NOTICE: THIS TRIBE CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND DISTURBING. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO VIEW CONTENT OF THIS NATURE, OR ARE OFFENDED BY DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF SEXUALITY, PLEASE LEAVE NOW. There is also no pornography or erotic stories on this tribe, so if that's what you're looking for, you'll be disappointed.

Please read this entire announcement thoroughly before requesting membership. It describes the philosophies of this tribe, and the rules, such as they are.

See new rules and Tribe TOU at the end of this blurb.

If you're new to BDSM and are looking for straight talk and uncensored discussion about what you've gotten yourself into, this is the place. If you're an old hand, please join us to help teach the newbies.

There is no single right way of doing most of WIITWD (what it is that we do), but typically, newbies are told only one point of view, so the aim of this tribe is to not only inform and educate, but to specifically do so in a way that helps those who are new to the scene learn a variety of points of view so that they can make their own best informed decisions, not to channel them down any single party-line path when different points of view exist.

I believe that you all have brains and are perfectly capable of assimilating disparate points of view, as well as more advanced concepts, so any and all discussion and debate about WIITWD is welcome.

Also, despite what others would have you believe, no one has the monopoly on knowing what is safe and what is not, as many times this is a very subjective question. I believe that straight talk that lets you know about different options and perspectives about all of this is very valuable, so differing points of view - and disagreement with anything posted by anyone, myself included - are particularly welcome here.

The only rules are that discussion must remain civil (no personal attacks), and remember that these *are* newbies we are here for, many of whom may have had no prior exposure to what it is that we do.

Personal attacks, discussions that the moderator asks to be ended, and threats will get you removed from the list and your posts also removed. We should be able to disagree without getting nasty about it.

In my opinion, newbies are not nearly as fragile and helpless as some people would make them out to be, so I don't think they need to be carefully wrapped in cotton wool and coddled endlessly and protected from the big bad world of kink and varying opinions and outlooks out there, but they *are* deserving of particular patience and patient explanations when there is something they do not understand.

Also, please keep threads at least somehow related to BDSM and related topics. Posts that are completely off topic may be deleted. If you are unsure of whether or not your topic is appropriate for the tribe, feel free to ask me before posting it.

Please do not post announcements for parties here as threads. Listings for them are fine - in the appropriate section, but not amongst the threads. You may, however, post announcements of classes that are about some kind of technique. Inappropriate party listings will be deleted without further notice.

This is an open membership tribe - open to anyone, without restriction, as long as you play by the rules. Anyone who becomes overtly disruptive is subject to removal without explanation, but simple disagreement with anyone else's point of view will not trigger that. It is moderated, to control the presence of disruptive elements who have driven too many others away and disrupted the smooth functioning of this community, so you must request to join, but membership will never be denied to anyone on random superficial bases such as the number of friends or pictures you have, the number or types of tribes you belong to, or the order in which you show up as having visited here (which means nothing), as is the policy in some other tribes which purport to be open to all.

Information about recommended reading about BDSM may be found at tribes.tribe.net/newtobdsm...84f3aa6ed9 , among other locations.

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In a nutshell, the following explains the now-prohibited content on all tribes, sadly including this one.

For discussions on the new Tribe policies and how they interface with the law that is obviously driving them, check out: moderators.tribe.net/thread/...0b18990d

and

tribes.tribe.net/d61a9f37-...2b658bab42 This latter thread includes a few links to organizations which are fighting to maintain our free speech rights in this area.

http://tribes.tribe.net/newtobdsm-uncensored