I’m often asked my thoughts on reviews. My response has changed with the times, as the industry has changed. I was reviewed over 200 times myself. I can tell you the review process has its pros and cons. To try and help you sort out how much weight to give them. I want to provide you with a bit of history and insight into the review process.
I will primarily address The Erotic Review (TER) as it was the most prominent board giving the industry a nationwide platform. Of course, have always been smaller and more local review sites as well. TER was one of the first to capitalize on the growing use of the internet to access companions in the 90s. It helped to make it a mainstay in the community for many years. When reviews began, you didn’t see the online presentation of the ladies you see today. Very few had websites. There was no professional photography. In the early years, there were only two main advertising sites. Basically, it wasn’t different from reading an ad in a paper as was done in years past. Suddenly ladies were abundant and at your fingertips but no way of knowing who would be safe to see. Clients needed a way to communicate and share information about ladies they knew. Soon the online forums took the place of what we might have referred to as locker room talk in the past.
The reviews themselves didn’t look much different than they do today. A few of the main differences are the amount of information available for free, juicy details, and honesty. Initially, the community was tiny. Legal issues would frequently arise in this newfound territory. There would be stings set up by law enforcement and things of those nature. There were more reasons for concern then. Therefore, people took the honesty of the boards very seriously. For a time, people would even post where a sting was happening to warn ladies. That ability was soon shut down by law enforcement. Acronyms became necessary as a means to dance around incriminating terms. TER wanted to generate revenue which led to a rather detailed reviewing system. Many reviews are very graphic, sometimes cruel, or often inflated.
For this reason, ladies have always looked at them as a necessary evil, understanding there is competition and that some ladies are not legit. There wasn’t Twitter or other social media. There weren’t any verifications sites like P411 or Private Delights. These all came later on. The review system was very graphic and geared toward the client, not the provider. The main takeaway for the provider was exposure, therefore increased clientele. To avoid having to discuss details, you were directed to reviews. In time ladies began building websites so that clients could get a better sense of who she was as an individual. I’ll it was the late 90s, early 2000s when I made my first website. At that time, you were beginning to see professional web design and photographers get involved in the industry. The review boards were further developed and became more of a subculture. Around this time, people’s perceptions of the industry started changing. Ladies’ income potential had gone through the roof. The online image or persona began to take on an air of glamour. New providers were starting to pop up weekly.
The industry rolled along unchanged for many years. Along the way, more advertising and verification sites sprang up. More resources were available along the lines of web designers, photographers, and assistants. With this came an increasing knowledge of how essential reviews could be for one’s career. Men learned they could use a good review to win favor with a provider. They also realized they could damage or attack someone as well. A sort of false currency system developed from the power perceived in a review. The boards would buzz with conversations, so much so, many major cities had their own board moderator. The moderator would often be someone in the community, so if a review falsely attacked someone. They would have some insight into the person and be able to sort the situation out pretty quickly. This wasn’t always the case, but no system is ever perfect.
Then came the change, that to me, made the review process on TER relatively worthless. By 2010, there was defiantly a system going. Ladies would find a way to barter good reviews, or he would offer. Safety had become less of a concern. So as long as someone was legit, the juicy details were up for embellishment. Why? Because now reviews meant big business. Anytime you got a positive review, it was like money in the bank. Ladies started working this angle hard.
The number of online reviews was staggering.
It became hard to even filter through them. This abundance brought about the change. They were seizing opportunity and a chance to make money. TER decided on Top 100 Lists. Lists you, of course, have to pay to view. Lists would give some lucky ladies the upper hand in their city for being a “top ranked” provider. The ego game was in play. There was a title at stake now. From that point on, you rarely saw anything but 10/ 10 reviews for those top ladies. Keep in mind that a certain number of “acts,” aka juicy details, were required to get a 10 review. This new development led to more embellishing.
The “10 Era,” as I call it, brought things to a whole new level. At the same time, the lists started up. The individual city moderators were let go. The tone on the boards changed as well. They took on a wild west tone and conversation that was often degrading and childish. There was now a system in place, and everyone used it to their advantage. The top ten ladies in some cities had more business than they knew what to do with. More and more ladies were able to charge higher rates for their time. Getting reviews to put you at the top of the list mathematically became a game. Ladies brand new to the industry were suddenly able to rack up dozens of 10/10 reviews in a short time. This gave them the keys to a six-figure door. The changes took reviews beyond subjective. At that point, the purpose of the review from a client standpoint became a bit moot. To find less tainted reviews, you dug through reviews before the switch to a listing system. Because TER had now become a strictly for-profit business, the legitimacy no longer mattered. They are in the business of selling reviews. Any concern for the community was washing away in a green tide of cash.
Keep in mind this was still pre-social media. From what the reviews may say, the only way you would know anything different about a lady was from her website. Most ladies were still a bit afraid of what they could post online. That made the information on her site limited and the reviews even more important. This meant the TER boards still had an important role despite their change in intention. It also gave them more power over people’s careers than they should have had at the time. Providers in the industry were able to adjust to the game. Review bartering for time or favor was part of the game. Reviews became currency so much that people set up businesses charging a nominal fee to write good reviews under their multiple handles for ladies. Can reviews be fake? Absolutely. Once the system became broken, even I had access to 13 different TER reviewer accounts at one point. I wrote dozens of reviews to help people out because of the rules of selling reviews. You aren’t allowed on the “top list” if you didn’t get them often enough. Many ladies had to fake or have clients re-review them to keep up appearances. The game and the pressure can be very real.
The final blow that made me say no more to the nonsense. Years passed, and the obvious happened. Most everyone was a 10/10 provider. There were no more perfectly good 7s, 8s, 9s. Everyone had to be a 10, Once in a lifetime, to make that money. At least, that was the belief system. With this in mind, TER decided to make it much hard and put more stipulations on what “acts” had to be in a review to get a 10. Around 2016, they decided you could only be a 10 if you were bi-sexual and into anal sex. Yes, you read that right. I don’t know who decided on that definition, but there it was. I began to see ladies in big cities get desperate to keep traffic. Thus they performed acts I knew from a verbal conversation they were not comfortable doing. I was told to lie to qualify for a 10, which I wasn’t willing to do. This was the start of many ladies delisting and no longer wishing to engage in reviews. By this time, ladies were able to use social media, ad sites, word of mouth, and other avenues. Conclusion: there became less reason to subject oneself to the stress and critical aspects of reviews.
I’m not pro or con reviews. They are a tool at the end of the day. If they are helpful to you, that’s great. But I think it’s important to understand the cost and payoff of reviews. I typically advise people to look at them as a form of validation and nothing more. Much like a Yelp review, your mileage may vary. Even coming from an honest source, there will always be a level of subjectivity.