Recent threads on bannings and the request for a list of banned user names and the new review system have encouraged me to set out my own views on these:

Point 1:

There is a list of rules for posting on the community section. There always was one as far as I can remember, but for whatever reason, they did'nt seem to be that strictly enforced or require enforcement until matters came to a head last year. There is now a concise set of rules posted as a sticky by Highwayman at the top of this forum. New members should be encouraged to familiarise themselves with them, and some existing members who somehow seem to have failed to notice them. The rules make quite clear the sort of behaviour that will result in a banning; permanent banning for breaking the "more important" or for persistent infractions of other rules. They also cater for temporary banning for lesser persistent infractions.

Point 2:

Community moderators are there to ensure that this rules are complied with, but also to assist community members. Community moderators have only recently been able to ban user names themselves and of course E-I staff have always been able to do this. Community moderators have a range of measures at their disposal: editing/deleting/moving threads, issuing infractions, pming members, that fall way short of banning. Community moderators have to work within the rules of the community section and the guidelines set by Patricia, and are answerable for their actions....so uniquely amongst the membership, community moderators have to take responsibility for what they do...both in terms of being answerable to Patricia and in being able to justify their actions to anybody else. Some of the people here who protest the most, have been the very ones who ran to admin staff or the community mods when they had problems and needed help. Community moderators assisted them without prejudice.

Point 3:

This point has been made by other community moderators, but I'm going to make it again anyway. No community moderator, to my knowledge, would feel comfortable in banning a paying advertiser i.e. an escort, probably because of the possible revenue implications for E-I. This does'nt mean that we wont bring something to the attention of E-I staff, but at the end of the day, the ultimate sanctioning of escorts should be the preserve of E-I staff. Members who jump to conclusions without knowing the full facts should take cognisance of this.

Point 4:

Reporting of threads/posts or blogs on the basis of rule breaking are not the preserve of admin staff and community moderators. Anybody can report them by pressing the green ! button if they believe that a rule has been broken. The report is then looked at by admin staff/community moderators and appropriate action is taken if deemed necessary. Many members are already aware of the report a post button and make us of it to assist the community moderators.

Point 5:

This site has a list of members (user names) but seem people would also like to see a list of former members (banned user names) and the reason their membership was terminated. Well the reason is obvious and simple, they broke rules and in all probability, it was the major ones that they broke once or numerous times. The point of such a list, other than for reasons of nostalgia, is beyond me. Click on a user name profile and you can find out if somebody is banned or not.
Furthermore, members who are temporarily banned for short-term periods may not actually want the membership to know the reasons for their banning. If the reason for the ban, is not one that should be of general concern to the membership, then I regard it as a matter between the individual member and the E-I Admin Staff or the Community Moderating team. Posting a reason for a member's banning could breach a confidence, but of course, any member is free to post why they were banned after a temporary ban has expired.

Point 6:

Many threads on E-I are devoted to the Review System. In my opinion, the Review System is a complete mess and lacking a lot of credibility as a result of manipulation by bogus reviewers. The fake positive or negative reviews are a serious attempt by some individuals to distort the business and service standards of individual escorts. The task that is being undertaken by the Reviews Moderators is an important one for the site. My own opinion, is that they require similar powers to the Community Moderators in respect of the Review System i.e. placing health warnings on reviews (Ratting), editing/deleting and either being able to recommend banning to E-I staff or being able to ban fake reviewers themselves. From the escorts' perspective, fake negative reviews can damaged a good service provider's business with financial consequences. From the clients' perspective, fake positive reviews, can mean bookings that result in bad punting experiences and money wasted on poor services. The more experienced punters are aware of the pitfalls, but the less experienced ones or first time punters may not be able to differenciate between the list of reviewers for a particular escort. A credible review system, which is the goal for the Review Moderating team, should greatly improve the information available to clients and will hopefully result in your money being better spent. More genuine reviews should be encouraged.