Every provider on here started with no reviews and someone TOFTT.
Evaluate the level of risk you're willing to take.
Learn to use reverse image and phone number search tools.
Back-channel here (your local board) and on competing sites.
Recognize TGTBT (whether it's photos, prices, availability, screening) and avoid.
Unreviewed FBSM providers are lower risk (IMHO) and often offer upgraded service.
Don't send a deposit.
Don't give RLI.

I'm chuckling over this in light of the long thread about fake reviews.  

Anyway, before TER there wasn't a way to verify a provider unless you knew someone who knew the provider, and that never happend. Remember, "pre TER" means, pretty much, pre-Internet.  So in NYC, you bought a sleazy newspaper called Screw (famous in itself) and looked thru the classifieds and called a brothel.  Real brothels provided some semblance of quality control; but there were loads of fly-by-night operations and really horrible places with women in really sad circumstances.  And finding a good one was hit-or-miss.  

But the good ones were very, very good. I recall brownstones in the 80s and 90s on E 48th Street and E 26 street that had drop-dead gorgeous college students or grads; they were fun, funny, bubbly and perky, some really really smart (one asked me about Derrida), and all sexually charged. Never had a problem and loads of great times.  Very few milfs, however.    

But unlike today, everything was totally anonymous.  Boys and girls both had stage names; boys had codes at some places.  Verification?  Didn't exist.  If you showed up and they didn't like how you looked, they didn't open the door.  If you saw a provider you liked, you hoped she stayed there because you would never see her outside the brothel.  Well, those were the rules...

Fun fact:   Except in the high-end brothels, kissing of any kind was never on the menu before the rise of the Internet and independents.  Once I found the brothel on E 48, I was hooked -- all the providers did DFK.  

I'm sure that back then there were higher levels of brothels and independents --  if you traveled in circles with  men that knew about Holly Golightly and her friends.  But I never did.  

I would say service in the high-end places was the same as service I've experienced with independents. I'd give them 9s and 10s.  

A final note:  While the top brothels ensured a consistently good experience, every once in a while I'd see a new ad and try out what looked like a fly-by-night.  It was by far mostly misses, but when I hit, it was fantastic.

I'm somewhat spoiled living in an area that has a ton of well reviewed providers.  Given that, there is very little incentive for me to take a risk on an unknown quantity.  I've done it before, and I have always been disappointed with the results.

I'm a thrill seeking kinda guy. Sometimes I like to go into the world of the unknown. I've done alot of first time reviews.
But anyways...I've been on TER almost from the beginning and at that time, alot of us TOFTT, So in a way, we were learning from each other back thenm and to build some kinda data base where others can learn.
But pre-TER, being from LA there were a few sites on line. LA-Ladies, LA Exotic, ThatMall (which is still up), and CityVibe. Never got into the newsprint, LA Weekly...seemed too trashy...but I checkout Craigslist so go figure
We were kinda hunting in the dark. and then TER pop up and here's where we are today. Its been a great tool.
But, even after all this....I'll still venture into the world of the unknown...I know, I know

You've heard some suggestions to which I would add,
1) Where does the escort work? No guarantees but more affluent areas are more likely to have nicer escorts.  Not always something you can verify but asking about general locations might improved the odds.
2) In some games you can pay for an in person meeting, that might reduce the costs for TOFTT. And older shcool days a lot of "action" was taking place a known bars and clubs -- so you did get a bit more information about the lady you were going to fuck later.

 
But at the end of the day, especially those that see this activity as some form of team sport type situation every guy (or girl) using the reviews should be willing to be the first for some escort, TOFTT and then write the review. (Maybe TER should actually give more VIP for the guy creating the profile -- but be sure to verify it actually occurred -- and perhaps a little less for follow on reviews.)

1. No deposit.  Should go without saying.
2. When you meet, make sure you get a good look at her.  Does she match the pics?
3. Have some small talk before giving money.  If she's strictly business, be cautious.
4. Get a good hug, feel, kiss beforehand.  If she's very friendly and open take that as a good sign.
5. Pregame a bit, get her to say what she's open to.  If she's open to everything, almost always a scam.  If she's clear what her time is worth that's a good sign.  Most girls have limits.
6. Facetime verification.  Some girls are open to a quick FT.

There are more rules, but these are good ones to sniff out a scam.  Or a girl using fake pics.

There was only one way to ensure quality sessions back in the old days--Find a provider or booker who delivered the goods. Getting there was quite an adventure. You'd find yourself using ancient devices such as landline  telephones, consulting archaic tomes called Yellow Pages or parchment scrolls such as the LA Weekly, and God knows who would be on the other side of the door when the hour arrived.  And if you got through that muck and found a reliable provider or booker, chances were they'd be gone in a few weeks or months.

I had some fun back then, although I'll concur with the observations that for many years there was no DFK and the choices were very limited compared to today. Never mind reviews, you mostly didn't have even pictures; just a description in 25 words or fewer. Still, there were a couple of young women i met who would have qualified for 9s--I still think fondly of the graduate art student with a body like a VS model who was one of the few who would let me DATY. She charged the princely sum of $160, but then again, rent on a great apartment in a desirable part of town was $600.

With all its imperfections, TER (and the provider ad sites) was like turning on a light in a dark room.  There may still be dark corners and tricks of the light, but you should thank the maker you don't have to stumble around in the dark like the old days.

For more context, I live quite a distance from the action and some interesting, unreviewed prospects pop up locally.  Just really seems like the review to prospects ratio has gone way down in the past couple of years in the greater Los Angeles area.

My pre TER days kind of sucked maybe 1 out of 5 were worth seeing

I take my hat off to guys who toft and then write reviews sorry but better you than me!
I tryed a experiment a about a year ago in regard to what this thread brought up with so many high end girls with either no reviews or flat out no review policies as I would ask myself how many guys are throwing out 1,000 plus per hour for one of these girls on a toft?
zI picked a over 1,0000 dollar girl with really hot pics and website off of p411 and had a multi hour date and she was hot but not as hot as others I have seen with reviews and she did offer a full GFE experince but again she was not as good as so many others I have seen with reviews not even in my top 20! So though not a horrible experince I will stick with those who have reviews even though some of those do not always live up to them!