Making cerb better: Suggestions for 2010?

[Cato 160314]

I've noticed lately that several threads have indicated a recent sense of loss about some aspects of the experience on cerb. I was wondering how we could fix this as a community, and am looking for suggestions. Maybe things are fine as they are, but let's see how we can improve for 2010.

 

One thing people have observed is the loss of some valuable members. Amelia and Katedot have been mentioned, and I hope that they can be re-instated soon, and that the issues that led to their suspension can be resolved in a satisfactory way. Phoebee from Tempted2Touch should be back soon too, after her suspension expires, and I admit that I miss her presence here too, the spinner specialist of Ottawa/MTL (T2T's Summer blew my mind, among other things). So I hope we can eventually get these members back.

 

Another thing is the closing of picture threads like Thong of the Day, Beautiful Breasts, Beautiful Behinds, and others. These were great, and lots of fun. I always looked forward to starting my day with a look at Seymour's cheerful early-morning postings of thongs, babes, etc., and the best among these pics led to lively and humorous exchanges with other members. I understand why Mod intervened to close these, as some members violated the rules for acceptable posts. This created lots of extra work, warnings went unheeded, and so on. But if the rules for posting were stated clearly and in an obvious place (I think right now they're just listed in the album section, as far as I know), and if members could agree to show greater caution about posting, and greater vigilance in reporting any violations, it might be possible to ask Mod to reconsider this decision. I've tried to find a substitute in the thread entitled Favorite pics on cerb, using pre-approved pictures only, but this is kind of restrictive, and though the pics are excellent, it could get repetitive. I'd like to have Redhead of the Day back, and dreamer's amazing Spinner of the Day!

 

Anyway, just some musings. If you have suggestions, let's talk about them.

Thanks.

[Winston 103]

Why on Earth would you want pictures posted here? The 'Net is full of sites, both free and paid, if you want to look at pictures. Posting picts here seems to suck up bandwidth for no real purpose IMHO.

 

If you want picts first thing in the morning, try imagefap.

[Cato 160314]

a) they were fun

 

b) they introduced us to interesting new sp's and starlets, all in one convenient location.

[JustJack 4689]

Well I've had certain thoughts on this subject for months.... since you started a thread, here we go.

 

Most suggestions to make CERB better, come with a "Cost", either financial or time. I'm sure we all have a long list of ideas and features we'd like to see integrated into our favorite site, CERB, but sometimes we forget the cost factor.

 

Personally, I really miss the "Shout Box". It was great, and the announcements enhanced the Chat Room activity, but I understand the cost factor outweighed the benefit.

 

It shocks me that CERB is free to all members. What else in life is free? While I'm sure the corporate group has other revenue streams, in reality, I can't imagine the small amount of revenue from direct, limited CERB advertising does pays the way for the CERB site.

 

So, why not have a "CERB donation buttton" for members who value the site to contribute, even in a very small way. Along with the donation button I'd recommend a comment section to accompany the donation and also various methods of payment including a mail in option for those wishing to remain annonomous. I'd be the first to push it. I don't surf the internet much but I think some utube channels have donation buttons so its not a new idea.

 

To enhance the donation button feature, certain features could be offerred to either members or SP's for certain donation levels such as larger mailboxes etc etc.

 

The reason for the donation button, isn't just to provide a revenue source for CERB, but to be honest, I would imagine that many members, would want to contribute, even in a small way, as a token of our appreciation toward CERB for all the great ladies we have met because of CERB, whether just online or in person.

 

Just a Thought

 

JustJack

 

PS: My other suggestion would be for "infractions" to expire after a year lol. Goodness, I admit, I'm still enbarassed by my one little infraction lol.

[Cato 160314]

Good points, JJ. I agree.

[Capital Hunter 18263]

I loved the picture postings too, especially Seymour's cheerful early-morning postings of thongs, babes. I also enjoyed Discreet Valley's posts in the SP advertisement section, however, upon my return I realized they are suspended!!!. I don't know the reason or reasons for that but they had a real time web site with many pictures of their ladies and links to their reviews which I found all that interesting.

 

I think that the relatively new strip bar section should become even more active with more threads and posts. In this new year, I will encourage lady dancers to join cerb and post in this section and become active (the ladies that I know or I will meet in the SCs). It is to their advantage to let the ever increasing members of this classy great board know who they are and where they dance.

 

I would like also to see even more independent lady SPs joining this board and advertise in the SP advertisement area. I will continue to encourage the legitimate indies that I see (usually unknown and advertise on CL) to come and join this great board and advertise. I will also continue to promote new and unknown agencies and SPs who have recently joined cerb (the underdogs). This board would be even greater with more lady SPs (both dancers and escorts) joining and actively participating and I would do my share and I hope everyone else does too.

 

I also encourage the cerb donation button suggested above. I think it is a great idea.

[Guest Ou**or**n]

Great thread Cato - many of these things should be debated.

 

I agree 100% that CERB is a lessor place since the removal of the picture threads. For a site generates revenues from advertising it always struck me as strange to eliminate a reason for people to visit. No question my usage of CERB dropped once these threads were eliminated. Being here less also led me to post less. Not a good cycle. While I understand mod's issues with the threads I think appointing sub-moderators would work. Many other boards (in other fields) have different levels of moderators and I believe CERB has tons of qualified members who would make excellent moderators.

 

I think the whole practice of not being able to link to 'competitor' advertising forums such as CL to be silly. It makes posts and discussions less useful. I understand this site is part of a larger group of related sites that include other paid advertising sites. However I believe that all the sites in this family are strong enough to stand on their own. I doubt this policy will change as it seems deeply rooted in the TOS for this site (which as a privately owned forum I fully respect), however sometimes it is good to discuss such things. I feel this policy runs counter to the general strengths of the Internet and gives off a feeling of insecurity.

 

The shout box was a great idea and I hope an alternate that uses a better technology that doesn't kill the CERB servers can be found. It is missed.

 

The loss of several highly contributing members (both hobbiests and providers) is a tough one. Sometimes I've seen the threads that have gotten them banned before they have been deleted and I can understand how nasty people can get. The civility of this place is its greatest strength. However it would be nice to see some sort of alternate mechanisms to deal with such problems. Forced moderation of offenders posts could be an option (similar to how new members have their first few posts be moderated). Once again multiple levels of moderators could help out.

 

I personally don't like seeing the awarding of rep points being made public. I prefer my comments to a fellow member on why I like (or dislike) one of their posts to be something I prefer to be private. I certainly have not given as much rep points since it became public. This is strictly a personal thought and I have no idea if anyone else shares this view.

 

CERB and its tireless mod have also done many things right. I fully support the tone of the board. I like the SP and member awards and thought the difficulties this year in these awards was handled with grace and class. I never want to see this board become a frat boy house like some others.

[Cato 160314]

"The civility of this place is its greatest strength."

 

Well said, OutForFun!

[Guest Ou**or**n]

In addition to the pics there was discussion and comments (almost always very civilized). I enjoyed that and how the various threads became a general and on-going discussion of the aesthetic of female beautify in its various forms.

 

Bandwidth? Why the heck should I pay for my high speed Internet if not for viewing pics and videos? Some (most?) of the images were also just links to images on various image sites so they didn't use CERB's bandwidth.

 

Why on Earth would you want pictures posted here? The 'Net is full of sites, both free and paid, if you want to look at pictures. Posting picts here seems to suck up bandwidth for no real purpose IMHO.

 

If you want picts first thing in the morning, try imagefap.

[Cato 160314]

In addition to the pics there was discussion and comments (almost always very civilized). I enjoyed that and how the various threads became a general and on-going discussion of the aesthetic of female beautify in its various forms.

 

 

Exactly. As I said in my original post, these pics often led to exchanges among members, often quite amusing. It was a form of sharing preferences and views of beauty, and not just a private contemplation.

[teched 418]

I must admit, I miss the picture threads, all somewhat specialized. But I also understand the MODs frustration with rules not being followed.

 

I wonder, if required, could individuals who ignore or misunderstand the rules be banned from those threads only. Proably not possible or too dificult to manage, but it would be nice to see the picture threads back.

 

I also miss the shout box.

 

It also appears that in the recommendation threads, the initial recommending member can update the list of services. But I don't see how followup recommendations can change or alter the list of services, other than in the text. Services do change over time and that list at the top can't be changed.

 

Then again, CERB is great as is and these comments fall under "it would be nice if".

[Guest S****an]

This board would be even greater with more lady SPs (both dancers and escorts) joining and actively participating and I would do my share and I hope everyone else does too.

 

 

SA - right on the money. All us members should take more active responsibility in promoting the board as a SP/dancer friendly place and a good way to enhance their business safely. Without the ladies' support it is a much less interesting endeavour.

[Guest s******ecan****]

A lot of people seem to want the picture threads back , I understand why Mod made the decision he did. To me the solution is to have sub-mods willing to share the work load. To work some members would need to step up (how about those most enthusiastic to see them back?) and Mod would have to agree. How about a trial basis of a month or so to see how it works out?

[Loki318 1631]

Ok all good points :)

Just as a personal preferance I didnt follow the Picture threads except for the Red Heads occassionally ;) I just dont have that much time....

 

The ""Donation Button" Excelent idea!! especially if different levels of "donation" could come with extra privlidiges such as posting pictures ?? or axcess to the shout box etc.... I am not an expert with Vbulletin but I have used and mannaged simular software and I would be surprised if different user levels were not available.

 

Expireing infractions sensible idea, My first post however long ago earned me my first and only infraction, mainly because I was a dumbass and didnt read all the Rules first; now what Guy ever reads the instructions first? That is why we have to be taught how to "make love" all the girls know this ;)

 

Sub or assistant "MODS" For sure! I never thought that this site was managed with just one mod! this site is growing and it is too big a job for just one person. There are I am sure qualified people on here (not me though, been there done that ::)

 

Loki318

[mod 135639]

All very good points. Let's start 2010 off right.

One thing people have observed is the loss of some valuable members. Amelia and Katedot have been mentioned, and I hope that they can be re-instated soon, and that the issues that led to their suspension can be resolved in a satisfactory way. Phoebee from Tempted2Touch should be back soon too

 

I reinstated a number of these accounts - how long they stay reinstated I can't guarantee as they will be all on the watch list. Hopefully the time they had away from the site as made them realize how much they are all giving up and will think twice before breaking the rules or disrespecting my or other members.

 

I want the ladies to know that they too must follow the rules and if they are not going to respect the sites rules then they will not be able to benefit from the site.

 

This site is FREE for them to use and it really pisses me off when they abuse it. It's a lot of hard work to run this site and to maintain the level of maturity in the community we have - maybe they just don't see it and just assume it runs this way on it's own.

 

When the work and our efforts go unappreciated (Especially from the ladies who are able to advertise here for free) it leaves a sour taste in my mouth to say the least and I feel that those people DO NOT deserve to benefit from the site.

Another thing is the closing of picture threads like Thong of the Day, Beautiful Breasts, Beautiful Behinds, and others.

 

The problem is I warned a number of people OVER AND OVER not to link to porn sites and many people just don't understand why.

 

Linking to porn sites includes

 

1) embeded or hyperlinks to images on non-porn sites that show genitalia

2) embeded or hyperlinks to images on porn sites that did not show genitalia but the site has a ADULT rating.

4) embeded or hyperlinks of any image showing a sexual act

5) hyperlinks to any site with an adult rating

 

Now one link is not going to give us a adult rating, you would probably need 100 or so but with the images 100 adds up quick

 

The reason for this is that google and the way it gives weight to who links to you and who you link to (other search engines do this too now).

 

Google rates sites (Adult or non-adult).

 

If a site acquires a "ADULT" rating it means that you loose your non-adult listings on google and terms like "SEX" or "PORN" and other "Adult" words are the only way you can get your keywords to come up. Searches like "ottawa escort discussion" would not be considered "adult" as google does not classify "escort" as an adult word. You would need "Ottawa sex escort discussion" for the same results and most people would not type "SEX" as part of that search so the site looses tons of traffic.

 

This also affects the other sites linking from cerb (Such as the ladies personal websites, agency sites and sponsor sites like EC, etc..)

 

If cerb gets a "PORN/ADULT" rating with google all the outbound links would have weight added to make them possible "ADULT" sites as well. Causing them to loose search engine rankings.

 

Personally, I really miss the "Shout Box". It was great, and the announcements enhanced the Chat Room activity, but I understand the cost factor outweighed the benefit.

 

Many people miss this feature and your right cost is a big factor as the shoutbox feature (as nice as it was) was also very demanding on the server and caused all the pages of the site to CRAWL and even made the server crash a few times. The reason is because it was written BAD (It was a free plug in - Meaning we did not pay to have it made).

 

It was fine on a website with 100 members but cerb is too large for that and it was crippling the site.

 

It shocks me that CERB is free to all members. What else in life is free? While I'm sure the corporate group has other revenue streams, in reality, I can't imagine the small amount of revenue from direct, limited CERB advertising does pays the way for the CERB site.

 

It's free as the traffic goes from cerb to escorts-canada (and escorts-canada pays all the bills for this site). The reason being we paid for ads on other discussion sites (we still do on many) but we had no control over the content so we often lost ladies as advertisers as we would get "You support that site and they slander me on that site so if you continue to support them I will not advertise with you" (Extortion at it's finest I know but they have a valid point in many cases)

 

So, why not have a "CERB donation buttton" for members who value the site to contribute, even in a very small way. Along with the donation button I'd recommend a comment section to accompany the donation and also various methods of payment including a mail in option for those wishing to remain annonomous. I'd be the first to push it. I don't surf the internet much but I think some utube channels have donation buttons so its not a new idea.

 

That is a nice thing to say. What we need more then money is more active members. If we had more active members we would have higher traffic and would give us a higher operating budget so just keep posting. We do not want to make paid advertising mandatory for anyone advertising on cerb (like other sites do or have done in the past) we want it to be a free site for everyone but to help we need the rules followed and we need lots of contributors. It's like a good magazine, you renew the subscription each year if you like the content and each year the subscriptions increase. This is by far the best way to get more funding for the site. Let escorts-canada pay the bills (they are more than willing to fund it as a community project). Funny another directory from the USA PM'd me last week asking to purchase ALL the available banner spots on the site. We declined obviously.

[mod 135639]

To enhance the donation button feature, certain features could be offerred to either members or SP's for certain donation levels such as larger mailboxes etc etc.

 

We considered this but we want the ladies to be able to use the site free. If they want to show support they buy a ad on escorts-canada (It will benefit them and cerb). Once they have a ad on escorts-canada for 14 days they can gain access to the SP ONLY area (This gives them 100 photo spots as opposed to 25 and gives them a much larger IN BOX for PM's) now they do not need to have a ad on EC to gain access but it is the easiest way for them to gain access.

 

PS: My other suggestion would be for "infractions" to expire after a year lol. Goodness, I admit, I'm still enbarassed by my one little infraction lol.

 

Only the moderator/admin account can see the infractions and you can see your own infractions. No one else can see these infractions. They are just records so that we know who we have talked to and about what. No need for them to expire... it's actually very important that we can look back and see what we have spoken to people about... but we only look back when they break another rule.

 

I also enjoyed Discreet Valley's posts in the SP advertisement section, however, upon my return I realized they are suspended!!!. I don't know the reason or reasons for that but they had a real time web site with many pictures of their ladies and links to their reviews which I found all that interesting.

 

DV had 8 infractions (7 for the same thing) and he was ignoring my warnings and continuing to break the rules. REALLY WASTING MY TIME. We had some emails back and forth and not that he has been suspended I hope he stops breaking the rules now. He was among the group of people I reinstated today.... We DO NOT want the site to look like CL or other spammy sites so we have SPECIFIC rules to providers when they post. Everyone should read this page as this is the MOST broken rule on cerb is the POST TITLES RULE

 

http://cerb.ca/vbulletin/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_sprules

 

 

I think that the relatively new strip bar section should become even more active with more threads and posts. In this new year, I will encourage lady dancers to join cerb and post in this section and become active (the ladies that I know or I will meet in the SCs). It is to their advantage to let the ever increasing members of this classy great board know who they are and where they dance.

 

As many of you know I use to manage a number of gentleman's clubs and I even owned one years ago. I doubt much has changed and the attitude before was many "LOW MILLAGE" Dancers look down at escorts for having sex and other dancers who do "Extra's" in the clubs. The two don't always mingle well and we are seeing that with "Massage" as well.... we also have many SP's who don't offer things like BBBJ or DATY and look down at SP's who do. Everyone should just get their heads out of their asses and respect each persons personal choices. Just because someone is willing to do something that is a little more risky than what your comfort zone allows does not make them less of a human being. Period!

I would like also to see even more independent lady SPs joining this board and advertise in the SP advertisement area.

 

Here! HEre!

 

I also encourage the cerb donation button suggested above. I think it is a great idea.

 

Again, encourage the ladies to buy banners here and ads on escorts-canada.com. If you really want to DONATE buy your favorite SP a month worth of advertising on EC or a 3 month banner here on CERB as a gift. Many of the guys do this for the ladies!

 

SA - right on the money. All us members should take more active responsibility in promoting the board as a SP/dancer friendly place and a good way to enhance their business safely. Without the ladies' support it is a much less interesting endeavour.

 

That is and was our goal from day one and it's not easy to do but it can be done. The senior/elite members here help a great deal and I thank you all for that.

 

Let's hope 2010 just makes the site that much better.

 

A HUGE system update is available for the BBS SOFTWARE that runs this site. It makes the site more social (Like facebook in many ways) it even has BLOG features and all sorts of stuff... but some of our software is not compatible with it fully yet (such as the chat room, photo albums, etc...) we need to upgrade all that first. Also the SKIN we use to make the site look the way it does now is NOT available with the new release unfortunately so we may need to change the look a little or have it custom created for the new version. We will hold off making the update until we are certain we can do it without any major issues.

[Cato 160314]

Thanks for your detailed reply, Mod. This is all very encouraging.

 

The work of moderating this forum is enormous, and I think all members are grateful and appreciative.

 

So a good start to 2010!

[teched 418]

Thank you MOD. Great information, provides welcome insight as to your challenges and approach to this site. Like Cato, I feel good about where Cerb is going.

 

teched

[Loki318 1631]

Thanks Mod long posts with thought like these take a lot more time to write than to read !

 

Re the upgrade; I have seen some of the recently upgraded Vbulletin software and personally dont care for it ..... but then I am old and resist change.....

 

Loki318

[c***y 181]

Thanks for taking the time to go into detail. Here's to a great 2010 !!

[PistolPete 61421]

Very well said members and Mod, I feel that we should all have a group hug! Nice to the other members back as well:grin:

 

Happy New Year and to a great 2010 everyone!

[Cato 160314]

I'm very pleased to see that a number of members have been re-instated: Amelia, Katedot, Phoebee, Sin Cindy, Aphrodite's, and maybe others that I've missed.

 

Thanks to Mod for this decision, and I hope that a spirit of civility and mutual aid will prevail with all of us throughout 2010.

 

And thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I think it's been a very productive discussion.

[whatsup 11893]

I'm very pleased to see that a number of members have been re-instated: Amelia, Katedot, Phoebee, Sin Cindy, Aphrodite's, and maybe others that I've missed.

 

Thanks to Mod for this decision, and I hope that a spirit of civility and mutual aid will prevail with all of us throughout 2010.

 

And thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I think it's been a very productive discussion.

 

Thanks Mod and very well stated Cato.

 

2010 is off to a great start already. :)

[goose2ca 458]

I would like to recommend that SP's include more terms in their bio's that will enable a hobbiest to search for terms of interest; e.g. blonde, or BDSM, or ebony, chinese etc.

I also notice that many SP's describe themselves as hobbiests, thus making the search under Service Provider useless. Perhaps they think it unwise to describe themselves as sp's?

 

Or there could even be a specific voluntary tick-off box in the Profile (which would be searchable) for this information; e.g. Caucasian, Ebony, Oriental, South Asian, Latin, Aboriginal?