I've been a hobbiest and active TER reader for about a year. I have only posted one review, of a provider who doesn't live in Chicago. I don't write reviews because they would have no credibility if I only wrote good ones, but I don't want to damage a provider's income by writing bad ones. I have an ATF to whom I'd give a double 11 if I could, but I've never reviewed her. (I would give very high marks to a number of providers in Chicago, and I wish I could see them all more often, but...) It's not that I don't want to review the good providers, is that I don't want to review the others.
However, I rely strongly on the reviews that I read, and there are some reviewers whose opinions carry much weight with me. My hobbiest pleasure has been greatly enhanced because of reviews.
So you see the dilemma...
If you want to carry weight, you have to review. I wouldn't put much credence good nor bad if a hobbyist has only one review. And frankly, I kinda look at this like the old Olympic scoring; I throw out the high and low scores. There are only a handful of hobbyists in the country who could possibly affect a provider's livelihood by posting a review. It's more likely that some sort of issue would play out on the discussion board itself that would have that effect.
You render this site useless if you are unwilling to put all information, good or bad on it. But do as you will sport.
I can agree with both of you.
I understand the whole concept of YMMV and "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." So in both those regards, one may not want to post a neutral (score 6-8) or bad (score 3-5) review.
On the other hand, it seems wise to post reviews so the rest of us can make decisions as well (not to mention, free marketting for the girls, they get more clients, they stay in business, we get more fun!) So I like to post reviews of high scores (9/10) when possible. (got two pending, I just need to WRITE THEM FIRST. lol. Guess it's hard to get them approved if you have not submitted them yet, huh?)
Then there is the need to protect the community from outrageous providers! (scores 1/2, too bad 0 isn't an option sometimes, right?).
Lastly comes to mods (or whomever) that say the juicy isn't juicy enough, or it's too juicy, or your scores are not in line with what others have reported (as if that should matter, maybe she had a really bad day, but an experience is an experience, we shouldn't be censored in that regard) and any other issues that come with waiting for someone who was not there, has no first hand experience with the situation, and maybe cannot judge the "fictional" story adequately (maybe can) kick reviews out forcing rewrites.
A story that COULD be longer made a wee bit shorter, just write the reviews.
I dont know how many times it needs to be said, nut apparently at least one more time
Hence why I said "or whoever" since I'm not sure what they call themselves, but they can still kick out reviews they don't agree with, for whatever reason they decide. Essentially, they are acting like moderators. Perhaps you call them Administrators or Deities of the Reviewing Process or whatever you want to call them.
well thanks for the reply. your the one who said Mods, perhaps you are unfamiliar with how the system works, or should we be able to read between the lines of your post.. You were were wrong, get over and stop with the double talk. Can we expect post complaining about the big mean Mods later holding up you reviews. Idiot
Doc
Mods are underlings to the Gods 
Da, komrad.
HDDOC, get over it, the post said "mods (or whoever)" clearly establishing my knowledge it isn't moderators that make the decision, it is someone like a moderater who does.
However, if you prefer, say hi to the Chinese for me, you're digging yourself there!
I think isfcco (that asshole,****,****sob, low life, or whoever) is wrong. Not necessarily what I think but i think you get my point.
Doc
I've been accused of having inflated scores in my reviews and I've explained that I only see providers whom I've researched and have a proven track record. If you're doing your homework correctly, all of your experiences should be good and even great. Back in my early days, I skipped some reviews for exactly the same reasons as you. Fear of provider backlash was the biggest one and as a newbie, one lady trashing you for a bad review could hurt your chances of seeing other providers in the future. Some providers are keenly aware of their review scores and tend to ignore hobbyists who might not give them a great review for one reason or another if things aren't exactly as expected. Choose your providers and reviews carefully as you tread through newbie-land. As you gain more experience and choose the correct providers, you should review them to build credibility.
Now here's where I really shoot myself. Write reviews with YOUR best interests in mind. Everyone is looking out for number one so always remember that it's YOUR money being spent. Your goal is to be able to see whomever you want and a good way of ensuring that is by seeing quality providers and writing appropriate reviews. If you're careful, you should be able to avoid bad situations and not be put in the position of deciding whether you should review or not. I can honestly say that I have had nothing but great sessions for at least the past 2-1/2 years. It took me about a year to figure out how to find the best ladies but I got there and my process works well. If you want to avoid bad sessions, research extensively and take your time in deciding whether to see someone new. Impulsive decisions can lead to bad sessions.
The whole point of TER is to allow the users to make informed decisions on which ladies are legit and which may not be (IMHO). When you read a review of a lady that is a poor review, I suspect you immediately take her off your list...correct? And you need to thank the reviewer for supplying you with that information. But as you said in your post, you would be "hurting her business". That is the whole point of this..if she is not good at this it needs to be exposed so that guys have the opportunity to decide for themselves. And if she leaves the biz..Oh well..too bad.
OTOH if you review the gals you have seen fairly and they are your experience, that is helpful in many respects. But to only review those that you had great times with is not in the spirit of these boards (but I know this does happen quite often). For you or I to worry about how a lady's perception of her own reviews is assinine. And there are ladies that do obsess on these, but more commonly most gals don't pay any atttention to these reviews (IMHO most reviews tend to skew the information and glorify their own studliness discussing how many O's each had..and I for one don't really care about any of that). What I do care about is that she is on time, clean, the gal in the pics and friendly. The rest is embellishment of how each of us recalled that hour(s).
Having been on the boards for a year, as you point out, and not give anything back is fine by me. But obviously you are feeling some guilt, otherwise why post here asking the question.
Just don't lie. The girls may claim they don't read their reviews, but you KNOW they do.
Maybe if you start reviewing you'll build some credibility. Telling us how you read and use "our" reviews but don't write any will win you no friends here IMHO.
Doc
Now having been on both sides of the fence and taking the oath of celibacy to become a Mod.... ahem, I can see all of your view points. When I could post a review I posted the good and the bad, if I did a shitty job of research, I just put it out there for the next guy to help him in his decision making process.
In all honesty, I posted very few reviews. My personal opinion was that if I struck gold I really didn't want to share it with you guys, yes I'm a dick so what, some of my good ones were put up for the group, most were not. Secondly, I always asked the lady after the session if it was ok to write a review. Surprisingly, many asked me not to. Being a fairly private person myself I never asked why and just accepted the answer and moved on.
Writing reviews is a very personal decision in my opinion. Sometimes I felt compelled because the session was terrible, other times a great review was needed to accentuate an experience that I didn't see in previous reviews. And sometimes, well sometimes there was just a connection that was deep and there was no need to share that particular moment.
So before you guys go calling me a pussy and a wuss, I think each and every one of us has to make that decision to review or not to review on an individual basis. Of course now I can no longer submit reviews but it really wouldn't change my mind at all from my past philosophy. And none of you guys need to chime in and run interference for me, it's cool.
Review if you choose, review fairly and with care and remember that the review you write is a definite reflection of not only her, but of you also. After all, you went looking for her and you made the initial contact right?
Rant off.
Ft61
Yes, but you posted the good and the bad. To me that is the mark of a good reliable reviewer. Hobbyists who tend to write up a bunch of 10/10's are worthless in my opinion. Not every session over the course of time can be perfect.
Now, as far as celibacy I am buying every mod a box of red condoms to go with the red letters for Christmas. Kind of a new trademark
The name of this site is The Erotic Review..with an emphasis on Review. Without the benefit of these reviews we would just be walking in to a blind session and walking out unable to tell others if it was good, bad or otherwise. But each of us has our own agenda and that allows us to write about it or not. Those who do write the reviews tell others what they "experienced". Sometimes there is way too much embellishment in a review which tends to be distracting (at least to me).
A number of the ladies here promote on their sites the TER logo and openly reveal their reviews. Granted, in most cases the reviews are generally good. Rarely have I seen a gal promote TER where she has poor reviews. Which is more of a reason for reviews to be written. When a guy is looking to spend $$$$ he has hopefully researched the lady through TER. What I look for is specific information on reliability, cleanliness and professionalism. The rest of the "story" is just that, a story. Which from the ladies perspective is, in many instances not quite the way the session really happened. But it is entertaining to read the "story" and realize just how many guys out there look at this "through rose colored glasses".
Privacy is something we all seek at times. But in this game, P4P, why should that be an issue? Are we not here for the same things...on both sides of the envelope! This is not a romance that should be preserved. The ladies are selling their "time"...and you can read the reviews to discern what happens in that time. We are here to pay for that time..and again, we can, in some cases, read the reviews (assuming guys write them) to discern what happens in that time.
I expect a lady to keep things confidential and show me consideration, and I think it is proper to reciprocate. Only two ladies have asked me not to review - in both cases, it is fair to say we did not click, and the session was not successful. In both cases, the ladies delivered as advertised and were both well, and frequently reviewed, so I was comfortable that my experience was specific to our interaction.
There are situations where I would review without permission. In the event that a lady did not show me consideration, did not make an effort to do her job, was a rip off, and I suppose that happened in one case. But, like FT, I choose carefully and while we may not always click, if a provider is as she presented herself, makes the effort to be prepared, does a good job, and treats me well, she deserves a pretty good score (start at a 7, I suppose), and then with the right services and a certain degree of rapport, it goes up from there.
The OP misses a few points in his decision to review or not review. Specifically:
- The scores may not mean that much to a lot of us. We look to see what you report about the services, the experience. I know there are those who chase the top-rated providers, follow the scores, but my guess is there are at least as many who are looking for a particular experience, a particular rapport and look at your report much more than your score.
- Whether or not you have credibility as far as your reviews being sufficiently critical (which seems to be you point, though I really do not agree with it at all, see the next point), an extra positive review will help business for many providers, so not reviewing is actually doing a disservice to a lady who did you a good service. Why withhold the review? That one extra, positive review validates the provider, validates the other reviews, particularly for someone who may have only a few reviews. Your entire logic for whether or not to review seems to be based on how you will be viewed by hobbyists, which is only half the picture. Why not help out a lady who did well by you if she is open to being reviewed?
- As suggested above, I do not believe that the credibility of a reviewer is at all dependent on posting negative reviews, balanced reviews or whatever you wish to call it. Take CTP, for example. I think most of us would agree that his body of work, and knowledge of the hobby around here are great. I know that if he has seen someone, I can rely on it. Great source of info. But look at his reviews - not a lot of negative scores in there.
So, let's see. I disagree that one has to be balanced with some negative reviews along with positive to have credibility, I disagree that the primary purpose of a review is to help your fellow hobbyist (TO BE CLEAR: a review is for the benefit of the entire community, (good) providers and (good) hobbyists, and I do not think one is more important than the other), and I disagree that you have to have the credibility you seek for your reviews to be of value. Just post reviews, please, and do not worry about the rest of it. Be honest, fair, considerate, include detail on the experience, and don't sweat the scores that much.
Or just be a leech and STFU - that works in its way.
Zig