We are well beyond the time where some of us need to put our big boy/girl Underoos on and stop being so overly sensitive. You can't tell someone to "Stay off my thread if you don't like it" then jump into each and every thread you don't like in return...... That sort of hypocracy gets jumped on with the quickness around here..... Too many people who are too smart and smarmy to allow that to happen....... My advice to all is to take a look in a mirror....... If you are getting all worked up in all of this, you need to push away from your keyboard...... Originally Posted by JusanotherdudeJaD, with all due respect:
I'll start by saying I don't like bullies. And believe that Eccie encourages bullies.
If you maintain an environment where antisocial behavior is not only tolerated but encouraged, you can expect people to be upset by it, and you can expect the situation to continue to deteriorate to the point where just about every thread, no matter how innocently or usefully it starts, degrades into this. Eccie has set the bar extremely low in terms of what is considered civil behavior, and a few noisy misogynists have turned Eccie into their private playground because of it.
I believe that the most effective way address the problem you described is to set standards for civil behavior, and enforce them. Meaningful standards, not ones where troublemakers can slide by on technicalities while still offending and insulting members on a regular basis. That's what we have now, and when favored members are seen playing their inane "ooh, look how smart I am, I got away with it" games, others feel justified in their own bad behavior.
It's a spiral to the bottom.
I hear repeated complaints that there aren't enough attractive new providers on Eccie. As it sits now, I can't imagine why a provider would want to participate in the discussions on Eccie. There are guys whose goal is to trap a provider into saying something that could be damaging to her business. It's as if these guys have forgotten that the hobby is, for guys, based on illusion. And that women are here not because you're charming and clever,
Unfortunately, what we have now is a group of wannabe bad boys pissing all over the board, insulting providers based on physical characteristics, and attacking providers who attempt to start threads (the whole inane "threAD" stuff.) Eccie has created at least two places in the Houston section for them to engage in their wankery (one that is for men only and one that is coed) and yet it spills out here on a regular basis.
Not surprisingly, the guys who do this are often the ones who share the least in terms of actual hobby information.
(To these guys: I get it. You need reinforcement from the group that you're smarter than providers. You need reinforcement from the group that you don't find fat girls attractive. You crave the reputation that you only see gorgeous providers. You don't like when certain providers do precisely what you do - draw attention to themselves. You like when your "friends" here pat you on the back for appearing to outsmart someone who very well may have dropped out of high school because of a tough childhood, when in fact she's probably holding back because if she puts you firmly in your place it could cost her business.)
And I find it rather disingenuous that as a moderator you choose to reprimand those who get fed up with the abusive environment, rather than the ones who set the tone. I watch much of the back-and-forth, and I'm reminded of patient preschool teachers (the providers) dealing with unruly children who are flinging their poop around and laughing about it.
"Hypocrisy" is bad. But being offensive is good?
I had been under the impression that Eccie was set up to be a place where escorts and clients can exchange information about the hobby, to the mutual benefit of all. But what we have now is a noisy portion of the community who gets their kicks by taking potshots at certain providers, and hide behind the label of "entertainment", cheered on by followers who don't have the balls to stand up for what's right.
It no doubt generates a lot of page hits - many of these guys don't have an outside life judging from how often they're posting. But I wonder if it actually increases the number of unique visitors to the site, and that is the most important metric of a site's popularity. The core of regular posters in Houston doesn't seem to be growing significantly.
So if Eccie's goal is to have a small group of guys circle jerking each other about how they're really smart guys who don't like fat girls, date only hot providers, and click endlessly on each others' posts, you've got it.
But do you really want that?