actually your points are valid....i personally do not agree with the 'private' reviews but to each his own. I don't really care if lurkers enjoyed some SP's i may have reviewed, good for them and i never felt they took 'my time ' from my favorite SP's. Besides they are not lovers, some are nice, even some sort of distant friendship may develop but let's no kid ourselves, it is work for them and we supply a living, end 'o story. All these 18-24 year old girls are not interested in older men unless you bleed cash on them. The lurkers are a very small sample of john's they see and i don't think it makes any kind of difference whatsoever to weed them out of reviews on this site. In fact, if it does make a difference and a good SP doesn't have enough business here, they may not come back. Some have even voiced it that Ottawa is 'boring.
Some people take this stuff way too seriously. I encourage you to keep posting.
I agree - it may be best to think of 'private reviews' and posters as if they were never on TERB in the first place. Its not like they're deleting existing reviews; I get the impression they've just chosen to share amongst themselves and TERB is a forum to meet and discuss other matters. I personally have no problem sharing info - I've benefited from others' experiences, good & bad, so I try to share the same in return.
I get the impression that some may feel that if there's lots of good press on someone, that SP will book up. But I don't believe that's a factor: its practically impossible to prove, and honestly, its best for Ottawa's SP scene long-term - if the word gets out to other cities that Ottawa is the place to be for good business, more SPs will likely visit here. (Looking for Charlotte or other SPs to feedback here!)
I've chatted with other folks who have hobbied long before finding PERB, TERB, MERB, etc, and I'm guessing there will always be plenty of clients out there who will do what they do regardless of what's said & done on this forum. So anyone who believes that this forum is primarily responsible for chasing SPs away, as a whole, may be a bit of a reach... On the other hand, just as networking is vital for any career, so too does bad press on a city quickly spread. Any SP who unnecessarily takes abuse on this forum is going to tell her friends "Stay away from Ottawa" which hurts us all.