What would you consider as ALERT- or NON ALERT-worthy info?

And yes Whispers, it did hurt just a little bit to admit your were right in this case. Ouch, ouch, ouch...ok, not that bad when the person of current topic's pain offset mine even more

fake pics is an indicator of fraud. at the minimum it is bait and switch. now if they will simply let you walk without a "cancel fee" that's one thing. if their pimp decides to rob you that's quite another.

im not making this up. it happened to me. and it has happened to several people who have been set up and robbed. anyone who is out to set someone up to be robbed isn't going to post their real pics on an ad so you have a way to positively identify them at a later date.

while i agree that fake pics does not equate to robbery, how many girls using real pics had their pimp rob them?

If there are fake pics, we should know about it. Knowing about the fake pictures is an indication that there is a higher degree of uncertainty about the person in the ad. We should, if given that information, stay away from the provider in the ad unless we are given enough information to be convinced of the provider's legitimacy.

What I cannot agree with is the posting of fake pictures from BP on the alerts forum. Everyone understands that BP, being an unregulated site, invites a huge assortment of people and so wouldn't be surprised to know that many scams exist. Bait and switch using fake pictures is the most common of the scams.

Gauging by the number of ads that are posted on BP every day and the turnover rate of the ads, would you not agree that there is easily more than 5 ads with fake pictures every day? If a new thread were to be started for each one, the alerts forum would be crowded with information about ads with fake pictures that I wouldn't be interested in anyway if I weren't searching for the specific provider. I would probably pay less attention to the alerts forum eventually and when a real threat is posted on the alerts forum, I'd likely miss it.

An alert should raise our attention to something that occurs beyond the norm. Makes no sense if every trivial thing that happens is alerted to the community.


and if we have a stupid rule that you must be personally robbed before you can post an alert....who'd be the one to take that one for the team? only a fool. although i see alot of false bravado on this board, so perhaps someone will be dumb enough to step up.

i still think it is alert worthy. additionally there is no incentive for any girls on ECCIE to post real pics if nobody seems to care.

As explained above, it isn't that we do not care about fake pictures. We should avoid ads with fake pictures but if given enough information to show the legitimacy of the provider, each member can decide for themselves if they still want to see the provider.

Unlike BP, ECCIE has good regulations. BP carries higher risks due to the lack of regulation with people who frequent the site and the number of people who aren't well-informed about proper hobbying ethics is higher. Naturally, many of the inexperienced providers feel the need to use fake pictures when advertising to protect themselves.

Now, if any provider on ECCIE chooses to use fake pictures, punishment should be meted out accordingly. ECCIE has its own regulations. Either the provider abides by the rules and stay on ECCIE, or choose to post fraudulent ads on unregulated sites and leave ECCIE. In doing so, the provider gambles the privileges and conveniences offered here in hopes of gaining more revenue on the other sites. Originally Posted by John_TX

Ideally, we want to eliminate bad hobbying etiquette. If we can keep educating the others through review boards like this, scams would be extremely limited. The problem is that people new to this often hear about CL or BP, but not the review boards. It makes sense because most civvies use CL and BP for civvy-related ads. Hobbying, on the other hand, remains an underground topic. The only reason I learned about ECCIE was because I did extensive research when I first started. It is not hard to imagine that for every one like myself, there are a few who do not do any research and hence, never find out about review boards.

Going off on a tangent here, but thought I needed to clarify on why other non-review sites should not be considered taboo.

I don't see what the problem is with informing your fellow hobbyists and providers if someone has a pimp or fake pictures just because they are on CL or BP. If someone has a bad experience with a bait and switch or an uneasy feeling about a Pimp, why not post it as an alert to make others aware?

Using someone else's pictures is a scam because you are luring a hobbyist under false pretenses. Similarly, advertising a girl as an independent when you are really her pimp or agency is a scam because there are hobbyists who have their reasons for not wanting to deal with pimps and agencies and should be able to make an informed decision to avoid those girls without being tricked.
Explained in previous post.

The whole reason this board exists is to share information. I don't know why we would want to restrict it.
We're not restricting the information. The information will still be available in other non-alert forums as FYI. Rest of explanation in previous post

I think we are all adults and when we read an alert we don't feel is credible or alert worthy, we can simply ignore it and move on.

I also don't see why highly controversial accusations should always be restricted to the men's or ladies' areas. It gives the accused no opportunity to defend themselves. Sometimes the truth becomes more clear when both sides have had their say. I also recognize that most of us aren't brave enough to do that for fear of retaliation. But I always admire the ones with enough guts to face their opponent in the open.
Accusations based on hearsay that have no direct/urgent threat to the community would not count as an alert, IMHO. When I mentioned "highly controversial accusations", what I had in mind was:
Eg. provider X complaining that client Y did ABC and then client Y retaliates with his own complaints. It becomes a he says/she says argument that no one else can verify. If it's something that affects only either of the two parties, it's not alert-worthy. If it's something that affects the community as a whole (not just some personal bickering), then it's alert-worthy.

Just my 2 cents. Originally Posted by Sensual Sophia

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I don't think that "fake pic" info should go into the Alert section.

My reason is more of a time issue. Prior to contemplating a session (& frankly every time i log on), I glance at the alerts. A fake pic on it's own doesn't endanger me & i don't want to wade thru dozens of fake pic posts when I'm looking for "alerts".

But ALL information is good information. I like the fake pic posts & Beagle's pass/fail threads & I read them (when i have time). They are valued....I just prefer that they go in the co-ed or ISO boards (or the locker room)....or as an informative gotcha post in a bullsh*t review.

What if we just had a forum or thread within co-ed discussions or the alert forum called "fake pics and/or pimps"? Just one thread where people post links to the latest suspect ads with their reasoning for suspicion. It could be made a rule that nobody is allowed to start a NEW thread about fake pics or pimps but that they could just post in the one designated thread. Keep the thread going for pages and pages and people can check it occasionally to get updated on the latest false advertising. Those that aren't concerned with this type of info could easily ignore this thread and it wouldn't clog up the entire board.

Just an idea.

What if we just had a forum or thread within co-ed discussions or the alert forum called "fake pics and/or pimps"? Just one thread where people post links to the latest suspect ads with their reasoning for suspicion. It could be made a rule that nobody is allowed to start a NEW thread about fake pics or pimps but that they could just post in the one designated thread. Keep the thread going for pages and pages and people can check it occasionally to get updated on the latest false advertising. Those that aren't concerned with this type of info could easily ignore this thread and it wouldn't clog up the entire board.

Just an idea. Originally Posted by Sensual Sophia

Excellent idea. It would probably need to be in Coed. I would be happy to see if we could make it a "sticky" at the top of the forum.

Spacemtn
AustinModStaff

What if we just had a forum or thread within co-ed discussions or the alert forum called "fake pics and/or pimps"? Just one thread where people post links to the latest suspect ads with their reasoning for suspicion. It could be made a rule that nobody is allowed to start a NEW thread about fake pics or pimps but that they could just post in the one designated thread. Keep the thread going for pages and pages and people can check it occasionally to get updated on the latest false advertising. Those that aren't concerned with this type of info could easily ignore this thread and it wouldn't clog up the entire board.

Just an idea. Originally Posted by Sensual Sophia

It's crossed my mind and I think it's a good idea conceptually. In practice, not everyone keeps up with the latest information and knows about a thread like that.

I thought starting the BP compilation threads would lead most posts related to BP to go in there, but posters still prefer to start separate threads to enquire. It's more convenient for them that way and that's fine.

If the mods are able/willing to start a thread like what you mentioned and make it sticky, that would be helpful. In addition, the first post of the thread should be update-able by all members with PA so we don't have to wade through pages in the thread. Currently, the search feature does not direct you to a specific page in a thread, but only shows you the thread which contains the word you're querying.

EDIT: hehe spacemtn, just saw your post right after I posted.

Fake pics are not a good business practice but fraud? Geez. with all the weirdness in the hobby, and real world, and someone got their panties in a bind about fake pics.

I believe this alert is part of the reason this thread was started: http://eccie.net/showthread.php?t=86961

I don't have ROS access, so I can't speak to the details of the actual review, but I take this much away from what has been posted in the Alerts section:

1. Upselling was an issue
2. The session ended sooner than the OP expected (i.e., "I was charged the price of a full hour but got chased out halfway through.")
3. The OP was made aware the provider(s) had a weapon

Because a weapon may have been/was involved, I believe the Mods should have dug into this review immediately with an attempt to get both sides of the story. Once the attempt to get the story straight was complete, a Moderator should have posted an alert.

A Moderator should have posted the alert in the Alerts section because the community needs to be aware of what happened. Not the details of the session, but the 3 issues listed above should have been covered. What lead to the talk/display(?) of a weapon?

IMO, expecting members to do a search to find this kind of information embedded in a (perhaps extremely long) thread seems a bit much.

The weapon is the thing I can't shake. Maybe alerts involving weapons need their own section.

@JR7 - No, this thread was not started because of that alert. I started it because of the recent alert threads on the pimps and the fake pictures. Other members pointed out the pimp thread was not a true alert. I felt that fake pictures on sites like BP wasn't a true alert.

A separate alerts section for weapons-related thread would be somewhat redundant considering you almost never hear about it. As long as the alerts forum remain reserved for urgent news that pose a threat to the community, members would quickly become aware of current events.

I believe this alert is part of the reason this thread was started: http://eccie.net/showthread.php?t=86961

I don't have ROS access, so I can't speak to the details of the actual review, but I take this much away from what has been posted in the Alerts section:

1. Upselling was an issue
2. The session ended sooner than the OP expected (i.e., "I was charged the price of a full hour but got chased out halfway through.")
3. The OP was made aware the provider(s) had a weapon

Because a weapon may have been/was involved, I believe the Mods should have dug into this review immediately with an attempt to get both sides of the story. Once the attempt to get the story straight was complete, a Moderator should have posted an alert.

A Moderator should have posted the alert in the Alerts section because the community needs to be aware of what happened. Not the details of the session, but the 3 issues listed above should have been covered. What lead to the talk/display(?) of a weapon?

IMO, expecting members to do a search to find this kind of information embedded in a (perhaps extremely long) thread seems a bit much.

The weapon is the thing I can't shake. Maybe alerts involving weapons need their own section. Originally Posted by JR7

Please allow me to address these comments on behalf of the Moderators and Staff.
1) The Moderator staff has no process or authority to "dig" into the story and get both sides. Some of these alerts or FYI's are posted on people that are not members here.
2) The Moderator staff does not take "sides" in these types of threads. As in a lot of cases there are 2 and some times 3 sides to each story. Since we were not there to witness the act(s) how do we know which "side" is right?
3) When an alert or a general FYI is posted, both sides are allowed to participate and state their POV or case.
4) The Mods do not post alerts without first hand knowledge. It would be completely innappropriate.

I agree that the mention of the weapon is pretty frightening and there is an alert in the alert section regarding same. The Moderator staff here encourages the membership to continue to post Alerts and FYI's so the membership can have as much information as possible to use in decision making processes.

Spacemtn
AustinModStaff

Thanks for the responses beaglebeagle and Spacemtn.

I meant led.