I'd like to know if there is a curve for appearance. I have read reviews of 9-10's and when i visit the site its more like 6-7 and likely 5-6 when you meet in person.

Is the hobby grading from a curve different than the conventional beauty? Should i be under the impression that ratings on TER are pumped and a 10 might be a 7? You can analyze conventional beauty but honestly its hard to get 100% of men to say that an ugly women is a 10. While a really hot women can get a general approval of being hot.

At first i thought maybe age is a reason,alot providers seem to be 30-55. I love older women between 30-40 but the ratings seemed still high when i visited the photo galleries.

Most times ill see an Appearance rating of 8-9-10 for 3 pages but every few reviews some guy throws out the 6 and i agree. Whats really going on here?
Is review pumping rampant in TER?

As the saying goes beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I have the same thoughts as you and I have seen providers that I would never say she's a 8, 9 or 10 and yet the reviews say otherwise. My guess is her performance gives her points on her appearance. My opinion is that her performance has nothing to do with her she looks.

I'd say the curve has more to do with the reviewer's age than the provider's age. The older you get, the more attractive the younger women look to some.

Also, there may be a group mentality factor that combines with a desire to please the lady. If everyone else is rating an 8/9 and you had a good time and would like to repeat, some are more likely to rate an 8/9.

Other than the human male brain.  Appearance is subjective. I happen to like petite dark-haired women with small breast and soft curves.  Others prefer blond bombshells with huge cans.  Some like tats or piercings, others don't. etc, etc...

If you see a girl you are interested in, like her reviews and her pictures then go see her.  Who cares what arbitrary number another guy has assigned to her...

If there is a problem with relying on reviews it is the fact that too many guys are looking for guarantees.  There are no guarantees in the hobby, only probabilities...

I tend to rate appearance based upon a provider's self-classification in comparing her to other women within that classification.

So if a woman says she is 51 years old, I compare her to other 51 year old women. There are some 51 year old models out there -- and if she compares favorably to 51 year old models, then she's a 9.

If a woman says she is a BBW, I compare her to other BBWs.

If a woman says she's an under-30 athlete, I compare her to other under-30 athletes.

But that's just me.

It's all subjective.  One guy's 9 could easily be another guy's 6 or 7, and vice-versa.

If you are worried as to how to rate a lady's looks, give her what she is in your eyes and don't worry about what the rest of us do.

Swim

You win the brilliance award for this subject. Some guys are comparing a 45 year old provider to a 24 year old provider....makes no freaking sense.

Then again what is conventional beauty?..runway models, playboy models, women under 30....the list goes on.

In my mind the average conventional beauty /model does little for me. Throw in an athlete with an attractive edge and my clothes are off and I'm all hers.

straight line, it didn't work. Now I just let my eyeballs do the work and tell me how to rate.

Can there be a bias?  Of course.  We're having sex with the lady.  If she knocks your soxs off, that certainly affects your view of her.  

FORGET the ratings numbers.  Look at the pictures on her site.  Decide for yourself IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER.  See if the reviewers say the pictures are accurate.  
skb

This is what i'm thinking as well.

Make no mistake, looks are super important here, its just how it is.

I really like to see comments about how she looks in person compared to her pictures, I think comments like that are more useful than the rating system. Things like "better than her pictures", "pictures are a bit dated" , "lost some weight" , and "looks a lot older"

My "10" might be someone else's "6" or.
Also my "6" might be someone else's "10".

There can be a lot of bias here. Prefer blondes? well i'm sure you'll score them a bit higher. Prefer your girls thicker? I'm sure you'll also score them higher if they fit your type. See where i'm going with this? Its just human nature.

You can be sure guys out there also will score someone lower because the provider reminds them of their sister/cousin. I think I saw a documentary once that pre-disposes us to prefer more exotic looks.

My personal taste in women I've found to be quite different from  what the social norm is.

I doubt there can ever be an "objective" scale that keeps everyone happy.  Too much subjectivity in what catches and holds a guy's attention.  And too many variables we value differently.  There're "starlettes" I don't think are attractive but lots of people do.  Drew Barrymore is one that never struck me as anything special but a guy in my office swears she's the hootest thing going.

More than a curve I think guys let performance cloud their head about looks.  Lots more 7/7, 8/9, and 5/5 type scores than 5/9, 8/4, etc. pairings.

I put most value in reviews of guys who have seen some providers I have seen and who rate them similarly to the way I rated those women.  then I have reason to believe their rating of others is likely to predict how I will feel.

I agree, this response was brilliant.

In my eyes, Megan Fox at 24 and Sofia Loren at 75 are both 10's.  Comparing the two of them?  Does not compute....

If you can't compare them, they can't both be 10's.  You could argue that either one is for your own personal reasons.  I could argue the opposite.  In the end, we'd be nowhere, but how does it compute, to use your words, that both could be valued the same, and not be comparable?

My head hurts

You failed to convince me as to why they both can't be 10's (in my eyes anyway - choose your own examples if need be)

Are you telling me if I meet a 10 (again, in my eyes) in the hobby and as an example she is 28 years old, blond and big breasts then the only way I can give another 10 is if I come across another 28 year old with blond hair and big breasts?

Bad logic indeed.

Way too over analyzed responses here. A pretty woman is likely to get good ratings more often than not. A pretty woman can be a 10,9,8,7,even a 6 by some guy with specific tastes.

What im saying is alot of women are getting 1-2 pages of 8,9,10 when they are really 4,5,6. An ugly woman is likely to be seen as ugly by most except on TER.

Ugly is ugly and Pretty is pretty. Sometimes even someone as plain and simple looking as Lady GAGA can make it big and be admired for her looks but that wont ever happen to someone that looks like Rosie O Donnell.

This cry has been voiced since TER's inception, and although other changes have been made over the years at the redundant behest of the membership this wholly subjective and often insalubriously influenced rating standard has remained.

I am assuming for the moment that most guys look at stuff other than just the number that is plopped into the appearance column in a review.

Anybody can look at the age column and apply a bit of basic common sense. You MUST know that a 50+ year old lady with a stack of 9s lacks the youthful appearance of a 25 year old with a stack of 9s.

Anybody can look at a lady's ad or website and see that she self-identifies as a "milf" or "bbw" or whatnot.

When a lady classifies herself this way, she is doing it in order to give you honest and reasonable expectations of what you will be getting. She may have a stack of 9s on appearance, but she is telling you that she is a "9 in the milf category" as opposed to "currently models for vogue."

I've seen girls get 8's and 9's and I see their pics and go huh and I think i look better than a 6 but though i have more 7's and a few 6's i'm surprised I haven't gotten an 8 compared to a few who get 8's often. Outside of work I get called sexy, hot and have been stopped in the middle of the street and been told wow you're gorgeous so to be honest this site has be confused as to how one girl can get an 8 or 9 and how another can get a 6.

I've been given a 3! A 3! Homely is nice for ugly and i'm far from homely. That review is still suspect and i've posted on his about it before but anyways I dunno sometimes the reviewing on rates is weird.

But it makes good sense to me.  One thing I'd add, and will probably start doing myself, is saying such in the words of the review.  I think it gives the reader a better idea of things.

Categorize or not we'll never agree on what a 5, 7, 9, 10 is.

I agree, a whole lot of things can influence what is attractive or not or for ratings purposes what or WHO is more attractive then someone else.