I don't do reviews (it was just a choice I made for personal reasons a while back), so I have no problem giving out my handle to someone I am comfortable with. I enjoy seeing them in chat, or responding to their posts and having them know it's me. However, for the guys that do reviews, (and bless all of you) keeping their handle to themselves could prevent any hard feelings from providers they've seen. A guy may want to keep his handle to himself so that he feels he can review honestly, and not be pressured into being less so since he knows you may be reading the review later. A guy may geniunely like a provider and want to see her again, even if the scores aren't as high as she would like to see. That could be put at risk as well.
"Looks" scores have been a large point of contention on this site and should a guy feel pressured to give an 8 instead of a 7, or a 9 instead of an 8, to prevent a potential problem or hurt feeling? Same thing with performance scores, it has happened, I'm sure.
My point being Tammy, that if someone doesn't want give you their handle (even though it's hard to agrue with a "want to please you better" intention) it may not be beacse they're paranoid. They may just be trying to keep their reviews as objective as possible.
-- Modified on 7/29/2003 5:00:51 PM
I've at least gotten them to give me their Posting handles, along with their Reviewing handles, so, like you I could read their reviews, and then if they didn't want to write one, they certainly didn't have to.
It's not all about the reviews anyway..
Sigh..
I do not ever use aliases on TER. I am always Fortitude wherever and whenever I write reviews, post on dicussion boards or chat in chat rooms.
There are times that I do not even like aliases others use. Then I don't know who I'm communicating with.
If a provider asks me for my handle I will provide it. If I want her, for whatever reason, to know my handle I tell her who I am. If, by providing a gal with my TER handle, she elects not to see me, I just find someone to my liking who will. My dead Presidents are as good as the next guy's. I write lots of reviews, I try to be honest, objective, and not hurtful. The vast bulk of my reviews are very positive because I've done my homework in advance.
I have yet to be turned down by a provider because of my TER presence, and in fact there have been instances where it has made my "dates" more interested in seeing me.
My .02
F.
-- Modified on 7/30/2003 4:53:46 AM
I agree with fortitude completely. I use the same handle for everything on TER and don't mind giving it out.
In fact, I volunteer it when first contacting a provider, to make her screening easier. I travel a lot and some of the providers are looking for local references that I can't give. Being able to read my reviews seems to set them more at ease.
Like fortitude, I screen very carefully before I contact anyone and my reviews reflect the fact that I've already tried to be sure that I'm going to be with someone who "fits my style." I know that I won't have a good time unless I've been careful to find a lady who plays to mine. So, again like fortitude, my reviews tend to be pretty good because I usually find that the experience is what I was expecting or more.
Of course, as anyone who reads my reviews will see, my screening techniques don't always work so well, but that is not another post for another thread.
I agree with Fortitude, I always use my handle with reviews and board, I have no reason to hide like many do, even if it means to inflame somebody, lol.
Also most of time I volunteer my TER handle to providers I contact for the first time. I was pleased to learn that many providers have read my reviews in advance and made the first meeting much easier and rewarding.
I completely agree with Fortitude.
There may be some reasons hobbyists using TER would "have to" hide aspects of their identity, but I think it more than fair for the women to want to be able to check up on guys...they are literally putting their ass on the line. If some guys have a compelling reason to hide things (public figure, government employee, married to a computer expert 
, then they simply may miss some gals who need more info to be sure about their visit. That is the tradeoff.
However, as to not being able to post honest reviews if you want to see the provider again or to reviews being inflated to curry favor with a provider, maybe it happens, but if it does, then it is our own fault, guys. I have never said something I didn't stand behind on a review I made. I admittedly have not seen a plethora of providers, but I have been fortunate to only have good experiences, and it is because, for the most part, I did my homework.
As with most of life, if you are honest and open about things, whether people identify with you or not, they will respect you. If a provider ever turned me down beause of someone else I saw or because I gave my honest opinion about an encounter, then I would want to go somewhere else anyway.
and always posting under Fortitude. it certainly gives one a frame of reference (not to mention credence) when posting using your real TER handle
i, on the other hand, find the comedic potentials of aliases irresistable (but at least try to make it clear and obvious that it's ME "hiding" behind those aliases 
singularily yours,
Buckminster ("Bucky") Singleton III
(aka Cynicalman 2.0, A Participator, The Collector, etc ...)
first joined TER (Feb 2002), I was a paid member researching and reading other members' review. I submitted a few of them but found the work tedious and time consuming so I stopped.
I was in a girl crazy mode and saw many ladies in LA in a short period of time. Three of those encounters changed my view. Subsequently, I started to post messages on the board and submitted many, many reviews.
I saw 2 top rated ladies in LA at the time, both of them have many reviews of 9s and 8s. However, when I saw them in person, in my judgment, their looks should be rated 6 and 5. (I am pretty leninent on rating ladies but I treat a 7 as the passing grade.)
The other lady I saw has only 1 review even though she worked for a popular agency. The reviewer stated that she was one of the best looking ladies he ever met. I chose to try her out and indeed she was gorgeous.
After these encounters, I decided I should contribute back the TER community and do whatever I can to provide as much as possible the correct info to other members. After all, with that reviewer's review, I would never meet that lady. If more members wrote more truthful reviews, I would be more prepared for the bad results.
It might seem high minded, naive and full of oneself, but that is indeed my purpose and it reflected in the way I wrote my reviews.
Since I have posted many reviews, if a lady learned of my TER handle, she would treat me differently than how she would treat other reviewers. My review of her will then be skewed one way or another. In some cases, I won't even have the chance to meet her and report back my finding if the lady knew that I would write an truthful but unvarnished review. That sort of defeated my purpose.
I guess everyone has to follow their own ways of doing things. You and rick2 are the ones who don't mind letting other ladies know about your handles. However, many other veteran reviewers, especially in LA, have stopped submitting new reviews all together. I don't know for sure why. But I think in many case, the TER handle screening process is a contributing factor.
*** added **
For those few ladies who knew my TER handle. That usually occurred after I saw them several times already and knew a lot about each other's personal life. ( For those I eventually submitted a review, I tried hard not to skew my rating. In fact, one of them I gave her a 7 in look which is a fair assessment. JMHO, inflated ratings don't help anyone in the long run. )
-- Modified on 7/30/2003 12:00:52 PM
who stopped submitting (new) reviews ... whether or not the TER handle screening process was a contributing factor or not.
i think there ARE ways to submit reviews that are factual and informative (but perhaps not timely!) that would nevertheless maintain the reviewer's anonymity. i have already devised a set of "tools" to help in this regard if-n-when necessary in the future
now as for Spec! LOL ... i have to say that in the few MONTHS that i've known him, he seems to have "matured" over the YEARS and has come to be one of those guys who prefer WOMEN who are SANE! (for a change
I understand your point, but I also understand the reasons of some of the guys who have posted that they won't do it.
It can be something of a two-edge sword because of how some gals react to a review that might be less than they'd hoped for..& this is regardless of the tact used by the reviewer in his description of the encounter. Unfortunately, the primary emphasis seems to be placed on the numerical scores given at the expense of the written text. The reaction of those 'some' I've mentioned is somewhat understandable as their biz can be affected as long as the guys remain so focused on the numbers.
But some guys simply don't think either...I've had two gals in the past tell me about two different guys 'using' my review in a way no review should ever be used...once it was read over the phone word for word (along with the numerical scores) & in the other case it was printed out & shown to the gal when he arrived for the session. Sad to realize some people are this stupid, but it's apparently true.
IMO it's the numerical ratings that are maybe the biggest single factor for negative provider reactions, & possibly thus a large part of the inflated scores that guys often complain about. Yet we see instances where a guy writes an honest review of a gal & maybe scores her maybe two points lower than a lot of others have done & guys will rip him on the boards for it.
I seldom write reviews any more unless I see a specific reason to do so. The reasons I've mentioned aren't behind that decision & are only a minor factor, if any factor at all. But I can see how some guys might be reluctant to review for those reasons. Of course some guys simply don't believe in writing reviews period & they're entititled to feel that way IMO.
