Phaedrus

Looks like an opportunity for creative marketing to me. Could you claim it's a new and improved kind of lube, or something? :)

If you heard they had "big things", then I fear someone lied to you...

Yeah, I know what you mean. This is probably worse for people who don't generally write recos. If I get this, my approach is very simple: the answer is always, "Yes, of course I'll write you a reco!" If she deserves one (despite asking - it annoys me too) then there's no problem. If it turns out that I was lying... then there's still no problem, because I'll probably never see her again :)

Okay, I'm hijacking this thread, if you'll forgive me. I've heard various claims and counter-claims that sex is better for the circumcised, or for those who aren't. The thing is, most of us will never know, because it's either done when you're a kid or not at all; AFAIK circumcision in adulthood is rare. So, if you don't mind my asking... did it make a difference? And if so, how? And if you do mind my asking, I'd consider, "Fuck off and mind your own damn business" to be an entirely acceptable answer :)

This is absolutely true (and a great shame, IMO) but I'm working on the assumption that it's fairly fixed for all ladies and therefore doesn't make much difference to the relative numbers of recos they get. Although now you mention it, it occurs to me that I have no good reason to assume this... I hadn't thought of that. But yes, you're right. A fantastic SP who advertizes only on BP may not have very many recos here. Yes... I did not intend to imply that the frequency of someone's advertizing has any bearing whatsoever on the quality of the end-product. But re-reading that bit... I could (and probably should) have phrased it better :) And how many of us have much common sense, do you think? :) But yes, it'd be great to have more re-recommendations. I've done this on occasion, although probably nothing like as much as I should. One thing that's always bothered me slightly about it is the prospect of coming across as a shill, especially if she doesn't have too many recos from other people. I'm honestly not sure how to play this. To be honest... I almost never ask :icon_redface: In most cases I'm seeing someone who already has a reco thread, and I assume that if she's already got recos she won't mind another. I do read people's websites to see if they have a policy there, in which case I also won't ask. And I'm not one for sharing a lot of intimate details myself, so this isn't something I have to worry about asking the ladies about. But yeah, if someone has no reco thread that I can find... I'll often ask her if she's got one, which gives her the opportunity to say "No, and I don't want one, thanks" or (more likely) "No, but if you'd like to start one that'd be awesome" Absolutely. But this is getting into the much broader topic of "How do I go about deciding who to see?" for which recos are only a part.

But cunning enemy, he keep hand in pocket, and he feel cocky all day!

So, there's a couple of related questions that come up occasionally. If you can't say anything negative on CERB, how do you know who to avoid? And if a SP has no recommendations, or only a few, or nothing recent, what does that mean? And does it mean she's no good? One thing to get out the way immediately: yes, the fact that you can't come out and say someone's no good (unless they're worth a post in the "scams and warnings" section, which is rare) is a limitation. However, the ethos of this board is that we accept that limitation in return for the generally more pleasant atmosphere that results, and consider the exchange worthwhile. There are other boards for those who wish to read the negative stuff, and there are plenty of folks who use them in tandem with this one. But, it must be said, trying to work out who to see - or whether or not to see someone you're considering - is kinda tricky. The point of this post is not to try and provide a solution, because there will be as many solutions as there are readers; the idea is simply to throw some thoughts out there, and hopefully to mention one or two things that the reader may not have considered. Bear in mind that there will also be one or two things (or more) that I haven't considered, so hopefully others will fill in the blanks... and also chip in if they disagree with what I've said. It is undoubtedly true that some ladies have MUCH larger reco threads than others. However, there are a great many reasons for this, and surprisingly few of them have anything to do with how good a time you'll have if you go and see the lady in question. First up: you have to actually LOOK at a reco thread to evaluate it. Some consist only of recos, but others have a lot of cruft. I'm talking about posts along the lines of, "Thanks for the reco!" "How do I contact her?" "Her website's at ..." "Is she still in the business". Officially, these should be pruned out; in practice, that tends not to happen. And that means you, dear reader, have to go and see for yourself how much of a reco thread is genuine recommendations and how much is extraneous fluff. Post-count alone doesn't tell you everything. Second: a great deal depends on how many clients a lady sees. Someone who sees several clients a day will probably have more recos than someone who sees a few clients per week. Someone who focuses on longer appointments will probably see fewer clients than someone who specializes in shorter ones. Third: people leave and re-join this business all the time. A lady who's been inactive for a while will have a blank period when she can't possibly have acquired recos. Fourth: traveling SPs may well have one reco thread in each city they visit, and those threads will necessarily look short compared to those for ladies who stay in one place. Fifth: SPs who are new to the industry tend to pick up reviews more quickly than those who have been around for a while. Sixth, and related to the above: most of us guys will write a reco once, when we first see someone and like her. We don't write another reco for the second visit, or the third. Maybe we'll write another one after several visits, but I think that's quite rare. This means that SPs who are acquiring new clients all the time will garner far more recos than those who rely on happy clients coming back for repeat visits. I suspect that some of the best SPs are almost invisible on the board, both because their clients won't write a reco for the fifty-third visit, and because they have so many repeats that they don't need to actually advertize for new clients. Seventh: a very few ladies are on the "Do Not Review" list, and there are others who prefer not to have reviews or recos written about them. Others ask us to limit what's written ("No gory details, please" is not uncommon) and this may discourage potential reviewers. Eighth: spinners tend to get more recos than BBWs. And yes, I know there's many other body types... but you see what I'm getting at, no? I don't actually know why this is, but I suspect some guys fear schoolyard-level judgement if they own up to liking bigger ladies. Ninth: younger SPs tend to get more recos than older ones. I suspect the reasons may be related to the previous point. Tenth: SPs seem to generally get more recos than MAs, and dancers hardly get any at all. I have no clue why this is. Eleventh: this is rare, but some reco threads have been deleted - ISTR this was something technical related to deleting posts from long-retired members. I can think of one SP who I've written a reco for but you'll never find it, because her old reco thread is gone. You'll have to make do with her new, shorter one. Twelfth: some ladies ask for recommendations during or after (or even before!) a meeting. Different guys may react to this in different ways; I don't actually know what net effect this has on the lady's reco thread. Okay, that's a dozen things, which is enough for now. Doubtless I've forgotten one or two (I'll probably think of another as soon as I post this). In the meantime... I hope that was at least somewhat helpful to those of you trying to navigate the maze of tantalizing options we have available, and I hope that it's given you something to consider when you come across a lady who tickles your fancy but seems not to have too many recommendations compared to some others.

Happy birthday, Amelia!

Happy birthday!

There's an old Chinese saying: Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. I'm quite happy to try and prove it wrong and let friends accumulate too.

Ugh. Yep, this is out of order. If you're posting pics of a CERB lady, ask first, guys... irrespective of the rules, it's just common courtesy. I should just report the post - hopefully Mod will remove it.

That's changing, rapidly. The Internet and the rise of torrents and piracy is putting an end to making much money off content. The money's in live shows and merchandise. Going back to the subject of this thread: if you're hankering after someone who can put on a show and you happen to be at Barb's, look out for Jolie (on the assumption that she's still there - I haven't been for a while). Her stage show is well worth watching.

Sisters of Mercy - Dominion

It's hard to look at anything related to yourself in an objective way. Anecdotal example, from memory: I recall reading somewhere that 90% of people consider themselves to be better-than-average drivers. This says almost nothing about the way anyone in particular drives, and a lot about the fact that we have different ideas of "better". A similar but opposite thing happens when we look in the mirror; most of us are just inherently dissatisfied with what we've got. It's a shame, but I think it's an inevitable part of being human. And I have to say, when I've met people who genuinely did think they were shining examples of perfection, I've tended to think that they were assholes. Narcissism is obnoxious.

Er... what?

I'll glance at it, and ignore it unless there's anything interesting. "interesting" for me means "something other than the usual run-of-the-mill ads". I don't look through the archives - I think I've done so twice, ever, and the first time was by accident. I can't shake the feeling that there's quite a lot of posting repetitive ads in order to push others off the front page goes on at times. I have no proof of this... it's just a feeling. For those who are lamenting the way things used to be, two comments... First: I think the best CERB-oriented solution is probably for those of us who'd like to change the way the shoutbox is used to get on and use it the way we'd like to see it used by others, and see what happens. The pendulum may have swung one way, but it could swing back. However... I'm not sure that this will happen because I've found that Twitter is just so much better for this sort of thing that the shoutbox simply can't compete.

It should be noted that the pic threads seem to be enjoying a burst of popularity at the moment; they seem to have proliferated somewhat over the last few months. It remains to be seen whether all of them will last. Threads are born and die and get resurrected all the time. I don't see any particular reason to push them off into a separate section, any more than we'd want to for the song thread or the silly game threads or anything else. It's pretty obvious from the thread titles which they are, and I don't see that it's a big deal to just not read them, for those folks who don't want to. Or to have to click through to page two or three or four of the general section to find other threads. Although, Mod, if you're reading... one thing that would be nice would be a way to increase the number of threads displayed per page in the forum index pages, kinda like you can increase the number of posts per page when viewing a thread...

Congratulations, Meaghan! Looking forward to many more...

Congratulations, Emma!

I've noticed that I'm becoming ever more inappropriate as I get older... BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!