What do the users want them to be?  I'm a "regular" user of one, and moderate a couple of them.  I personally like when they are more than just ad boards, although I've used them to find a new prospective friend.  I like the picture threads more as a user than as a mod, but sometimes question why the lady posted THAT picture.

So, do the ladies like when some guy slobbers on her ad?  Does it help with business?

Do the guys respond to the lady that posts on every guy's request with an "I'm the perfect one for you"?

I know what I think, but I'm really curious what drives people to the regional boards, and whether TER is getting it right.

Thanks all.

Sometimes the boards are invaluable when trying to get information. A few times when visiting other locations, local boards have been a goldmine of information.

It is also great to see ladies pitch in with knowing recommendations about people other than themselves. If somebody posts looking for a lady with certain attributes or services, a few very genuine providers pitch in with on-point suggestions. That sort of attitude helps keep the regional boards feeling (somewhat) like a community and less of a constant parade of ads.

The regional banter of people who are on friendly terms and have mostly all had sex with each other is fun to watch. It can be very good-natured and friendly.

And as long as I'm not involved, a good dramatic trainwreck every once in awhile goes well with beer and popcorn.  

Ren'man

I prefer discussion on the regional boards…

…discussion as it is with the current TER discussion forum format. I don’t use other review/discussion boards because of their UN-user-friendly format. And TER is frankly the best when it comes to ease of following a discussion and not a stream of posts. (Of course I had to put a plug in for the soon-to-be old format of the only board I pay for a VIP membership)

And I digress…

I prefer discussion.

Theme day threads don't bother me either way. Sometimes I participate, sometimes I don’t.

I dislike the “Thanks Guys. I had a great visit. See you in a couple of months” post which are just ads after the visiting lady has left.

I don’t mind if a gentleman posts on my ad. I don’t think it impacts my business either way. I’m confident enough in my own ability to gain new clients. Of course I do enjoy the interaction of the men who like to post on my ads. It's fun to interact!

I no longer post on ISO threads, but when I did last year, gents would email or PM as a follow-up. I found it to be helpful.

Overall, I think discussion should be encouraged on the regional boards. When a board becomes just ISO, 411’s and ads, it’s pretty much dead to me. You see I only post an ad on my regional board like once a month now. So if I saw that board as only for ads, I would only visit it once a month to post my ad, which cuts back on traffic of course. Discussion appeals to me.

Thanks for asking.

Xoxo.

My slobbering has been BOTH ridiculed and welcomed.

I don't care for what i determine the 'loophole' theme threads.

Don't care for anything pretentious.

For the first year or so that I was on TER I only visited the Boston board.  It was very active back then.  Indies posted, all of the agencies posted and of course we all posted.  It wasn't until the Boston board started to peter-out a few years back that I even looked at this board or others.  

It's hard to find a balance on the regional boards.  Providers create aliases and bash each other, customers try to post positive comments and get accused of being shills...heck, some of then ARE shills!
Personally I say leave it all up.  I don't really understand why there seems to be a different set of rules for the regional board vs. the GD. Trolls? OK, Suck-ups? Sure, why not.  Just maintain a total hands-off on shilling or trashing provider ads and follow the policy, whatever it is. I don't really want to read a new mods BS interpretation of policy. I want the policy in writing and not open to interpretation. Honestly, I don't even want to know the mod's opinion on how to moderate, I just want him to do it. Six or seven years ago no one knew who most of the mods were.

I say all of this knowing full well that some of the regional boards are absolute train wrecks a lot of the time.  So the question is do we want active boards that might go off the tracks sometimes or over moderated snooze fests?

it's that the moderators have no tools to work with that would help regional board from becoming baron wastelands.

The top poster on my regional board for example is a provider, who includes of course her web link (which is allowed by the rules BTW)and provides nothing useful in her responses, but only to get her name in lights and to respond to each an every ISO or 411 posts. This is not fair to all the other ladies that follow the rules but do not abuse them for their own purpose.

Another thing, as long as you brought it up, is shilling posts, or as you call them slobbering posts. These are more often than not buy guys would want to only make themselves feel good and to inform all other alpha males that he is the king of the pride. Here again, the top poster back and forth between him and the provider each day is not even a local, but lives 2000 miles away.

I don't think the gals would mind. After all what could be wrong with continuous shilling for her.

Lastly most boards allow total lesbian (or BI) talk if you will about each other that leaves a thread nothing more than sex talk between her and the provider poster, perhaps a shill post sprinkled in as well. This is obnoxious, and frankly I do believe drives traffic away from the regional boards not towards them.

Many other boards do not allow any respond posts to ladies ads, for exactly this reason. Perhaps if this were the case and could be moderated then the boards could come back to active places to visit. As a side thought, there could be no problem as far as I am concerned to have an ad posting forum with other members could not reply to for each city. You have Chicago Ad Posts & Chicago Discussion Forum. That way the moderators do not even concern them selves with it, as it self polices itself.

Thanks for reading my rant. Not the first on this subject, but pretty I am coming to the end of ranting about it and give up. I look for no changes in the future.

I lurk on the Atl board because that's my hobby town and the closest to me. Mostly, I look at the ads, but am interested in any information about providers that I've seen or may want to see. Not sure if that helps, but that's all I have.

I regularly use three regional boards and they all tend to be strictly for ads.  I'd much rather see interactive conversation among locals than all those ads.

Recently one of the more prolific hobbiers in one of the areas jump in to call BS on a ad pic that was lifted from Penthouse.  The agency quickly claimed it was the providers fault and posted another..you guessed it...lifted from Playboy.

Anyway, the brief string that emerged was unusual for the board but it allowed a good number of local guys to communicate with each other.

So, it might be too late for such a radical change but it would seem a better idea for TER to have a "touring directory" that could be sorted by region, like the "new reviews" board and would list the girls name, link to her reviews, area touring, etc...this way the regional boards could be left to regional discussions.

unless I'm trying to get the electronic flirting going, or maybe a smartass comment to a lady that I've already met. Like you, I like the picture threads, but don't usually post under them.

I will post on different boards often and like to move around to keep things fresh for me. I don't know about the guys here but I love looking at all the ladies pics and once in awhile i'll start following a beautiful set of legs, eyes or boobs to see what their all about.

Since it is always nice to dig a little deeper before seeing a new gentleman I always search out their member name in hopes of finding posts. It's also fun to flirt a little on the boards and the banter can be a lot of fun. I like TER just the way it is and hate to see things change. I'm a VIP for the past 3 years and will follow their lead as long as there is enjoyment to be had.

Kisses Haley

. . . although I admit the ads are helpful.

I go mainly to see who is coming to town, running specials and to see the minis guys post about new agency girls.

I think they work fine, nice mixture of ads, banter, regional info...Unlike others, I don't object to stuff that does not interest me, I just ignore it.

I hop around to various boards, and find some fun and interesting discussions all around. Well, not to mention some truly epic train wrecks also. When it comes to regional boards, I read more than I contribute since I'm generally not local to that particular region. But I enjoy the discussions that can be found there.

Its kind of a moot point to ask about this now. TER will be implementing that horrid new discussion format soon, and when they do, I won't be visiting any of the discussion boards anymore. If some regions were little more than an ad board before, they will be doubly so now. No one likes the new format, yet apparently TER is determined to move forward with it anyways.

Some of the best folks around having great discussions.

I think the banter and playfulness starts on the boards and continues in PM's and emails.  I personally saw ladies based on that first impression, more so than ads.

It will be interesting to see how this air of playfulness translates to the new boards.

I saw that.  I'm curious - what didn't you like about the person thanking the ladies he'd seen?  

As I recall the poster in question had a bad experience first, and then some of the more popular ladies in Phoenix swooped in and made in feel welcome.  Probably more than once.  

I've not done the "thanking" post, but I'm curious about why it might bother you.

It was nice to see that most of them were here rather than in PM.  Many good points were made.

I didn't have an answer in mind, but rather wanted to see what people are hoping to get from the boards so that I (and hopefully the other mods) can help make them the best that they can be.

This is a great thread.  And frankly it surprises me...

...mostly because it was even allowed to be posted.

This isn't the best forum out there, nor the worst. But I've experienced things here (as have friends of mine) that I would never have experienced elsewhere.

I've been accused of shilling. Just because I said something positive about someone.  I've had threads and posts just plain removed because I mentioned a provider's blog I happened to find entertaining and wanted to pass along.  

And someone I know was outright banned from posting because he mentioned that same blogger by name.  (A.L.)

WTF is this?  Harry Potter?  We can't mention people by name if the mods aren't happy with them?

Once the change comes I may stay, I may go.  Way too many other places to get this kind of information without being censored.

Know what I mean?

People will make forums and boards into something special if they're allowed.  But this place seems like it's trying to shape it into something that isn't what the people want.

Just my $0.02

It would be nice if there was an Ohio board

When someone starts a thread on a regional board "Thanking" all the women he saw while in town. Then those women comment back and forth with him about the meeting just there on the regional board. I find this pointless, if they wanted to chit chat about their visits they have each others contact information. This just happened on the Phx board for example. I like the discussions and the advertisements.  I do not like when guys comment on my ads beyond "nice picture".

I go to see who's visiting my town or to see which local provider is available in the coming days.

That's the main use for me, although there are several others.

There has always been a mix of the thoughtful and the slapstick but in the past--going back several years not several months--the two coexisted better side by side than they do now.

I have not done the statistics but I would wager the percentage of thoughtful serious posts has gone down significantly, and when one shows up now it is quite likely to draw a swarm of less serious posts until it suffocates under their weight.

I don't know how you turn back the clock or if it is even possible.  I have watched boards of various types go through a similar evolution--quick retorts are much easier to write than contemplative posts.

The humorous, bantering, and even insulting topics will always be the majority but I believe a way to encourage more thoughtful discussions would benefit all the boards.

and possibly bodies!  Yes, the posts that advertise are necessary and a part of the overall purpose, but I do hope to find more balance on the regional boards, regarding content.  It's much more interesting to respond to a post that has substance, something to talk about than a post about how great someone's photo is.

That's why we call it a "discussion board".

So. to just put a post up for the underlying purpose of getting your name up and noticed, well, that's self serving and just another way of advertising. I say, less advertising, more Meat.

Maybe its because I'm more of a private person and don't really understand the thought process behind it. If a gentlemen of mine wants to thank me after our appointment he does so in an email after our appointment or in a private manner, not on a board for all to see? I find it pretty inappropriate for the girls to comment back private details that occurred. In what way does that benefit anything on that board? It has nothing to do with anybody else. It seemed like this group just enjoyed hearing themselves talk. After reading numerous posts from this group which is still continuing over there, now a girl has started a brand new thread and thanked him for "stimulating" the economy while here. Not even keeping it within the realms of the "Thank you" post. OKAY enough we get it already you all had fun why are you still talking about your personal meetings cluttering up the board? Maybe im too up tight who knows...

Camaraderie; additional insights from the ladies that flesh out their personalities above and beyond their ads; learning things I hadn't thought of; relating some of my experiences in the hope that it will help someone else along the path; occasionally shaking my head and wondering "WTF?" -- all are good reasons to participate in the regional boards.

I've recently relocated from a region with a fairly active board that encompassed all of the above. The closest regional board is centered on a city 4 hours from me (yep, I'm now out in the middle of nowhere, hobby-wise, and most other "big city" amenities) and it's a desolate wasteland of occasional provider ads. No hobbyist interaction, no stories, no discussion -- no life! No juice! How disappointing --

It would be nice to see more discussion on the regional boards as other sites have done successfully. I notice there is a little on a couple of the boards but
very little overall. The regional just seem a place for sp's to place ads and not much more. Too bad as there really is only this area that has active discussions. Would be nice to see more local discussions.