Today the Feds shut down the adult section of Backpage
Most of the ads can be found under SERVICES: Massage
Backpage is a risky venue IMHO as it does not have reviews and many fakes, stings and potential robberies are issues
Eros, TER remain as the best places to check
That said....This is the tip of the iceberg
The iceberg being censorship

Are we forgetting the part where the site (and its owner) was found to be complicit in prostitution and other sex trafficking?

Good point. But just curious. Does "found to be complicit" mean "indicted for," or "convicted of," or maybe neither of those?

Good question
Or even "failed to investigate"
They accepted ads for escorts. Thinly disguised prostitures without a doubt
And Asian Massage Parlors who no doubt bring their staff in from other countries in dubious fashion
So is Backpage supposed to police their advertisers who find ways to run an ad with legal wording?
That puts a potential liability on any media that accepts ads that could potentially be a disguised ad for sex for money
Backpage will be the first of many
Craig's List? Just for starters.....

The censorship was not very effective as all those ads just moved over to "Services: Massage"
Still a crapshoot and risky site as there are no reviews
A related site with subdivisions livescortreviews.com, livetsreviews.com and liverubreviews.com has disappeared as well. Too bad as it posted TER reviews ID and link so you could separated fakes from real by reading reviews but the link to the Backpage ad for each probably means it was owned or at least affiliated with the owner of Backpage
Play safe folks.

Complicity in a crime is serious and in some cases complicity can get you almost as much prison time as the mastermind.
Would you want to be found guilty of complicity in a bank robbery for example ?
No I think not.

I was mistaken about the live reviews site. It must have just been down Good to go just now.
Still....only contact providers with reviews on the TER links provided