I thought about putting this into a new thread but much of the background dialogue is here, so I'll press on with the reviews discussion within this thread.
Clearly, there's a learning curve to becoming a fairly serious Hobbyist and a bit of a process involved in deciding how one chooses to conduct oneself as such. In my case, I've made a few stumbles along the way that have been instructive, and while I have always approached my participation in this arena with deep respect for the provider community, I have unwittingly managed to step on a toe or two.
As it turns out, I had a hand (among other body parts) in creating the situation that prompted China to break radio silence in such impressive fashion (her participation and deeper appreciation for the WNY corner of eccie are part of the several silver lining aspects in all this). She and I have since talked about some of the related issues,and it was definitely an eye-opener. She and I remain cool (we always were, despite the info to follow), and China is on-board with me sharing the salient points of our discussion.
The chronology of what happened and when these things were revealed can get a bit muddled, so I'll try to organize it in a somewhat sane fashion. Feel free to follow along:
I'm not sure what prompted me to do it; except perhaps to give her an idea of how much I enjoyed our session, but a week ago I contacted Chloe to see if anyone had ever shared their ROS/BCD review comments with her, or if it was unprecedented. Chloe indicated that it was pretty common for clients to share their comments about their experiences with her (but have NEVER shared comments made for or about other providers), in some cases to make sure there wasn't anything objectionable before they post them. Since I wasn't treading in new territory I sent Chloe the text of my ROS with her and she responded positively. (In light of the discussion on review details and crassness, I also followed up this weekend to check in and see if she had any issues with the level of details or content and she said "not at all")
Since that went pretty well, I provided China with my ROS/BCD text of OUR session, and also got a positive response, since many of the things I had to say were not all about the carnal specifics. If she hadn't decided to speak up in this thread, I would have been more than content with my review style, so kudos to China. After reading her comments, it occured to me that my reviews were probably ones that she would consider crass, and when I contacted her to ask her, she confirmed I was right.
Here's the thing; while sharing my ROS with her probably prompted her to speak up, the issue was already on her mind. Unfortunately, this was also because of me, to my chagrin.
In my first review of China, there was a follow-on discussion in the comments about the split-scissor position where I posted a pic of me and a swinger lady friend (before the new photo guidelines were posted)...which was followed by links posted by others to animated illustrations of similar positions....
Lo and behold, China suddenly had clients doing that position with her during her sessions (some of whom were repeat clients who'd never used it before)! Realizing that these guys were doing this specific thing she'd never done before because they read about her doing it with me sort of took her out the moment, and was a bit un-nerving.
As it turns out, China told me she actually likes the new position (it's her new second favorite)...which is one of those silver lining things I'd alluded to above. Still, the idea that someone reads and dissects the blow by blow (pardon the pun) of someone else's time with her and then adopts elements of it with her might well make any provider shudder.
It's already been established that individual sensibilities have a lot to do with how a provider might feel about the content of a review, and the absolute necessity to have an area of review not visible to the provider is not disputed. Still, there are clearly cases where elements of an ROS section might come to the attention of a provider. If I discover that PollyProvider (one hopes there is no such person) likes a popsicle up her ass and I disclose that in a review, I should probably not be surprised if that disclosure comes to rest at my feet when guys start showing up at her sessions with their frozen Edy's. Even if it turns out that Polly wanted more "frozen treats", I can see that she might not want that newsflash to come from me.
The challenge then for me is to find a happy medium between an informative and honest assessment/review and honoring the sensibilities of the provider, if I am inclined to do so (which I am not obligated to do, but wish to). Given that the public portion of the reviews frequently provide the laundry list of menu item acronyms (DFK, LFK, BBBJ, CIM, Asian, Greek, Russian, Polyponesian [I made that one up, I think], CFS, MPOPs, etc, etc)....and more than a few providers list these items specifically in their online profiles....it's sometimes a bit murky to figure out which of these acts spelled out in more detail in ROS is too much...
Up til this point, I've been modeling my reviews based upon what I perceived to be generally accepted community standards for the boards based on the submissions of others. Moving forward, I will attempt to size up the respective comfort levels of the providers I see. If I have some doubts whether the review would be objectionable (disclosure-wise, not recommendation-wise), then I may preview it with a provider. I suspect that most reviews won't rise to the level where they'd need screening, so if I see a provider and don't preview the review with you, it isn't necessarily a bad thing...lol!
When you get to the point where specific acts between two (usually) people is broken down into commodities and menu items, it's probably a good idea to remember that despite the transactional nature of all this, there are still substantial elements of human sensibilities to consider....
From where I sit...Hobbyists and Providers are really in this together....