Let's discuss the disposition of the monster thread...

[Daddyslilpet]

YES!

Yes yes yes yes yes YES!

New people bring new insights. They bring fresh ideas. They bring different perspectives. They cause the rest of us to rethink our old feelings and approaches. Additionally, revisiting subjects that one has discussed or thought about or worried over often leads to new thinking about the issues.

There are only so many time one can answer the question, My boyfriend and i want to get started in this. How do we do it? before it becomes automatic and one does not, in reality, give the answer much thought or care. (My answer: Go read. Talk to each other openly and honestly about what you want/need/fantasize about. Fill out one of those long-ass checklists and compare and share your answers. Go slowly. You have forever to investigate this and none of us ever stops learning.)

There are only a finite number of threads we who are past the "how do i do this BDSM thing" can talk about too, but there are an infinite number of versions of that finite number of threads.

Each of us has our own experiences and questions and feelings to add to those discussions.

I hate the thought of squelching even one of those voices.
I hate the thought of anyone not feeling they cannot be heard.

I feel exactly the same way. I know I've asked my share of questions since my arrival here....and I'm promising you now there will be more...lol. I'm a curious critter by nature....and just love picking people's brains for whatever knowledge they have on a subject that interests me.

BDSM cannot really be done alone.
Until recently, it was impossible to do this in any way but skin-to-skin. I maintain that it's exceedingly difficult to do it for extended periods of time in an online-only environment. Occasionally, eventually, there has to be some skin-to-skin contact. That's in my world, of course. Yours may be different.

However, here, in this forum, we've limited ourselves to discussions of real-world oriented BDSM practices, or to the dicussion of those who intend to go into a real-world situation, or to those who are simply looking for info on this side of BDSM sexuality. There are a zillion places for chat room style BDSM play; this is not one of them.

I like interaction with others, those newer to this lifestlye and those who have been doing this awhile, those who've been around this place since it began and those who just arrived this week. I like to ask questions and answer them. I like to play with those i've come to know and trust here, and welcome new faces and new ideas into the party.

I don't think there's anyone here who feels differently.

I also agree that BDSM cannot be done alone. My first experience with a Dom was online however. It left me craving the physical....meaning I wanted to take it from my imagination to my real world. I just happened to be lucky enough to be married to such a wonderfully open minded man that is now called Master by me.

Thank you cym for understanding where I was going with my question.


dixi

 

[WillowPuss]

<snip>

I like interaction with others, those newer to this lifestlye and those who have been doing this awhile, those who've been around this place since it began and those who just arrived this week. I like to ask questions and answer them. I like to play with those i've come to know and trust here, and welcome new faces and new ideas into the party.

I don't think there's anyone here who feels differently.

Ohhh me three!
(Dixi - you saved me typing this time ... think I owe you one now!)

 

[Lancecastor]

From Lance....now with easy to interpret instructions!

A Question:

Is the MegaMonsterMother thread Searchable using the "*SEARCH* function at the top of every page?

Supporting Fun Example:

If so, then I don't see how what was said here in May of 2000 about , say, "Knucklefuckers" , is any more or less relevant, useful or important than what was said in July of 2002 about "Knucklefuckers".

A Gentle Little Dig:

If you want to preserve what was said by The Founders, BF (before the forum) as an Archive with a Special Place of Honour on Top of The Forum....g'head, I say.

Some Monty:

And surround it with....a shrubbery! A nice one, but not too expensive.

My Opinion:

If it's all searchable....it's all searchable.

A Helpful Suggestion:

Maybe add some Tips on Boolean Searching in the Sticky to allow greater ease and functionality for those who are less 'net-savvy....

Closing:

Cheers;
Lance

New people bring new insights.

They bring fresh ideas.

They bring different perspectives.

I hate the thought of squelching even one of those voices.

I hate the thought of anyone not feeling they cannot be heard.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Threads really aren't independently searchable. You'd have to do a BDSM Talk forum-wide search. The search function only goes back 6 months anyway. The mother thread is too old to be included.


Try adding this to the current sticky:

This forum began with a single thread in the How-To section. We call it the Mother Thread, so if you see someone refer to it you won't be confused! It's a wealth of information. Everything from how to get started and why we do it to the best way to make a flogger is in there. For this reason we decided to keep it as a resource. If you're interested in taking a look at our encyclopedic history, click here: Mother thread URL.


It doesn't add a sticky.
It leaves the MT where new people and old can find it.
It lets people know what the MT is and why it has value.
It doesn't put pressure on anyone to go look at it, but it still lets people know that a lot of questions are answered.



Howseaboutdat?

 

[CarolineOh]

I think KM makes a lot od sense. One question, in regard to the search function. You said the search engine only goes back six months. Is that posts back six months, or threads going back six months? If it the later, could the Mods add a bump every so often to keep it searchable?
Another thought; I am not thrilled with the idea of picking the Mother Thread apart for information as that seems too much like establishing an orthodoxy to me. It has a subtle implication that what was said on that thread is somehow more definitive that information added by later posters. I realize that no one is making any such claim, but i can see how such an attitude might be fostered.

 

[KillerMuffin]

To save on bandwidth and keep the forums moving along relatively quickly, Laurel has the search function set to only look back 6 months. You can look back farther by clicking on an individual's search button beneath their post, but you can't set any parameters for the search. Searching three years of archives with as many visitors and posts as the forums have really drags stuff down.

The search function looks at post dates, but yes, bumping the thread will get the bump post looked at by the search engine, but not the entire thread. Or so I understand. I'm not sure about this, and I could very well be wrong.

It could be changed, but don't look for it happening.

 

[CarolineOh]

To save on bandwidth and keep the forums moving along relatively quickly, Laurel has the search function set to only look back 6 months. You can look back farther by clicking on an individual's search button beneath their post, but you can't set any parameters for the search. Searching three years of archives with as many visitors and posts as the forums have really drags stuff down.

The search function looks at post dates, but yes, bumping the thread will get the bump post looked at by the search engine, but not the entire thread. Or so I understand. I'm not sure about this, and I could very well be wrong.

It could be changed, but don't look for it happening.

Thank you KM. I wasn't really advocating changing anything, just musing over possible options.

 

[Red Menace]

I think the M thread is a fascinating tribute to how this place started and would like to see it preserved in an easily accessible way but what KM says makes an awful lot of sense too. I still haven't read all the way through it.. got distracted with all those links and links from links and links from links from links..., but someday I'll get there and I want to know I'll still be able to find it.

How long has this forum been here, anyway?

 

[cymbidia]

Another thought; I am not thrilled with the idea of picking the Mother Thread apart for information as that seems too much like establishing an orthodoxy to me. It has a subtle implication that what was said on that thread is somehow more definitive that information added by later posters. I realize that no one is making any such claim, but i can see how such an attitude might be fostered.

Pssssst...
Hey guys?

You do realize that the first 12 posts to this thread, that is, everything up to and including monster's post, were made between February 23rd and February 26th, right? Apparently WriterDom was rooting around in the olden days threads and bumped this one for your viewing pleasure.

This was on page one a long long time ago, boys and girls and bois. We'd just gotten the forum. We were still rattling around in here unsure of what to do or how to act and were all still very used to the coziness of our one thread. No one has talked bout using the M thread in the way that some of y'all are slightly alarmed over in, well, many months.

We never did this picking-apart of the M thread.
As far as i know, no one intends to do it either.

There's no orthodoxy here.
There's no one source of definitive info here.
There's no supremacy attitude to worrry about here.

All is well.

How long has this forum been here, anyway?

We got the forum from the Forum Fairy on, uh, about February 22 of this year. Or so.

The M thread was started on about July 19th or so of the previous year.

There's a link to the M thread in the forum sticky. We'll keep that link there, don't worry.

Also, the M thread goes for, like, 68 or 70 pages and contains hundreds of posts. When you do a SEARCH on, say, lilfrk's nick and the words "safe sane consensual", then you'll get a list that includes the M thread as one of the threads into which she's posted those words. It will not, however, tell you what page it's on.

No SEARCH will pinpoint the page of anyone's posts witin any thread at Lit.

If for some unfathomable reason you want to find that post by lilfrk in the M thread, you have to already be familiar with it so you know approximately where in those 69 pages to go looking for it or you have to shrug and say, "It's not worth it,", quite the more rational approach, i maintain.

Any other M thread questions while we're on the topic?

 

[cymbidia]

mumble mumble dbl post mumble embarassing mumble~