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Account Disabled
Join Date: Dec 31, 2009
Location: Austin
Posts: 2,020
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ThreADs
Recently there's been a lot of traffic (and a lot of reported posts) about threADs - specifically, providers who post threads in unrelated forums which are advertisements. I thought it might be helpful to explain our thoughts on the subject (or, at least, mine - other mods, feel free to jump in).
First off - to state the obvious, for the women who post here - this is a business. I hate to be the one to break it to you, guys, but she's not really talking to you just because you're a sparkling conversationalist. The ladies here have *gasp* an agenda! I know, it shocked me, too.
And ladies, I know this may surprise and astound you to learn this - the men here have an agenda too! With a few exceptions that we all mostly point and laugh at - men are not here because they took a wrong turn at okcupid. They're here for one thing and it isn't recipes.
So. On a good day, those agendas mesh! Thus, we have the co-ed forum, where men and women talk, flirt, and do the usual dances that result in PMs, phone calls, and reviews. Working As Advertised!
Do women make posts to get attention? Absolutely. Do they do this with an agenda? Absolutely. Is it allowed? ....Absolutely (the management has stated such, explicitly). For one thing it would be impossible to police otherwise, and would only serve to punish the women not bright enough to cloak their threADs sufficiently. And while I personally am attracted to super-intelligent conversationalists, that may not be top 10 on the punch list for many of you and penalizing women who aren't is unfair.
Speaking of unfair, what is also unfair is women who simply see Co-Ed and ISO and whatnot as "HEY FREE AD SPACE". It's not fair because the great majority of providers play by the rules and post 2 ads a week in the proper forums like everyone else does. When other providers cheat and post blatant ads (as opposed to threads) saying "HEY CALL ME" in Co-Ed, it penalizes the women who play by the rules. And trust me - the women report those threads FAR more than the men. They know (and resent) it very well.
So. How do we permit threADS and stop blatant ads? Well, it's a judgement call. What I look at is whether or not a conversation is possible. For example the classic threAD - a visiting provider doing a drive-by in Co-Ed saying "Hey, I'm coming to town on 2/11, 2/12, and 2/13 taking appointments from 9a to 3p and my P411 URL is here aaaand where should I stay?" Now... obviously... the intent here is pretty obvious. Yet - there is an opportunity for conversation (obvious and retreaded as it is). It is a discussion - a Co-Ed Discussion. It's allowed.
Whereas "Hey, I'm lonely, call me" - is not only a threAD, it's not a discussion. What's there to discuss? "How lonely ARE you?" "Are you really lonely or are you just pulling our leg" "Have you considered match.com?" I mean - it's an ad, it's blatant, and we'll lock and/or pull it because not only is it a threAD, it's an AD - not a conversation, but a one-way broadcast. No discussion.
I hope this sheds a little light on things. Feel free to tell us where we're wrong, but bear in mind we are also working from rules we personally did not make up, and exercise the best judgement we can. We're all after the same things, we're all hobbyists like you (well, assuming you're male), and we all groan at threADs.
A final note - the worst thing you can do to a threAD is not respond to it. It drops off the active list of threads, people ignore it, and the person who posted it didn't get the attention they wanted. Seriously - if you hate threADs, *ignore them*. That is literally the best thing you can do to combat them. Without replies, they drop off into never-never land very quickly.
Vyt
AustinModStaff
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My Bio Page - Texas - San Antonio
