What a year! Things have changed rapidly for Tryst.link and the wider community. The world has changed in ways that put pressure on the sex industry, meaning that sex workers, clients, and the people working on Tryst are all navigating a more stressful, complicated world. Payment processors and governments are paying more attention to the sex industry, and unfortunately, so are scammers. We’re a small but growing team, and we’re doing our best to respond to these changes as responsibly as we can.
A big part of that is being more open with our community. Tryst is growing really quickly, which is fantastic! And we couldn’t do it without you. This also means that we’re having to rapidly evolve our team and platform to support that growth. As we grow and change, we hope to keep improving the Tryst experience. We give a shit, and it’s because we give a shit that we need to take the time and care needed to get things done right. While we work, we want to ensure that we keep you informed.
Here are a few changes we’re responding to, what that looks like, and what you need to know.
Wait times
You don’t need us to tell you this: our wait times are longer than anyone would like. We know that it’s frustrating to be stuck in a queue, especially a long one, and double-especially when it affects your livelihood. What worked for Tryst at hundreds of new providers a week won’t work at thousands. We are working to evolve. For us, that means some big investments in making our processes more efficient, timely and accurate. We’re hiring more staff and working hard to train them up. You deserve to have your business handled by a team who have the time, training, and industry context to do right by you.
Many platforms outsource support and verification by sending user information to third-party contractors, automated systems, or AI, which can do the work cheaply and quickly, though not always accurately or securely. We operate differently.
On Tryst.link:
- Many of our support agents have direct, lived experience as providers. This gives them important context that informs compassionate decision making.
- We ensure that all of the information you submit to us is kept within our control, and only kept for as long as we need it.
- We make sure that our support agents aren’t rushing through your queries, burning out, or being hired and trained in ways that are irresponsible.
This does affect our wait times. A huge amount of effort across the company is currently being put into managing our growth responsibly so that wait times can return to a normal range.
We’re also working on ways to better communicate our wait times, and make sure you know that your submissions have been received. Stay tuned!
Scammers and other system abuse
Scams are on the rise, we are doing what we can, but we ask that you be careful out there! Malicious links on social media or in emails can be hard to identify and may lead to phishing sites that want to steal your data. Only log in if you've visited Tryst.link directly by typing our web address into your browser. If you’re at all unsure, it’s best to take a moment, close the tab, and come back to it later. Remember, urgency and panic are what scammers create to get past our critical thinking.
Scammers are becoming more sophisticated. There are people who are paid to work around the clock to evade anti-scammer measures and defensive systems, and this makes newer scams much harder to detect or avoid. We’ve developed some resources to help you identify and avoid phishing attempts; you can find them here:
How to Identify a Phishing Scam
Phishing 101
Category misuse
We’re also aware that some online-only profiles are deliberately miscategorising themselves in our in-person categories - whether this is intentional or not, this is not fair or okay, as it misdirects traffic and runs counter to our platform’s intended use. We are currently exploring different policy, technological, and procedural options to find an effective solution.
These are nuanced issues. Please know that we are very aware of them and determined to build out solutions that limit harm and make the platform a more valuable place to all providers over the long term.
Verification and your personal information
We want Tryst to be around for a long time. Ensuring this happens means that we need to make sure we comply with the requirements of governments and payment processors. This means that our support team may ask for re-verification from time to time. Know that we’re committed to keeping the data you provide us with safe in every way we can.
We are working hard to address the above— wait times, scammers, category misuse, verification— in ways that are both effective and community-minded. We’re so proud that so many in our community have chosen Tryst.link to advertise with; our goal has always been to provide a service to our community that reflects our values and our community’s needs. Everyone here at Tryst.link is committed to putting sex workers first. We are also looking forward to keeping you more up-to-date with more posts like this one.
We’ve got your back, now and always.
Are you a sex worker with a story, opinion, news, or tips to share? We'd love to hear from you!
We started the tryst.link sex worker blog to help amplify those who aren't handed the mic and bring attention to the issues ya'll care about the most. Got a tale to tell? 👇☂️✨
