Join the Club

Well, you are NOT wrong. TUSCL isn't all that different from a Potluck Dinner. People are expected to share.

Some people don't mind freeloading, and some get away with a LOT of freeloading.

On the other hand, consider that with his slightly "freeloading" question, singleinaz started one of the BEST threads I have eer ready. Just look at the huge number of posts. And some of these posts have a lot of good content in them. I have really enjoyed reading that "VIP" thread. (Keep up the good work, guys.) Furthermore, now that singleinaz has been exposed to this wealth of information about the VIP, maybe he will decide to try one out and let us know how it went.

Probably an accident it turned out so well. Go figure.

Sorry about the typo in the above post. It should read "one of the BEST threads I have ever read". My keyboard seems to have a mind of its own sometimes.

Not wrong! No further comment needed!

This is a discussion board, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. You shouldn't post anything here you aren't willing to freely share with complete strangers, because you can be sure that's what you're doing. The original poster in the VIP thread didn't ask for detailed info. Quite the opposite, he asked a general question. It would be different if he had asked what kind of extras are offered by a particular dancer or club.

The kind of one-off questions I find most annoying come from people who seem to regard the board as an info dispensing service that owes them an answer. They aren't interested in joining a discussion. They act as though our only reason for being here is to sit around waiting for somebody to come along with a question, whereupon we spring into action. I guess you could say there was a hint of that attitude in VIP guy's post (and the fact that he never followed up), but I'd say that's a stretch.

I think it's kind of petty to check a poster's reviews before deciding if he's worthy of a reply. For one thing, that's buying into the question & answer service mentality. A reply on the discussion board isn't just a one-on-one deal. It's potentially a benefit to anyone else who reads it. Or it could be the start of an interesting thread involving several posters. So, I think it's good to have no barriers to joining the discussion other than the ability to type something intelligible and click 'send'.

Afterall, that's the way Founder set it up. If he had wanted a review resume to be the required dues payment for participating in the board he could have made it that way, as he did for accessing the full reviews. I'm glad he didn't, and I think the fact that he chose not to makes it especially silly for posters to try to enforce that through peer pressure.

Likewise for the idea that posting to the board without contributing reviews is freeloading. Posting to the board contributes to making the board better (well, ideally), and a vibrant discussion board in some small way makes TUSCL better. Reviewing and discussing are different activities that attract a somewhat different set of people. There's overlap, but only a tiny portion of reviewers ever post here. In my opinion, Founder's formula for encouraging reviews with the reward of full access has has been highly successful. People post reviews mainly because they get something in return, not out of any selfless allegiance to "the club". How many more reviews would he get if board participation were added to the reward? Not many, I'd bet. Most likely, adding such a barrier would only kill off the board, making any reward moot.

Don't get me wrong, I don't deny that it's fun to ridicule posters who are full of expert pronouncements about strippers but don't have any credible experiences of their own to share. Just be careful what you wish for.

I agree with the original premise but I also relaize that everyone starts out as a newbie and we should be willing to make allowances for that. We can't expect people who are new here to understand our unwitten rules. I think if we were all more courteous and welcoming we'd have a better overall discussion board. Isn't that something we all want?

I agree with Chandler's post.

I would add that when we have intelligent discussions on the board, and/or share useful information, we all benefit even if it is information some of us already know. To the extent we succeed in raising the collective knowledge of the consumers in this market, the better off we will all be, because it will force providers across the board to deliver more honest, higher quality service. Thus, even though I've been doing this for a while, I am ultimately better off as a consumer if every newbie goes into a club with the benefit of full knowledge.

FONDL,

I will agree that MANY want "I think if we were all more courteous and welcoming we'd have a better overall discussion board.", but there are those that seem hell bent on being a PITA.

I totally agree with one point that Chandler made -- there is NO reason why a person should have to post any reviews in order to participate in the discussions. However that was NOT the point of contention. The point that Carolina Wanderer and a couple of others made was that it makes sense to look at reviews and post reviews (not mandatory, or course -- just sensible) before asking VERY SPECIFIC questions, which, if you actually read the reviews that have been posted, will probably be answered. I certainly do NOT mean to criticize singleinaz. As I said previously, his initial post led into some of the best discussions I have EVER read on this site. So I congratulate singleinaz for this. I also agree with recent posts by clubber and njscfan that we will all better off if we concentrate on seeking/providing information, maintaining a generally pleasant demeanor, and avoid criticizing each other. Sometimes it is hard for a person to offer an honest opinion without seeming to criticize someone else for their contrary opinion, but that's life.

CarolinaWanderer, it's obvious to me that you apparently don't have much of any worthwhile "experiences" to offer anyone. It has nothing to do with charity...it's simply because we've all been "new guys" on this board at some point. Some of us get a lil tired of seeing people that think that they own this site bullying other people around about what can & can't be discussed on this board.

BTW, like I pointed out to you in that other thread, singleinaz DID post a few reviews, which is more than a few people on this board can say with any truth. I would think that someone with a dozen or so views in over *5 years time*, like CarolinaWanderer, would think twice before casting stones at others.

MisterGuy,

I think CarolinaWanderer must have wandered into a lamp post as a child. The resulting brain injury shows in his posts here at TUSCL. It is obvious that on the rare occasion he reads through a thread before offering his childish opinions he dosen't understand the subject. Just leave him in his football helmet to wander around the internet generating bad will for morons everywhere.

" I also agree with recent posts by clubber and njscfan that we will all better off if we concentrate on seeking/providing information, maintaining a generally pleasant demeanor, and avoid criticizing each other. Sometimes it is hard for a person to offer an honest opinion without seeming to criticize someone else for their contrary opinion, but that's life."

Arbeeguy, you have convinced me that to enjoy this board MisterGuy should be on ignore.

"maintaining a generally pleasant demeanor, and avoid criticizing each other. Sometimes it is hard for a person to offer an honest opinion without seeming to criticize someone else for their contrary opinion,"

Very difficult. :) Sometimes opinions need to be expressed vulgarly, but that should be the exception, imo. I like the sentiments, in the quote supra. :)

"maintaining a generally pleasant demeanor, and avoid criticizing each other." -- Havent seen these qualities in many of CarolinaWanderer's posts.

CarolinaWanderer, you have convinced me that you are a pussy that can't take being held to account for your own stupidity, period.

CW- I don't think you're entirely out to lunch on this one. Fact: To post on "DB", all one has to do is register a nickname. To merely read board, anyone with a computer can do so.
IMO, the posts that start with: "Anyone know of some good clubs in..." are often symptomatic of a freeloader. The kind of focussed & specific info these folks really want to know can only be found in review section, which requires paid membership, or submitting a certain number of reviews over a period of time.

Last time I looked, its the same way @ TER, which, btw, nj-fan wishes to model tuscl after. Yes, the reviews there are candid & descriptive, but can only be viewed with paid membership,or submitting reviews.

That said, I think VIP thread OP asked a good legitimate broad based question that could (and did) generate a good ammount give & take discussion.