I find as I read a lot of reviews that TER allows a lot of profiles and reviews up that lack a single picture of the provider being reviewed.  One tip this will happen is that you see the ominous "Report New Website URL" whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

I recently pointed this out to TER in a problem report with several emails.  The response was both disingenuous, and surrealistic.

I pointed out to them that there was a review in the Atlanta area of a provider called Jazlyn TER ID 202534. The new review of her was posted very recently on 6/21/2012 for the first time on Thursday.  There is no picture of her.  One cannot find a picture of her by using Google and her name and phone number, or google images and her number which is usually in my hands less helpful.

I pointed out to TER Admin/Support both repeatedly that this review just went up and there was no picture.  To hear TER tell it the providers are responsible for tweaking and correcting their profiles.  And yet, in reality provider tweaking of profiles is probably minimal.  I don't have stats, but the wide disparity between mainstream services all clients look for and "don't knows" in the profiles is huge.  Many time the reviews say the provider performs the services that are don't knows.  TER pretends that many providers want your milage to vary, so they change those answers to don't knows. In fact, it's just that reviewers are lazy and don't fill them in and the first review's profile is the template that stays there for ever.

Here's what I got back on the lack of pictures for Jazlyn, a new review 3 days old from  TER admin and it's total fiction:

"Apparently there was a picture in the ad at the time the review was posted. Since the ad has gone, there is no picture anymore."  This could be with some BP ads, since they are cheap and popular and providers pay for so many days and they frequently disappear. That's besides the fact that BP is teeming with fake pics, and even multiple pics of purportedly the same girl on one ad.  But I picked up on Jazlyn's review in the ATL reviews nearly the second it went up.  There was never any ad or picture with it. There was always this "Report New Website URL"

Then TER came up with a great one.  That if the provider chooses not to have a picture up on her review, then they respect her privacy.  This  really puts a capital "D" on the word disingenuous, because I challenge TER or anyone to find a local ad board where the provider doesn't have very large .jpegs or .pngs of their pictures.

So advertising providers recognize the importance of pictures.  They may cut off the head, or smear the face, and it's your personal preference, but if I haven't seen that provider, and pics aren't verified, I move on.

I said to TER that any provider who asks them to take a picture off her profile if they exist isn't going to be providing for new clients.  There may be a percentage of providers Indie or Agency who don't want or need new clients in the world, but that's not near the majority of them.

Lately in the local board I follow, the no picture reviews with no picture profiles is between 5-10%.  I believe TER should require a picture to be provided before a review goes up. I don't know what the solution is for those providers who only post on a site like BP.

I'd like to hear from all of you who  delight in taking a chance with no pic of a provider you've never seen and your money.  Don't all jump in at once.  I really want to hear from the clients who feel that pictures are of no importance who don't care what the provider looks like.  The pictures I see  on web sites and ads persuade me differently.

JeffEng16



-- Modified on 6/24/2012 9:07:28 PM

Hey Jeff,

While I do agree with most of what you have stated, there are a few conditions that may not work with a website like TER.

Ok, let's assume for a moment that TER now requires all providers to post at least ONE picture of themselves, blurred or not.

The big question comes into play is this...

How recent is the picture? Is this picture an accurate portrayal of the provider?

That's the part where TER may NOT want to get into the "policing" the provider pictures.

I do not know the numbers of providers that are members of TER, but I surmise that number to be in the thousands.

To my knowledge, TER does NOT have the peoplepower to go through every single provider's profile to verify a picture. It can be done over a period of months or longer and the database has to be updated literally on a hourly basis due to providers changing their pictures all the time.

(on a technical side, TER would probably need a few new servers just to handle the load of keeping the pictures on the TER website)

That's my 3 cents...

Serpius

Yes all very good points, and they have probably thought all this out.  Sometimes the site is like BP for their link/ics and it goes down fast.  And I believe yesterday Mr. Fisher pointed out on a thread that they get 5000 reviews a day or so.  If you know any ways to search for pics that I don't know besides using Google and the phone number and name or Google images--the first actually has worked better for me, please let me know.

I appreciate your thoughts Serpius and the rest of your thoughtful posts..

JeffEng16