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ORIGINAL: Gauge

Welcome back! I think...

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Posts: 649
Joined: 3/11/2005
Status: offline Hello everybody, familiar and unfamiliar...

I haven't been on the message boards since early November, when I went to Florida to spend my mother's last days on this earth with her. When I got back I found myself needing, shall we say, "instant gratification" from actually chatting rather than reading posts. I've been a denizen of a few of the chatrooms on collarme since then, and today I realized how detrimental that is to my life and what I want to do with it.

I've "met" some nice people in there actually... a couple of them I'm going to meet for lunch or dinner as my travels take me to their areas. I've also met some real idiots, trolls if you want to put it another way. I got myself too embroiled in chatroom drama. I dont need that crap, it's not real, which is the basis for the question I'd like to put out in this post. If it's been discussed to death already that's fine too, just give me links and I'll go look, I don't need any snide remarks about it being discussed to death!

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ORIGINAL: UtopianRanger

Glad you are back... I have definitely missed your smart, thoughtful and good natured posts. Send my regards to Mr. Kite...

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ORIGINAL: Oumae

Welcome back cello!

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ORIGINAL: candystripper

Welcome back cello.

candystripper

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ORIGINAL: PenelopePitstop

It's you! It's You! Hi Cello!!!

What impact do you think the internet has made on the BDSM lifestyle in general?
Do you think it has made it more accessible to:
1. genuine people who want and need to explore feelings they didn't know had a name

Yes, If it wasn't for the internet (and Nancy Friday) I would have had a guilt complex forever. I think it has a flipside though, but only in the way the internet as a whole does...I think there's a few people around who see this lifestyle as a way to access vulnerable people - but we will always have that. It's the price to be paid.

2. players and swingers who are simply out for a little bit of wank time

Yeah, I should have read this first lol. see above.

For each of the above has this been good or bad for whatever image, shadowy or not, the letters BDSM conjure up?

Don't let's forget the internet is a method, not an entity. 'It' won't kill kittens, leave your toilet seat up and corrupt your mind because it is PEOPLE. 'It' follows the pattern of mankind, and as such will always be composed of darkness, light and the odd splash of grey. I have much more of an issue with the jargon, actually. The labels, the categorising. Blah I don't like that. I guess it's in the nature of information technology to put everything in little drawers for efficiency.