I 100% agree with Robin Simon, and I think this goes a level beyond what he described.
Why are platforms fighting the direction technology is already moving? Why are moderators trying to cut things off, restrict things, or draw lines around how people are allowed to participate?
To me, this isn't really about AI.
A while back, I saw a comment from Drew Sygit. It wasn't a detailed post. It was only a few words. But those few words pointed out something I hadn't considered, and if he had expanded that thought into a full post, I would have saved it to my personal knowledge library immediately.
The reality is that most experienced investors don't write detailed posts every week. Many of the strongest contributors on BiggerPockets post only occasionally. Their knowledge often appears in short comments scattered across dozens of threads.
That's exactly why I struggle with the idea of discouraging newer members from participating simply because they use AI to help organize their thoughts, improve grammar, or formulate a question more clearly.
BiggerPockets has always been a knowledge library for real estate investors. The experts bring experience. Newer investors bring questions, activity, and discussion. Both are necessary.
If someone has a real deal, a real problem, or a real question, does it really matter whether they spent thirty minutes writing it from scratch or used AI to help structure it? The value comes from the conversation that follows.
What worries me is when platforms start creating more and more barriers to participation in the name of protecting authenticity.
We've seen this happen before. Communities begin adding restrictions, verification requirements, participation hurdles, and eventually people stop engaging because it's no longer worth the effort.
In 2021, one such platform was valued at $2.7 billion.
In 2026, it was worth $0.83 billion.
At that point, the platform isn't protecting the community anymore. It's shrinking it.
If fewer people ask questions, fewer discussions start. If fewer discussions start, fewer experienced investors have opportunities to share what they know. Eventually the knowledge base stops growing.
BiggerPockets became valuable because of the constant flow of questions, experiences, mistakes, lessons learned, and conversations between people at different stages of the journey.
A knowledge library only works if new knowledge keeps getting added to it.
That's what concerns me. Not AI itself, but the possibility of unintentionally making participation harder while expecting the community to keep growing.