Fighting the Good Fight

Having recently spend a good deal of time engaged in various discussions about the Hobby, I have noticed that a central theme has emerged: the dual nature of prostitution. When you cut down to the quick, just about any member of our local underground society seems to be in agreement that there is good prostitution and bad prostitution. Naturally, everyone tends to believe that they are on the good side of the fence. Too bad that it isn’t true.

So, what are the distinctions? Let’s look at a few of the memes:

escort = good
streetwalker = bad

independent working girl = good
girl working for pimp = bad

call girl/single mother = good
hooker with drug habit = bad

sex industry career = good
sexual slavery = bad

The common denominator on the ‘good’ (or at least, ‘benign’) side is self-determination and honest business practices. Exploitation by third parties and peripheral or incidental criminal activity that accompanies prostitution equals ‘bad’.

Of course, the laws of our land are lacking this conscientious perception. To the people who make and enforce our laws, all prostitution is bad regardless of the parameters. The forces that drive this attitude are many and varied, stemming out of non-thinking or wrong-headed ideals that range from Christian morals to radical feminism. In every case, the initial premise that is required in order to reach their conclusions is the notion that women are never capable of making their own informed decisions when it comes to selling sexual services.

Interesting, isn’t it? In order to free these “oppressed women”, we must first take away their freedom.

So, it follows that in the pursuit of legalization, the necessary first step will be public education with the goal of killing the stereotypes that are used to justify such overly broad and simplistic public policy. And, as a community of Hobbyists and Providers, we must police ourselves and let ourselves be seen doing it. Certain of us are not nearly as ethical as others when it comes to avoiding the undesirable elements, and that makes life tougher for all of us over the long haul.

Short version: those of you out there who are jumping back and forth from escorts to streetwalkers are taking a big, gnarly shit on everybody’s dinner table.

Six Boobs in Tacoma

The idiocy of government truly knows no bounds. My home town, Tacoma, is certainly no exception.

In Tacoma, that crew of arrogant assholes known collectively as the Tacoma City Council actually thinks that they can bully the World’s Oldest Profession into submission by raising the amount of the fine that will be levied against those few who are caught, both prostitutes and their customers, from $500 to $750. (hat tip: Destiny)

Oh wait, I’m sorry, that’s not it at all. Look, they aren’t trying to punish people. They merely want to motivate them. They want to encourage the customers to go to “John School”, and all of a sudden — a full 18 months after the John School was initiated — somebody realized that the $600 fee that they extort for the privilege of attending was actually more than the $500 fine that one is allowed to avoid in return for their sheepish submission.

It’s all aimed at curbing street prostitution, which is a worthy goal and something that I must applaud. But nowhere is there any sign of ordinary common sense. We all want the working girls off the streets, if for no other reason than so that the police can spend their time pursuing actual criminals. Unfortunately, nobody down at City Hall has the political stones or the forward-thinking wisdom to realize that the real solution, and the only solution with any chance of success, is to move the prostitutes indoors via legalization, regulation, and compassionate tolerance.

The Iceman Cummeth

Here in the Seattle area, we’ve had an inch or two of snow. If you live around here, you know what that means — the city is closed. The schools are shut down, the roads are nearly impassable (for our collectively shitty cold-weather driving skills) and roughly 50% of the workforce is taking the day off. Including the hookers.

A cursory glance at the Craigslist ERS listings suggests pretty strongly that only the camgirls are working today, for the most part. Streetwalkers, for obvious reasons, will be M.I.A. There are a few new ads on the pooner boards, but nothing to write home about. It appears that the area’s providers are taking a preemptive vacation.

Once again, supply and demand has proven to be a self-regulating system.

Death is a Bad Date

He’s in Atlantic City. He’s killing prostitutes. And now, he has a name.

They are calling him The Black Horse Strangler.

So far, four victims have been found, all in the same location behind a run-down motel on Black Horse Pike, just outside of Atlantic City. All four victims were streetwalkers; only two have been positively identified. In one case, investigators have resorted to circulating images of a victim’s tattoos, in hopes that someone will recognize them.

The best clue so far: a cellphone picture of a man with greasy hair and a beard. Police aren’t saying if the photo was taken by one of the victims.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

As astounding as it may seem, government agencies do sometimes provide services that are valuable and useful to the Hobby (I mean, beyond what they offer down at the Health Department). Today’s contribution: market research demonstrating the most cost-effective means of escort advertising, complete with detailed methodology (hat tip: Tailgunner of CLRB).

Of the 96 men arrested, 71 came to us via our Craig’ s List ad (74%), 17 from our Seattle Weekly ad (18%) and 8 from our Stranger ad (8%).

Thank you, S.P.D.! We couldn’t have generated this data on our own without going to the hassle and expense of creating a focus group. The sample size could have been larger, but I don’t think anyone will complain.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Professional Liars

First things first. Married hobbyists are scumbags who should be hung up by their scrotums and man-raped with a rusty Crescent wrench (the big end).

There, now that we have that out of the way, here’s something really cool that may be of use to you: The Alibi Network.

The Chicago-based Alibi Network is, essentially, an organization of professional liars, ready and willing to aid and abet whatever sneaky shit you happen to be up to, for a price. And as long as you don’t ask them to help you trick law enforcement officials, they don’t care what you are doing or who you want to fool. They will cover your ass by phone, fax or email to help you get time off from work, time off from your spouse, or to pull the wool over someone’s eyes for whatever purposes are important to you.

The price? Not dirt cheap, but not necessarily exorbitant, either. The cost for basic membership is $75 annually, and after that the price per alibi starts at $10 and goes up from there, depending on what level of complexity your needs require. If you value your peace of mind, an extra $35 tacked on the to cost of a weekend fling really isn’t that much. Compare with the cost of a detour through divorce court, and it looks like a real winner.

Coming soon… disillusioned former employees of Alibi Network are rumored to be starting The Blackmail Network. I would tell you more, but then I would have to kill you.

Craigslist Follies — What? No waxing?

$30 BODY SHAVE & TRIM $30 – m4m

---

Reply to: pers-239578126@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-11-25, 3:21AM PST

If you have a problem removing your hair, anywhere on your body, I can help you.
-Shaving or Trimming upper body $30: Chest, Back, or armpit
-Lower body $30: Legs, genital areas—balls, ass, pubic hair
(No need to shave all, let me know which parts u want to remove your hair)
-Also includes a deep cleansing treatment after shave lotion or scrub polish, which removes dull surface skin cells, and produces healthier looking skin.
-Working on a table massage table
-100% Clean, change razor every time
-Shower available
-Nice and warm apartment
-Near Downtown
-I also provide a great combination therapeutic and sensual bodywork

• Location: near downtown
• It’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
• 

Oedipus, freshly scrubbed

I can only speak for myself here. When I go to the dentist, I make it a point to brush my teeth right before I go. Similarly, I do my best to grab a shower on the way to see my M.D. Hell, I’ve even been known to go through a couple cans of Foamy Engine Brite the day before a tune-up.

But for some reason, apparently there are far too many pooners who fail to apply this common-sense principle when visiting a provider. How do I know this? Because of the rash of hygiene reminders on my local boards this past summer and into the fall. In fact, it stopped only recently, largely due to the recent silence of the reigning Northwest Hygiene Queen, Sola. Numerous ladies have spoken out on the topic, but few have had the graphic eloquence of this little gem, reworked and reposted from elsewhere by Southern Tammy:

Client Hygiene 101:

Steps to obtaining a clean backside:
Step 1. Enter shower with a bar of soap or liquid soap and a wash cloth. I know men do not use wash cloths, but it is critical to obtain a clean backside.

Step 2. Once in shower, rub your wet wash cloth and bar soap together until the wash cloth is nice and soapy.

Step 3. Place the soapy wash cloth in your right hand and use your left hand to spread your butt checks.

Step 4. Rub the soapy wash cloth in a vertical motion back and forth over your anus all the way down to your scrotum. Use the same motion you would use when sanding a block of wood or waxing your car.

Step 5. If your backside is extremely hairy OR you are overweight, repeat steps 2, 3, and 4. If your backside is extremely hairy AND you are overweight, you will need to repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 three times. Note, rinse wash cloth between washings.

Step 6. The freshness test. Take your index finger and rub it along your backside, pressing against your crack and anus. Now place your index finger against the tip of your nose and inhale through your nostrils. If you still smell ass, then repeat steps 2, 3, and 4. But this time you will need to squat to gain better access to the smelly area. If you weigh over 250 lbs. Or it has been ten years since your last knee bend, brace yourself by holding on to the soap dish. Remember safety first.

Congratulations, you now have a clean backside.

There you have it, guys… the step-by-step instructions that mommy forgot to write down for you and pin on your shirt. Tammy, despite being known to bake pies and cookies for her favorite clients, steadfastly denies that the “mom experience” is part of her menu.

Media Terrorism in New York

I don’t know who the bigger assholes are in this story, the police and courts for making an (alleged) escort’s home address available, or the local media for printing it. But there it is, bigger than life, right there in the Newsday local news for Long Island. Apparently, in New York state the pillory is still used to punish “fallen women”.

Using the popular Craigslist .com Web site, Nassau police continued to make arrests in a prostitution sting. On Monday in Bethpage, police arrested Clarissa Thompson, 22, on a misdemeanor charge of prostitution.

Thompson, of 1632 Wantagh Ave., is to be arraigned Dec. 4 in First District Court in Hempstead.

Thompson used Craigslist to arrange a meeting for sex in exchange for money at the Bethpage Motel, police said. She actually set up a rendezvous with an undercover police detective and was arrested at the motel on Hempstead Turnpike.

Keep in mind, not only has Thompson not been convicted of any crime — she has not yet even been charged.

Money Down the Drain

I’ve done more than my share of traveling around the country. In most cities where I have checked (which would be most cities where I have been), the daily newspapers don’t run escort ads in their classifieds. That’s usually part of the alternative tabloid scene, or in many cases, simply not part of the landscape at all.

A notable exception to this just happens to be my very own home town. The Tacoma News Tribune has, to the best of my knowledge, always run classifieds for “Adult Services”. Seems odd for a rag that bills itself as a “family newspaper”. But then again, pooners are part of the family too, right? (Sadly, that is all too true. But then, that’s another story.)

And so, for most of my pooning lifetime, the TNT has been one of my primary sources of professional companionship. That covers a period of, oh, let’s say a little less than 20 years, off and on.

In various conversations that I have had with providers, I have learned that the Adult Classifieds in the TNT are not cheap. A one line ad starts at around $220 for a week, and a display ad, like one or two of the agencies sometimes run, can be $450 or more. (Any providers who can correct these admittedly outdated figures, please speak up. Kristy? LoveLee?) So, do the math. Once upon a time, when the TNT was running 20 or 25 ads each day, they were raking in around $4-6K per week by pandering to the horny masses.

Enter Craig Newmark. All of a sudden, escort ads are free, nearly instantaneous, and include photos. If you are a newsprint pimp — hawking an obsolete medium for exorbitant prices — you’re fucked. Today’s TNT contains 5 escort ads. Four of them are one-liners. Do some more math. The TNT has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $250K in business annually, give or take.

And, arguably, the number of providers is growing. Now, that could be in part because Craigslist has lowered the barrier to entry and encouraged ladies to be indie right from the git-go, vs. starting out with an agency (which present barriers all their own, whether they know it or not). Or it could just be a logical result of general population growth. But whatever the case may be, there’s a lot of money being left on the table. And our numbers so far are just for Tacoma, which ranks something like 150th on the list of American cities.

Yesterday’s Craigslist ERS section for Tacoma has 69 ads. Yes, lots are repeats. But then, by now the spam has been flagged out of the mix, too. Cut the number by three fourths. Figure $5 a pop. Multiply by 365, then multiply again by 150. Round numbers — VERY round numbers — I realize. But I think you get the idea.

Craig, WTF are you thinking?

Craigslist Follies — Gentlemen Prefer Blondes…

… especially when they are poised to pack their fudge. There’s just something about a girl with Big Wood. And — oh my! — doesn’t this add a new spin to the concept of “full service”?

I got a bone 2 pick with u!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – w4m – 20

---

Reply to: pers-237187170@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-11-19, 1:15PM PST

HERE!!!U want it????? Then call this #206)853-9520 ask for jo I mean j-o-e-y
$150 fs included flat fee
outcall only no incall

Location: SO KING

• It’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

  237187170

Not Quite a Stocking Stuffer

There’s only 34 shopping days until Christmas, folks. Are you wondering what to get that special provider who already has everything? The Petulant Pooner is here to help. (hat tip: Nora)

Meet the Hot Towel Cabi, a microwave oven-sized accessory for the well equipped incall that is sure to increase client comfort and satisfaction. No more running to the bathroom sink to drench a washcloth in warm water! The Hot Towel Cabi keeps them ready to go, damp or dry, for instant use in those special moments of post-coital afterglow.

Perhaps the best feature of all is the built in UV sterilizer.

Now THIS is Degrading

Leave it to a former prostitute to know what women really want in bed. Leave it to an entrepreneur to supply it. When these two people are one in the same, i.e. infamous Hollywood madame-to-the-stars Heidi Fleiss, you get this: a Nevada brothel for the ladies, featuring former boxing champ, convicted rapist and (recently) homeless bum Mike Tyson.

Apparently Charlie Sheen and Hugh Grant were not available. There was no word on any extra charges for ear nibbling.

A Special Award

See this animal? It’s my new pet weasel. I’ve named him “knew_guy”, after a real life weasel that I know. Want to know why? Onward, dear reader…

It seems that knew_guy, the most active moderator at CLRB, had detailed and specific knowledge of the ongoing sting for almost two weeks. Did he say anything? Yes, he did, and I gotta give him credit where credit is due.

But did he take any measures to put out the word to the broader community? He could have very easily, but no, he did not. And for that reason, an unknown number of the 96 hobbyists and 14 providers who were busted over the last two weeks went down in flames needlessly.

Gag order or no gag order, where there is a will there is a way. Knew_guy was under no such order (that we know of), and yet he chose to protect his “buddy” from public shaming instead of adhering to the fundamental reason for the existence of the forum that he moderates.

Short version: knew_guy kept it zipped, and hobbyists got cuffed.

I’m quite sure that the rationalization he will use is that he was protecting the existence of the board itself. That’s crap. I offer that he was more worried about retaining his moderator status, which he would lose if the board goes down.
knew_guy steakdaddy@gmail.com clrb craigslist review board clreviewboard.org seattle escort reviews

Something’s Rotten in Denmark

Well, well, well… what have we here?

myEcommunity.net shuts down under odd circumstances and for flimsy reasons, after the sysop moans and groans for two or three weeks that those perfidious bastards at TRB are out to get him. Three days later the Craigslist Review Board is under attack following a rather elaborate two-week-long sting prompted by “complaints from the community”.

Riiiiight.

Be advised, the timing is just too fucking convenient. Anyone who was ever involved in the administration or moderation of either mEc or TRB must be considered a potential snitch. Everything that I have ever heard about UHP or TahoeTed indicates that any damn thing is possible.

Chances are good that there will be much, much more on this in the days and weeks to come. Stay tuned!

Craigslist Follies — Let’s Have an Auction!

I just can’t pass up a CL post like this one:

First-time 18 year old escort available. – 18

---

Reply to: pers-234543042@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-11-13, 9:34PM PST

I am an 18 year old escort with very little experience but a definite willingness to learn. I am now starting an open bid for my first appointment, email if you would like a picture.

• this is in or around Olympia
• yes — it’s ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

234543042

Resistance was futile, I had to request a pic. And lookey-lookey what I got back. Her “most recent photo” is, in fact, a high school senior yearbook photo. And a cute one, at that!
Perhaps the best part of all… by using a bit of sleuthery that I developed over this last summer, I was able to check not only that she is almost certainly 18 years old, but also that this photo does, in fact, belong to the young lady who owns the email address. In other words, she’s real.

And she’s taking bids? Can you imagine what this would fetch if it were allowed on eBay?

Politicians, the REAL Problem

Meanwhile, across the pond, they are having an epiphany: prostitution refuses to go away. Gee, maybe somebody should tell them that it’s called the “world’s oldest profession” for a reason. Maybe they thought to themselves, “Hmm, you know this world hunger thing is a bit more than we can take on. Let’s tackle the next biggest problem, instead.”

At least they have some sense of reality, though. The tone of the story would seem to indicate that the core issue is street prostitution and the effect that it has on a neighborhood. It’s not the fact that services are being provided, it’s the fallout that trails the kind of people who are willing to do it out in the open.

But then, just when you are thinking to yourself that those Europeans are truly more enlightened then we are over here, you come to a nonsensical statement like this:

“We very much appreciate how awful it is for people living around the area and are concerned for the prostitutes themselves.

“If there’s anything we can do to get them off the streets we will do it but we know just moving them on isn’t the answer.”

Enlightened, my ass. The politician who said these words doesn’t give a flying fuck about the nasty whores buggering up her local streets, all she wants is media attention. Because even a retard can tell you that the best, easiest and most compassionate solution to street prostitution — and the only measure that will ever remove prostitutes from the streets — is legalization.

Dumbfucks, all of them. Everywhere.

ROB Reduction

Maybe it’s a poor strategy for first-rate pooning, but I normally don’t call out-of-towners. When I see a non-local area code on CL, I just move on to the next ad. I know I am missing out on a lot of great pussy, but I also know that I am reducing my risk of having a bad experience, as well. I haven’t been straight-up ROBbed in eons, and I’ve only had a small handful of less-than-great experiences lately. Why mess with success?

The Internet has introduced a new dimension to the escort business: accountability. Hobbyists look out for each other these days, by posting reviews and ROB alerts. Habitual rip-offs can still stay afloat for quite awhile by preying upon the unwary and the uninformed, but the pool of potential marks has got to be smaller than it once was, thanks to pooner networking. Most importantly, the pool of likely victims no longer includes me.

In this environment, a provider’s reputation within a local area has a big impact on her overall business, her ability to attract and hang on to regulars, and on the quality of her new clients. I would have to say that the savvy providers, along with the newer ones who are smart enough to seek the counsel of the veterans, are aware that the Internet has improved their circumstances as much as it has those of the hobbyist. It follows from this that in a particular city, a provider who values her career will look at her self as a stakeholder in the local scene. She won’t want to mess with her own success, and she has fewer reasons to move from place to place. Why walk away from a reputation that takes time and effort to establish?

And then there are the itinerants. To be sure, lots of perfectly good providers travel for business. Particularly in the case of nearby cities like Seattle and Portland, or say, Phoenix and Tucson, often enough there are reputable providers who are merely chasing a little extra business. And for the ones with solid reputations, the Internet enables them to pack their reputations along for the trip.

But ROBs travel, too. And the “just lay there” types. And the ones with prodigiously long lists of “NOs”. The ones with aggressive pimps. The ones with bogus photos in their ads. Lots of the undesirables travel, because they have a host of good reasons. Even the well reviewed traveling girls have higher prices, almost universally, because they have higher expenses and because they have an inflated sense of their own value. Indeed, they often think that the fact they are “on the road” makes them more glamorous, more “special”, compared to a local. Speaking of “special”, they don’t run specials, as a rule. And in my book, any or all of this that might happen to be true makes them less special, and less worthy of my pooning dollar.

I’m not a high roller. I seek value. So give me a local girl, every time.

Another one bites the dust

Few things warm my frosty little heart quite like this. A particularly nasty pimp has gone down, and gone down hard. Fuckin’ A!

OKLAHOMA CITY An Oklahoma City man will serve 17 years in federal prison for running a prostitution ring.

Twenty-eight-year-old Brandon Keith Hill was convicted in federal court in Oklahoma City in August on eight felony counts including sex trafficking of a minor and transporting women across state lines to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors say Hill recruited a 13-year-old girl to join his group of prostitutes between 2001 and 2005.

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Pathetic

As promised earlier, mEc has been shut down. But instead of just pulling his files and his code and letting access attempts fall into DNS oblivion, the sysop is still desperately trying to pursue his pity-party agenda, for whatever reason. In the place of the old home page, now you will find this:

Thanks to TahoeTed and his little band of followers continued attempts to out me, I’m forced to shutdown MEC. The last attempt contained TRB admin/mod info directly from TRB. So support TRB if you support the outing of hobbyists for personal gain. Otherwise pls go to clreviewboard.org.

What a crock. I won’t argue with the suggestion to support CLRB vs. TRB. But all of the screaming for sympathy because “they are out to get meeee!” is just sickening. This guy was never cut out for the role he tried to play.

Need a tissue, UHP?

Welcome to America. You have the right to remain silent…

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrases “working vacation” and “sex tourism”. Notable detail: a “negotiated” rate of $750 for two hours. You GO girl! Not too shabby for a 42 year old provider. Of course, the client wasn’t spending his own money (well, he wasn’t planning to spend any money at all, it turns out).

KISSIMMEE — -A Dutch woman and her husband were arrested Friday on prostitution charges by Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation task-force agents who said the couple traveled here while advertising their services online.

MBI Sgt. Samuel Riggi Jr. said Anne Marie Dorothe Wittenveen, 42, and her husband, Gerrit Willem Van Den Bos, 65, used the popular Web site craigslist.org to lure customers.

The Road Less Traveled

Control Settings
Petulance:	OFF
Rant Mode:	OFF
Sarcasm:	DISENGAGED

Can hobbyists and providers ever develop meaningful relationships “off the clock”? And if that happens, what challenges are there above and beyond those normally encountered by people in more typical circumstances?

It’s been discussed, at length, numerous times on my favorite pooner board (for instance here, here and here). People on each side of the hobbyist/provider fence seem to be roughly polarized within their own communities: either open to the possibilities or in adamant denial that such a thing could (or should) take place. One’s position on the matter seems to be pretty tightly interwoven with how one sees their counterparts in the other camp.

Today I stumbled across a fascinating and eye-opening post on Compartments: An Escort’s Weblog, that should settle the matter pretty convincingly for the naysayers. The author (I can’t find a name to refer to her by) shows herself to be very much a normal woman, and not the inhuman bitch that so many hobbyists seem to believe in. We see her doing some very normal, very human things: realizing that an attraction exists, looking for clues that it may be reciprocated, wondering if she should dismiss the notion for various reasons. Just as any of us would, she sees her world through the lens of her experience.

There is an inconvenient (from a man’s perspective) little fact about man-woman relationships that almost everyone is aware of on some level, and yet very few people are willing to acknowledge openly. It is the single most basic premise of the human courtship ritual: the female selects the male. Any attempt to subvert this will result in an unhappy ending. If you’re a man, you just have to roll with it. If you are a hobbyist, you must not only roll with it; you must embrace it.

Control Settings

SYSTEM DEFAULTS RESTORED

Domestic Terrorism Alert

Meet Brian Bates, psychopath.

Brian is a one-man amateur vice squad, relentlessly pursuing streetwalkers, johns, pimps and public officials in Oklahoma City since 1996. He calls himself the “Video Vigilante”. Sounds a little like a comic book hero, doesn’t it?

JohnTV.com, the primary outlet for Brian’s obsession, is ostensibly aimed at curbing prostitution. But when you take a look at the methods he employs, it becomes pretty clear that the real mission is to wreak all possible havoc on the careers, families and children of those who do not conform to Brian’s standards of morality.

For instance, JohnTV features a database of license plate numbers that he has captured on video. Oklahoma womenfolk are encouraged to register for email notification in the event that Brian spots their honey out mongering, or just driving through an area where Brian doesn’t think they ought to be.

Not content to only terrorize Oklahoma City motorists, Brian also declared war on the local D.A. Following his arrest in 2005 for pandering (yep, that’s right), Brian has made it his business to make life as miserable as possible for any and all public servants who don’t fit his model of decency. This last Tuesday, Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane was turned out of office by a mere 824 votes. Brian, naturally, says that it was all his doing. The new D.A. will be career police officer and former deputy prosecutor David Prater, who was fired by Lane in 2001.

And what about that arrest for pandering?

Well, according to police reports, Brian was paying prostitutes to have sex with their customers where he could tape it. The original case was dismissed on a technicality, but was then reinstated a few months later on a Grand Jury indictment. The new incoming D.A. (whose election campaign was backed energetically by Brian, incidentally), has been non-committal regarding the case, claiming to be unfamiliar with the specifics. Yeah, right.

And why, oh why, would an anti-prostitution crusader do such a heinous thing? Need you ask? It’s all about the money, of course:

Bates now works full time as the Video Vigilante, and supports himself through television appearances (he has become a fixture on the Maury Povich show) and through the proceeds of a videotape he sells of the busts.

A bribe, by any other name

Since the beginning of time, the human female has used sex as a tool for male behavioral modification and as a medium of exchange. Whether by offering sex, withholding sex, or selling sex — sex is the currency by which Woman gets what she wants.

Sometimes sex is exchanged for something of critical importance.

Sometimes sex is exchanged for something comically trivial.

‘Nuff said.

Is TRB Next?

By now you have probably heard the news (and also here) that mEc is about to go tits up. My initial reaction was “BFD, the place is a backwater compared to the #1 and #2 Hobby forums in these parts”. But on further reflection, I realize that the loss will be felt across the entire scene. Perhaps the gravestone is premature, being that mEc’s demise hasn’t actually happened yet. There may still be hope.

But if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. And if it does, of greater concern will be the future of the next rung up the ladder, TRB. If one accepts the premise that the two newer competing public boards have striven to be all of the things that the original was not, it follows that TRB is the least of them, and thus will now become the most vulnerable to fade into irrelevance.

So instead of asking the question “where did mEc go wrong?”, I submit that the question “where is TRB going wrong?” is far more important.

I first stumbled across TRB some four years ago, when I was a dedicated customer of a single agency. At that time, the concept of providers advertising on the Internet was fairly new to most people, and it would be another two and a half years before I would even become aware of the Craigslist ERS section. The only independent providers that were readily available to me were those in the TNT classifieds, and after discovering that those were often ROBs, I stuck with what I knew to be reliable.

So imagine my delight on finding a source of indies that didn’t require hours of tedious web searching. I thought it would be pretty cool to be able to assemble a selection of choices that I could see with my eyes, vs. having to rely on a perfunctory recitation of physical descriptions read off by the operator at Alicia’s Escorts. Alas, the novelty wore off quickly.

The trouble with TRB wasn’t a lack of providers. The trouble was that the providers I found there didn’t interest me. Most were in the $250 range, most were 25+, most made appointments days in advance, and nearly all required references that I didn’t have and wasn’t interested in pursuing. At that time I could pick up the phone, call Alicia’s and usually have an 18-22 year old (never over 25) at my door in an hour, ready to do FS for $160 flat with no danger of upselling or getting robbed. Why the hell should I bother with TRB?

So, listen up Tahoe Ted, or however is running things over there as your proxy. Your board has fallen into a shrinking niche, and will become just a memory all too soon if you people don’t adapt to real-world conditions. Your user base isn’t growing, or isn’t growing as fast as it should. Your pool of providers are value-challenged, for the most part. And your code is as clunky as it gets. Like it or not, Craigslist is king so you had better embrace that reality.

Craigslist Follies — Endless Summer

ATTN: Rachel (in Tacoma)

LOOK OUTSIDE NOW AND THEN!

Be Careful Out There

It’s all but guaranteed: if you have been in the Hobby for any length of time, you’ve been ripped off. It’s never pleasant, but usually nobody gets hurt. If this story from California becomes a trend, that could be changing soon.

The 55-year-old Castro Valley man responded Friday to a prostitution advertisement on Craigslist.org and agreed to meet a woman at an apartment complex on Civic Center Drive, Detective Bill Veteran said.

But when he arrived at the complex about 9:30 p.m., he was accosted by two men who jumped him as he exited the elevator, the detective said. They demanded his belongings, punched him several times in the face and then stole the $200 he brought for the prostitute, Veteran said.

Leave it to the always enterprising criminal element to release a cover version of an old classic. If you think about it, it’s surprising that it took this long. Craigslist has always been a fertile field for ROBs, for the same reason that it is attractive to newbie providers — because of its anonymity and low barrier to entry. But now the thief no longer need be a woman. And if a hobbyist doesn’t insist on telephone contact, there need not even be a female accomplice.

Watch out, I don’t think this is the last time we will see this sort of thing.

Tastes Like Chicken

From the usually droll land of CLRB reviews, we have this gem, which has to be one of the more amusing review threads in recent memory (hat tip: Starr).

Here’s the scenario: two hobbyists have seen the same (fairly new) provider on the same day. Both write reviews within four hours of each other, and it turns out that both had visited her nether regions for a bit of cunnilingus. The potential horror of the situation was not lost on either fellow, and one moved immediately to save face:

paddleyourowncanoe:
Neener neener neener, I beat you to the review!

Hopefully I beat you to marissa as well. So how did I taste?

Think about it.

UPDATE:
Judging from the comment that I deleted, apparently one of these guys is hurting for a sense of humor. Hint: I’m the petulant one around here, got it?

Oh, That Entrepreneurial Spirit

Every successful businessman knows that an enterprise must either grow, or die. Thus, when your primary market has reached the saturation point, or when you have idle employees that you are not willing to part with, it is absolutely crucial to find new ventures.

Authorities allege that Boyde, operator of an escort service, orchestrated a ring of women, including Ressis, who staged auto accidents to collect insurance money. An investigation uncovered 13 allegedly fraudulent accidents that netted Boyde and Ressis more than $50,000.

According to authorities, Boyde claimed his vehicles were hit by U-Haul or Budget rental trucks that were driven by members of the ring. He also allegedly would cause accidents to occur by slamming suddenly on his brakes, causing drivers behind him to hit the rear of his car.

Based on the information in the rest of the story, it’s hard to imagine that he was making more money through insurance fraud than he could bring in by pandering escorts. Perhaps he should have stayed with what he knew how to do best.

Craigslist Follies — Here’s your chance to meet a real, live pimp!

EVER WANT TO DOUBLE TEAM A FEMALE WELL HERES YOUR CHANCE mw4w-mw4mw – mw4m – 21

---

Reply to: pers-231810806@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-11-08, 5:23AM PST

We are a couple working togethor to make fantasies a reality and if you want to live your dreams or watch us call us and it will be there IN/CALLS OUT/CALLS 175/HR 125/HH ASK FOR DIAMOND^425^260^4149^

• this is in or around Sea-Tac
• yes — it’s ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Ways that Feminists Oppress Women, Part 18

Among the many odious qualities of Radical Feminism is that it habitually fails to support segments of its own constituency.

Feminism tells us that all prostitutes are victims, and that all clients are their exploiters. This is the rationale that will always come to the forefront in any debate concerning legalization of the trade: that there is no such thing, and there can be no such thing, as a benign transaction between consenting adults that involves sex. It can’t be done.

It should be a no-brainer that the more compassionate, more liberal approach to the problems afflicting the world’s prostitutes is legalization. Even more obvious than that is the fact that in the Information Age, more prostitutes than ever before are fully independent: they call their own shots and they keep all of their earnings. The “prostitutes are victims” argument is taking on water, and will sink all the more quickly if illicitness is removed from the equation.

If anyone at all is being exploited, it is the working-stiff hobbyist, who must spend roughly a full day’s take home pay for their services.

How the hell did this get by them?

With the CLRB crowd shaking in their shoes every time a vice goon sneezes, I find myself dumbfounded that nobody over there is barking furiously about this sting report in the TNT.

Incidentally, it appears that times are good for the landed gentry of Federal Way:

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also participated in the operation. They took into custody five of the 13 men arrested after determining they were illegal immigrants.

Not making the connection? Simple. You can always gauge the economic health of a community by the affluence of its landscapers.

To BBW, or not to BBW

And exactly what does that mean, anyway: BBW? Too often, it’s only 2/3 correct.

My good buddy, YES, over at CLRB, was thinking out loud that one must seek out a BBW to find decent GFE at a decent price. I’m not so sure that this is anything approaching an axiom, but I will allow that it seems to be a trend (oh yes, and also here, and here).

So, perhaps YES has something there, with regards to the large end of the spectrum, but it’s hardly universal.

Oh, and by the way, YES… turning out a barista, or at least certain ones, might not be that much of a challenge.