Simon Bradbury, managing director at Thomas Morris, has criticised what he describes as the “haters” who post comments on Property Industry Eye.
The estate agent joined property journalist Christopher Watkin to express his “disappointment” at some of the negative, and at times ill-considered comments posted on the online trade publication which, in his view, provoke unproductive conversation.
He welcomed the informed debate our stories generate within the property industry, acknowledging that it is important that we provide a forum where engaged readers can respond to industry news, but expressed his concern about the poor quality of some of the comments, which are usually posted by the same few commentators.
He said: “Some of them [commentators] just seem to want to hate the individual, instead of hating or disagreeing with the idea.”
He criticised the “five or six commentators” for trying “to guess the motivation of people like the Bruce brothers, Paul Smith, and Russell Quirk”, when actually it is “impossible to know what it is”.
“I don’t mind the odd jibe, at me or anybody for that matter, the odd bit of sarcasm, the odd semi insult, really, that is all fine,” he said
However, Bradbury would like to see commentators watch their tone and “challenge respectfully”.
His message to those commentating on Property Industry Eye: “Just take a breath, have a think, acknowledge that you don’t know the motivation of what is being said, and challenge respectfully”
You can watch the interview in full below:
Comments (49)
You can’t beat a good guru, but if I came within 10ft of one, I probably would!
I have zero problem with people posting anonymously – so long as they are civilised, professional and courteous.
Some of the posters on here are gratuitously and offensively rude. I ignore them.
Well done Messrs Bradbury & watkin – 44 comments from a non-story has certainly given you the PR you both constantly appear to crave. The fact that none of the commenters would ever use your respective services is wholly immaterial – ‘all PR is good PR’ as someone once said.
The trouble is Mr Hammond that eventually people start to believe their hype and they find like people to feed that hype whilst also feeding the others. That is why you tend to see the same faces on the sofa with Mr Watkins spouting the same BS while he nods sagely. No one with any real credibility would feel the need to join in the with the circus.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire.
I object to the use of the word “hater”. It’s lazy and inaccurate and plays on emotional rhetoric.
It’s mostly used by people against others just because they don’t share the same opinion.
A legitimate challenge or opinion (that can often be in the public interest) can never be described as a “hater” comment imho.
Robust and healthy debate is one of the best possible ways to tease out the issues. EYE facilitates that. Testing your opinion against people who disagree with you is one of the healthiest says to learn and grow. It is also a form of risk mitigation in my eyes.
If you surround yourself with people who agree with you all the time, you will stagnate and make poor choices because you are not exposed to alternative views.
If comments stray into personal abuse, “ad hominen” attacks, or are not in the spirit of this community, they should be moderated or deleted. Report anything you see as needing moderator attention to help maintain standards.
Finally, always worth remembering that the truth does not care for anyone’s opinion.
Well said, it comes back to the observation above that Bradbury and Watkins are naive in their outlook and feel uncomfortable being challenged. Perhaps I will send them (anonymously of course) a copy of Matthew Syed’s excellent ‘Rebel Ideas’.
I hope I am one of those he dares not name.
I have spent over 30 years in the industry and helped develop hundreds of agents at board level and the coalface throughout the UK for nearly a decade, a privileged position that I have yet to meet anyone match, living out of a suitcase before taking a step over to the family business. I have seen many agents good, bad and the ugly and turned many of them into a success and the ugly kicked out of the industry, hence my handle picked for me by my staff and as disclosed long time ago on PIE, my confidentiality clauses and embarrassment for agents I have worked with cannot be disclosed, nor have I named the agents ever. I have a wealth of experience strived to help those less experienced move forward. I have seen many things that do not work at the coalface and many of the so called new ideas, are actually not new but spin and often posturing nonsense.
Will I stop challenging nonsense, absolutely no way. I do not resort to foul manner, do not do it for self gratification. I will champion the small high street agents, the backbone of our industry and make people think, is it 1. New, 2. Necessary, 3. Detrimental on ones business/livelihood now or looking ahead, 4. Commercially viable.
If PIE wishes to post stories on a forum platform, then response is to be expected but to allow nonsense (when applicable and some are regular’s in their articles) a free ride, no way and will be a sad day. PIE is a great source of communication for agents that DOES help them go in the direction they consider best and the odd, “hey stop and think where its leading you, do you realise …..” must not be condemned or stopped.
Just as a follow up to my earlier comments – no ones opinion is of greater value than another’s. If you understand the background of the commentator, one has a chance to appreciate the influences that may have contributed to that opinion.
It’s a school of thought that aids debate and mutual understanding.
I also hope that may help make discussions less personal and more focused on the merits of a particular topic.
Suffice to say it’s only my opinion……and I freely accepted others have their own views.
“If I was down to my last dollar I would spend it on public relations” Bill Gates
Guess the motivation of Quirk ?
“Self-preservation is the first law of nature” Samuel Butler
“Everyone is entitled to his opinion but not his own facts” Moynihan
However Simon Bradbury clearly holds someone like Quirk with respect despite his recent history and what is worrying still seen as being influential in the industry having placed him high in the list of influential people .
This is despite his track record not his motivation
Simon Bradbury’s comments on Quirk .He seems to be in awe of him and content for him to hold court in the property industry casting pearls amongst swine
” I found this entire interview utterly absorbing and I for one learned a lot.”
I find this whole story to be fascinating. I’m very impressed that someone can cope with so much pressure and keep fighting!
Difficult to understand why Simon finds the story fascinating rather than being utterly appalled when this is a total antithesis to the values set out on his website
Thomas Morris values
“Our, integrity, honesty and transparency shines through everything we do. We accept and understand that in the short term that this may sometimes be to our own apparent disadvantage.”
The Facts
Quirk is someone who took money off investors in July 2018 with a pitch which was misleading at best to fuel a public listing when the fact was it was just to keep the lights on for a couple of months.
Cranked up his PR company when he should have be devoting all this time to save Emoov
Left behind a trail of carnage,lost property, jobs tens of millions of debts still not sorted today
House vendors lost their fees for selling .paid in advance How will they even trust an estate agent again?
Sending bottles of wine out to journalists just as Emoov staff were receiving their redundancy notices , a singular lack of empathy
We are not talking big cheese investors here who can sort the wheat from the chaff .
That well had run dry .
It was Crowdcube populated by ordinary people who hold estate agents in respect entrusting them to handle their single most important asset professionally and with integrity .
Post of the day.
Well put.
In terms of a couple of the names mentioned in this piece, and as mentioned by some other commentators, hard working agents don’t take well to being preached to by hypocrites and high profile ‘specialists in failure’. I’ll be clear, I’m not talking about Mr Bradbury or Mr Watkin.
If your business model and strategy shows nothing but disrespect (and even contempt) for the average ‘traditional’ estate agent, and yet said business model generates significant losses, is widely criticised by its own staff, is forced to re-structure or such like…then why would the opinions of its leaders not be met with derision on here.
These people should have broader shoulders.
I disagree with SB in the video that anonymous posting isn’t part of the problem. You see it on social media (Twitter in particular) when those most vociferous or antagonistic in their views are usually those offering photos and bios designed to hid the posters identity.
(Yes I appreciate the irony as my posts appear under a synonym but I don’t know, or can’t remember, why that’s occurred! Probably it’s a field when registering? For consistency I’ll add my name at the end of this post.)
I appreciate posters would want anonymity if posting something that their employers may take exception to but I’d like to know who the posters are who clearly have a bee in their bonnet with OTM for example and why. Are they employed by Rightmove or Zoopla and conversely are anti Rightmove posts made by agents genuinely annoyed with fees or by OTM staff etc?
Discussion is good but anonymity seems to fuel some posters to use inflammatory language or to appear to have an agenda against someone be that Quirk, Bruce Bros, Paul Smith etc or the portals OTM & Rightmove. As far as portals are concerned it always seems strange to me that the same strong feelings don’t seem to be expressed of Zoopla! Why is that?
What the video discussion failed to address is that much of the angst voiced against the aforementioned Q/BB/PS is in fact frustration with PIE from readers of its lazy journalistic tendency to invite, or accept, advert pieces from these contributors with no apparent attempt to offer balance or scrutiny to these advert articles. I believe PIE has much to do in restoring editorial faith from its readership on this. The lack of acknowledgement, comment or reply to these frustrations by Da Silva and Salmon doesn’t help either.
Nigel Jones
Excellent Nigel
It is frustration at the fact that Quirk and Smith are used as clickbait by what was once an industry leading informative and compelling morning read.
I think a lot of the ill feeling comes from people who have had to work for either of these individuals as I tend to find that those that have had dealings speak ill of them on a disproportionate level to the normal way someone would of an ex-employer.
Your point about OTM is a good one and I suspect that simple bad mouthing that goes on are from those posters with an agenda. I tend to ignore in favour of those that might have a negative view and post anonymously but have a cogent argument to support their view point. Hillofwad on Countrywide for example.
Nobody cares about the Zoopla Nigel – most agents are only on it because they feel like they have to be!
Interesting this article has the most comments today. We noted at the Residential Logbook Association meeting yesterday that the three comments posted to PIE or similar were negative while we recieved nearly 10 times the number of positive comment direct. Not sure how that reflects on the modern electronic responses. Tim Main
Day 1 of Lockdown 2 in the mad world of the property market and PIE….
Just keep moving forwards everyone, life throws bombs at you.
Physical, mental, moral, financial, emotional and stressful bombs, hand grenades, and in some cases nuclear ones….
A lot of hate comes from jealousy, not understanding the motives of others, or being threatened by others….
I am not saying that everyone should really give a monkeys about everyone else, that’s not how life is. It is tough out there, especially at the moment.
I do think PIE is waning and if it’s not careful readers will switch off in big numbers and advertising revenues will falter. Perhaps some new correspondents are needed?
There are some really insightful people out there who keep themselves to themselves – perhaps invite some of the real big hitters to write a piece from time to time? Guest correspondent of the week/month perhaps…..?
There does seem to be a lot of rinse and repeat on here and I fear for it’s relevance going forward.
I don’t disagree with his sentiment. It’s almost as if you can’t post an opposing view on here sometimes for fear of getting shouted down by people with an axe to grind.
Someone who disagrees with you isn’t necessarily your enemy. We all have our ideas – good and bad – and it’s not a crime to share them or challenge them.
I think that you and Simon miss the point to be honest. The reason I believe that a lot of posters are anonymous (me included) is that we aren’t afraid to call out something we disagree with or butt heads with other posters in order to further the discussion. The world would be very sad if we all agreed with the staus quo. I for one would not feel comfortable challenging opinions under my own name as it could misrepresent my personality. With the obvious exceptions of Quirk and Smith, who as was pointed out above get stick for their flagrant hypocracy, I don’t believe any of it is genuinly heartfelt more friendly banter.
If you need to “butt heads” and remain anonymous whilst doing so, it suggests to me either lack of conviction in your beliefs, or the inherent need to simply be a keyboard warrior just for the hell of it.
Which is it?
Actually Neil it’s neither though I am impressed in your ability to know what is going on in the head of a stranger and whittle it down to two alternatives that make you feel more comfortable because that way you have a ‘label’ for it.
no problem at all with giving my real name… just as long as people accept that everyone is entitled to their own opinion
AND as long as people understand that not all of us will fall in line and enjoy the constant adverts from suppliers!
Happy days people of the PIE world – Stay Happy
I doubt very much whether Im one of the 5 ……I think Im 155 ….but
Sounds like a choreographed attempt to clear the path for the Bruce brothers ……remove the naysayers….
Having said that I quite like the video and discussion idea ……
At this point I’d like to look back at Simons posts to see what he in particular has issue with but PIE doesnt allow that….
Simon makes very fair observations, but for me its not what the people say that is a concern, as we are all entitled to our opinions. I think it would be helpful to understand exactly who is making the comment, so that a reader can put in context the view that’s being expressed. This would give greater value to the debate……..?
So you’re against free speech? Good to know.
Dear Dick
Not certain you have read my post correctly.
I am all for freedom of speech and value all opinions. Knowing who is expressing the view I believe helps give context to the debate.
That implies that a comment carries more or less value depending on who made it?
If i post under Smile Please or Jon Smith does that make any points i make anymore or less valid?
Are you saying a negs opinion is less of that as an owner?
Or does an M.D. of 40 offices have better opinion than that of an M.D with 5 offices?
Rob, many of us are not here for self promotion. You have had a massive push putting yourself front and center of ‘Say No To Rightmove’ All you have done is stay on Rightmove and endorse further portals to advertise on so actually increasing EA’s spend.
Well said. Again.
Unfortunately PIE has dumbed down of late, seemingly replacing journalistic resources with soap boxes which are cheaper – or perhaps soap boxes are now an income stream!?
In a nutshell and this very article demonstrates your point.
Also, have you chaps been on Twitter recently?!?!
I had a Twitter spot with Kirstie Allsopp recently – half the world turned on me!
Blimey, if you think PIE is bad…spend half an hour on there…!
What a bizarre article…and the video; wow that’s special.
Not sure who these two gents are, but the contradiction is amazing… do you allow –
• free speech
• Anonymous comments
• opinions (there are usually two sides to these)
? or not?
PIE is journalism for estate agents etc The first rule of journalism is that your ideas have to be scrutinised…
Unfortunately I think a lot of commentators on here are upset that Russell Quirk can preach to us as a journalist. He’s not, and generally his points are one-sided and small-minded. That aside, the reason he has so many “haters“ is he has spent years berating estate agents… What do you expect? When he starts writing on a forum for estate agents he’s hardly going to get multiple comments of praise…
what about the years of abuse I have suffered on here about my praise for onthemarket? Can I have a column to talk about my grievances?
Finally, perhaps these “5 or 6 haters“ need an email warning? At least then we would know if we were one of the haters!
(Please tell me I am one of them?!) Marc?
Dear PIE,
Following my comments being censored/removed (for some unknown reason)… please see my updated comment below:
“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself…”
Simon, trolling is sadly part of life. How many men in the UK slag off their competitors in football teams? Keep calm and carry on.
Is this a pop from Mr Bradbury at those like me who post comments questioning both the motives behind individuals of who articles are focused and the newsworthiness of the story? Or is it simply that Mr Bradbury is acting as a mouthpiece for EYE, given that of late their ‘journalism’ has been called into question by many of its subscribers.
I am of a belief that the industry is evolving into something nasty, where by those who have the ear of publications such as EYE are pedalling an agenda whilst seeking to call the shots for the smaller agents. And guess what? It is not for the benefit of those smaller agents, but to continue building cartels within the industry whereby you have to be in the clique, become yes men & women, and wow at their words of, what is clearly not wisdom.
Its about time PIE became a publication for the smaller agents, and not a sound board for the clique, of which they too are rapidly becoming posturing members.
Thou doth protest too much Simon! 😀
I don’t mind people taking a jibe at me BUT ……
Never tell a fool that he is a fool. All you’ll have is an angry fool.
Most comments are pretty reasonable and in fact insightful.
In terms of Quirk, Smith and the Kenny’s then yes there is a lot of people who dislike them on principle. Most agents are decent and Quirk and Smith have displayed some hypocritical behaviour. People don’t like hypocrites.
I have no problem with the Kenny’s and in fact they deserve massive credit for PB.
If PIE want to make it ‘real names’ only then I have no problem with that, I just hope it doesn’t spoil my Tesco Board seat 🙂
Real names only gets my vote
“Don’t judge people on their past mistakes, take the new ideas and intentions on there own merits”
Oh look there’s that little scallywag Fred West laying a new patio to enjoy in the summer!
I like Simon but he comes across very naive. Bit of advice for him, if it looks like a duck acts like a duck, quacks like a duck ….. Its a duck!
The irony of your reply Smileplease just backs up what Mr Bradbury said.
I pity you comparing the West’s to a man suggesting one be open to new ideas.
If you really want to break it down James I was comparing him to the naive neighbour.
Well done SP hitting the nail on the head!!
There was a slightly ‘holier than thou’ element to the video which left a bad taste.
Thank you for your clarification SmilePlease. Keep up the good work
It must be a slow news day
What an appalling representation of his brand. He’s obviously getting wound up over the reaction to some of his own comments made on PIE. The irony.
The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard- (C.P Scott)