Originally Posted by
MidlifeCrisis
I think the answer is that it "recruits" people to the site. It sets EI apart from other sites which just have glossy photos, and most people will assume (often correctly) that the pictures have no relationship to the person who will answer the phone.
When I first found the site I spent a while browsing the forum, and it gave me a level of trust that a lot of advertisements were real. Also the discussions were very useful in telling me what to expect and how to behave. Without that initial time browsing I would never have made the effort to register.