Frequently Asked Questions - Part 1 of 3

ABOUT MASSAGEANYWHERE.COM
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What is MassageAnywhere.com?
MassageAnywhere.com is an advertising and search venue, designed expressly to match a person looking for massage or bodywork with a person ready, willing and able to provide those services.  MassageAnywhere.com is independent and NOT a referral agency; we rely just as much on the advertiser's claims as you do.  We are not permitted to endorse, guarantee or warrant the claims or services of any advertiser, service or product. 

Is MassageAnywhere.com affiliated with any associations?
While the providers listed on MassageAnywhere.com may belong to a wide array of professional associations, organizations and institutions, MassageAnywhere.com is itself not connected with any association, organization or institution.  We abide by our independence and objectivity, and we are free from any conflicts of interest or bias that affiliation might impose.

What kinds of massage and bodywork can I find on MassageAnywhere.com?
A wide variety of legitimate massage and bodywork may be found on MassageAnywhere.com.  Whether for preventive general health, relaxation, pleasure, pampering or "beautification", as an adjunct to sports, pain relief, rehabilitation or recovery from physical injury, as an adjunct to medical or chiropractic treatment, for personal psychological transformation or for any other purpose you might seek, MassageAnywhere.com is a venue for all forms of massage and bodywork.

Please tell me about the providers listed on MassageAnywhere.com.  What are their qualifications?
Providers who list on MassageAnywhere.com represent a wide range of skills, experience and qualifications.  Their presence is voluntary and each is as different and independent from the rest as you are from your neighbor.  No two are the same.  There are, however, a number of commonalities shared among all providers listed here:

• All providers listed on MassageAnywhere.com agree to abide by our Provider Code of Ethics.
• All providers listed on MassageAnywhere.com agree to comply with local, state, provincial and federal regulations, ordinances, statutes and laws, if any, that may apply to their advertisement.
• Any provider working on a professional basis attests that he/she has never had a permit or license related to massage therapy (or bodywork) revoked or suspended, and that he/she is not currently under any disciplinary action with respect to any resolved or unresolved complaint.

If you have specific concerns or requirements not addressed in a provider's profile, you are welcome to address them directly with the provider.  Please be aware that the skills, qualifications, advertised credentials and/or representations of any provider are the responsibility of the provider.  MassageAnywhere.com assumes no responsibility for verification.

SEARCHING
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How do I search for a provider?
Go to our homepage (or the profile of any provider) and look for the form entitled "Find A Massage" near the upper right corner of the page.  Simple instructions are on the form; detailed search instructions and explanations are available here.

How are provider and client locations determined?
We use ZIP code (U.S.A. only) and country/city/place information as self-reported by providers and clients to establish locations.  We then use a process known as "geocoding" to assign a latitude-longitude coordinate to each self-reported location (or, in some instances, the provider or client assigns the precise information directly).  Latitude tells us a location's angular north/south distance with respect to the Earth's equator, while longitude expresses an angular east/west distance with respect to what is known as the "prime meridian" running through the original site of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

When I called up your web page, how did you know where I live?
Actually, we don't know and we don't want to know.  And yes, your visit is in fact totally anonymous to us.  When you first visit our web site, we may make an attempt to complete the location fields (ZIP code and/or city) in the provider search form for you.  Sometimes we're successful, sometimes we get it wrong, and sometimes we just can't.  When we get it right, you might be a bit surprised, maybe even wonder how we "knew".  Really, we don't know anything (and we don't want to know).  We can only guess at your general location (i.e. city) based on Internet routing information which is not personally identifiable to you.  If we guess the wrong city for you (or make no guess at all), please just ignore our attempt and enter whatever ZIP/city you're interested in.

Are locations and distances accurate?
Accuracy is dependent on a variety of assumptions made during geocoding.  Within the U.S.A., its possessions and territories, accuracy is dependent on the proper geocoding of ZIP codes.  ZIP codes can vary widely in geographic shape and size due to natural features (such as rivers and mountains) and population density.  As such, errors are more likely to occur when the provider's or client's ZIP code covers a wide geographic region as might occur in broad, sparsely populated rural areas where people drive many miles to get to the post office or grocery.  However, in most densely populated urban areas, locations can be quite accurate, to within a fraction of a mile in some cases, but we expect usually to within a mile or two.

Outside the U.S.A., cities and towns are typically geocoded to a single central location within that city or town rather than subdivided.  As such, when dealing with locations outside the U.S.A., accuracy may be higher for smaller cities than for larger.

Regardless, whether within the U.S.A. or anywhere else, the map tools provided on provider profiles and on our city selection page offer an effective way to visualize the precise location we have established for any location.

Distance between provider and client is calculated using polar geometry, which measures distance as a helicopter or plane would fly.  When you drive your car or take other ground transportation, your distance will be somewhat different because you must obey traffic patterns and travel around obstacles such as mountains and lakes.  In short, you should use our calculated distance as guide, but your actual travel distance may be more or less.

We should also note that our database contains information for hundreds of thousands of locations all over the world from a variety of sources we would like to consider reliable.  However, with so much data, we expect that in some small percentage of cases, our database may contain errors which result in significant errors in distance.  If you believe this to be the case in your own situation, please contact us and we will gladly research and correct our database with the correct information.

My location or country isn't in your database.  What do I need to do?
Please contact us and, if we can, we will happily add your location to our database.  Alternatively, if your location isn't in our database, you're welcome to select the closest location which is in our database.

Our geographic database contains hundreds of thousands of locations across the U.S.A. and the world.  Covering the U.S.A., it includes virtually every ZIP code; it also contains numerous places too small to have a post office of their own.  It also includes a vast collection of cities/places in numerous countries around the world.  The world is a large place, and it's possible we haven't yet added your location to our database.  Even within the U.S.A., the post office is always changing or adding new ZIP codes.

My location is in your database, but it's not right or it could be improved.  Are you going to fix it?
Again, please contact us with whatever information we need to correct our database, and we'll be happy to make the necessary corrections.

I'm trying to select my city but I find it's listed several times in a row.  Which one is my city?
If you're within the U.S.A. or its territories and possessions, there may be multiple ZIP codes for a large city.  In many cases, there may be additional information (such as a place or locality within the city) in our database to guide you in selecting the correct entry.  In other cases, we have no additional information beyond the name of the city and the ZIP code.  They're all your city; it's just a question of which ZIP code is closest to you.  If you have additional information (such as place names and neighborhood names for a particular ZIP code) that would enhance our listing of ZIP codes for larger cities, just let us know and we'll be happy to make your searches easier.

If you're outside the U.S.A., there are some countries where you may see the same (or very similar) city name listed two, three, or sometimes more times in a row.  In these cases, it's likely that there are in fact multiple cities all with the same name within that country.  Sometimes, however, they may in fact be the same city.  The only way to be sure is to use the mapping feature on the selection page to verifying your selection.

I'm selecting a city, but what does the "I DON'T KNOW" mean under the list of regions within a country?
Countries are typically divided into regions, states or provinces to help distinguish between similarly named places throughout the country, and virtually every place/city/town has been assigned to a particular region.  However, if you do not know the correct region, state or province for the location you are interested in, or you are unsure of the correct region, simply select the "I DON'T KNOW" pseudo-region and a list of all matching cities across all regions will be returned to you.  You can then use the provided map tools to verify the actual location of any of the returned matching candidates.  Additionally, as it is a large database, there are some locations which haven't yet been properly assigned to a particular region.  If such "unassigned" locations exist within a country's database, they will be found under the "I DON'T KNOW" pseudo-region.  Even if you are sure of the correct region, your search within that region may fail if the location has not yet been properly classified.  Therefore, you may wish to check the "I DON'T KNOW" pseudo-region when you are unable to find your location within a specific region.  Again, before accepting a location found in the "I DON'T KNOW" pseudo-region, you are encouraged to use the provided map tools to verify its location.

I said I was willing to travel "5 miles" but you found a massage 15 miles away!  Why?
Actually, there are several possibilities.  First, while you may be willing to travel 5 miles to a provider for an incall massage, the massage provider may be willing to travel much farther to provide you with an outcall massage.  Our bidirectional matching system looks for match possibilities in both directions -- incalls and outcalls.

Second, providers can have both a primary and an alternate location.  For example, a provider might work Monday-Wednesday in Los Angeles and the rest of the week in Riverside.  You may be in range of one (or both) of the provider's locations.

Third, the provider may have written his profile unclearly or we may have an error in our geographic database.  Feel free to contact the provider for further information, or you're welcome to file a "complaint" by clicking the link at the bottom of the provider's profile to leave us a brief and simple explanation of what you noticed.  Don't worry... if we find an error, we won't take it out on the provider.

How does bidirectional matching locate both incall and outcall possibilities?
In the world of massage, both the client and provider have the ability to travel to the other, if they wish, and each may have his/her own limits as to how far he/she is willing to travel to the other.  The client can travel to the provider for an incall visit, or the provider can travel to the client for an outcall visit.

MassageAnywhere.com's bidirectional matching feature examines both the incall and outcall possibilities in any situation.  If the provider accepts incalls and is within the client's own travel limit, an incall match exists.  If the provider accepts outcalls and  the client and is within the provider's outcall travel limits, an outcall match exists.

REVIEWS
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I don't see any reviews and I don't see any way to post a review.  Why?
Each provider decides for him/herself whether to participate in the provider review system or not.  If a provider participates, you will find a link in his/her profile by which you may post a review, and if the provider has any published reviews, there will also be a clickable link to view those reviews.  If you find no such links in the provider's profile, the provider has opted not to participate in the review system.

I submitted a review of a provider I visited, but the review hasn't been published.  Why?
Each provider is solely responsible for managing his/her reviews, and participation is voluntary.

If I submit a review, can the provider change what I said?
No.  The provider may attach his/her own remarks to your review or withhold your review from publication, but the provider cannot change what you submitted in any way.

Why do some provider profiles show the total number of reviews submitted but others do not?
It is the provider's decision whether to show the total number of reviews submitted.  If a profile says "5/7 published" reviews, then 5 reviews have been published out of 7 submitted.  The remaining 2 unpublished reviews may have been recently submitted (and not yet read by the provider) or the provider may have chosen not to publish them.  A provider may withhold any review from publication for any reason or no reason.  If a profile simply says "5 published", you do not know the total number of reviews submitted for that provider.

If no reviews have yet been submitted for a provider, the provider's profile will show no count of any kind.

I submitted a review and the provider chose to publish it, but I'd like to change what I said.  Can I?
Maybe.  When you originally submitted your review, you were given the opportunity to choose a password.  If you remember that password, you may use it now to edit (or delete) your submitted review: call up the published review (unpublished reviews cannot be amended) and look for a special link to amend your review under "About the Reviewer" section.

Of course, if you forgot the password (or you never bothered to choose one) for your review, you are out of luck; you would need to discuss your situation with the provider directly and/or submit a new review.  Also, if you do amend your review, the review (original / amended) will not be published until reviewed and approved by the provider.

What does it mean to "upload a local photo file from my PC"?
Whenever you submit (or amend) a review of a provider, you have the option of submitting a photo of yourself along with your review.  If you do submit a photo, it is up to you whether that photo will be available to the provider (to perhaps help the provider remember who you are) and, optionally, whether your submitted photo may be made available to the public at large as part of your published review.  (Of course, if your submitted photo violates our Terms of Service, the reviewed provider will be prohibited from publishing both your photo and your review.)

We encourage you to submit a photo of yourself with your review, as both the reviewer and public at large will appreciate it.  When submitting your photo, just browse the directories on your PC to find the correct file.  Please choose a .jpg, .bmp or .png formatted photo only, under 300 KBytes in size.  Your photo will be automatically reduced to the correct dimensions once submitted.  If you later wish to change your photo or remove it altogether, just amend your review.

=> Continue to FAQ Part 2

Do you have a question not answered here?  Let us know and we'll be happy to answer, maybe even update the FAQ!

DISCLAIMER: Persons depicted in examples are unaffiliated models; images were chosen for their illustrative content and not as examples of actual massage providers / clients.