I spent a couple of years checking out TER before deciding to become a VIP member.  I don't think I would have unless I could have spent time checking it out for free and getting comforable with it.

Many many more genuine reviews are posted and problems corrected because of these incentives. With more obstacles to membership and participation, there would be a lot less contributed to the boards and the reviews in both quantity and variety. I fear TER would become a much smaller site, less useful for everyone.

I question whether the problem of fake reviews and false information would be any better. There was a website I belonged to until last fall with paid-only participation. There were a lot of good things about it, but it's reviews were a lot less credible than TER's. And LE still found a way to get in. You might have heard of this site? It was called Escorts (dot) com.

I find TER's reviews and boards indispensable in their present form. Many providers benefit greatly from them, too. They require reading with a skeptical eye. I would like to see the reviews and profiles checked much better. What could help, perhaps, is a better process and more manpower for flagging and correcting bad or fake submissions, but I'm afraid any of these four changes would be extreme overkill.

You would not be able to post on the boards using an alias.

1) Define a fake review?  Wouldn't a review that embellishes a providers performance a fake as well?
Then what would the incentive be for writing  reviews?  
That would kill the purpose of reviews all together and force ladies to be more explicit in their ads on the boards.  

3) What would the standard of screening be?  Work info and 2 providers?  So, what happens when TER says a guy is ok but the ladies say no?  Can he be voted off the island?  No, because he  is paying for membership so he has the RIGHT to stay because of your number 4 change.  

4) By making the boards more private, typically it hurts the ladies more than helps them.  The ladies will out number the guys and very few guys will repeat.   The ladies wont get enough business and be forced to go to other boards.  

TER is not perfect but for the most part, this system has been working well for the last 10 years.


Just my observations.

with all the advantages of TER's reputation and widespread use transferred to it, because that's what such radical changes would mean. However, I don't see how you can have both exclusivity and the catholicity (excuse the term) that makes TER what it is. I'm all in favor of a new site along the lines you describe as an alternative, but not if it means TER has to go away.

Won't work times 4

1. TER's review data base is the best because we are given incentive to write the reviews. Without VIP credit the # of posted reviews will plummet.
Many hobbyists won't go through the arduous process of submitting reviews without the incentive. Why ruin what got TER to where it is today?

2. If providers would handle their own profiles and update themselves, problem reports would not be such a necessary function. Errors are corrected via problem reports and so are services. Most providers would be grateful if some wise hobbyist fixed her profile for her and updated her ad so she may be found.

3. I wonder who would have to pay for all of the screening? Do you actually think that people will submit to screening to view a website? Will you want to screen 600,000 members?

4. Make people pay to read a board? Everyone? While I agree that paying for VIP is smart, it should never be mandatory. Some hobbyists are content with reading the ads, and some providers are happy to place their ads here. Should I have to pay to look at your website?

As you were