First, let me say that I am a fairly low key person. It
takes a lot to get me riled up. I also don’t get wrapped up in what is going on
in the real estate blogosphere and pretty much just do my own thing.

Reading a blog post today by Mary McKnight of rsspieces.com, telling the saga of real
estate blogger, Vlad Zablotskyy,
being sued by ePerks got me riled up. The
more I read, riled up turned to mad as hell…and I hope it does the same to you!

The first thing that gets your attention in Mary’s post is
her offer to give a free
Blog to anyone writing a blog post in support of Vlad. This is another
whole story, so visit Mary’s blog for details.

Back to this story…Mary’s offer for a free Blog got my
attention, but not enough to actually write in support of Vlad. As I said, I
pretty much do my own thing. But it did get my attention enough to start
reading.

ePerks is a 3^rd party lead generation website.
Real estate professionals buy a zip code for a monthly fee, get the leads
generated from that zip code and then pay ePerks a referral fee when a closing
takes place. ePerks rebates a percentage of the referral fee to the
buyer/seller lead and pockets the rest. Nothing new, we have all seen this
scam…I mean scheme (you get the picture) before!

As a startup, ePerks paid real estate bloggers to write
about nice things about them. There are those who think this is an underhanded
tactic. I happen to think it is an interesting marketing tool and this didn’t
bother me at all.

Read: Real estate rebates and referrals with a twist

Vlad’s article generated much attention and comments from
real estate professionals, some had positive experiences with ePerks, others
did not.

Vlad then wrote a
follow-up article in response to reader comments questioning what type of company
ePerks really is.

Read: ePerks- A Scam
or A Gem?

Then, as they say, the shit hit the fan.

When you read the
post in question, there is no slander involved. Just a blogger giving his
opinion in response to his readers, which unless there has been a change in the
constitution I don’t know about, Vlad has the right of free speech.

I am not going to
get into the details. They are included in the following articles:

Get the story:
ePerks Sues Real Estate Blogger, Blogosphere Unites to Destroy the ePerks Brand

Read also: Eperks: How
to kill a startup

Read also: ePerks
& iHype – Legal Kneejerk – Sues Blogger

Too make a long
story short, Vlad was presented with a cease and desist letter, has been
personally attacked and called a child molester and is now being sued. I never
heard of Vlad Zablotskyy until today, but anyone who is being slandered
and sued for exercising his right to freedom of speech deserves my
support…especially if he belongs to the real estate community.

Gregg Swann, BloodHoundRealty,
has set up a legal
defense fund for Vlad. Clicking on the ‘Donate’ button is helping to
defend, not only Vlad, but all of us!

Support Vlad Zablotskyy’s Defense Fund
Defend your own right to free speech!

This entire story
is despicable, highlighting the worst of the Internet. I encourage everyone
to talkabout it, write about it, get angry about it and demonstrate to ePerks
the best of the Internet…the banning together of the real estate community in
support of their own.

For me, the story
doesn’t end here. While reading about Vlad and ePerks, I saw a video ePerks has
on YouTube, advertising the ePerks website.

Of the 34
comments on YouTube, 33 thought this video to be funny. I don’t think it is funny at all…it is vile, crass, disgusting,
repugnant, and an insult to the very community ePerks’ business model is
dependent on…real estate agents. I hope any real estate agent seeing this video
would think twice before giving ePerks a dime of their hard earned money.

Supporting Vlad’s
defense fund is important and I encourage you to donate. I also encourage you
hit ePerks where it hurts…their pocketbook. If you are considering subscribing
to their product…DON’T. If you are a subscriber, end your subscription NOW! Let
ePerks know, You are mad as hell…and won’t take it anymore!