A long time ago I got VIP by writing reviews, but after about 6 months it ran out.  I then posted another review and found out I had dozens of PMs I did not know about.  It took me quite a while to catch up on them.

It was a big factor in my eventually buying VIP.

I logged in to see I have "1 New Message" but of course I can't read it because I haven't paid up. I'm guessing that the system does this to all the newbs to nudge them forward. I'm kind of paranoid sending money to a system like this, I mean there must be a record of that stuff right?

have not had any problems.  It is not illegal to belong to this website.  Don't blame you for caution.  If you search this forum for paying the the site, you might find some other threads telling how others have paid for VIP.

Swim

But I am also single and even if I ever get married, my wife would not come within 100 yards of my credit card.  I can't think of anything worse than someone who would go through your credit card bills and ask about specific charges. That is, unless you can't manage money or she is paying your bills.  

I can't remember exactly what the charge shows up as....TER something or other.  It's not overly obvious, but certainly could raise suspicion by a SO.

It's not TER's way of "nudging newbies." You just got a PM is all. Someone sent you a PM and they have no idea that you can't read it. We can't differentiate between basic members and VIP members (except for aliases-if the person uses an slias then he/she is a VIP member. It's up to you to get VIP or not. It's not worth it to get it just to read one PM, but rhere are tons of other reasons to get VIP. First and foremost is being able to do proper research when searching providers.

Now as far as paying, swimtrekr is correct. It is not illegal to be a member of a website. However for some people it is more of an issue of an SO finding out if she has access to your cc account. If you are worrying about a paper trail, you can pay by cash, using "trustcash." You can search the board as swim said. There are many threads about paying for VIP. Or just click on the "purchase VIP" button, and click on the "pay by cash" button and you will find the info about "trustcash."

Re: It actually shows up as CCbill, not TER anything eom

Thanks for clarifying!

I'm leary of all data bases since the passing of CA's Prop 35. Which gives police the right to search in many places under the guise Trafficking of looking for prostitutes & us.  The law has been temporily restrained by the ACLU in Fed Court and probably unconstitutional.  However, there is the start of a national trend to stop prostitution by arresting the men.

You have a right to be here.  Just be careful about your personal information on line and hobbying.