What stage of existence are most TER Johns in?  
 
After contemplating how they took the dark dank highway to hell and smarting after the last unsatisfying session with a hooker who obviously could barely tolerate him despite the multi hundred dollar tip, what stages do these pitiful Johns go through. It could be argued that they go through something similar to the five stages of grief. Do some skip over a few stages while finally accepting they have no game and/or are completely repulsive? Do others remain in the denial or anger stage like OTM? 
  
Denial: The first reaction is denial. In this stage Johns believe their fate is somehow mistaken, and cling to a false reality, They deny that they really can't get laid any other way.
 
Anger: When the John recognizes that denial cannot continue, they become frustrated, especially at the hookers who helped enable the mess they got themselves into. Some, like OTM, NEVER seen to get past this stage and end up hating themselves along with the hookers they try to convince themselves are to blame.
 
Bargaining - The third stage involves the hope that the John can somehow come up with an exit strategy to get out of the cesspool of his own making. for some this means buying  new sports car to compensate for a little dick, for others it means buying a hairpiece in the hopes women will then talk to them.  
 
Depression - "I'm so sad. I am never going to get laid without paying for it ever again, Why me?" Depression is a tough stage to be in, every bit as bad as the anger stage, as it often leads to some introspection that is very painful for many johns on their road to acceptance.
 
Acceptance - "It's going to be okay. I'm a john, I've accepted my fate, the highway to hell led me to this sordid underground world, but I will somehow thrive in the "Playpen of the Damned""  "I still have my social security checks every month and as long as I don't eat too much I can get laid at least once a month, maybe even twice on a good month. My life is good, and I don't really look THAT bad except for that damn hump growing out of my back, but the girls barely notice it, one of the girls not more than six months ago said she thought my hump was sexy"
 
 
What stage are most john's in, and in particular what stage is OTM in?  
 
 

This is great creative writing, even better than what's on the review boards.

I never went through the first three stages.

I think he's in all of them at the same time.

Angry that I don't have enough free time to see a lady every day.  When I went from four days a week to three, that's when I was in depression.  I'm sitill in denial that I can't do more than a two-hour session.  As hard as it it is to accept, I know I can't have ANY woman I want, but I CAN have any provider I want, and that's good enough at this point in my life. I never "bargain" with the ladies. It's tacky.   So I think I have been through, or am in, all stages.

Most trolls are in stages 1-4.  Johns are more spread out across the board.  For instance, the john known as vantheman666 is still in a stage known as "just getting started."  As for OTM, well, grandpas tend to get crabby when all their joints ache and their dick doesn't work anymore.  Maybe if he'd taken better care of his health in his younger years?

... and are forever in the "wonderment" stage

...at least the ones who don't want to start a civil war.  OTM is in a stage called anarchist/terrorist, when he tries to destroy the community from within.
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For the non-violent OTMer, who got started before there were resources like TER, I imagine sex for hire was pretty rough.  Just to find a provider, I envision that you had some grim choices:
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1. You had the independents of the day, advertising in the back of your local alternative weekly newspaper.  You had no confidence that the provider would in any way resemble what she advertised herself to be and no outlet to affect her business when she turned out to be great or not as advertised.
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2. You went to a local old-school pimp, who might use physical and/or mental abuse and other coercive means to keep their providers working for them, and through observing how the pimp did business you might absorb some of that mindset into viewing the provider as a despised, disposable object.
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3. You saw streetwalkers who were at the margins of society due to their economic circumstances, addiction issues or sexual/gender orientation.
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4. You went through an agency which was very expensive and was an obvious target for law enforcement.
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Once you got in the room, because there was little to no verification of the provider's reputability, and the pimp was someone assumed to use violence as a business tool, you had to be on edge that someone might be waiting for you inside the bathroom or outside the hotel door waiting to shake you down or rough you up.
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Because some of the sex for hire industry went hand-in-hand with violence and organized crime, or took place on the streets, the police were highly concerned about the practice and so made it a major priority for law enforcement.  Today, if you are not using an agency or a massage parlor (targets because they are a nexus of activity), or soliciting someone in a public space (because of the public nuisance factor), I think you are more likely to be hit by lightning (500 people a year in the USA) than arrested for being a john.
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If you found a good provider, and didn't have to worry for your safety, then if you needed discretion you had to figure out how to cover your tracks in the days when your best tool was a payphone.  No cell phones, email, burner accounts...
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Some of you made it work, because you were tough and stubborn and had some common sense and didn’t trust anyone but yourself.  I hear those traits in the words of some of you.  
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I started seeing escorts 6 months ago, and found TER 1 month after that.  Since that day, I have never had to worry about any of those problems.  Being in a large community like this, there are even enough braver souls than me to TOFTT so I never have to fly blind.
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As a result of all of these changes, I think being a John has grown much more common, because guys have nothing to fear.  While this is true at all levels of expenditure, the reduction in risk means that the guys with the most to lose - the ones with the most to spend - have grown as a share of the market.  There have always been clients who can throw down $2,000 for a night's pleasure, but the effect of TER has been to bring many more to the table.  This reduction in the risk profile also means that the type of personality willing to participate has changed.  You no longer need brass balls to be a john.  You can be a jellyfish.
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There have always been beautiful women who are outstanding lovers who have been attracted to being providers because this is what they wanted to do.  Some were high priced, some in the middle, some at the lower end.  However, when the sex for hire world was a completely unmonitored and dangerous place (especially for the providers), the rewards outweighed the risks for some women with the right profile for success but a low tolerance for the risks.  So in the same way that TER brought more men, especially at the high end, to the market, it brought women as well.  And like the new breed of clients are probably different, the new group of providers are probably different.  Some of those ways are fairly easy to measure, especially social background and educational attainment.  Some are subjective, like looks and sexual skills.  And some might be turning the tables a little toward the provider - perhaps better educated (or better networked) providers are able to come up with more effective marketing and therefore charge higher rates?
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Why these types of changes make someone like OTM angry enough to lash out at both providers and clients, I don't understand.  Maybe it's frustration of having lived through the hard times and now seeing others claiming to outplay you in the good times.  It reminds me a little bit about old school baseball fans who dislike modern analytical approaches to scouting.  If that player hit .270 in AA ball and was big and strong and didn't commit many errors, he should be promoted to the big leagues.  Whether or not he drew walks, didn't hit in to double plays, or got to his share of balls on defense, meant nothing to these fans because they grew up with batting average and fielding percentage.  So they complain about how "eggheads" are ruining the American Pastime and should go play their video games, and the old timers will remember when a seat in the bleachers and a beer in Wrigley cost $1.25, and the Cubs will win a series as soon as they get rid of those geeks and sacrifice a goat on Waverly, and... wait a second?  We won the World Series?  What position does Theo Epstein play?  A bleacher seat costs $40?  What a bunch of band wagon climbers and nerds.  I'm moving to the South Side.
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Anyway, back to "Thank you."  Thank you, old time mongerers or whatever name you want to use.  If you kept the women warm and safe in the dark ages, and then shepherded this resource into health, thank you very, very much.  I will be glad to buy you a drink, or the whole damn bottle.  It's a bargain compared to what you've made possible, a large selection of gorgeous, brilliant ladies who are happy to make my mind and my body feel outrageously wonderful.  But if you try to tear this house apart, I will double the amount I pay per hour and the number of orgasms my providers achieve per session each month until your head explodes with rage.

I like to write satire. Being somewhat sarcastic is just my nature. In retrospect I should have included the guys so it would not have looked like I just single out the girls. I had no idea the post would stir up that much controversy. It must have hit some raw nerves to get that much reaction.

I just know that I'm in the celebration stage.

You never met him before acceptance and happiness kicked in

I started partying in hobby scene whilst I was still young enough to get laid without paying a dime. Why?  Because so many civvie women were a pain in the ass.  A hooker was a welcome relief.  As I aged I didnt even notice the transition to Gambler's last stage.  

between depression and acceptance.  I enjoy the hobby, but soon, I too will be trying to eke out even one trip around the block in a newer model sports car.  I still have hope that one day I will meet an older model mini van or pick-up truck that will put up with me.

$20/week?  So you only see someone every 15 weeks?  Maybe you should cut back on the lotion and tissues and put that money toward the hobby.  I thought I was on the very low end of hobbying.  But I am good for an hour every 3-4 weeks.  True, I live very very frugally to do this, but it can be done.  And if I have to, overtime or a second job is a good way to go.
So to paraphrase Robert Duvall in Lonesome Dove...A man that won't work overtime for a poke, don't want a poke bad enough.

You forgot the part where I get grandfathered rates and the sessions go over an hour because the ladies are happy to see me (and I'm sure my harder-than-average dick helps, too).