John Mosey

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John W. Mosey, President Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc. Everybody knows that Bob and Susie live here!

John W. Mosey, President Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc. Consumer behavior changes all of the time. All that is necessary is making known a better way. By way of evidence, look at how consumers run ahead of our industry in terms of what they want to know, how they want to know it and when. Cameron observes with great certainty that "the path chosen by the MLS Domains Association is unworkable and unwinnable." The only certainty that I can assure in this matter is that doing nothing is not an option if you believe that "MLS" as a brand has value and that value should benefit the professional real estate community.

John W. Mosey, President Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc. As one of the founding MLS organizations behind the .MLS initiative, we found the proposition of doing "something" more responsible than watching events unfold around us. This is particularly so when one acknowledges that MLS represents a "brand" with strong consumer (and professional) recognition of the effectiveness of its function and purpose. We all see the examples of the misuse of the term MLS by businesses seeking uplift from tying their value proposition to the MLS identity. In Cameron Paine's submission, he observes that if the purpose of the MLS Domains Association "...is to overcome the problematic use of MLS in the .com environment by launching an entirely new .MLS domain, they are misguided in their expected results." His reasoning is, essentially, that the public neither knows or cares where they find listing data, nor do they care about its quality; therefore, why bother. I believe that Cameron's reasoning is misguided and short-sighted. We already know that "MLS" communicates value. We also know that that value is too often debased by "the problematic use of MLS". We can accept the posture that "Ye who enter here should give up all hope", or as the MLS Domains Association has so well articulated, begin a process for reclaiming the definition, understanding and expectation of what MLS is and does. As is said, there are those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. Cameron expressed concern that MLS's may be forced into making defensive buys of domain names. Possible, but not necessarily the case insofar as the MLS Domains Association has made it clear that it will not allow "poaching". As well, there is no requirement for anyone to buy any domain names. Heck, as a founder, we get to reserve 10 names and I'm very hard-pressed to get up to 5. It doesn't require much in terms of investment for any MLS to help create a better future by supporting the efforts of the MLS Domains Association. That "better future" will mean that any URL ending in the .MLS domain means that the content of that site is truly, unequivocally MLS.