and smooth away the pain and anger and fear.  I want answers; so we can all make sense of this.  I want to know how and why it happened; so we can make sure it never happens again.  I want to know if it was the guns, mental illness, bad parenting or video games that caused this. I am looking for someone or thing to blame.  I also want to choke the life out of the next person who says it was all a part of God’s plan.

Faith should provide answers to the problems of great evil.  Faith should prove hope in times of grief.  Faith should provide light in the midst of darkness, but spiritual giants have often witnessed the “dark night of the soul.”

Faith as a “get out of hell free card” or “fire insurance” is too often the message.  My witness is to a faith where God is with us in tragedy not creating tricky escapes.  My faith is in a God who deals with the tough times.  My faith is in a God who weeps.

My faith is also in a God who loves and laughs.  I suspect there is a lot of time spent giggling at my foolishness.  My faith is in a God who can use tragedy; not one who seeks or causes it. I believe that in the midst of grief, God’s love is still present providing hope.

My faith is in a God who entrusts us with a mission to make the world better.  Most amazingly my faith is in a God who has faith in us,,,yep you and me.  Ain’t that crazy!

I agree with the NRA

I carefully read the response to the Newtown tragedy from Wayne LaPierre and the NRA.  Even as a gun owner, I felt a bit of revulsion upon my first reading.  As a Texas country boy, guns have always been a part of my everyday world.  We were taught to be careful but not afraid of guns.  I have enjoyed hunting and really get the connection between animals dying and me eating.  Occasionally I have even known the name of the primary contributor to my meal.

Still the idea of even more armament is a bit tough for me to accept.  I don’t like the idea of an escalating arms race trying to make sure the good guys have better weapons than the bad guys.  I am unsure there is any evidence that increasing guards really will reduce violence.  If we add that many new guards; will friendly fire, mistakes, misunderstanding, and bad intentions actually reduce or increase gun violence.  I am not sure.

I thought carefully about all of this before I decided that I completely agree with Mr. LaPierre.  As someone supporting him, there is one tiny thing that he seems to have neglected considering.  I have some help for him.

I think this new program may be expensive.  We all want the brightest and the best guards armed with the most lethal arms weapons that money can buy.  I figure about ten million a year per campus for 7X24X365 monitoring should do it.  The statistics that I saw indicate around 150,000 schools in the US with multiple locations we might get to 200,ooo, but who is quibbling?

I am confident that the NRA is ready, willing, and able to write that check to handle things.  Surely nothing is as important as the safety of children; except perhaps the second amendment rights of gun owners.  The NRA has an amazing fund raising machine; so I am sure there would be no problem.  If on the slight chance the NRA might decline, I have an alternate proposal.  Let’s just tax gun purchases to handle that expense.  This seems to me to be a win for everyone.  Guns for everyone, guards everywhere, and best of all a great solution for the economic doldrums!

Can’t Take It with Me

Several folks have asked me about my current investment strategy; so I thought I would write it down.  This is not a promise about how I will do it forever.  It is not a recommendation about how other folks should invest.  It really is just what I am doing now.

I continue to buy new players.  I buy a handful of Fresh Faces each day; generally from lists provided by Gerrit Bes and Paul Steinbrueck.  Generally I work from the lists as a time saver.  I will sometimes take a look a Dennis Dittrich’s suggestions also.

The vast majority of my purchases are through insideEAV.  I am familiar with the other tools, but this one fits the way I think.  For folks with a less technical background, I generally suggest Avenue.io.   With a reasonable sized portfolio, a portfolio management tool is important; otherwise, the pain inflicted by your portfolio is too high. I have heard the complaints about tools making the game impersonal.  I disagree.  The tools free me from the routine purchase tasks, and allow me to have time to actually engage.  I am aware of the folks who misuse the tools and act like jerks.  Upon careful observation, I am confident that the tool is not the problem.

In the morning as my portfolio is loading, I check the Fresh Face graduates by looking at stocks that are 7 to 8 days old.   When I look at the Fresh Face graduates, the portfolio size is probably the biggest factor determining my buy/sell decision. I know that without investments, EA is just too tough & expensive; so a small portfolio means they are likely to quit soon.  Positive price graph, dividend size, and activity are the other factors that I consider.  I will buy 500 to 1,500 of these depending on my cash state and my guestimate of their potential.

The next thing that I check is for folks who own at least 1 of me.  I sort that list by Their shares – My shares to find the folks who have matched or exceeded my investment in them.  I max or over match all of those and typically anyone within 100 or so shares of matching my investment. I next run the sort to find everyone who has an investment in me and has at least 10 EA actions this week.  I buy some of all of those folks; typically 10 shares.  That is usually between 500 and 1,000 stocks depending on where I am with my portfolio upgrade.

I next run a sort for everyone where I have an investment who has at least 10 EA actions.  I buy some (usually 5 shares) of all of those folks if they are in the top 5,000 dividends.  If you are not invested in me & not in the top 5,000 stocks, there is not much point in additional investment.  As I approach 5,000 stocks in my portfolio, this becomes an issue to manage; since EA only pays dividends on your top 5,000.

If I have loose eaves left in the afternoon, I will typically work on maxing more of the high dividend stocks.  I believe that I am maxed in the top 250; so I just keep working down that list. I understand my current investment strategy does not maximize my income or wealth.  My net wealth is around 570M, and I receive 2.3M in daily dividends.  I am unclear about any incentive to dramatically focus on growing those numbers.

I notice that my regular investments also encourage folks to buy back.  I am convinced this is the reason for my slightly embarrassing price.  This also seems to drive my EA network score a bit.  The primary reason driving this is a hope that my investments provide income and encouragement to a wide range of players.  I remember how helpful regular investments were to me as I started.

A somewhat amusing story is related.  Someone complained about my small purchases pointing out that I had plenty of eaves to just max my investment in him.  A quick look at his divs and stock chart revealed that he was not the highest quality investment.  I told him that if I used his suggestion, that he wouldn’t see an investment from me for at least several months while I was maxing in higher scoring stocks.

Again I will tell anyone that is bothered by my purchases, it is quite easy to get me to stop.  If you will max your investment in me at 1,500; then I will match your investment within a day.  That makes the annoying investments from me stop…at least until Dups releases more Pie!

This strategy also explains why I deal harshly with folks who sell my shares.  Since I always invest back generously in my investors, I have had a number of folks who have tried to use my kindness against me.  They invest in me to produce a buy back; then they sell my shares.  I don’t understand that strategy.  EA is a game based on mutual success.  Folks who misunderstand this principle of mutual success often look like rock stars for a time; then their sins catch up with them. I noticed with amusement someone well known for selling his investors wondering why his share price continued to fall.

One thing that I am certain of with Empire Avenue, you can’t take the eaves with you.  You can take the pure gold of the relationships that you build into the world to make a real & positive difference out there.

Fowl Food

Well I was wrong and Dups was right.  You heard it here first!  Damn this crow is tasty!  Looks like the block feature on EA is imperfect but not changed.  With my post the other day, I fouled up but with a bit of honor or at  least an explanation.

Here is my story:  I have blocked folks, and when I did I read the message that EA posts.  The message was: “You will no longer see content created by TICKER and they will not be able to interact with you! Blocking also automatically sells shares and blocks this profile. ” I read well enough to understand that.

After I blocked folks, I never saw them again on Empire Avenue.  That left me with good confidence about how the block feature worked…just like EA said.

Recently with all the changes on the Avenue…virtually all of the changes excellent, I saw something troubling.  I ran into one of my block victims in the EA general community.  I did some snooping to be sure that it actually was the account that I had blocked.  I know folks have created new accounts that look a lot like old ones.  It was the very same account that I had blocked.  My assumption (yes I know assume…) was that EA had forgotten to extend the block functionality when they reinvigorated the communities.

Dups responded quickly to my post saying that nothing was changed. I growled that I could see folks who were blocked in the communities.  He said true, not great, but not changed.  I guess that I just had not run into anyone that I had blocked previously.  Dups owned that the messaging explaining blocking was errant.  Even beyond that, he changed the messaging within a day to reflect the way that blocking actually works.  He promises that a cleaner implementation of blocking is on the way.

Here is the new Block message:

Blocking will prevent direct communication by TICKER and you, including direct messages and shout outs. All shares owned of each other will be sold. Please note, currently you may still interact with blocked members on Empire Avenue Communities and you will still see each others content in various applications including Missions. You will not be allowed to unblock for at least one (1) Week.

Good job by Dups.  He was right.  I was wrong.  He even fixed the broken message.  Thanks.

Being from Southeast Texas, I recommend salsa with that crow just in case you run into a similar situation.

Yellow means Yield

Empire Avenue is making a ton of changes here recently.  I highlighted many of the admirable changes a few days ago with this post.  In general, things seem to be improving.  I heard a bit of concern about losing the savings feature, but that didn’t seem too major.  I did hear and subsequently notice a change that caused me a bit more concern.  EA has changed the way the block feature works with little or no notice.

When you click Block on a profile, this dialogue appears:

Are you sure you wish to block (e)TICKER?

If you do, you will no longer see content created by TICKER and they will not be able to interact with you! Blocking also automatically sells shares and blocks this profile.

While this dialogue remains, it is currently inaccurate.  In the Groups of Empire Avenue, blocked players can see each others’ posts and otherwise interact.  For me this is a minor item.  The players that I have blocked are for reasons within the game:  mission stealing, selling me, spamming  or rudeness.  I don’t really have a concern about group interaction with those folks.

I am aware of some situations on the Avenue that have escalated beyond discourtesy into threats.  In those instances, blocking was used to create a safety net for the victim.  The change in policy or implementation seems to tear at that safety net.  I am not a huge fan of the change, but I am actively concerned that there was no notice.  I suspect that the number of folks affected is small, but the impact for them may be large.

Were you aware of this modification?  Do you care?  Should EA create a standard change procedure that always notifies us of changes?  Will this have any impact on the way you interact on the Avenue?

Street Sweeping

Does Empire Avenue promote bad social media habits? Have you ever “Liked” something that you didn’t really like?  Have you ever “Publicly Recommended” something that you would never encourage?  Have you shared something and felt like you needed a shower afterwards?  Have you ever posted a bunch of stuff because your score was down; then hoped that nobody blew up your feed by doing stuff like that?  I have done all of these.  I really do understand that most of this is about my questionable choices.

In a discussion group, I posted this: “EA does reward spam. The number of posts that you make counts. I am personally sorry about that. I wish the algorithm was smarter and could discourage oversharing.”   What do you think?  Wrong, too harsh, true, too true… I got a reply that at some limit EA does not  reward you, but of course, no one knows the limit.  If that is accurate; then it is as good as no limit at all.  The game does not penalize for too many posts; so more is better.  If you have a question about that, I can point you to some profiles.  I see folks with hundreds of posts everyday, and really big network scores.  Does anybody really think that posting hundreds of times every day on a platform is really a good practice that should be rewarded?  Let me know if I misunderstand something here.

And while I am on the soapbox growling, what about the increasing practice of posting exactly the same content in exactly the same form to every network? Some content certainly ought to be shared on multiple streams, but I can’t be the only one who thinks the real explanation for this behavior is game play.  I understand that makes for great dividends, I get that it is automatic and super easy, but I am not sure that makes for building an excellent Social Media Empire.  If EA is Social Media Rocket Fuel, seems to me somebody needs to check the navigation.

So much of what EA does to encourage and reward developing our Social Media Networks is awesome.  I have learned so much about so many different platforms.  I have met amazing people.  I gained a ton of experience in Social Media in a very short time.  It’s such tremendous tool, but this part feels a bit off kilter.

Should EA help by altering the algorithm for calculating network scores?  An update to the algorithm seems in order where there are diminishing returns and then perhaps even a penalty over some limit.  Some have disagreed saying basically different strokes for different folks.  Help me check my math.  If you are following 500 EAvers each posting 100 times a day, that might be 50,000 items floating through your stream per platform.  Although exactly where to draw the line is certainly debatable, that we EAvers (yes I am guilty) overshare seems undeniable.  At these volumes, real engagement seems unlikely.

I suppose in the end it becomes a question of staying true to your brand in the face of temptation from the Avenue.  I’m not mad at anyone, and I am only a little bit jealous of some of those scores.  Perhaps everyone else is just more adept at managing their streams.  I think I need to do a bit of recalibration to decide what is really important.

Please coment gently.  I promise I was talking about me…not you.

Empire Avenue Tips Two

In the new users forum, I am still posting tips.  Not everyone follows that Facebook group, and a few folks mentioned that they found my ideas useful.  Please leave any suggestions that you have in the comments.

1.  Create a WordPress account.  I am not really prepared to argue the merits of the various blogging platforms, but you need a WordPress account to effectively play on the Avenue.  Since a WordPress hosted account is the only blog platform that can connect directly as a scoring network, it merits special consideration.  Many missions ask for a WP Like, Comment, or Share.  You need an account to do these missions.  You can create content for your blog simply by reblogging content from other sources…that is two button clicks for those that haven’t tried it.

Empire Avenue will provide some scoring for just commenting, liking, and otherwise interacting with other folks’ blogs.  If you create blog content by writing or reblogging, EA will provide decent scores.  If you create content and drive interaction (with missions or spectacular content or blackmail), EA will provide great network scores that will rock your dividends.

2. EA uses your top 5 networks to calculate the dividends that you pay to your shareholders. Even if you are not active on that many SM networks, it is probably a good idea to go ahead and create/connect at least five. It will definitely encourage folks to buy you. Who knows, you might even find a new platform that you enjoy.

3.   Some folks don’t play nicely. Some have bad manners, some are nasty, and some are complete scoundrels. Empire Avenue allows you a couple of tools to manage those folks.
You can quiet the rude folks by muting them. On their profile page where you recommend or add to other lists, you can click the Mute button. This will keep anyone from seeing their posts to your profile wall. There is also a mute option on the shouts that are on your wall that works exactly the same.
If you have more serious trouble, consider these options. You can Report the offender to let EA know of your trouble with this person. btw, I have no idea what if anything they do with this information. Go to the Profile page of the offender and look in the bottom right corner and click the yellow Report button. Directly beneath the Report button, there is the Block option. When you Block someone, you automatically sell your investment in them. If they are invested in you, those shares are sold also without commission to the person you blocked. You can’t run their missions or have any other interaction with them on the Avenue. Of course this does not apply to other sites. You can unblock a person after a week if you would like.

4.   Lots of eaves are nice. The game can be really fun, but the people you meet are what is really important. Everyone needs to take a break now and then; so don’t get too concerned about your game.  Take time to let someone know you care; so for Heaven’s sake…get off the silly computer and have a great day in the real world away from Empire Avenue!  If you are going on an extended holiday ( I heartily endorse this); then you might want to consider purchasing vacation from the EA store.

5.  Be cautious about running a buy me mission. If folks know that you do many, they have no reason to spend their own eaves to buy your stock. We will just wait for your mission to buy you. Occasionally when you are trying to hit a milestone, needing to stop the bleeding, or just wanting a lift…ok. There is nothing immoral or unethical about a buy me mission; just not a smart strategy if you do it too often.

6.  When you are investing, check the portfolio of your potential investment. If they are not investing, they won’t stick around. The game is too tough to play with just eaves from doing missions, and too expensive to play with just bought eaves. The only exception is a few Social Media rock stars who don’t play, but their Social Media activity produces awesome dividends.

7.  When I make a buy/sell decision with 7 day old stocks as the Fresh Face status is lifted, the size of the portfolio is a great predictor of future growth.  If they are investors,  they are engaging not just with the platform; but also engaging with people.  They will tend to stick around.

8.  Newcomers, be patient and thoughtful as you get the opportunity to run missions. Focus on building community and spreading your message (and receiving others’ messages). Practice restraint and don’t start running fully self-serving (i.e. Buy my stuff) missions until you are well on your way to buying back those who have supported you. Put some effort into identifying what makes missions easier to do and you will see much better results! Identify clearly what the mission is about in the description – leave NOTHING to doubt. This is doubly so if your mission is one where some people may not feel comfortable. Never EVER try to trick someone with or into a mission…from Casey Fahey

9. In EA scoring, not all networks are the same in value for creating dividends. I DO NOT know why this is the case, but you can check the network leader boards. Evidence suggests that Instagram, 4Square, FaceBook, and WordPress are probably the leaders for dividend production. LinkedIn has surprisingly little impact. A similar moderately interesting fact is that IG, 4S, & WP are relatively easy to ‘game’ if that floats your boat.

10. Try to avoid selling your investors.  Jeff Mayernik had a fresh face that he maxed out buy 96 of shares and then sell them an hour later.  Important safety tip – If you pull a stunt like that, you are probably going to find yourself blocked.  Folks will talk about you, and folks will not trust you.  Your share price and engagement are likely to suffer.

Bonus tip:   If you are struggling with a network and need to improve your score, find a few folks who will work with you. SM is a reciprocal world. Find 5 or 10 folks who will do something in exchange for the same. I will like/retweet/comment/favorite or whatever 5 of yours every day if you will do the same for me. It is really great if you can actually find folks with similar interests.

Bonus tip #2  Jeanne Lynn asked me how to find who owns shares in you, but you don’t own any in them.  On your Profile page click the the tiny arrow next to your Avatar in that blue bar. Select Shareholders; then click the Shares Owned sort twice. On all those sorts, a second click changes between ascending/descending.  This will show folks who have invested in you, sorted by the number of shares you own of them.

My Team Stinks

As April begins, Houston is alive with our Springtime awakening.  The flowers bloom, the birds sing, and the sports menu is out of control!  Basketball’s March Madness reaches its pinnacle.  The professional golf & tennis tournaments are Houston happening today.  Planning is underway for the NFL draft, and Spring college football fills the air with rumors and innuendo.  Now for the bad news: baseball season begins.

Many folks find the beginning of baseball is a cause for celebration.  I’ve heard that it’s a great time; because every team is undefeated and full of hope.  The problem is…I follow the Astros.  Today they are undefeated.  In fact they have the honor of hosting the first game of the season.  We even have a new place for our cellar dwelling team.  The bottom of the American League West.  ARod earns more individually than the entire Houston Astros team.  Hope does not spring forth this spring.

So what is a fan to do confronted with such a situation?   The truth is that we generally lose when we face a hopeless situation. I am big on sports analogies for life, and I know that in life many of us face hopeless situations.   Some would tell you full speed ahead and ignore the facts.  Butting my head into brick walls is a skill set I have honed.  That makes a favorite saying of mine…it feels so good when it quits hurting.  I probably stole it from an old country song.  Some folks tell you that whatever you believe will happen.  I have found that facts are hard things that we must deal with honestly.

I do get that attitude can influence a situation.  I understand if all you see is doom & gloom you are likely to find it.  I also think there is a place for an honorable effort even when the results are not likely to be what we desire.  I play tennis, and some folks are better players.  They are faster, stronger, in better shape, and this chaps me to admit…but younger.  I have a suspicion this circumstance is not headed in my favor, but I can still enjoy playing tennis.  A friend once told me that if you never lose it says more about the quality of your competition than the quality of your tennis.

We are not always going to win.  That is true for our sports teams.  That is true for our own athletic endeavors.  That is true for our lives.  We can do our best and enjoy the process, but that does not mean victory in the end.  My Astros are likely to set a record this season…for the most losses ever by a MLB team.  Mets fans prepare to rejoice.  I can still enjoy my team.  The stadium is awesome, the beer will still be cold, my buddies will still be fun, and a real upside is the tickets will be easy to get.  I can worry the young guys on the tennis court, but fewer will fall in defeat.  I can enjoy the exercise, the competition and the camaraderie.

When we face tough circumstances, we need to focus on the process.  Rather than focusing on the end goal, set smaller intermediary steps that we can accomplish.  Find that enjoyment one small step at a time.  With a realistic attitude, we might even get surprised by finding a bit of hope…perhaps even a surprising victory.  Here’s hoping the Astros have a great season….not expecting a pennant…but hoping!

Easter Reflections

Today the entire family gathered for our Easter celebration.  Saturday just worked easier for our hectic schedules.  The food was great, but the most fun was that we had some Easter Egg hunting to do.  My one year old great nephew was extremely cute in his quest.  As I watched the little one command everyone’s attention, I

thought about how he was a great metaphor for the season.  That little one year old brings so much hope and joy.

The Easter symbols of butterflies, flowers and eggs make sense.  Not only did we have plenty of those in the back yard, but the lemon tree is in full bloom filling the yard with its sweet scent.  Spring is that time when “the green blade rises from the buried grain.”  Seeds, eggs and cocoons seem dead but hold the potential for life.

The Easter story of life springing forth from death is that ultimate sign of hope.  The knowledge that no matter how dark the season or situation, life and love still have a chance.  For Christians the season is not just about chocolates and pretty clothes.  We believe that no matter the circumstance, we are not alone.  Faith does not promise a pass around life’s troubles.  Faith offers a path through those difficulties and a guiding hand. We find tremendous resilience in the knowledge that no difficulty is ultimate.

Anybody looking at the events of Good Friday would have assumed that the Sanhedrin had the last word.   Our culture rewrites the Psalm: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am carrying my .44 magnum.  Anybody with good sense knows that power & money triumph over love.  A handful of His followers were locked in a room scared they were going to be next ones taken.  The knock on the door brought fear.  They never considered the possibility that they would find hope and a love that would not let them go.

My faith gives me hope in every circumstance.  I find courage when giving up seems sensible.  I see life springing up even when death surrounds.  I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a love that will not let me go.  That changes darkness into light.

Until We Meet Again My Friend

I lost a friend today and was caught off guard by the impact.  I came in from tennis this afternoon.  I intended a quick scan of my Facebook before a shower and was stunned by the first post I saw.

Alan passed away 3/25/13 of a stroke at 7:50 PST.  I know he told me a lot how he loved having so many friends on here.

I met Alan only a few months ago on Empire Avenue.  We saw the world very differently, but I loved each of my encounters with him.  Even when he was in a depressive stage, he maintained his generosity of spirit.  He was stubborn, and I’m told that I am a bit strong willed.  We had many lengthy Facebook chats and seldom completely agreed.  I am barely a blogger, both in terms of quality and output; so I was awestruck by his daily blog effort.  He only seemed to notice the days that he missed.  As any artist, he never seemed to be quite satisfied by his work.  As a critic, he was always kind and constructive to others.  I growled at him about excessive generosity with everyone but himself.

I once told Alan about an unfortunate encounter with chicory coffee on an early morning after the night before.  As a native of New Orleans, he loved my silly tale.  Both the fun of late night Bourbon Street, and the penalty extracted the next morning.  Alan was a great audience.

Alan was amazingly transparent in his writing, his struggles with mood disorder, his fights with writer’s block, his gay bearness; so much of his life.  He was so generous with the intimacy of his words, but he valued his privacy.  I suspect an artifact of his activist years.  I thought his choice to avoid a photo as an avatar was a contrapuntal note that added a bit of richness & intrigue.  He once bragged that even after hours of chatting together I would not pick him out of a lineup.  Today was the first time I saw an image of Alan.  I did a web search to find a bit more and was pleased to find this photo.  It would probably irritate him just a little; so I think it is a fitting tribute.

Rest in Peace dear friend; until we meet again!

Sold Out

I have some sad and shocking news to report today. Not everyone on the Avenue is nice.  In addition to the thieves and scoundrels, some folks are just selfish, mean, and uncaring.  Now I know someone is going to remind me that if I expect nothing, I will never be disappointed.  Holy Week reminds me to turn the other cheek and repay evil with kindness. I am not arguing, but I wonder if I have deep enough pockets to survive that strategy.  A rambling preamble is a bad way to start; so here it is.  Someone sold my shares.  What should I do?

My usual procedure is to whine; then block.  I whine to give someone with an honest error an opportunity to amend.  Hasn’t happened yet, but perhaps someday.  When I explain what is about to happen, I am often greeted with…but it’s nothing personal.  I grin a bit when I hear that.  Can there be a more profound misunderstanding of social media?  SM is all about the personal.  If you lose the personal, how is SM different from old school, broadcast advertising?  EA is as personal and intimate as you can get with G rated social media.  We are buying and selling our friends.  How do you identify most of the accounts….with a person’s NAME.  The symbol that explicitly identifies ME!

The only thing funnier is when a seller accuses me of ‘threatening’ them.  Really?  You just sold me, but when I tell you I intend to reciprocate your kindness…I am mean?  Perhaps it goes back to my premise of selfishness.  Sellers don’t seem to understand my irritation at being sold, but they are all in on hating me when I am ready to sell.  I get sold without a comment, but when I have the courtesy to provide someone an opportunity to save themselves….I become the bad guy?  Yes I am going to sell you.  Yes I am going to block you.  Yes I know what it will do to you.  Yes I am sorry, and I even feel a bit sad for you.  On the other hand, I object to supporting bad behavior; because that seems to encourage the sinners.

Some folks wonder why I block the miscreants.  I have several reasons.

1.  I practice reciprocal investing.  Up to 1,500, I have matched every active investor(10 EA actions per week).  If you invested in me to stimulate a buy, it works perfectly.  If you then turn around and sell my shares, eventually I won’t have enough income to continue this practice.

2.  I work to support my shareholders.  I care that I provide reasonable dividends and share price increases for my faithful investors.  When an investor sells, the value of a share decreases.  That is bad for everyone who is still invested.  That sale didn’t just irritate me, it reduced the value for everyone who trusts and believes in me.

3.  I use a third party investment management tool.  I am not one of the ‘big guns’…yet, but still it is unreasonable to attempt to deal with thousands of stocks and a zilllion buys with only the tools that EA provides.  I buy a ton based on criteria; so if I don’t block the offender, I am likely to repurchase unintentionally.

4.  I want to invest in folks that I care about and who care about me.  I have some pure, by the numbers investments, but they are just an interest bearing savings account for me.  The greater income allows me to invest and support others.  Investing is a real connection with a real person.

5.  Finally there is a bit of what I learned as a kid on the playground.  If you don’t want to play with me, I don’t want to play with you.  Selling an investor seems to be a loud message that my value to you is gone.

We play a social game where we each benefit when we work to support each other.  I want to be connected to folks with similar goals, values, and concerns.  I want us all to win…though we might need to gang up on Kevin!

Now this does not mean that I never sell anyone.  I would like to be able to hold all my investments; but I have limits of patience, energy, and income.  I make bad judgments with some investments.  Folks quit the game, lose their minds, or just play poorly.  I sell to clear my portfolio, recover eaves, and avoid losses.  I try diligently to make sound decisions.  I don’t always get it right.

I have a bond with my investors to take care of them, and trust that they will do the same.  I remember a while ago, one of my investments seemed to disappear.  I sent a message on FB asking if he had quit.  He apologized for his inactivity but explained that Hurricane Sandy had destroyed his home.  I can hold him.  Some stuff is more important than eaves…in fact most stuff is way more important than eaves.

This post might stir things a bit.  I certainly understand that many will not agree with me, and I am fine with that. I am delighted by the differences that each of us bring.  I really want your input.  I care about what you think…but…Please, pretty please, pretty please with sugar and whipped cream on top, be reasonably polite.  I am sure that we can disagree without being disagreeable.