How has the closing of Rentboy changed your online escort viewing?

[+ purplekow]

When Rentboy was around, I would peruse the site several times a week. I found it easy to use and fairly complete in giving me information about possible connections. Since Rentboy was closed, I find myself rarely checking out alternate sites. When I have looked at other sites, I have found them to be less user friendly and generally they seem to make hiring more onerous. I think that as a result of this, I have hired much less often and I have certainly markedly decreased the number of new hires.

 

Has the closing of Rentboy, now more than a year ago, significantly impacted your hiring and escort review site surfing?

[UpDownUnder]

While it hasn't impacted the amount I hire, it has made the on-line process much less pleasant.

 

My number one pet peeve - BY FAR - is when I'm traveling to a city that has a large number of escorts, I always set search page to the more compact "thumbnail view" so I can see 50+ thumbnails per page. But then EVERY TIME I click on a thumbnail to view the escort's ad and then click the back button to get back to the main list, the view ALWAYS reverts to the more expansive "list view" so I have to reclick the "thumbnail view" button which results in me being taken back to the very beginning of the list for that page and then having to scroll down to figure out where I was on the page. And God forbid you inadvertantly hit the back button twice because then you'll also lose all of the filters you've set (and no, you can't get back to the filtered list by then hitting the forward button - once the filtered view is gone, it's gone for good - you just have to reset the filters).

 

So what I end up having to do is scroll through ALL of the thumbnails for a given city (600+ for NYC, 350+ for LA) and write down on a piece of paper the names of the guys whose ads I want to have a look at... and then once I finish compiling that list, I have to search for the ads one-by-one by typing the escort's name into the search box.

 

Also there's no way to add someone to your buddy list with going into their full ad, so you can't bypass the above process by quickly buddy-listing all of the guys whose ad you want to review at a later time.

[UpDownUnder]

And don't even get me started about the reviews. Was the ambience "Relaxing" or "Very Relaxing"? Seriously?? What does that even mean??? What if I didn't want a "Very Relaxing" encounter but got one anyway???

[Kevin Slater]

While it hasn't impacted the amount I hire, it has made the on-line process much less pleasant.

 

My number one pet peeve - BY FAR - is when I'm traveling to a city that has a large number of escorts, I always set search page to the more compact "thumbnail view" so I can see 50+ thumbnails per page. But then EVERY TIME I click on a thumbnail to view the escort's ad and then click the back button to get back to the main list, the view ALWAYS reverts to the more expansive "list view" so I have to reclick the "thumbnail view" button which results in me being taken back to the very beginning of the list for that page and then having to scroll down to figure out where I was on the page. And God forbid you inadvertantly hit the back button twice because then you'll also lose all of the filters you've set (and no, you can't get back to the filtered list by then hitting the forward button - once the filtered view is gone, it's gone for good - you just have to reset the filters).

 

So basically what I end up having to do is scroll through ALL of the thumbnails for the given city (600+ for NYC, 350+ for LA) and write down on a piece of paper the names of the guys whose ads I want to have a look at... and then once I compile that list, I have to search for the ads one-by-one by typing the escort's name into the search box.

 

Also there's no way to add someone to your buddy list with going into their full ad, so you can't bypass the above process by buddy listing all of the guys whose ad you want to review at some point.

 

This is the sort of thing I used to be able to bring to the fine folk at rentboy and get them to fix. I miss that level of responsiveness.

 

Kevin Slater

[rvwnsd]

While it hasn't impacted the amount I hire, it has made the on-line process much less pleasant.

 

My number one pet peeve - BY FAR - is when I'm traveling to a city that has a large number of escorts, I always set search page to the more compact "thumbnail view" so I can see 50+ thumbnails per page. But then EVERY TIME I click on a thumbnail to view the escort's ad and then click the back button to get back to the main list, the view ALWAYS reverts to the more expansive "list view" so I have to reclick the "thumbnail view" button which results in me being taken back to the very beginning of the list for that page and then having to scroll down to figure out where I was on the page. And God forbid you inadvertantly hit the back button twice because then you'll also lose all of the filters you've set (and no, you can't get back to the filtered list by then hitting the forward button - once the filtered view is gone, it's gone for good - you just have to reset the filters).

 

So what I end up having to do is scroll through ALL of the thumbnails for a given city (600+ for NYC, 350+ for LA) and write down on a piece of paper the names of the guys whose ads I want to have a look at... and then once I finish compiling that list, I have to search for the ads one-by-one by typing the escort's name into the search box.

 

Also there's no way to add someone to your buddy list with going into their full ad, so you can't bypass the above process by quickly buddy-listing all of the guys whose ad you want to review at a later time.

I agree Rent.Men's website is a pain to navigate. There is a workaround: right-click on the ad and select "Open in a New Tab."On a Mac, click using two fingers and on an iPad hold your finger on the link until the menu pops up and asks if you want to open in a new window.

[down_to_business]

Rentboy was the gold standard and is missed but I guess it hasn't changed all too much except for less ads and some people who were on Rentboy never advertised again. Rentmen works somewhat. Agree the reviews are almost worthless. Soo many fakes though. If Rentmen was closed, now there would be a drastic change to my online viewing at this point. I won't use M4RentNow -- even if it was the only site still standing-- now that is a total piece of crap.

[jawjateck]

Living in flyover country, rb's end had zero impact on my web surfing or hobbying. It was a flawed relic, unreliable, erratic, and unfriendly to navigate and search. It's interesting that of all the hobby advertising venues not one product has been released to blow us away.....online and in-person....hehehe! Is it that difficult to design and pay for a quality product? 1999's meetlocalmen was a superior product to current offerings. Now that is a website I miss. Geez...the guys I met from there.

 

dtb is prolly right about the guys who dropped out of sight, never to advertise again, but as far as online experiences go, I do not have nostalgic "good ole days" feelings about rb.

[AdamSmith]

1999's meetlocalmen was a superior product to current offerings.

SO true. It worked, it worked fast, it gave you the whole enchilada about an escort on a single page without tedious navigation/clicking...

 

And that is really to say something about how weak the current ones are.

 

dtb is prolly right about the guys who dropped out of sight, never to advertise again

My experience was that a lot of quality providers had built up a stable base of repeat clients by the time RB got shut down, and many reached out to us clients to let us know they were no longer advertising, but were still available, and to be sure we had their phone #s/email addresses.

[AdamSmith]

Has the closing of Rentboy, now more than a year ago, significantly impacted your hiring and escort review site surfing?

Yes: I no longer use Rentboy.

[jawjateck]

My experience was that a lot of quality providers had built up a stable base of repeat clients by the time RB got shut down, and many reached out to us clients to let us know they were no longer advertising, but were still available, and to be sure we had their phone #s/email addresses.

 

I had several guys contact me, freaking out, asking advice, wanting to know what they should do, etc etc. I don't remember anyone touching base to make sure I knew they were still available off-the-grid. Guess I wasn't one of their stable clients. HAHA!

[AdamSmith]

Guess I wasn't one of their stable clients. HAHA!

LOL

 

Do you not do much repeat hiring? My tendency has been both to explore newbies somewhat voraciously, and at the same time to rehire over and over a handful that I really click with. Those were the ones who contacted me after the RB raid.

[UpDownUnder]

I agree Rent.Men's website is a pain to navigate. There is a workaround: right-click on the ad and select "Open in a New Tab."On a Mac, click using two fingers and on an iPad hold your finger on the link until the menu pops up and asks if you want to open in a new window.

 

File that one under "how did I not already figure that out"?? GREAT WORKAROUND - Thanks!!

[+ saminseattle]

Has the closing of Rentboy, now more than a year ago, significantly impacted your hiring

 

Yes, it has significantly increased. I had the pleasure of spending time with three fine gentlemen in the year prior to the website’s seizure. In the year after, I made a concerted effort to seek out as many companions as I plausibly could, and I ended up meeting eleven guys over thirteen occasions. While I try not to be vulgar, I don't mind saying, "Fuck You" to the Department of “Homeland Security.”

[+ WmClarke]

I use RentMen to look but usually just hire my regulars.

[Zapped]

Sounds like there's a great business opportunity here for someone.

[Rapaz]

Sounds like there's a great business opportunity here for someone.

Perhaps for someone who doesn't live in or travel to the USA. Otherwise, be ready for the US government to treat you like the terrorists they SHOULD be focusing on.

[Rudynate]

I just hired off of A4A a couple weeks ago. I had been watching his RM profile for a long time but never reached out because he didn't do incalls. He popped up as a visitor on my A4A profile, so I decided to email and ask if he ever did incalls. He was able to accomodate me so we spent a great afternoon together. He's out of town at the moment and I can't wait for him to get back, I like him that much.

[BaronArtz]

I don't miss RB at all. It was fun when it was around, and now it is just a distant memory. RM works just fine for me. In fact, I like their 'search' features better.

 

By the way, is the RB owner dude in jail now?

[tennisjock]

I use rm. also a4a and sometimes massuerfinder..depending on what I am looking for and need.

[tennisjock]

I also use men4rentnow. But have found that a lot of the guys on their don't have their phone number listed and then you have to email them thru the site and rarely do I get a response. I prefer rm and a4a most.

I have oddly enough gotten some of the best freshest guys I ever met on bp in LA...after weeding thru the fakes etc.

[+ glennnn]

I only used RB briefly before it was shut down. Didn't it have the feature where you could screen for cock size, cut/uncut, price range, etc? I liked that. Mostly I hire off Daddy's and the wise advice of you all. I'm batting 1000, so why change. I can't find the time, money and energy to empty my lust bucket as it is. There are are at least a dozen escorts I want to fuck, besides the wonderful ones I've already had and want to repeat, plus the few new ones I already have upcumming dates with. I don't know how some of you guys keep it up! Monkey glands?

[+ Tom Isern]

interesting. from the escort perspective:

when rentboy went down, I just assumed that everyone would switch pretty seamlessly to rentmen. and it was my impression that is what happened. folks continued to find me there as I switched with everyone else. my business seemed unaffected. I understand other escorts have had different experiences tho.