People tie themselves in knots over the word "respect" and there is much confusion about it. Respect means holding someone in esteem for who/what they are/do/say. The object of respect in that sentence is quite clear.
If a good tradesman comes to a house to fix the plumbing, the houseowner owes that good tradesman respect for doing a good job. There is a prima facie assumption that he/she will do a good job otherwise the householder wouldn't have invited him there in the first place.
That respect is respect for the office that the tradesman is fulfilling. If he/she fucks up and makes a mess of the job then he/she is clearly not a good tradesman and cannot be respected for being a good tradesman. The predicate has ceased to exist.
Should you in that case be respecting the tradesman as a "person?" That doesn't follow, since you probably don't know him/her as a person outside of his tradesman activity. It isn't even any of your business. But what you do owe him/her is politeness.
Politeness is not the same as respect. It is a cultural thing and relates to you as an individual within society. It comes from the Latin politus and means refined or elegant. Hence 'polite company.' It is probably linked to both the Latin and Greek words polis, meaning a city and ideas of good citizenship and civility. In other words, how a decent person wants to behave, and you owe another person politeness since you owe it to yourself to be polite.
Respect can and should go of the window if there is nothing to respect, but politeness is more tactical. English manners were developed partly to keep the lower classes in their place, but also as a form of etiquette to enjoy good society. There are of course times when politeness, as generally understood, is incorrect. Imagine the Artful Dodger sneaking into a gentlemen's club in a past century. After getting past the doorman, who might say, "Sorry lad, but you aren't admitted here;" the first recourse of the assembled gentlemen might be, "You! Out with you this minute!" and the second, "Out of here, you young bounder, before I thrash you!" The third might be grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and whispering, "See you, you little cunt: if I catch you round here again I'm going to . . . ." [various horrific expletives describing the hell to which the malcontent would be cast]. If the young lad appeared at the poor house, a charitable institution, or a school, then very different tactics might and perhaps should apply.
It all depends on context. If a prossie comes on here and posts as a person (who merely happens to work as a prostitute) then she generally gets respect. Respect is always earned, as the saying goes. This simply restates what I said above: it has to have a predicate. It's a transitive verb. (You have to think very carefully who and why she would come on here.) It generally means human insights, appreciable to anyone, particularly punters on here as that is the context. But the role that is being respected is that of the poster.
A prossie could be an utter fucking cunt as a prostitute and come on here with an expose of the foul tricks she uses against punters purely with the intention of helping those that aren't so fucking thick as to fall for them. (Unusual, but she would might conceivably get respect as a poster, if not as a prostitute.)
Prossies who come on UKP are not acting within their role as a prossie unless it is P.R. (ie touting). They earn or fail to earn respect based on what they post. It might reflect on their work, but a stupid cunt who posts shite may still be a good shag.
When you meet a prossie, i.e. on the punt, there is a requirement for politeness within the context of the punt (e.g. it may or may not include talking dirty or doing a lot of things that would not be polite outside of the punt). Whether she earns respect is a different mater altogether and probably better judged afterwards, just as you would judge the work of any tradesperson after carefully considering the work at your leisure, not just how you felt at the time.
When people review prossies on UKP, they are not on a punt. They are not the prossies' "friends" or vice-versa. There is no requirement for respect where there was nothing to respect (though on most punts there is usually at least some shred of both good and both points, so respect the good things, just as you might respect a plumber for being smart and efficient with good communication but give a negative if water poured all over the floor by the time his white van disappeared. In that case, he/she would have failed to earn respect overall as he/she had not fulfilled what is reasonably expected of a good tradesperson, and saying lots of nice things is both plain dumb and disrespectful to other punters who have given you honest, helpful information).
As for prossies who think we should use 'respectful' terms, rather than 'polite' terms, they are talking bollocks; and if they think we should use polite terms about them that indicate undeserved respect when we are not even on a punt with them, they are talking bollocks on stilts with a fairy banner.
