Prudish Massage 4 Men ads

[+ beethoven]

This has been discussed in The Lounge, but I'll post it here, too. I cannot believe that M4M has banned all ads showing a shirtless masseur in the main photo. How ridiculous!! They have replaced "objectionable" photos with gray silhouettes, and the "offending" clients will have to replace their innocuous photos -- God forbid, no shirt! -- with "approved" pictures.

Will Masseurfinder follow this nonsense? This isn't the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640, but you'd never know it.

[+ glutes]

Remember that MassageM4M posts fake ads for you to buy "private pictures".

[body2body]

Both sites have become useless. Lately, I've had a better time finding masseurs on A4A. They don't censor the ads.

[flanger]

Ah, so that's why my favorite masseur now has a shirt covering his lovely chest hair in his new photo. Such a shame.

[Dmitri]

I have noticed the same thing on MassageM4M. Something we need to keep in mind is that since the Rentboy scandal all these sites are trying to fly "under the radar.' The bottom line is that they do not want to appear to be hosting a website.....massage or escort.....that appears to be selling ads to masseurs and escorts that are basically offering services exchanging money for sex. Of course before Rentboy "anything goes" on these sites. But since Rentboy all these sites are paranoid.....for good reason. The thing that I find ABSURD about MassageM4M is that they only allow ONE shirtless photo per masseur ad....and it cannot be the masseur's main photo. (?) What the fuck difference does THAT make?? In addition the BIGGEST travesty of that site is that they offer "Locked Photos" ( you pay of course for these.) If you go to MassageM4M and click on any of the "Locked Photos" links in the masseur's ad ( and the massuer's ad can only have ONE shirtless photo)....it takes you to "Locked Photos" with photo gallery descriptions such as "My Big Cock"....or "Shooting My Load". So the questions is" If you are trying to run a massage site with puritanical rules to give the impression that your masseurs are ONLY doing massage.....( which is absurd if you look at the prices.....$120/hr for just a massage? C'mon.....the Feds ain't stupid when a therapeutic massage runs about $65/hr).....so if you are trying to make your massage site appear innocent......why in the hell would you offer NUDE pics with Descriptions such as "Shooting My Load" ? Apart from the fact they make cash from these pics......still makes NO SENSE if you are trying to avoid being busted.....those "Locked Photos" and high massage prices are a red flag to the Feds.......telling your masseurs they have to wear shirts in their photos is insane and laughable when you have that other stuff going on!

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

On the plus side, it has forced some of the genuine advertisers to update their 10-years-old photos.....

[flanger]

It looks like the Locked Photos link from some ads has been disappeared as well...

[VersLA24]

Yes, looks like all the locked photos links are gone. That's fine with me. I like the friendly looking photos now anyways!

[MikeBiDude]

And now "Massage Reviews will be back online mid-November."?????!

[+ sync]

Putting myself into the shoes of massage/escort website operators I can understand their cautions.

[MikeBiDude]

Putting myself into the shoes of massage/escort website operators I can understand their cautions. This Trump administration is going to be pure hell for civil liberties in all quarters.

Please be careful else get "reported" as political response and get moved to politics forum

[+ sync]

Please be careful else get "reported" as political response and get moved to politics forum

 

Thanks Mike, I have amended my original post.

[Dmitri]

I am ditching going to MassageM4M anymore for masseurs. Let's admit it, most of us choose our masseurs on massage technique AND looks. M4M now looks like a throwback Sears catalogue......with no underwear section. Just the Sears catalogue with the Back To School photos all with shirts on. Boring site now! I had a massage today from my regular masseur who has an ad on M4M. He said they only allow him ONE shirtless photo in his ad now with their new rules. All his other photos have to be fully clothed. Huh?? That site makes no sense. I can understand no underwear, no nudity, nothing sexually suggestive. (to avoid the money for sex aura.) But a few shirtless photos is what you would see in any Men's Fitness Magazine. So why would M4M allow only one? Weird. As I said, I used to find that site exciting and fun. No more....just boring and dull. I will not go there again, moving on to other massage sites.

[+ beethoven]

I agree with you about M4M, which I used to prefer to Masseurfinder, my other go-to site. I guess their fear of prosecution trumps their marketing common sense. One of my masseurs got fed up with Masseurfinder's nitpicking rules and regulations, and switched to M4M. Now he's fed up with M4M.

[Dmitri]

The only problem I have with the fully clothed photos is that you do not see what you are getting. All the massages I receive at the very least the masseur has no shirt on. Most are totally in the buff. So how are we supposed to choose if we are interested in being massaged by someone with a great body? When someone sifts through the ads if a great body is not important to them that is fine....they can just choose someone with a nice face shot and go with it. But for those of us who are interested in guys that are buffed, how can we tell the shape they are in if they are fully clothed? And I would bet that the majority of us want hot bodied masseurs. Not all of us, but most. Also, I feel bad for the masseurs that work out so hard and want to show it off and can't. It is a lose-lose situation. Now I can't really see what I am getting except someone wearing a nice plaid shirt. And if I hire them for a massage under that nice plaid shirt might be a beer belly and love handles. There is no way to know now. I laugh now if I glance at MassageM4M......it looks so sterile.....but it is also sad.....it seems like we are going back in time.....to a time of censorship.......very sad......it is not 1947......it is 2016.......we are going in the wrong direction!

[+ beethoven]

Dmitri, you are absolutely right. What I cannot understand is how these sites, particularly M4M, are destroying their business. I had one of my long-time masseurs here last night, and he said that he was becoming fed up with M4M, where he has advertised for years. Don't these sites know they are becoming irrelevant? Unless they make so much money from their "locked" pictures, or other ventures, that the massage site is a loss leader. I certainly don't pretend to understand their business, but this is defying common sense. Unless their fear of prosecution by a Trump Justice Dept is taking precedence over common sense?

[Dmitri]

The insane thing of massagem4m is that they only allow their masseurs ONE shirtless photo now. Back in the day they allowed unlimited photos.....I loved that site! They did not allow frontal nudity....but did allow butt shots, shirtless photos, etc......I could go there and get a complete idea of who I was hiring for massage.....then the Rentboy scandal hit and they did allow any nudity....no more butt shots.....but multiple shirtless photos were allowed. I TOTALLY agree with their view after Rentboy to be more on the down low with no nude shots. If I owned the site I would have done the same. Then the past week I notice all these buttoned up, zipped up shots. I asked my masseur and he said they can only do ONE shirtless photo...all the other photos have to dressed. This is where it gets crazy.....why just ONE?? And if they allowed you THREE what difference does it make? They do not give an aura of money for sex (which is what they are afraid of) if someone has their shirt off. It is the nude shots that give it away. So if there are no nude shots they are safe. But I guess they think not ( crazy!). And yes, Beethoven, they are destroying their business.....and also our choices now for massage sites to find masseurs.....because they are being WAY OVERLY paranoid......and thrusting us back 50 years in time

[Cliff]

I think there's going to be a lot more "take one for the team" requests. I don't mean that in a negative way. It just seems like that's going to be the only way to know.

[+ EVdude]

No doubt this is in part a response to one of their former competitors being shutdown, taken to court and likely being jailed in February. I'm also guessing there's more we don't know, perhaps recent Fed pressure? Hard to say. But just another reason to use all available options. Many of the M4M guys are on A4A and with no restriction pics. Now if MF had an Available Now button, I wouldn't give M4M another look!

[MikeBiDude]

Now if MF had an Available Now button, I wouldn't give M4M another look!

+1

[VersLA24]

Sounds to me that @Dmitri is really the only one that is so fed up. There's plenty of other places to look besides m4m. If they want to run their business that way then let it be. Geez. You have plenty more to choose from @Dmitri instead of hating on just one site. There's probably great reasons unknown to us why any company makes any decision. you think they would really want to lose business if they had to? I don't think so - give people the benefit of the doubt; thats my motto and 2-cents!

[+ beethoven]

I just reviewed a masseur on M4M. I know enough not to describe the experience in full, as they would never print it, so I said nice things without using any forbidden words or phrases, such as sensual, erotic, sensitive areas, pleasure, etc.

I said that he "was happy to emphasize areas that I requested." Within 20 seconds of my clicking on "submit review," I was informed by M4M that "happy" must be omitted. So I changed it to say that "he emphasized areas that I requested." That was OK with them, and I got a message that my review was OK.

Obviously, they don't have people sitting around on a Sunday night censoring reviews, and certainly not within 20 seconds of my submitting it. They must have a set of key words that they automatically flag, and "happy" seems to be one of those words -- like sensual or erotic. My guess is that lots of people try to use the phrase "happy ending," and that's why this word is flagged.

M4M used to be my favorite masseur site, but it is almost useless to me now. If they wanted to see just how useless they are, they ought to charge clients $1 a month to use the site. They'll find out. I wouldn't pay them $1 a year to surf their site.