We all know the power of the Internet and what we can do on it.

I suspect only a few on these boards would be standing on the street. I suspect most would either not be doing this or living up the the old name "Call Girl".

....and yes the ladies would still be practicing their trade without it and we would still be after them. I am pre internet and I actually did see a streetwalker. I am not quite sure who picked who!  

i am too shy to talk in person to cute older gentlemen

.....get some take out from my fave strip club

Just before the internet became what it is today.

find entertaining ladies. The ladies would approach you and then it was a negotiation to determine the $ before she would tell you which hotel and room # to meet her. There were also strip clubs where the ladies would gladly accept extra cash for either going into the VIP area or sometimes even leaving the club to take care of you.

That escorts and agencies advertised in papers and phone books at one point.  I would have worked as an escort without the internet (effectively, how I operate now when not touring), but I would never have taken to the street.

I knew about the hobby and escort services back in the days before the internet, but I never took the plunge, since I felt there was too much risk involved.  So, I opted for the legal route in ca. 2000 and started visiting the Nevada brothels.

In sex shops they were advertising papers That advertised the Bars and clubs . In the back they were adds for lady's !

What do you find wrong with this question?

And in the 90's the ads in the phone books exploded.

When I first started a guy I did business with told me about agencies. You just called them up talked to a madam and a girl would call you back within 30 minutes. No references, no E mail tag and no RESTRICTED sex. It really was like having sex in the civilian world.

I probably would've been too scared. One of the reasons I see escorts is cause this Australian escort I followed on Twitter seemed cool, liked her job , so that at least humanized escorts and sex work for me.

and someone had torn our all the pages with the massage ads.

and with the reviews, bad apples can be avoided.

Back in the 50s there were still whore houses outside Chicago, $5 straight fuck, $10 half and half.  60s and 70s streetwalkers, but that was before aids and there were some hot chicks.  80's and 90's came the yellow pages for models,escorts, etc, along with the massage parlors.  And then finally came the 2 greatest inventions, the internet and cell phones.

There was a system worked out, as we were not clueless, bcd then. There were a lot more options than now, I think.  You would find your risk comfort level and type of experience.

A couple of these posts remind me of my father and an uncle who used to say "They just don't make cars like they used to..."  The obvious response to that is "Thank God!!! Cars used to fall apart in the driveway at 60,000 miles!!!"

But in my younger years, I did a lot of traveling, and whenever I was in a new city, I would check out the yellow pages.  I quickly noticed that escort ads could be found there, and would read through them every time I was in a different place.  I'm sure I would have eventually taken the yellow pages plunge had the internet not come along.

In 1984, I was far younger than I should have been to get started in this industry, but regardless I jumped in feet first and made it my life.  

Called a telephone book, and that book had a section called the yellow pages. You could actually call and get pizza delivered to your door without leaving your house. You could also call for an escort to be delivered to your house.

I wonder how many guys first decided to take the plunge with pro companionship because of twitter?  

Except for two things:

During the 1970s, oral was almost always uncovered but "straight" was mostly always covered.  I remember the first time a lady rolled a condom on me for oral, in DC in the mid-1970s, and I thought "who does that?"  Within a year or so, most ladies were doing covered oral, and that trend continued for 5-7 years until oral resumed, for the most part, being uncovered.  

...until about mid-2013 (both still have adult services sections (print and online))

There must have been a big difference between the street girls and the agency girls. Condoms were "optional" until 1991 in my area.  

Bad Apples did not work for the upscale agencies. You don't need reviews when the girls are required to perform unrestricted sex or go work the track.

I'll concede that if you are traveling that the internet is better for that. LEO rarely harassed the agencies in my town.

My friend K(name redacted) said that she was a good follow and told me to follow her. As far as I know, my friend has never used an escort so I'm not sure how he stumbled across her profile. But she was beautiful, smart, funny and seemed to enjoy what she was doing. I'm "out" to my friend and I assume he would give me the same courtesy if he saw escorts as well.