Addicted to and in love with Anonymity - How the Internet has damaged the true Master and slave Leave Master Rick a Message

The Internet, while being a fantastic and phenomenal tool for opening up a world of instant information, has some real drawbacks specifically when it comes to the Master and slave relationship. Why is it that the most popular gay leather sites seem to gravitate toward focusing on the Master and the slave relationship? Could the reason be because the leather community as a whole romanticizes the idea of Master and slave? Could the reason be as simple as that it is profitable to market the Master and the slave? But that raises another question. Why is it so profitable to market the Master/slave lifestyle? What is it about the this lifestyle that entices people to pay money to belong to a site that focuses the Master and slave? The answer to these questions may require a lot of writing and discussion. However it stacks up, the fact remaains that it is profitable and there is a definite market. Do members on these sites seem a bit lost? It appears that there are very few members that understand the differences between a Master and a Dom or a sub and a slave. Aside from this fact the most obvious problem with the Internet, especially on many of the social sites, whether they be gay oriented or not, is that the Internet makes it possible to be anyone that you want to be.You can represent yourself to be whatever you can imagine and look any way you want to look. It is My opinion that the members of these sites are addicted to anonymity...they are in love with it. In the days before the Internet we talked about having anonymous sex, which meant that you did not know anything about the person you were having sex with. Internet Web sites geared to sex are doing the same thing without the benefit of getting off. I suppose this is a good example to prove that the real sex organ isn't the penis but the mind. Anonymity in this context refers to people who create some false or imaginary persona. Unfortunately these people, whether they are so-called Masters, Doms, subs or slaves, are illusions. Many of us pay good money to buy into these illusions...we buy into the anyonymity. It is very difficult to determine if the person is who they claim to be. The true Master or slave is at a disadvantage when a Dom advertises himself as a Master and a sub advertises himself as a slave. Another damaging effect that the Internet has had on the Master/slave relationship is that those advertising themselves incorrectly do so on purpose in order to lure the unsuspecting into their web...even if it only leads to a short-term encounter. What criteria does the real Master or slave use to determine who is real and who is not? Intuition? Experience? Education? All of these? In the old days, before the advent of the Internet, Masters met slaves face to face. I am not making a pitch for the Old Guard traditions, but there was a definite protocol that was followed when a slave was interested in a Master. A Master could size up a slave and if the slave showed interest and the Master agreed to take the slave for a period of 'training.' In this way a Master could determine if the slave was worth the His time and if there was a connection. I was not likely to be interested if a slave approached Me without being dressed in what I considered the proper attire. I also knew that if a slave approached Me wearing a collar meant he was owned and it was hands off. If a slave approached Me and was not respectful, I wouldn't give that slave the time of day. Where did those protocols come from and why did they seem univerally accepted by the men who frequented the leather bars? Certainly those traditions began somewhere. Personally, just as antropologists look at the traiditions and customs of certain tribes to identify where they originated from, I believe that the traditions and protocols that seemed to be universally understood began with the Old Guard. Without a doubt those early traditions have undergone various transformations and evolved into other things in the 21st century. However, many of those tradtions were lost and adding to the confusion is the fact that the Internet has discovered that the Master and slave are hot commodities. The popularity of the Master and slave on the Internet has created much confusion about what a Master is and what a slave is. Whenever I apply the protocols that I am accumstumed to when approaching a slave on the Internet many of them think I am nuts! They have no clue as to the reason why I ask the questons I do. There was a time when a slave would expect to be asked certain quesitons and if a Master did not ask those questions the slave would get the impression that the Master was either inexperienced or not really a Master. Also, it was more common for a slave to approach a Master than a Master to approach a slave in those days. In this day-and-age, Masters and so-called Masters, put up ads on a Web site and try to sell Themselves to slaves. I think it is revolting. However, I admit that I have done the same thing becuase the alternatives are few. I still think it is revolting. The Internet allows people to live their deepest fantasies wihout any compassion or need for accountability. At times, and especially when it comes to sexual fantasies, the fantasy that gets created, while being a real fantasy, is an illusion that has no real hope of coming to fruition. At times we may even believe our own fantasies to the point that it drives us into situations with people that are also doing the same thing...the results are a series of flat and disappointing experiences. For those into playing the game of anonymity, for its own sake, is fine...if that is your thing. But for the serious Master and slave it is very frsutrating. Both end up spending inordinate amounts of time sifting thorugh many, many candidates in hopes of finding a meaningful relathionship. After several, oh let's say, hundred or so of encounters with fakes, the true Master and slave begin to become jaded about whether or not they will ever find what they are looking for and even if they do they have experienced so many disappointments that they are not sure they are able to tell the fakes from the real ones after a while. I, like most people, want privacy. So some form of anonymity on the Internet is a good thing to keep your personal information private and protect you from fraud and other illegal forms of information theft. However, with regard to certain social Web sites, such as Recon and collarme.com, where members are placing profiles specifically meant to attract other members for the purpose of forming some relationship, then anonymyity is not a good thing. This is true particularly when you consider that the purpose of a slave's profile is to offer himself to a Master. A Master and a slave's profile should be as transparent as possible if either hopes to attract one another. As I have mentioned before, "A lie is a lie, no matter what it is wrapped in." Leave Master Rick a Message © Master Rick, Reno, Nevada 2011