E dot com has been neutered
I'm not 100% sure that e dot com has become completely irrelevant [yet], but it has been severely neutered. With the removal of reviews (or more accurately removing them so that only VIP's can see the detail, which is what I think may have happened although I can't confirm), there is almost no point in being a free "standard member" there, which probably includes most of us (guys and girls).
What this is boiling down to, I think, is that e dot com is cooperating with the FBI and IRS. The "verification" for Free Members is a way for them to keep track of persons paying versus not paying and to assert some control on who joins (as a Provider, at least). Personally, I still feel that it would have made more sense for ALL Free Members to have to go through verification. Otherwise, what this boils down to is [B][U]money[/U][/B]. For whatever reason (legal fees due to the raid, cooperation with the IRS, whatever) they want / need money. They are probably using these changes to establish their legitimacy with the government.
The "removal" of portions of reviews and so forth (refer to Ezenuf's post copied below from the General Reports thread) is probably to show cooperation with the FBI or other agencies. They are trying to "clean up their act" whether it is financially for the IRS or otherwise for the FBI.
JR
[QUOTE=Jay Malibu;1093599]Unfortunately e dot com has been rendered completely irrelevant.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Wingman Todd; 1093522]There has been the last two days, much discussion over on indys about e-com. I direct you to the "recent topic" forum (Is E. Com irrelevant? Anyone willing to pay for what that!). Waltmore has several great posts there. General feeling is that there will be a mass exit from the ladies on e-com and going to other sites. My advice is to jot down numbers and info of your favorites before they leave.
WM. [/QUOTE][QUOTE=Ezenuf; 1093785]News.
11/17/2010. Changes to Reviews.
Because of certain changes we have deemed necessary to make to the website, we have removed the General and Specific Details sections from Reviews.
When you read a review you will now only see the answers to questions listed on the review submission form that are for Escort Appearance, Visit Location, and Escort Review Rating.
If you have suggestions for additional questions you think would be a valid addition to the Review submission form please use the SUGGESTIONS link on the Members Console and send us your suggestions. [/QUOTE]
I'm VIP and still can't see anything
I've been a VIP member there for quite some time, and the format is now the same for basic and non VIP members. There is no visible text so even if your a paying VIP client it does no good. The only benefit being a paid provider is that anyone both regular and VIP can see my website and contact information. Oh so exciting isn't it?
[QUOTE=Jry Wild1; 1093819]I'm not 100% sure that e dot com has become completely irrelevant [yet], but it has been severely neutered. With the removal of reviews (or more accurately removing them so that only VIP's can see the detail, which is what I think may have happened although I can't confirm) , there is almost no point in being a free "standard member" there, which probably includes most of us (guys and girls).
What this is boiling down to, I think, is that e dot com is cooperating with the FBI and IRS. The "verification" for Free Members is a way for them to keep track of persons paying versus not paying and to assert some control on who joins (as a Provider, at least). Personally, I still feel that it would have made more sense for ALL Free Members to have to go through verification. Otherwise, what this boils down to is [B][U]money[/U][/B]. For whatever reason (legal fees due to the raid, cooperation with the IRS, whatever) they want / need money. They are probably using these changes to establish their legitimacy with the government.
The "removal" of portions of reviews and so forth (refer to Ezenuf's post copied below from the General Reports thread) is probably to show cooperation with the FBI or other agencies. They are trying to "clean up their act" whether it is financially for the IRS or otherwise for the FBI.
JR[/QUOTE]
E dot com certainly has been neutered
I've been a 'VIP' on E for several years. The boxes on the right of the reviews that formerly showed FS, BBBJ, DATY, MSOG and the like are gone. The paragraphs written to describe the "encounter" are gone. The only thing remaining from the previous format are the boxes on the left where the guy checks off the girl's appearance ("Super Model" or whatever) , whether the pics and profile are accurate, whether the girl has tattoos, and the like. There is nothing in the reviews showing what happened during the encounter. This is the new format for reviews and all old reviews have been redacted to conform to this format. If non-VIP's see what I am seeing there is no difference between non-VIP's and VIP's from the stand point of reading reviews.
Everyone can take these events and the circumstances of the raid and add them up any way they want. My sense is the previous format exposed the site owner and all managers to being charged criminally with promoting the 'P' word because the reviews were clearly used for that purpose, everyone knows it and whether we like it or not, the advertising and review sites in this hobby are aiding and abetting. There's a more serious charge of racketeering which is basically operating a criminal enterprise. As an illustration, doing a household burglary is burglary, doing two household burglaries is two counts of household burglary, but being in the business of committing burglaries as a regular form of business is racketeering. It is rooted to the days of organized crime where crime families made their livelihood in gambling, rackets and the like. Being in the business of crime is more serious than committing crimes separately and occasionally. My sense is the site owner and all managers decided the government was about to make this whole thing just too hot to handle and they needed to distance E and themselves from reporting what happens when two people get together.
I'm not sure we are done seeing the changes in E. Watch for changes what the girls are permitted to state on their profiles. I look for this to turn in the direction of the more traditional dating sites before it is over. We'll see the hot pictures but we won't read beans about services or '$300 for one hour' etc. In fact I think this has been removed already.
