Discussion: The state of Durham reviews

[RebelinBed]

I put out a detailed review of a bunch of the dancers at Go Go’s in Belleville. The review got back to some of them (not by my hand) and I was told that one of the dancers I didn’t review said “I don’t want to give him a dance now because what if he gives me a bad review?” Kind of insane because she’s one of the most beautiful women on the planet but the point stands. Others might not want reviews because if they’re positive they might get inundated in a way they don’t prefer.

There’s a lot to dissect here about ethics and consumer rights (as much as you can have rights in hobbying) but ultimately I’m on the side of - you should review. For the betterment of our hobby you should review.

Well that's it. Reviews are double-edged much like everything else.

I agree, people should review more. There are other issues directly on this board though.

Issues such as:
The "new member" tag. It doesn't account for accounts that have been present since before the format change on the board and is solely reliant on how active the account is in posting. Many guys don't check the profile when they see a review or comment from a "new member".

Many guys on here are too untrusting of posts from genuine new members. Many guys are too quick to call out a "shill" instead of following the "trust but verify" approach. Which, I get to some extent due to anonymity but still.

Many reviews and411 threads have titles that make it hard to track, follow, or search for people looking about a certain provider. You can't find a thread on say, Jenesis, if all the title says is "milf in Whitby" for example. Or find a negative review about a scammer if all the title says is "Scammer! Watch out! Don't see this one". These threads are helpful when they're first posted but as soon as they ultimately end up past the Page 5 mark, they're virtually useless.

Also, posting reviews and threads in the correct sections.

If we want new reviewers to post, we have to welcome them, trust but verify, and the veterans need to lead by example with the formatting of our own postings and comments.

 

[Jack_attack]

Well that's it. Reviews are double-edged much like everything else.

I agree, people should review more. There are other issues directly on this board though.

Issues such as:
The "new member" tag. It doesn't account for accounts that have been present since before the format change on the board and is solely reliant on how active the account is in posting. Many guys don't check the profile when they see a review or comment from a "new member".

Many guys on here are too untrusting of posts from genuine new members. Many guys are too quick to call out a "shill" instead of following the "trust but verify" approach. Which, I get to some extent due to anonymity but still.

Many reviews and411 threads have titles that make it hard to track, follow, or search for people looking about a certain provider. You can't find a thread on say, Jenesis, if all the title says is "milf in Whitby" for example. Or find a negative review about a scammer if all the title says is "Scammer! Watch out! Don't see this one". These threads are helpful when they're first posted but as soon as they ultimately end up past the Page 5 mark, they're virtually useless.

Also, posting reviews and threads in the correct sections.

If we want new reviewers to post, we have to welcome them, trust but verify, and the veterans need to lead by example with the formatting of our own postings and comments.

I agree with every word of this.

It's hard to break into a new community, especially one that's bottle necked in the ways we've been talking about, and not every new person is going to be equipped to know that a thorough non-biased review that includes pros and cons is going to build trust more than a two liner that's all pros.

I just typed out a few suggestions for how posting rules could change to fix that and then realized that they were all double edged swords themselves. I think everything that's an enforced rule would be. So I think, to your point, it comes down to us. The vets leading by example and fostering participation and good posting. If a post from a new member reads like a schill, give them the benefit of the doubt and help point them in the right direction. Post good thorough reviews so that you're leading by example.

A "how to post a good review" post as a sticky at the top might go far too, though those are largely ignored so maybe not.

As for posting in the correct sections, I've always taken a bit of an issue with the naming of the 411 section because 411 implies information, and reviews are information. So I can understand why people can get confused by the header.