. . . ruin a provider's career? I must be too new to all this to understand it.

I don't see why she can't pick up where she left off after she pays her fine or does her time. Does it ruin it in the eyes of a hobbyist to think that she might have done something ILLEGAL? Can't have THAT around here, now can we. . . .

I have a gut feeling I'm asking a shtoopid question, but I'm still curious. . . .

Propagaing unsubstantiated rumors helps no one and can, of course, be hurtful and harmful.

"If a provider gets busted, is her career over?" A fair question, a good question. There are busts and then there are BUSTS.

A provider does high-volume incall directly across the street from a daycare in a house with several girls working. She gets busted, and it's a high profile bust. That suggests, shall we say, a lack of common sense or disregard for basic safety and security. That's a siutation seemingly "asking for" a bust.

And it's different and suggests the advisability of extra caution verus a provider getting busted, for instance, in an LE sting at a hotel.

There is always a heavy sided stigma to a provider that is busted vs. a client caught in a bust.  Not a perfect world in the industry as far as being treated fairly on this point.

Once a provider gets busted and it becomes known she is now subject to ultra scrutiny.  Did she cooperate?  Did her computer get compromised and along with that her client list, oh yeah, her phone records, email contact list, all plays into the client banning her from now on.  If she changes her name, clients think nothing of connecting the dots on the board and prolonging her hell that she is trying to get out of.  Make a living as some who are in this industry are doing a work that amounts to the only thing available to them at the given time in their life.  But clients on TER continue to think it is their job to connect the dots and make the ones that have to come back have a miserable time, alert LE that they may be breaking their probation and loose business.

I don’t buy BUST vs bust playing into the scenario that clients have the right to put the provider through when she decides to come back.   Somehow they have to prove themselves over and over again that they are back and safe to see.  Is it any wonder that providers go to great lengths to not let out this information?  I had a really close friend that was busted three times and it didn’t get out.  She was ultra high profile but now retired, no one would believe it if I wrote her name because she was so highly reviewed and guys still drool over her wishing they could have seen her before she retired.  Did she screen?  Hell yah!  

A person can do everything right but still get caught by extenuating circumstances.  Clients wives outing the provider to police, management of an apartment building, nosey neighbors, stupid clients at hotels and jealous clients that are told no.  Any number of these things can go wrong for a provider and she doesn’t have any control over it.

It is heavily one sided when it comes to a bust that it will be very hard on the provider vs client who is treated like Poor SOB, he just had bad luck, should have done his homework.  

How many clients changed their names? How many providers went on TER and connected the dots for the other providers that so and so changed their handle from Billybob to Joeblow?   Is it okay for the clients to connect the dots?  If so, can the providers be afforded for their safety the same latitude?

You brought up two different issues.

1. What if a provider gets arrested?

2. What if a hobbyist or another provider starts a false rumor?

Which question are you asking?

Both men and women are solely responsible for their own safety. There is a certain amount of risk we all assume by partaking in this hobby. Part of that risk is becoming publicly exposed should we become victims of LE activity.

I am sure we all take certain steps to minimize our risk factor. Part of my steps are to inform myself of local LE activity and to avoid providers who are high risk.

I would not want to see a provider who was busted partly because of the risk involved and the fear she could be flipping for LE. Similarly I am sure a provider would not want to see a hobbyist who has been busted because of the risk involved and the fear that he could be flipping for LE.

To answer your questions:

I highly doubt a provider's career is over if she gets arrested unless she is an agency madam or quite reckless with the way she conducts herself. Similarly I highly doubt a john's ability to see another provider is limited because he was busted. There are just too many uninformed fish in the pond but that should not come at the expense of those who want to be informed.

In the odd case that a provider cannot continue her career after an arrest or a john cannot see another provider after an arrest, well that is part of the risk we assume when we choose to participate in this hobby.

As far as rumor mongering goes. None of the threads discussed in the past few days are rumors. All have been backed up with cold, hard facts linked to newspaper articles or television reports unless you are alleging that newspapers and televisions are making these stories up. Allowing links to readily available public information is a good way to debunk any false allegations or rumors by both hobbyists and providers alike. It is hard to call something a rumor when you can back it up with evidence or facts!

The "ed" thread from several weeks ago on the other hand is what I would call a rumor in my opinion. None of it has been backed up by facts or concrete information verifying the allegations. All you have is a hobbyist or provider alleging that some provider got busted and that he / she helped the busted provider obtain an attorney. In the process the poster was informed that the hobbyist who helped LE bust the provider went by the name of "ed" and had references that she verified.

All I can do and probably most hobbyists do is make a best guess as to who the provider subject to LE activity is. Such guessing games are not beneficial to both providers and hobbyists in the long run. It only adds to the domino effect that is created by rumors when information available is limited. Any innocent provider would not be happy if she lost business because a potential client incorrectly assumed she was the subject of LE activity because limited information for the hobbyist to make an informed decision was available. If you reverse the situation, any hobbyist would be upset as well if a provider refused to see him because she incorrectly assumed that he was the subject of LE activity due to the limited information available to her.

Information only helps all of us make better decisions, the more the better.

Particularly when it is done from behind a never or seldom before seen alias.  Far too often it is done for no reason other than malice on the part of the poster.

Factual information is another matter.  No, an arrest is not the kiss of death for a provider's career but I think most of us would like to know if the person we are considering seeing has a run-in with the law.  That of course goes both ways.

Given the nature of what we do here, I don't know that there is a good way to balance everything.  Where do you draw the line between one person's right to avoid LE trouble and another person's right to privacy and discretion?  Does it make a difference if one person cautious in their practices but they get some bad luck versus someone who is habitually careless?

I don't know.  I'm just fumbling along as best I can trying to make sure I think about what I might do before I do it.