former lurker

Corona has impacts all the way around. It both shrinks the hiring market (the demand) and the offerers (the supply). It depresses the income of a lot of clients, but also makes escorts more dependent on higher rates from those who still can afford to hire. It makes sense to me that clients, from our perspective, expect prices to be lower because of corona while escorts, from their perspective, may expect them to be higher. But we're talking about people and experiences that aren't formulaic. Ultimately, what you're willing to pay depends on the extent to which a particular provider appeals to you. I don't think there's much use in trying to figure out what guys "should" be charging. You inquire and go from there.

Or he was looking to guage the market, not necessarily to cut a deal with you. It's not like there's a published rate that's a standard like, for example, the price of a stock sold on an exchange. We all gather info in our own ways.

Gee, I wonder why he's monitoring the board? You threw your posts about him in his face in an attempt to bargain with him.

I agree entirely. It's true in so many other walks of life as well. We live in a time when being "connected" means a high speed internet connection and infinite social media and cable content. Texts replace phone conversations, which both replace in person visits with friends and family. My parent's generation clung to writing letters and sending cards as a personal touch well after email and texting became the norm. Now, we interact virtually rather than directly. Still, there are people like you, Ben, who stand out.

A lot depends on where in London and where in New York, but I've always heard London was more expensive than New York.

"Beefy" usually implies some fleshiness on top of the muscle rather than a lean muscled build. The other phrase often used is "meat on the bones" to convey beefy vs. lean musculature. He's a big, muscled guy however you describe him.

It's his loss if he forms quick judgements rather than getting a fuller reading of the dynamic. I find that's a common problem these days, especially when so much of the communication is via text or messenger rather than on the phone. At least with the phone, you get more of a sense from hesitation, tone, etc, and can react in real time to clarify if needed.

First, you may well have come off, based on what you've said, as not set on meeting and thus wasting his time. Second, while I get that many folks like to be the first of the day, that could also come off as trying to micromanage his business. I wouldn't be so quick to join your conclusion that he's "not a nice guy". You're entitled to ask for what you want, he's entitled to interpret that as you being a difficult client. There's no formula here, just interpersonal communications and different perspectives of the same exchange.

What does "verification" by RM mean? I think they mean only that they've matched the payment method (credit card often) with a picture id of the person opening the account. I don't think RM vouches for the pictures in the ad which, after all, can be changed by the account holder.

When was the last time you hired someone for a weekend? I ask because I think we all tend to react to prices based on past pricing and we don't assume prices will go up over time. Reminds me of my father who was a lavish spender until he got into his mid seventies when he started balking at costs because he remembered when a nice suit cost a few hundred dollars. There are a number of guys who charge $2000 for overnights. There are others who offer overnights of 5-6 hours, so a true overnight ends up costing a lot more. It's a different way of pricing than what I'm used to, so it goes against my expectations. Ultimately, we all have to assess what we can afford and what we want and how much that is worth to us.

When he first appeared on Sean Cody I was taken by his looks, his build and his sexual prowess. I was a fan of Marshall who was his first scene partner, too. I was glad he kept with porn after SC, too. But he is, for me, better seen and not heard (or read). A hot guy can make one overlook a lot but he's beyond that for me. I wish he were smart enough to realize how much of an ass he comes off as and just stop. I can't imagine wanting to be around him, let alone to pay for the "privilege". Hot guy, sure. But there's too much else to overlook for my tastes. He's young. Maybe he'll grow up, but he was in the military and if he didn't develop self-discipline by now there's no reason to expect he ever will.

Ryan has been in twitter spats with a lot of other porn performers. He's a diva and perceives slights if he's not the focus of praise.

Anyone who has paid casual attention to Ryan's twitter rants over the years can see there's something off. Whether it's drugs, lack of brainpower, a sense of entitlement, or other/combined factors, he presents as unstable and volatile.

Some guys escort sporadically and don't check their RM messages everyday. By the time they read a message for a potential meet up if it's within a few days of the message, the time has passed. It's also quite plausible that a guy with Jax's profile gets a lot of messages and can fill his schedule easily without much effort to keep up with all of the messages he gets. I'm sure he misses out on some opportunities if that's the case, but perhaps he's not thinking of this as a long term operation.

Not really on topic, unless you consider paying a "date" a set amount for his/her "time". Romancing someone with gifts, meals out, etc, isn't solicitation, but money for sex is. There are other situations where wealthy "marks" are strung along by con artists pretending to be in love with them. That's more fraud than solicitation. I think the clearest answer to the OP's question is this: stating that it's money for time only is a nice attempt, but ultimately won't make any difference if the law really pursues a case. The likelihood of that happening is fairly slim, but that's a matter of probability of legal action being taken and not of some clear cut legal defense.

Kyle Strong was a Div. 1 football player and briefly on an NFL team. He's not "beefy", so far as his pics suggest, but quite big and muscular. https://rent.men/KyleStrong

Your approach makes more sense to me than what it sounds like the OP proposed -- taking someone to dinner after you already know each other, as opposed to as a stand-alone first meeting. To me, it would be awkward to ask a guy to set a different price to meet for dinner. Of course, the escort could have just said it's the same rate regardless of how the client chooses to spend the time.

I agree with the general sense of what most are saying, but think this is a somewhat gray area. The OP asked for a rate for a lunch date, not an hour of time which he could have used for a more traditional encounter or anything else. From the escort's perspective, the request would seem to imply the OP expected to pay less than what an hour of escort time would cost. As it's not the norm, the escort asked what the OP thought was a fair amount. I've generally taken escorts to dinner, or ordered in, when I've had multihour or overnight meetings with them so the issue of paying a different price for time to meet for dinner doesn't arise. I did, once, take an escort to dinner. It was someone I'd seen a number of times. I paid him his hourly rate, and he expressed surprise. He had assumed I was treating him to the meal as I'd invited him, but not that I'd pay for his time. In retrospect, I should have broached the subject of his time when asking him to dinner. With a new person, I would expect to pay for his time. Otherwise, it might seem like I'm looking for a test run at a discount which wouldn't be fair to the escort. But I suppose it all depends on the two people involved.

I've been enjoying the NBA games as well, although I've fallen into the habit of watching the games after they've happened. Of the major sports, the NBA has, I think, handled Corona the best. The bubble approach has minimized spread, unlike in baseball where the cancelled/postponed series, etc, due to team outbreaks and travel issues makes the standings a joke. Hockey hasn't seen a lot of corona cases, but the league got too gimmicky with the mini tournaments that rendered the prior games less important to the standings. Given that we don't know when we'll have enough of a handle on corona to go back to the pre-virus approach, I'm hoping the other three leagues look at how well the NBA has managed things and adjust their approach. Also, the absence of scripted television and movies makes me even more appreciative of the NBA games at a time when I have too much time at home.

I tend to agree with you. There have been periods in the distant past when there were strident ongoing personality driven fights. Most of those posters have moved on or moved elsewhere. I get that some are frustrated with the lack of information about escorts and experiences with them. It's not that threads get hijacked, it's that there's often little direct experience to be shared and once it is, people digress. Especially now, when there's less hiring and more time to spend online, there's going to be a lot of what some readers consider extraneous posts. I still find the forums worth reading and posting.

A "bot" is a programmed identity masquerading as a human poster. They are used to gather data, and then use that data to issue all sorts of potentially pernicious posts. As an example, one aspect of the Russian interference in 2016's election was the use of bots to bombard facebook users in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, etc., with propaganda to influence the vote. The most notorious example is the bogus story that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta were running a child-sex ring out of the basement of a DC pizza parlor (not only was there no sex ring, the pizza place didn't have a basement). Other uses of bots include selling data gathered to companies and/or groups who then use that data to target you for solicitation. Some even use sensitive data to blackmail.

Densely worded posts don't pose the same sort of risks as trolls and bots, whatever your personal level of tolerance.

Very helpful! I've thought the same thing about a few posters, but hadn't thought it through as well as you have. I've mostly skipped over their posts or made a comment about the post but not given further information. I'll be careful going forward with your advice in mind.

Ah, labels. There are a lot of guys who don't like to be topped but are open to using a toy or two for show. They control the size, the pace, etc. There are also guys who bottom on camera (including Calhoun), and quite a few of them don't want to bottom for clients. They may bottom infrequently, only for a bf. There's also the preparation issue. If you're not bottoming regularly off the clock, and only doing it for a shoot or a client, prep time is an added expediture of time. I haven't followed Calhoun's ads or posts closely enough to know, but does he describe himself as "exclusively" a top?

Beautiful beaches. White sand, stunning light teal waters. The vibe is more Margaritaville than Hamptons. But the overall vibe in both the Hamptons and FWB/Destin/etc. is easy and relaxed.